Friday, 20 May 2011

Chinese PC game takes aim at American soldiers



The headlines say it all:
"Chinese video game targets American troops"
"Watch China kill American soldiers in new video game"
It sounds outrageous. But is it really?
For starters: Let's accept that there are video games that allow you to shoot other people. Whether they are soldiers, mobsters, or even innocent bystanders, some of the most popular games in the world right now involve shooting people. The debate over whether that's right or wrong is one for another place and time.
"Glorious Mission" is a PC game developed in China that bears an uncanny resemblance to many of those games. It is a first-person shooter much like the "Call of Duty" series, except it stars Chinese troops - and the enemies are apparently American soldiers.
The game was co-developed by the People's Liberation Army's Nanjing branch, and is (for now) intended for use by soldiers as a training aid.
The idea of a game being developed and used by a nation's military might seem unusual, but it's not a new one. In fact, the United States did the same thing nine years ago: "America's Army" acted as both a training tool and a public relations campaign to drive recruitment when it was released in 2002.
Unlike Glorious Mission, America's Army featured generic enemies that had no set nationality. But that doesn't mean other developers haven't used the Chinese as villains. The last two "Operation Flashpoint" games, both developed and published by British firm Codemasters, put you in the shoes of American troops fighting the PLA. "Battlefield 2", developed by Sweden's DICE and published by U.S. giant Electronic Arts, has the PLA as a potential side to play as or against, pitting them against American Marines or a Middle Eastern coalition.
Curiously, there is one game that thought about using the Chinese as antagonists... and chose not to. "Homefront" tells the story of an Asian nation invading the United States: North Korea. Why not China? An executive at the game's publisher THQ told Kotaku: "They're just not that scary." He argues that the relationship between the U.S. and China is too friendly now to make them good villains.
Admittedly, there aren't many games that have Chinese villains. (They certainly aren't as popular as Russian bad guys are right now.) But they exist, and they fail to draw much comment when they do appear. So why is the reverse scenario anything to sit up and take notice of?

Kids under 13 should be allowed on Facebook

Facebook's founder sees the social networking site as a tool with educational potential. That of course means getting kids Facebooking at an early age.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
FORTUNE -- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg may be a college drop-out, but the billionaire 27-year-old is passionate about education reform. That's why he took time out of his busy schedule to discuss the heated topic (and why he thinks young people can benefit from social networking sites) at a recent summit on innovation in education.
Last year Zuckerberg pledged $100 million to the school system in Newark, New Jersey. At the NewSchools Venture Fund's Summit in Burlingame, Calif. earlier this week, Zuckerberg told interviewer (and venture capitalist) John Doerr that improving education and making the Internet more open are two of his favorite dinnertime topics.
Dressed in his signature T-shirt and jeans, Zuckerberg was uncharacteristically unguarded about his private life during the conversation, which lasted about an hour. He referred to his girlfriend of seven years, medical student Priscilla Chan, several times throughout the interview. He also shared anecdotes from his own education and upbringing, gave advice to other entrepreneurs and talked about why he wants kids under 13 to be on Facebook.
"Education is clearly the biggest thing that will drive how the economy improves over the long term," Zuckerberg said. "We spend a lot of time talking about this."
It's no surprise that Zuckerberg thinks the field of education--along with shopping, health, finance and other industries--will become much more social in the coming years.
"In the future, software and technology will enable people to learn a lot from their fellow students," he said. For example, students could see each other studying online in the hopes it would encourage more of them to study for tests.
Zuckerberg said he wants younger kids to be allowed on social networking sites like Facebook. Currently, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) mandates that websites that collect information about users (like Facebook does) aren't allowed to sign on anyone under the age of 13. But Zuckerberg is determined to change this.
"That will be a fight we take on at some point," he said. "My philosophy is that for education you need to start at a really, really young age."
But just how would Facebook's social features be used by younger children?
"Because of the restrictions we haven't even begun this learning process," Zuckerberg said. "If they're lifted then we'd start to learn what works. We'd take a lot of precautions to make sure that they [younger kids] are safe."
Here are a few other opinions and anecdotes Zuckerberg shared at the recent summit:
- Every year Zuckerberg sets a personal challenge for himself. His latest one is learning Chinese (he works with a tutor and regularly holds discussions with Mandarin-speaking employees at Facebook).
- The young CEO gets upset when the media focuses on him instead of the entire Facebook management team. He says he spends 25% of his time recruiting both inside and outside Facebook and never hires someone he wouldn't want to work for himself.
- Zuckerberg started coding in sixth grade, after he got his first computer. His first program? A virtual pet-like game starring Yoda (the goal was to keep Yoda alive).
- The best part of going to Harvard was the other students. According to Zuckerberg: "If I had the chance to go back to Harvard and finish, I just think of how many more awesome people I would meet."

Egyptian comrades remember reported leader of al Qaeda

Saif al-Adl has been indicted in the United States for involvement in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies.
Saif al-Adl has been indicted in the United States for involvement in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies.

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Saif al-Adl was a relatively obscure name -- until this week.
The former Egyptian Special Forces soldier was well-known in jihadist circles as a senior figure in al Qaeda, but reports of his sudden elevation to the position of "caretaker" leader with the terrorist organization have thrust him into the global spotlight. And that has left some of his old acquaintances in Egypt scratching their heads.
One of them is Mohamed Abdel Rahman. He said he fought alongside al-Adl in Afghanistan in 1996, when al Qaeda was allied with the Taliban and battling the Northern Alliance.
Abdel Rahman spoke this week to CNN while attending a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. That in itself would have been unthinkable just a few months ago, when Hosni Mubarak was still president of Egypt. No leading Salafist Muslim fundamentalist would have dared attend a public demonstration near one of the country's most closely guarded compounds.
Known among Egypt's jihadist community as the "Lion of Allah," Abdel Rahman is the son of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a life sentence in the United States after being convicted of conspiracy following the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. He was at the U.S. Embassy demanding his ailing father's release.
Flanked by burly, bearded bodyguards, Abdel Rahman said: "I don't think Saif Al-Adl is qualified to run al Qaeda during this period because, as far as I know, he has been out of the picture -- under house arrest in Iran."
Intelligence analysts have long thought that al-Adl went to Iran after the 9/11 attacks, but some sources think he may have returned last year to the Afghan-Pakistan border as part of a deal to free a kidnapped Iranian diplomat in Pakistan.
Abdel Rahman said there was no doubt that al-Adl was an important figure in al Qaeda. He "was on the al Qaeda Guidance Council and was specifically in charge of Osama bin Laden's security and mobilization," Abdel Rahman said, referring to the founder of al Qaeda who was killed recently by U.S. forces in Pakistan.
But while al-Adl was important in al Qaeda's military operations, he was not an ideological kingpin. "Saif is highly educated and speaks good English, but Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri is much more qualified for the position," Abdel Rahman said.
Al-Zawahiri has long been al Qaeda's second-in-command, and under the organization's constitution should automatically accede to the leadership in the wake of bin Laden's death.
In a world of conspiracy theories, Abdel Rahman has his own about reports of al-Adl's promotion.
"The Pakistani government may have announced this false information to mislead al Qaeda's fighters or expose them," he told CNN. "I expect Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri to announce his official leadership of the group within the coming days. It may have been delayed due to security issues."
Al-Adl has no shortage of qualifications as an al Qaeda operative. He has been indicted in the United States for involvement in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and is alleged to have trained al Qaeda cells in Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan. "He is one tough fighter and highly trained in explosive detonation," Abdel Rahman said.
But the man's real identity is a mystery. The photograph of him on the FBI's website shows al-Adl as a young man. Even his birth year is in doubt -- between 1960 and 1963, according to the FBI.
There's also doubt about the aliases he may have used over the years. His biography on the FBI's "Rewards for Justice" website lists one alias as Mohamed Ibrahim Makkawi. Abdel Rahman, like other Egyptian jihadists, doesn't recall his using that name.
And lawyer Nizar Ghoraib, who has defended many Egyptian jihadists in court, said Makkawi is someone else. "Mohamed Ibrahim Makkawi is an Egyptian former officer in the armed forces indeed, but he is not Saif al-Adl," Ghoraib said. "Makkawi fled Egypt and applied for political asylum and is currently living as a refugee in Afghanistan."
But Abdel Rahman does remember al-Adl as a student at Cairo University at the end of the 1970s before he joined the Egyptian Army and rose through the ranks to become a Special Forces officer. Al-Adl then joined al-Zawahiri's group, Islamic Jihad. By his own account, written in 2005, he was detained in May 1987 in relation to a coup attempt planned by Islamists; he left Egypt in 1988 to join the jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Esam Daraz, a former Egyptian military intelligence officer and documentary film-maker, also knew him. He followed Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda in the early days of their struggle against the Soviets and is known for his film "Arab Supporters in Afghanistan."
"I met Saif in the battle of Jalalabad when the Americans were supporting the jihadists against the Soviets," Daraz said. "He was training the fighters how to use the Stinger missiles supplied by the U.S. He refused to let me photograph him."
Daraz agreed that al-Adl did not use the Makkawi alias.
Al-Adl was born in Mounofiya, a small agricultural town about an hour's drive from Cairo. An area where farmers raise cattle and breed chickens, it is hardly a hotbed of jihadist activity. Despite its modest size, Mounofiya was also the birthplace of Egypt's last two presidents -- Mubarak and Anwar Sadat.
It's long been rumored that al-Adl may have been involved in the plot to assassinate Sadat, who was killed by Islamic extremists during a military parade in 1981 in Cairo. But a man who just completed a 30-year sentence for his involvement in the assassination has denied al-Adl had anything to do with it. Aboud Al Zoumor, a former Egyptian Intelligence officer, told CNN: "Saif comes from another generation. He was too young back then and he was never part of any Jihad organization in Egypt until he moved to Afghanistan and found his calling."
Abdel Rahman told CNN he thinks al-Adl has four children with a woman he married in Kabul. He said he last saw him in 2002 in Pakistan before al-Adl made his way to Iran.
"We played football with a group of fellow jihadists, then had lunch before I left," Abdel Rahman said. "He was a really good football player, sharp and fast."

Bad light halts Pakistan recovery on day-one of second test

The bails fly off the wicket of Pakistan's batsman Azhar Ali after West Indies' wicket keeper Carlton Baugh, rear, attempted to stump him on the opening day of their second cricket Test match in Basseterre, St. Kitts, Friday May 20, 2011. After the third umpire review Ali was not out. – Photo by AP

BASSETERRE, Saint Kitts and Nevis: Half-centuries from Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal helped Pakistan recover from a shaky start in the second Test against West Indies on Friday before poor weather prompted an early close.
Azhar hit the top score of 67 and Akmal made 56, as the Pakistanis, electing to bat, reached 180 for six in their first innings before rain then bad light stopped play 16.4 overs early on the opening day at Warner Park.
Azhar added 93 for the fifth wicket with Akmal, following a stand of exactly 50 with Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq that resurrected the visitors from 24 for three in the first hour.
Azhar and Akmal, however, both succeeded in gifting their wickets when it appeared they were well set.
Akmal was caught at third man off West Indies captain Darren Sammy, chasing a wide delivery, and Azhar was run out, when Mohammad Salman failed to respond to his call for a single to extra cover off Sammy, and they both ended up at the same end.
Ravi Rampaul was the pick of the West Indies bowlers with three for 40 from 18.2 overs.
Gaining early assistance from the hard, true Warner Park pitch, Pakistan were set back early, when Taufeeq Umar was caught behind for 11, too late in lifting his gloves out of the way of a rising delivery in Rampaul’s fourth over.
The Pakistanis were under further pressure when Mohammad Hafeez edged a forward defensive shot, and was caught at third slip for eight in the West Indies fast-medium bowler’s fifth over.
Asad Shafiq then cut a short, wide delivery, and was caught at gully for a duck in Rampaul’s seventh over to leave Pakistan wobbling.
After lunch, runs started to flow for Pakistan, but the dismissal of Misbah set them back, as they reached 106 for four before rain forced an early tea.
Misbah had got things going after lunch when he carved Kemar Roach to the third man boundary for his second four, and Azhar drove leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo fluently through extra cover for his second four in the next over.
In the following over, Misbah took a pair of boundaries off Roach, steering a delivery to third man, and cutting a short, wide delivery through backward point.
But Misbah was caught low down at mid-on for 25 off Bishoo, essaying an ill-advised on-drive, leaving Pakistan 74 for four.
Akmal came to the crease, and immediately got into the thick of things with a flick through backward square leg for his first boundary, then drove Rampaul sweetly through cover off the back-foot for his second four.
He and Azhar however, were interrupted, when rain stopped play about 40 minutes before the scheduled tea break, and continued to wreak havoc after the break.
The Pakistanis made one change to their team replacing Umar Gul with left-arm fast bowler Tanvir Ahmed.
West Indies suffered a setback with veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul sidelined with a sore shoulder to be replaced by Marlon Samuels as one of two changes.
The other saw Kraigg Brathwaite making his debut at the expense of left-hander Devon Smith, and is the fifth youngest West Indies Test player ever.
Pakistan trail 1-0 in the two-Test series, following a 40-run defeat inside four days in the first Test, which ended last Sunday at the Guyana National Stadium, crushing the visitors’ dreams of a maiden Test series victory in the Caribbean.


Wrestler known as ‘Macho Man’ dies in car wreck

In this undated publicity image released by WWE, professional wrestler Randy “Macho Man” Savage is shown. Savage, whose legal name is Randy Mario Poffo, died in a car crash in Florida on Friday, May 20, 2011, according to a Florida Highway Patrol crash report. – Photo by AP
CLEARWATER: The professional wrestler known as Randy ”Macho Man” Savage has died in a car crash in Florida.
The Florida Highway Patrol says in a crash report that the 58-year-old former wrestler _ whose legal name is Randy Mario Poffo _ was driving a Jeep Wrangler when he lost control in Pinellas County around 9:25 a.m. local time.
The Jeep veered over the raised concrete median divider, crossed over the eastbound lanes and collided head-on with a tree.
Police say he may have suffered a ”medical event” before the accident, but the report did not elaborate, and it said officials would need to perform an autopsy to know for sure.
The report confirms that the driver was the pro wrestler known as Randy Savage. A woman in the vehicle suffered minor injuries. – AP

At least 16 dead in Nato tanker fire in Khyber

Earlier, 11 other Nato supply containers and oil tankers were destroyed in nearby Torkham town, an official said. –File Photo
PESHAWAR: At least 16 people were killed in an oil tanker blaze after a bomb exploded on the Afghanistan-bound Nato oil tanker near Landi Kotal on Saturday, officials said.
The victims were young people who had gathered to collect oil leaking from the tanker near Landi Kotal in the northwestern tribal region of Khyber, local administration official Shafeerullah Wazir said.
Among the dead, at least 10 belonged to the same family, DawnNews reported.
“The oil tanker caught fire after a blast caused by a small bomb before dawn,” he said. “Villagers from nearby houses rushed and started collecting oil coming out of the destroyed tanker after the fire had been extinguished,” he said.
Earlier, 11 other Nato supply containers and oil tankers were destroyed in nearby Torkham town, another administration official, Iqbal Khattak, said.
“The vehicles caught fire after a blast in one of the tankers around midnight last night,” he said, adding that the blast was apparently caused by a remote-controlled device planted under one of the vehicles.
“There were no casualties,” Khattak told AFP.
Wazir confirmed the overnight attack, saying that a total of 12 Nato vehicles had been destroyed in the two incidents.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast but the Taliban have claimed such attacks in the past.
The attacks on Nato supply vehicles came after the Taliban bombed a US consulate convoy in Peshawar on Friday, killing one person and wounding 10 others in the first attack on Americans in Pakistan since Osama bin Laden’s death.
A US embassy spokesman said two US government employees were lightly wounded in the rush-hour attack.

Chechens died of bullets wounds

Journalists taking pictures, on Friday, of the bullets recovered from the five alleged Chechen nationals who were killed in an alleged police encounter at Kharotabad. One woman among the five alleged Chechen militants was pregnant, as she took part in the alleged exchange of bullets and hand grenades. – Online Photo

QUETTA: More embarrassment lay in store for Quetta police in the Chechen killing case as the surgeon who headed the autopsy team said on Friday that apparently the two men and the three women had died from “multiple bullet wounds”.
“Twenty-four bullets were extracted from their bodies during post-mortem. They died of multiple bullet wounds,” Dr Baqir Shah told reporters, adding that traces of splinters had also been seen on four of the five bodies.
The statement clashed with the claim made by CCPO Daud Junejo the previous day that the Chechens had died because of a bomb explosion, and not in shooting by law enforcement agencies. The incident occurred in Killi Khezi area of Khrotabad on Tuesday.
Dr Baqir Shah, who headed the team which carried out the autopsy at the Bolan Medical College here, spelt more trouble for police when he said one of the women was seven months pregnant.
The woman received 10 bullet wounds on different parts of her body. “A 32-week baby girl was also found dead,” Dr. Shah said.
No splinter mark was found on the body of the pregnant woman, the doctor added. The woman’s age ranged between 25 and 28 years.
Five bullets were extracted from the body of another Chechen woman along with traces of splinters, Dr Shah said. And eight bullet wounds were seen on the body of the third woman.
The police surgeon said one bullet was extracted from the body of one of the two Chechen men who lost their lives in the shooting. Burn injuries were also seen on his body. The other man got two bullet wounds.
The post-mortem report will be submitted to the Balochistan government in five to six days, Dr Shah said.
The doctors completed the post-mortem in about 11 hours _ from 9am to 8pm.
Police officers and other security personnel were present in the hospital during the autopsy.
One member of the team told reporters that “some senior officials tried to exert pressure on us”.
JUDICIAL INQUIRY: In a related development, Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani on Friday ordered the setting up of a
judicial tribunal to probe the Chechens’ killing.
The provincial government has requested the Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court to appoint a sitting judge for
conducting a judicial inquiry.

Fast And Furious 5 (Official Trailer) HD



Facebook, Apple pressed on kids’ mobile privacy

While US lawmakers noted extraordinary technical innovation by Apple Inc, Google Inc, Facebook and others in Silicon Valley, they also showed irritation at data collection and sale without consent. Much of the ire was aimed at smartphone applications and the collection of teenagers’ data. – AP Photo

WASHINGTON: A high-tech Wild West where location data, including some gleaned from teenagers’ mobile devices, is scooped up and sold without consumers’ consent needs to end, lawmakers told a panel of tech companies on Thursday.
While lawmakers noted extraordinary technical innovation by Apple Inc, Google Inc, Facebook and others in Silicon Valley, they also showed irritation at data collection and sale without consent. Much of the ire was aimed at smartphone applications and the collection of teenagers’ data.
“A teenager accessing an application may not realize that her address book is being accessed and shared with a third party. That is not meant to happen in this country without the permission of an adult,” said Senator John Rockefeller, chairman of the Commerce Committee.
Twenty per cent of children aged 11 or younger had a cell phone in 2009 while 66 per cent had one by age 14, and just under 75 per cent of high schoolers have one, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project report.
The revelation last month that Apple’s iPhones collected location data and stored it for up to a year — even when location software was supposedly turned off — has prompted renewed scrutiny of the nexus between location and privacy.
Google, which has had privacy battles of its own with controversy over Buzz and Street View among others, has been dragged in because it provides the guts of the Android phones.
But Google’s Alan Davidson warned lawmakers against focusing on headline issues and said they should instead hone in on establishing principles. “Otherwise, this committee and others will be returning term after term to address the latest new technology fad,” he warned.
Senator Pat Toomey, the ranking Republican on the Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Internet subcommittee, noted that he was the father of two young children and was “very concerned,” while adding: “As a general matter, I prefer to see the market self-regulate.”
Lots of Legislation
Rockefeller also pressed Facebook, which says it bars children under age 13 from the website, to explain why 7.5 million children aged 12 or less have accounts.
Facebook Chief Technology Officer Bret Taylor said it only shuts down the accounts of children when someone else reports that a child is on the website. Children 12 and under get special privacy protection by law, which means that many web sites prefer not to cater to them.
Apple also said that it bars children under age 13 from its iTunes store and does not sell apps that target minors for data collection. “If we learn that we have inadvertently received the personal information of a child under 13, we take immediate steps to delete that information,” said Apple’s Catherine Novelli.
Democratic Senator John Kerry called for changes to “modernize our privacy laws.”
“We want … legislation to work for both the consumer and entrepreneur. I reject the notion … that privacy protection is the enemy of innovation. It absolutely doesn’t have to be,” said Kerry, who has introduced a privacy bill with Republican
Senator John McCain.
In addition to the Rockefeller and the Kerry-McCain bill, there are online privacy bills introduced in the House of Representatives by Representatives Bobby Rush and Jackie Speier. Representatives Ed Markey and Joe Barton are mulling an update to the children’s online privacy protection laws. It is too early to tell whether any will become law.

It’s a country, teen finale for “American Idol”


16 year old Lauren Alaina And 17 Year old Scotty Mccreery to compete for “American Idol” crown Tuesday, May, 24, Haley Reinhart is eliminated from the Competition - AP (File Photo)

NEW YORK: “American Idol” fans on Thursday opted for an all-teenage, all southern, mostly country season 10 finale, sending Haley Reinhart home after a record 95 million votes.
The final elimination from the top-rated television show left deep voiced 17-year-old country singer Scotty McCreery to battle it out with pop/country singer Lauren Alaina, 16, for the 2011 “American Idol” title next week.
“This is the biggest platform anybody can ask for,” Reinhart said of her time on the show, which ended after an episode that took the three finalists back to visit their home towns.
“I rocked it out, and I had a blast, and this is only the beginning,” she added before launching into her send-off performance, “Bennie and Jets.”
Reinhart had shown her rocker side on Wednesday, performing Led Zeppelin’s “What Is and What Should Never Be” with her father playing guitar alongside her on stage, but also taking a brief tumble in her high heels.
But with the “Idol” judges offering nothing but praise for all three contestants on Wednesday, the decision on who to send home was left firmly in the hands of the viewers.
Fox television said the week’s vote total of 95 million was the highest in the show’s history for a non-finale.
For all the controversy earlier this season about audience bias towards male contestants, viewers sent a slew of male singers home over the past five weeks, leaving the finale a battle of the sexes — in addition to both being teens from the south.
McCreery, a devout Christian and former grocery store clerk, hails from North Carolina. Alaina, from Georgia, is also a Christian and says she has dreamed of competing on “Idol” since she was six years old.
After three years of slipping ratings, “Idol” has increased its audience this year, thanks mostly to the arrival of new judges Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler.
The 2011 “American Idol” two-part finale airs on the Fox network starting next Tuesday, when viewers will choose the winner and he or she lands a recording contract, enviable bragging rights and incalculable media exposure.
Past winners Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood have gone on to major singing careers, while eliminated finalist Jennifer Hudson won an Oscar for her supporting role in the big-screen adaptation of the “Dreamgirls” musical.

Paralyzed man stands, steps after spine treatment

The study was funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the foundation named after Christopher Reeve, the actor best known for playing Superman who was left paralyzed after a riding accident. Reeve died in 2004. – AFP

NEW YORK: A man left paralyzed after a car accident was able to stand and take steps after electrical stimulation of his spinal cord in what researchers described as a breakthrough in treating such devastating injuries.
Rob Summers, a 25-year-old former college baseball pitcher, can also move his hips, knees, ankles and toes — and has regained some bladder and sexual functionality, researchers said on Thursday.
“It opens up a huge opportunity to improve the daily functioning of these individuals … but we have a long road ahead,” said Susan Harkema, lead researcher of the study from the University of Louisville in Kentucky. The results were published in The Lancet medical journal.
“This is not a cure, and Rob’s not walking. … Short of that, this approach may have impact in incremental ways,” she said. “Allowing people to just stand a few minutes a day can dramatically change their health.”
Summers received continual direct electrical stimulation of the lower spinal cord, a process designed to mimic signals the brain normally transmits to initiate movement.
The researchers spent more than two years retraining Summers’ spinal cord’s neural networks to produce muscle movements, after which the electro-stimulation device was surgically implanted in his back.
The study’s authors cautioned that more work needs to be done before the technique becomes standard practice.
But the results did herald optimism for paraplegics who otherwise have little hope for recovery. More than 5 million Americans live with some form of paralysis.
Harkema and her colleagues hope the finding will pave the way for some spinal cord patients, with the help of a portable stimulation unit, to stand and take steps using a walker.
Improvement of function
Geoffrey Raisman, professor of neural regeneration at University College London, said the case was “interesting” but noted it “is not repair, but an improvement of function of tissue already surviving.”
“From the point of view of people currently suffering from spinal cord injury, future trials of this procedure could add one more approach to getting some benefit,” Raisman said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters.
The study was funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the foundation named after Christopher Reeve, the actor best known for playing Superman who was left paralyzed after a riding accident. Reeve died in 2004.
A former Oregon State University pitcher, Summers was the victim of a hit-and-run accident in 2006 when he was 20 years old. He went to check on gym equipment in his car and was struck by another vehicle. The driver was never found.
Summers, while paralyzed below the chest, did retain some feeling below the level of his injury, making it uncertain how the treatment would fare with more severe patients who have lost all sensation. He was also an athlete when he got hurt and potentially in better physical shape that most such victims.
Summers spent more than three years in Kentucky preparing for surgery. He is now able to stand, supplying the muscular push himself, and remain standing while bearing weight for up to four minutes at a time.
With the help of a harness and assistance from a therapist, he can make repeated stepping motions on a treadmill.
Now a resident of Los Angeles, Summers said the procedure changed his life.
“For someone who for four years was unable to even move a toe, to have the freedom and ability to stand on my own is the most amazing feeling,” Summers said. “My physique and muscle tone has improved greatly, so much that most people don’t even believe I am paralyzed.”

ZA Bhutto rules from his grave: Sanam

 
News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Benazir Bhutto’s sister Sanam, who lives in London and stays away from Pakistani politics, has issued a surprise statement to defend her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, asserting that the Hamoodur Rehman Report on the 1971 debacle had exonerated her father.

She issued the rare statement in response to an article published in The News and launched a strong attack on Bhutto-haters who, she said, continue to malign her father. “The truth is that my father rules this nation from his grave and his enemies are unable to fathom the mystery of his legend,” Sanam Bhutto said in the statement, which was sent to The News through her friend based in Islamabad.

“My father worked day and night to rebuild a broken country from the ashes of defeat and to restore the image and honour of the Pakistan Armed Forces. His reward was the gallows!... I, as the only remaining child, alone carry the flame of that pain and destruction,” Sanam Bhutto stated.

Political analysts saw her strong defence of her father vis a vis the Pakistan Army and the claim that she was the only one to carry the flame as an interesting political statement at a time when a PPP government is running the country and with PPP leaders sitting in all the top offices of the country.

The following is the full text of Sanam Bhutto’s statement released to The News: “I refer to a news report in The News dated 16 May, 2011, entitled: ëIslamabad continues to hide the truthí. It alleges and infers that the Hamoodur Rehman Commission report laid part of the blame on my father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for the 1971 debacle and that my father accused the commission of exceeding its jurisdiction in order to justify shelving the report. This is a complete travesty. Anyone who has read the report will testify to the fact that the report exonerates my father but lays the blame squarely on the army high command under General Yahya. The fact is that the officers and men of the Pakistan Army were completely demoralised and devastated and, in order to rebuild their morale and honour, my father not only stopped the report’s publication but also put a ban on all media diatribe and propaganda against the armed forces. My father worked day and night to rebuild a broken country from the ashes of defeat and to restore the image and honour of the Pakistan Armed Forces. His reward was the gallows!

“Jinnah created Pakistan and my father saved and rebuilt it from the chaos and confusion of historical blunders committed by military dictatorships before him. He nursed an ailing economy and a broken civil society back to health. He burnt his candle at both ends to equip and arm the Pakistan Army and give Pakistan a nuclear programme, for which a ëhorrible exampleí was made out of him and his family. I, as the only remaining child alone carry the flame of that pain and destruction.

“Thirty years on there are people whose fear of the Bhutto name is so visceral that they continue to malign him. They thought that they had buried Bhutto for good but cannot accept that Bhutto lives in the hearts and souls of even a brand new generation, which never laid eyes on him. The truth is that my father rules this nation from his grave and his enemies are unable to fathom the mystery of his legend. My father gave his life for his country but refused to barter its sovereignty and that is why despite the calumny he stands so tall.”

China to expedite delivery of 50 fighter jets to Pakistan


BEIJING: China has agreed to expedite the delivery of 50 fighter jets to Pakistan, a newspaper reported on Friday, as Islamabad tries to deepen ties with Beijing as an alternative to increasingly fragile relations with the United States.

Pakistan's already strained ties with its ally and major donor were battered after U.S. forces on May 2 killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a garrison town near Islamabad.

The fact that bin Laden was found in Abbottabad, and had been living there for years, has prompted many in Washington to call for a review of the billions of U.S. civilian and military aid that Pakistan receives. As the pressure mounts in Washington, Pakistan's Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has courted "best friend" China, its biggest arms supplier, during a four-day visit that ends on Friday.

The Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed high-ranking Pakistani Air Force spokesman, in Beijing with Gilani, as saying the jointly developed JF-17 jets would be in addition to another batch of the same aircraft that is currently being assembled in Pakistan.

"We're getting the 50 jets, on top of the ones we already have. Something has been agreed in Beijing, so they'll be expedited," the spokesman said without giving details. There was no immediate confirmation of the deal from officials in China or Pakistan. The JF-17 "Thunder" programme dates back to 1999 and is aimed at reducing Pakistan's dependence on Western companies for advanced fighters.

The jets are a single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft costing an estimated $15 million each. The Pakistani Air Force has ordered 150 "Thunders", which it may increase to 250. The 50 mentioned in the report are likely part of the larger order.

In February 2010, Pakistan fielded its first JF-17 squadron with 14 aircraft. The close ties between China and Pakistan reflect long-standing shared wariness of their common neighbour, India, and a desire to hedge against U.S. influence across the region.

Premier Wen Jiabao assured Gilani on Wednesday of China's" all-weather friendship" and said Pakistan had made "huge sacrifices" in the international struggle against terrorism. That contrasted sharply with the U.S. Congressmen's criticism of Pakistan's failure to know bin Laden's whereabouts and insinuations that its powerful military was in some way complicit in hiding the al Qaeda leader. For its part, Pakistan is furious at the United States for violating its sovereignty by staging the secret raid that killed the world's most wanted man.

Blast targets US consulate cars

 
PESHAWAR: A car bomb in Peshawar on Friday targeted a US consulate convoy but caused no American deaths or serious injuries, said US embassy spokesman Alberto Rodriguez.

One passerby was killed and 10 Pakistanis were wounded, said a hospital official. One American was slightly wounded in the attack in the blast.

The two consulate vehicles were heading to the consulate when one of the vehicles was hit by the blast.

The attack took place on a main road in the northwestern city. The car used in the attack was parked on a road when the bomb exploded, forcing the consulate vehicle to slam into an electricity pole, said the police official.

"There was an attack on a two-car convoy from the consulate in Peshawar. One car was hit. We are still investigating what actually happened," said Rodriguez. (Reuters)

Top 10 World Most Richest Pets.

1 ) Gunther IV (German Shepherd) – 372 million dollarsGUNTHER THE GERMAN SHEPHERD
Gunther IV, is a German Shepherd who owns 372 million dollars! The dog owns a house a BMW roadster, a driver, a chef and many servants.
This dog actually inherited his wealth from its father Gunther III which also is a German Shepherd who received its wealth from Karlotta Liebenstein who was a German countess. Gunther IV also bought a Villa from Madonna. His wealth continues to increase thanks to trust funds.
2 ) Kalu (Chimpanzee) -  $80 million dollars
kalu chimpanzee
Kalu is a chimpanzee who inherited $80 million from a former Australian Olympic swimmer Frank O’Neill
“Every time I swam in the pool, she used to run up and down and hit me on the head, but we had a great relationship,”
said a sporting Mr O’Neill. Kalu also stole his cigarettes and drank his beer.
3 ) Trouble Helmsley (Dog) – $12 million dollars
Trouble Helmsley
This dog inherited $12 million dollars from a stingy New York billionaire, Leona Helmsley. Leona Helmsley was mentally unstable which was recognized by the court and was to collect $10million dollars from the lap dog for the woman’s grandchildren. However the dog’s lawyers think that it is against the dog’s right.
4 ) Tina and Kate the Collie Crosses (Dog) $1 million dollars and other inheritance
Tina and Kate dog
The dogs recieved $1million from their owner Nora Hardwell. They also received her home which comes with five acres, so these millionaire dogs have plenty of room to run.
5 ) Jasper and Jason: (Dogs) $50,000 dollars each and other inheritance

Jasper and Jason
Mrs Myburgh left $50,000 worth of trust funds to each of her dogs Jasper and Jason. But unfortunaltely Jason passed away and his share was inherited by Jasper. This makes Jasper $100,000 net worth.
The dogs also own a 1,236 acre estate that is worth a lot more than $1 million, and enjoy the finest steaks prepared by a personal chef and ride around in a stretch limo.
6 ) Tinker (Cat) – $1 million dollars

Tinker
This cat Tinker was only a stray ordinary cat which regularly visited Margaret Layne who was an old widow. Due to Tinker’s loyalty to the old widow she inherited trust funds and a new home which altogether is worth around $1 million dollars.
7 ) Porgy,Pride,Joy & Ronald (Cats) – $120 million dollars
Soho_foyles_bookshop_1
There is no pics of the cats or the owner so this is a picture of the bookshop owned by Queen Christina Foyle
Christina Foyle is the late bookshop queen who was the owner of Foyles in Charing Cross Road. She died in June 1999 and left $120 million dollars estate to her 4 cats.
“I’ve always been an avid cat lover and Miss Foyle left me all her nine cats,” explains her former housekeeper Maureen Harding.
“And I’ve still got four of them left.”
The $140,000 cottage Harding was left to live in with the cats was sold and the money used to buy a new home for the feline family in Essex. Porgy, a tortoiseshell and at 17 the oldest, sleeps in Harding’s bedroom; then come Pride and Joy (both tabbies) and Ronnie, the youngest.
“Ronnie’s a bit of a bully, I’m afraid. Quite a character although he can be spiteful. But they’re all sweethearts really,” says Harding.
8 ) Silverstone (Tortoise) – $200,000 dollars
silverstone totoise
Aged over 50, this tortoise got his name when he was set down on a lawn on Grand Prix day and proceeded to make extremely pacy progress across the grass.
He was another beneficiary of Christina Foyle.
She left $200,000 to handyman Anthony Scillitoe and his wife Eileen to look after her six tortoises plus a collie cross, who died shortly after his mistress.
9 ) Top Cat and Matilda (Cats) – $20,000 dollars
Matilda cat
This pair became aristocats when their owner, a retired librarian in Aberdeen called died in October 2004 leaving $20,000 for the care of each of her cats.
The minister’s daughter had been parsimonious when it came to her own creature comforts – she travelled everywhere by bus and saw no need to have central heating – but clearly felt her cats were worth a little more.
10 ) Angus (Cow) Larry (Lamb) – $16,000 dollars
Angus
Queen Mother created a $6million trust before she died and the herd of animals was to be the wealthiest set of animals in Britain. Each of the animals had a personal fortune of around $16,000 dollars.

Army chief wanted more drone support


mullen kayani, WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, dawn papers, pakistan papers, dawn wikileaks, dawn cables, Sweden, pakistan wikileaks, pakistan, the hindu, the hindu cables, the hindu, wikileaks pakistan papers, us diplomatic cables
In another meeting with US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen over March 3-4, 2008, Kayani was asked for his help “in approving a third Restricted Operating Zone for US aircraft over the FATA.” The request - detailed in a cable sent from the US Embassy Islamabad on March 24 - clearly indicates that two ‘corridors’ for US drones had already been approved earlier. - File Photo

KARACHI: Secret internal American government cables, accessed by Dawn through WikiLeaks, provide confirmation that the US military’s drone strikes programme within Pakistan had more than just tacit acceptance of the country’s top military brass, despite public posturing to the contrary. In fact, as long ago as January 2008, the country’s military was requesting the US for greater drone back-up for its own military operations.
Previously exposed diplomatic cables have already shown that Pakistan’s civilian leaders are strongly supportive – in private – of the drone strikes on alleged militant targets in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), even as they condemn them for general consumption. But it is not just the civilian leadership that has been following a duplicitous policy on the robotic vehicles.
In a meeting on January 22, 2008 with US CENTCOM Commander Admiral William J. Fallon, Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani requested the Americans to provide “continuous Predator coverage of the conflict area” in South Waziristan where the army was conducting operations against militants. The request is detailed in a ‘Secret’ cable sent by then US Ambassador Anne Patterson on February 11, 2008. Pakistan’s military has consistently denied any involvement in the covert programme run mainly by the CIA.
The American account of Gen Kayani’s request for “Predator coverage” does not make clear if mere air surveillance were being requested or missile-armed drones were being sought. Theoretically “Predator coverage” could simply mean air surveillance and not necessarily offensive support. However the reaction to the request suggests otherwise. According to the report of the meeting sent back to Washington by Patterson, Admiral Fallon “regretted that he did not have the assets to support this request” but offered trained US Marines (known as JTACs) to coordinate air strikes for Pakistani infantry forces on ground. General Kayani “demurred” on the offer, pointing out that having US soldiers on ground “would not be politically acceptable.”
In another meeting with US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen over March 3-4, 2008, Kayani was asked for his help “in approving a third Restricted Operating Zone for US aircraft over the FATA.” The request – detailed in a cable sent from the US Embassy Islamabad on March 24 – clearly indicates that two ‘corridors’ for US drones had already been approved earlier.
In secret cable on October 9, 2009 (previously published by WikiLeaks), Ambassador Patterson reports that US military support to the Pakistan Army’s 11th Corps operations in South Waziristan would “be at the division-level and would include a live downlink of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) full motion video.” In fact, in November 2008, Dawn had reported then commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, telling its reporter that US and Pakistan also share video feeds from Predator drones that carry out attacks. “We have a Predator feed going down to the one border coordination centre at Torkham Gate thats looked at by the Pakistan Military, Afghan Military, and the International Security Assistance Force,” General McKiernan had said.
Sharing of video feeds does not imply operational control by Pakistan’s military, however, and even this sharing may have subsequently been suspended.
Despite the occasionally disastrously misdirected attacks which have fed into the public hue and cry over civilian casualties, there is, in private, seeming general acceptance by the military of the efficacy of drone strikes. In a cable dated February 19, 2009, Ambassador Patterson sends talking points to Washington ahead of a week-long visit to the US by COAS Kayani. Referring to drone strikes, she writes: “Kayani knows full well that the strikes have been precise (creating few civilian casualties) and targeted primarily at foreign fighters in the Waziristans.”
Another previously unpublished cable dated May 26, 2009 details President Zardari’s meeting on May 25 with an American delegation led by Senator Patrick Leahy. “Referring to a recent drone strike in the tribal area that killed 60 militants,” wrote Ambassador Patterson in her report, “Zardari reported that his military aide believed a Pakistani operation to take out this site would have resulted in the deaths of over 60  Pakistani soldiers.”
The general support for drone strikes from both the military and civilian leadership is also evidenced by the continuous demand, documented over numerous cables, from Pakistan Government officials to American interlocutors for drone technology to be placed in Pakistani hands. The issue conveyed to the Americans is not so much that of accuracy as that of managing public perceptions.
In the meeting with Senator Leahy, Zardari is directly quoted telling the US delegation to “give me the drones so my forces can take out the militants.”  That way, he explains, “we cannot be criticized by the media or anyone else for actions our Army takes to protect our sovereignty.”
General Kayani also “focused on the need for surveillance assets” in the meeting with Admiral Fallon according to Patterson’s cable. “Kayani said he was not interested in acquiring Predators, but was interested in tactical Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs).” Predators are considered ‘theatre-level’ technology able to cover wide regions such as the whole of Afghanistan and Pakistan through remotely stationed operations rooms while ‘tactical’ drones are less wide-ranging and can be operated by forces on the ground.
After the first US drone strike outside the tribal areas, in Bannu on November 19, 2008 which killed four people including an alleged senior Al Qaeda member, Ambassador Patterson had presciently noted in another previously unpublished cable (dated November 24, 2008) the dangers of keeping the Pakistani public misinformed. “As the gap between private GOP acquiescence and public condemnation for US action grows,” she wrote back to Washington, “Pakistani leaders who feel they look increasingly weak to their constituents could begin considering stronger action against the US, even though the response to date has focused largely on ritual denunciation.”

Shahbaz was willing to have CJ removed after ‘face-saving’ restoration

Shahbaz sharif, nawaz sharif
“On the issue of former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Shahbaz claimed that the PML-N was open to negotiation, provided that Chaudhry was symbolically restored.” The conversation took place just a day before Nawaz Sharif would join a lawyers’ long march in a dramatic public protest for the reinstatement of judges deposed by Gen Musharraf, a demand that President Zardari had been resisting. In private, however, a different story was being told. - File Photo

KARACHI: Even as PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was rallying street support by publicly refusing to back down from demands for the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in February and March 2009, the party was privately telling American diplomats that the future of the then-non-functional chief justice was up for negotiation.
“Shahbaz stated that following the restoration, the PML-N was prepared to end the issue and remove Chaudhry once and for all,” reported Lahore Consulate Principal Officer Bryan Hunt in a secret American diplomatic cable describing his meeting with the younger Sharif on March 14, 2009.
“On the issue of former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Shahbaz claimed that the PML-N was open to negotiation, provided that Chaudhry was symbolically restored.”
The conversation took place just a day before Nawaz Sharif would join a lawyers’ long march in a dramatic public protest for the reinstatement of judges deposed by Gen Musharraf, a demand that President Zardari had been resisting. In private, however, a different story was being told.
Shahbaz stressed that his party could not afford the political humiliation of abandoning what had become a long-standing principle in favour of Chaudhry’s restoration,” Mr Hunt reported. “At the same time, Shahbaz claimed to understand that Chaudhry was a problematic jurist, whose powers would need to be carefully curtailed.”
Shahbaz Sharif strategised that as a judge who had taken oath under Gen Musharraf’s first provisional constitutional order, Chaudhry could be removed – once “some sort of face-saving restoration” had been carried out – “by adopting legislation proposed in the Charter of Democracy that would ban all judges who had taken an oath under a PCO from serving.”
A week earlier, in another meeting at the Lahore consulate, Shahbaz Sharif had proposed an alternative solution: creating the Constitutional Court envisioned in the Charter of Democracy and ensuring that “it be made superior to the Supreme Court. Iftikhar Chaudhry’s restoration … would then have little measurable impact, as the Constitutional Court, staffed by appointees from both parties, could nullify his decisions.”
Even before the restoration, Shahbaz Sharif confided, the PML-N leadership would agree to any constraints President Zardari might want placed on Chaudhry, “including curtailment of his powers to create judicial benches, removal of his suo motu jurisdiction, and/or establishment of a constitutional court as a check on the Supreme Court.”
“Although Nawaz publicly has said Chaudhry’s restoration is also a red line,” commented US Ambassador Anne Patterson in a separate report, “no leader in Pakistan really wants an activist and unpredictable Chief Justice. … Nawaz emerges stronger in the public eye and retains the ‘high moral ground’ by defending the judiciary.”
As late as January 22, in fact, PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique had told Mr Hunt that a minimum requirement for saving the coalition with the PPP in Punjab was “full retirement of Chief Justice Hameed Dogar and appointment of Justice Sardar Raza in his place.” Chaudhry did not seem to have been a concern.
But by March 2009 he had become the PML-N’s rallying cry, and the timing clearly had to do with political developments at the time: a February 25 Supreme Court decision had declared the Sharif brothers ineligible for office, and the president had imposed governor’s rule in Punjab.
“Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif told Principal Officer Lahore that the decision [to declare them ineligible to hold public office], which they claimed was entirely Zardari’s, was a declaration of war; they would … take their battle to the streets. Following the decision, PML-N certainly will participate in the lawyers’ march,” reported a February 2009 cable previously published in the media.
“Before the Court ruling, ‘95 per cent of the party’ had opposed joining the lawyers’ March 16 sit-in because it might lead to violence,” Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan revealed privately in a separate conversation at the US embassy.
“Now, the party had little choice but to support them.”

Police has changed their statement on Quetta's Incident



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