At least 3.9m children, women need food support

ISLAMABAD: Over 2.5 million children under the age of five have been affected by floods, says a report released by an international anti-poverty agency.

There are about 1.4 million (eight per cent) pregnant and lactating women among the affected people and over one million are elderly or otherwise vulnerable.

The Actionaid report said there was an urgent need for nutrition assistance, especially for young children and pregnant and lactating women.

It said also called for community-level programmes to fight acute malnutrition and dissemination of messages on feeding and hygiene for infants and young children in the affected areas.

The number of schools being used as shelters has decreased to 5,258 and 1.3 million people are living in them.

At least 9,484 schools have been damaged and there is a need to provide temporary structures and supplies such as tents, school-in-a-box kits and recreation kits to ensure continuation of education during the transition period from tents to permanent buildings.

Government schools in Punjab are due to reopen on Sept 14.

At least 436 health facilities have been damaged or destroyed and there is a need to prevent emerging health threats and outbreaks of diseases and to ensure that essential medical supplies reach affected communities in time.

Increased numbers of suspected malaria cases are being recorded in Sindh and Balochistan.

UN assessment teams have reported a 20 per cent increase in the use of unprotected water sources and confirmed a widespread need for sanitation assistance.

Households have indicated a need primarily for cash grants, material for repair of houses and rehabilitation of lost livelihoods. Movement of people back to their homes in areas where waters are receding requires relief and early recovery responses.

Some relief camps are being closed in southern Punjab, including three of the initial 11 camps managed by the army.

People in camps are being encouraged to return to their areas in order to register for compensation.

Many areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan are still hard to reach or inaccessible.

The report says that specific needs of women and children in terms of health, hygiene and protection are not being addressed. There are security risks in some affected areas, including Balochistan and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Punjab.

Camps do not offer enough space for people to keep their surviving livestock.

Some families have started to return to their damaged houses, while those who have lost their homes are putting up in the camps.

There is a serious risk of diseases, including malaria and diarrhoea, spreading in the affected areas.

Medical aid is not enough and essential medicines are scarce. The report stresses the need for a plan to ensure the displaced children’s right to education.

It calls for immediate launching of cash-for-work programmes to generate income for affected people, decrease their dependence on handouts and kickstart local economies.

The Actionaid said it was developing a framework for a longer-term response spanning over three years, covering coordination, financing, protection from violence against women, livelihoods, community participation, climate change, etc.

Aamer, Asif axed from awards list: source

KARACHI: Embattled Pakistan bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif, currently embroiled in a corruption storm, have been dropped from the International Cricket Council’s annual awards list.

“The pair’s nominations have been withdrawn and the jury has been informed,” an ICC spokesman confirmed to AFP without giving further details.

Aamer was in the running for the best emerging player award while Asif was listed in the best cricketer category.

The awards ceremony will take place in Bangalore on Monday.

Aamer and Asif, as well as Test captain Salman Butt, are all being investigated following allegations of ‘spot-fixing’ in the fourth Test against England last week.

All three have been charged by the ICC with “various offences” under its anti-corruption code and they have been suspended pending a decision on those charges.

FIA clears three in hosing of BB’s assassination site

ISLAMABAD: A joint investigation team (JIT) of the FIA set up to look into the hosing down of the place where former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated has absolved former ASP Syed Ashfaq Anwar, AIG (CID) Chaudhry Abdul Majeed and DCO Mohammad Irfan Elahi of responsibility in the incident.

According to sources, the team has asked the interior ministry to remove their names from the Exit Control List (ECL).

The Federal Investigation Agency has asked the government to allow the two police officials and the former district coordination officer to resume their duties.

FIA Special Investigation Group (SIG) Director General Mohammad Khalid Qureshi said a letter had been sent to the ministry in this regard.

However, he did not reply when asked if any of the police officials under investigation had left for the United Kingdom on a scholarship.

The JIT is yet to complete its investigation into the role of former Rawalpindi city police chief Saud Aziz, SSP Yasin Farooq and SP Khurram Shahzad Haider.

The SIG, which is investigating the murder case, had found out in May that the telecommunication record book of Rawalpindi police had been “tampered with” and interviewed three officials of the police telecommunications wing, besides an SP on whose alleged order it had been done.

ASP Syed Ashfaq Anwar who had been posted in the headquarters and who was assigned to provide box security (supervision) to Ms Bhutto was also interviewed by the JIT for more than three hours in connection with the tampering.

Telecommunications Wing DSP Munawar Gill and operators Ahmed Nawaz and Bilal Ahmed were the other personnel who were interviewed.

The Lahore High Court had ordered the removal of Mr Anwar’s name from the ECL on a petition filed by him.

The officer has been waiting to leave for the UK on a British Council scholarship.

The government had placed the names of SP Ashfaq Anwar, former CPO Saud Aziz, SSP Yasin Farooq, SP Khuram Shahzad, DCO Irfan Elahi and additional inspector general of police Abdul Majeed on the ECL after constituting a three-member committee to probe into the hosing down of the place after the assassination.

The names of a former director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Gul, former Intelligence Bureau chief Brig (retd) Ijaz Shah and former federal secretary Kamal Shah were also placed on the ECL.

A UN report on Ms Bhutto’s assassination had said that, contrary to police’s assertion, there was no police-provided box formation around her as she arrived at a rally and the Elite Force unit did not execute their duties as specified in the security deployment. The United Nations commission said it did not believe that the full escort as described by police was ever present.

US renews support for democratic set-up

ISLAMABAD: While democracy got one boost from the resolution that was passed in the National Assembly on Friday, it also got a shot in the arm from the pleasantries exchanged between the prime minister and a visiting US delegation.

Jim Marshall, a US Congressman, who was accompanied by four colleagues, assured Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani of the American government’s commitment to Pakistani democracy.

“The US administration, as well as the Congress, strongly desire continuation and strengthening of democracy in Pakistan and believe that its relationship with Pakistan is absolutely grounded on civilian and constitution based set-up.”

Uttered on Friday afternoon as the parliament was passing a resolution in favour of democracy, the words must have sounded reassuring to the prime minister whose government is once again facing the rumours of an early death.

The floods have left in their wake a fractured polity in which hostility between various coalition partners at the centre as well as at the provincial level appears to have reached new levels.

The statement by MQM leader Altaf Hussain in which he invited “patriotic generals” to take martial law-like steps is a case in point. In fact, his statement strengthened the rumours that the PPP government was on its way out.

A political observer told Dawn that the recent trip of the chief of army staff to Saudi Arabia where he met the Saudi king as well as intelligence chief Prince Muqrin Bin Abdul Aziz added to the buzz.

It is noteworthy that within days of Gen Kayani’s trip to the kingdom, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also visited the country and held a meeting with Prince Muqrin.

However, the rumour mills may slow down if not stop completely with this latest message from the Americans.

The visiting Congressmen, according to the official press release from the prime minister’s house, said the delegation “during their meeting with the Chief of the Army Staff earlier in the day… had highlighted these US sentiments”.

It went on to add that the delegates “assured the prime minister of USA’s support for establishing civilian institutions and building their capacity for disaster management and relief activities…”

At a time when Pakistan is so crucial to American foreign policy goals in the region, such a strong American statement in support of democracy is bound to be noted by all political stakeholders. However, when Dawn contacted a security official to get the army’s response to the development, he declined to comment; he said that “as a matter of policy the military does not comment on political debates, issues and controversies”.

The US delegation included Representatives Jane Harman, Peter Welech, Charies Dent and Cythia Lummis.

Floods ravage K.N. Shah, threaten three towns

DADU: Floodwaters gushing from seven breaches in Khuda Wah inundated a major part of Khairpur Nathan Shah and 10km of the Indus Highway from Yousuf Naich village to Mehar bypass on Friday.

The waters were heading towards Mehar, where the administration issued a last warning to residents of the town and adjoining areas to leave their homes.

A grid station, the civil courts, taluka hospital, police station, boys’ and girls’ colleges, banks and houses were inundated in Khairpur Nathan Shah.

People climbed onto rooftops as the water level rose to six feet and continued rising.

Over 14,000 people were in the town and they were facing a shortage of food. A rescue operation was yet to be launched.

Floodwaters were also surging towards Sita Road town after inundating 30 villages near Khairpur Nathan Shah. A large number of families displaced from the villages camped out in the open on the Johi branch embankment.

The Indus Highway was under three feet of water and traffic between Dadu and Larkana was diverted towards the Sita-Mehar link road.

Displaced people were going towards Sita Road on foot because of lack of transport.

The town of 30,000 was itself under a threat as raging torrents were just six kilometres away.

The MPA from the area, Imran Zafar Leghari, advised people to leave Sita Road.

The administration began work on an embankment around Mehar in the evening.

Waters flowing from three artificial cuts of 1,000 feet in Johi canal, at Bello Patan and Kari Mori, reached Thareri Mohbat and inundated 20 villages. The waters were heading towards Johi town.

The town was also under threat from breaches in the Main Nara Valley drain at Pir Mashaikh village. Three villages and a five-kilometre stretch of road were washed away in the taluka, suspending traffic between Dadu and Johi.

The residents of Johi started vacating the town, opting for Kachho and a mountainous strip nearby.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah visited Dadu and had an aerial view of Johi and Khairpur Nathan Shah.

Troops were deployed along the MNV drain embankment in Johi.

At least 24 breaches in the drain in Johi, Mehar and Khairpur Nathan Shah talukas had not been plugged when we went to press.

Wapda takes up Munda dam project

LAHORE: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) decided on Friday to invite expression of interest (EoI) for consultancy services for detailed engineering design and preparation of tender documents for the Munda dam project.

The dam will be built on River Swat on a priority basis in the wake of recent floods which have wreaked havoc in the country, especially in Nowshera and Charsadda districts.

To be built about 5km upstream Munda headworks in Mohmand Agency, the dam will help prevent flood, ensure availability of irrigation water and provide low-cost electricity.

The feasibility study was conducted about 10 years ago and donor agencies and financial institutions are ready to finance the project.

The dam will store 1.29 million acre feet of water to irrigate more than 15,000 acres and generate 740MW, contributing 2,400 million units of cheap electricity to the national grid.

It will play a vital role in protecting Nowshera and Charsadda by storing the water of River Swat during peak floods. The Swat and Kabul rivers have been the biggest threat to Nowshera and Charsadda with maximum flows of nearly 400,000 cusecs during the recent floods. The project will help avoid simultaneous flooding in both rivers.

It will be the biggest multi-purpose hydropower plan after the 969MW Neelum-Jhelum project and the 4,500MW Diamer-Bhasha dam

Suicide bomber strikes Al Quds rally; at least 56 killed

QUETTA: At least 56 people were killed and about 160 others injured here on Friday when a suicide bomber struck a procession brought out to mark the Al Quds day. The bomber blew himself up when the rally, organised by the Imamia Students Organisation, reached Meezan Chowk.

Soon after the blast some armed men in the procession started firing into the air, triggering chaos and panic. People fled or lay on the ground to avoid the gunfire.

All shopping centres and business establishments shuttered down in no time after an angry mob set on fire several vehicles and ransacked some shops.

They also attacked DSNGs of different TV channels and fired at the Aaj van, killing its driver. Three policemen were injured.

The outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesman identified the bomber as 22-year-old Arshad Muavia. But according to a report from tribal areas, a spokesman of the Tehril-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to official sources, the provincial government imposed a ban on religious processions.

“It was a suicide attack,” Balochistan home secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told Dawn. He said that organisers of the procession had been alerted to the threat.

Bomb disposal squad officials said the device packed 15 kilograms of explosives. The impact of the blast smashed windows of a number of shops and buildings.

Police found limbs of the bomber and sent them for forensic tests.

Balochistan IG Iqbal Malik said the organisers had agreed at a meeting that the procession would not go up to Meezan Chowk.

“They were stopped at a place agreed upon for terminating the procession, but they violated the written agreement,” Mr Malik said.

The procession started from an Imambargah on Prince Road after Friday prayers. When it reached near Islamia High School, police stopped the processionists from moving ahead. But they refused, broke the police cordon and marched on Meezan Chowk.

Sources said the bomber had entered the rally near Baldia Plaza and detonated the explosives during speeches by some ISO leaders.

Thirty-five people died on the spot and the rest in hospitals. A number of dead and wounded lay in pools of blood. The blast also enveloped motorcycles and bodies in flames. “I saw a young man entering the procession and after that a powerful explosion took place,” Saqib Khan, an eyewitness, told Dawn. He said that after the blast heavy gunfire shook the area.

An emergency was declared in all government hospitals in Quetta. Thirty bodies were taken to the CMH, nine to the Civil Hospital and two to Bolan Medical College Hospital.

Thirteen people with bullet injuries were taken to the Civil Hospital.

“Fifty-six people were killed and over 160 injured in the blast,” DIG (Operations) Hamid Shakeel said.

Iqbal Malik, the police chief, constituted three teams to investigate the incident.

Amanullah Kasi adds: The Balochistan Shia Council and Ittehad Tajran Balochistan called a shutdown in Quetta for Saturday. They appealed to traders not to open their shops in protest against the attack. The BSC also called for a 40-day mourning.

The Awami National Party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, PML-N, Jamhoori Watan Party (Talal), Jamaat-i-Islami and Muttahida Qaumi Movement condemned the bombing.

Woo awarded Golden Lion for lifetime achievement

VENICE: John Woo built his reputation with stylish Hong Kong action thrillers, then moved to Hollywood where he directed such big-budget blockbusters as “Mission Impossible II.”

The director is now preparing for a third phase of his career.

“I would like to be a bridge between the good things of the West and the East, so we can further our mutual knowledge and build a strong friendship,” Woo said Friday.

Woo was awarded a Golden Lion award for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival, which recognized the director “as an innovator of the contemporary language of cinema” and for renewing action films by introducing extreme stylization.

Woo, 64, has directed more than 26 films in nearly 30 years, beginning his career in Hong Kong in the 1970s before moving to Hollywood in the 1990s. His US feature debut in 1993 was “Hard Target” starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, and his first Hollywood hit was 1995’s “Broken Arrow,” with John Travolta and Christian Slater. “Mission Impossible II,” starring Tom Cruise, grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

Despite his filmmaking successes, Woo said he was shocked to be given a lifetime achievement award.

“I wouldn’t say that I have much contributed to film society, even though I made several good films,” Woo said.

Venice Film Festival director Marco Mueller, an Asian film expert, said Woo’s films are “a perfect union of the China tradition and avant-garde filmmaking.”

“I don’t think we are bestowing an honor. I think it was here waiting for him,” Mueller said.

Woo more recently has returned to Chinese filmmaking, directing the epic period war drama “Red Cliff,” based on a war that took place in China in the 3rd Century.

Woo said it was about time to bring everything he learned over 16 years working in Hollywood, back to China.

“Right now, I am very happy to be making movies in China for various reasons, because we have a very old history and also a popular folklore that is different from what is known in abroad. I would like to work on films in the future that are more Chinese in nature, but without leaving Hollywood behind,” Woo said.

Woo said he chose to make a historic drama like “Red Cliff” to try to help the world learn more about China.

“I have worked a lot abroad, and I find people in general don’t know much about our history. People only know Kung-fu films,” Woo said.

That’s not to say he has left action films behind. He was presenting in Venice a new epic martial arts thriller, “Reign of Assassins,” starring Michelle Yeoh, showing out of competition.

This was Woo’s fourth time in Venice. He was the “godfather” of a section on Asian film in 2004, directed “All Invisible Children,” which showed out of competition in 2006, and was the producer of “Blood Brothers,” which showed in 2007. – AP

UN nuclear chief asks Israel to join treaty

VIENNA: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has asked Israel to consider signing up to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, according to a report made public Friday, in a boost to Arab-led pressure on the Jewish state to join the treaty.

Israel refuses to confirm it possesses a nuclear arsenal but is widely considered to be the Middle East’s only nuclear power.

Agency chief Yukiya Amano “invited Israel to consider to accede” to the treaty during a low-key visit to the country last month, said the IAEA report that was made public before a meeting of the Vienna-based watchdog's board of governors.

In his talks with officials, Amano also asked Israel to “place all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards” and “conveyed the General Conference's concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities,” the report said.

Islamic nations have long called for Israel to open its nuclear program and join the treaty.

They saw their efforts rewarded a year ago when IAEA member states, at their annual Vienna conference, narrowly passed a resolution directly criticizing Israel and its atomic program, with 49 of the 110 nations present in support, 45 against and 16 abstaining.

The resolution expressed “concern about the Israeli nuclear capabilities,” and links it to “concern about the threat posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons for the security and stability of the Middle East.”

The result was a setback not only for Israel but also for Washington and other backers of the Jewish state, which had lobbied for 18 years of past practice – debate on the issue without a vote.

A July 26 letter from Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, included in Friday’s report, points the finger at Iran and Syria as the Middle East's “real proliferation challenges” and called the resolution a politically motivated attempt to divert attention from them.

Attempts to single out Israel “seriously detracts from the international community’s attempts to address the actual and ongoing violations of international obligations in the nuclear sphere,” Liberman wrote.

The US and its allies consider Iran the region’s greatest proliferation threat, fearing that Tehran is trying to achieve the capacity to make nuclear weapons despite its assertion that it is only building a civilian program to generate power.

They also say Syria – which, like Iran is under International Atomic Energy Agency investigation – ran a clandestine nuclear program, at least until Israeli warplanes destroyed what they describe as a nearly finished plutonium-producing reactor two years ago. Syria denies that.

Friday’s report also included more than 40 letters from IAEA member states in response to an April request by Amano for proposals on how to persuade Israel to sign the Nonproliferation Treaty.

The letters reflect a deep rift among the international community on the matter.

Iran, for example, called Israel an “atrocious regime” and alleged that nuclear weapons in its hands were a source of serious danger to regional and international peace and security.

The US, in contrast, said it encourages all states that have not yet done so to join the Nonproliferation Treaty, but added it opposed the resolution adopted last September because it singles out Israel and mentions neither Iran’s noncompliance with its IAEA safeguards obligations, nor Syria’s refusal to cooperate with the agency.

China, meanwhile, said it “believes that Israel should join the NPT as a non-nuclear state” and allow international inspections of its atomic facilities. – AP

Amir reports to police; Asif and Butt to be quizzed later

LONDON: Mohammad Amir, one of three Pakistan cricketers embroiled in betting scam claims, reported to a British police station on Friday.

Fast bowler Aamir arrived at Kilburn Police Station, near Lord’s cricket ground in north London, where he is expected to be interviewed by detectives.

Police are also expected to question Pakistan’s Test captain Salman Butt and Amir’s fellow bowler Mohammad Asif on Friday.

London’s Metropolitan Police offered no comment when contacted by AFP.

So far, police have bailed without charge a 35-year-old man arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers as part of their probe into the alleged “spot-fixing” scam surrounding the Pakistan team.

Meanwhile, former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Shaharyar Khan said criminal charges are unlikely to be upheld against the three players but civil charges are likely.

Khan said the evidence to uphold a civil case against Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Salman Butt is “quite strong, but I don’t think it will be easy to prove criminal charges against our cricketers.”

“In most of these sting operations in which newspaper reporters change their identities, it’s not easy to prove criminal charges in the court of law.”

Zaheer Abbas, former Pakistan captain and team manager, said the ICC’s involvement did not bode well for the players.

“Before it was allegations, but now the ICC has taken a very tough step, which has raised the suspicions,” Abbas said.

“Our players couldn’t differentiate between friends and foes. I still hope that our players could come out clean.” —Agencies

At least 25 killed in Quetta suicide blast

QUETTA: At least 25 people were killed and 100 others were wounded in a suicide attack targeting a Youm-al-Quds rally at Meezan Chowk in Quetta on Friday, reports said.

DawnNews cameraman Fateh Shakir was among those wounded in the explosion.

Aerial firing was taking place in the area as rescue teams tried to reach the site of the blast.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan criticises ICC suspensions

LONDON: The International Cricket Council’s suspension of Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt on corruption charges is “unhelpful, premature and unnecessary,” Pakistan’s high commissioner in Britain said on Friday.

Pakistan High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan said cricket’s ruling body should not have acted until investigations by the police and its own anti-corruption unit were complete.

Hasan, who met with the players for three hours in London on Thursday, reiterated his belief that bowlers Asif and Amir and Test captain Butt are innocent of conspiring with bookmakers in a betting scam.

“There is a live police inquiry which takes precedence over both the ICC, civil or regulatory investigation and indeed any internal disciplinary investigation,” Hasan said in an interview with BBC Radio 4. “To take action now is unhelpful, premature and unnecessary considering the players had already voluntarily withdrawn from playing.”

The ICC charged the players with corruption late Thursday. ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat and Ronnie Flanagan, the chairman of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, are set to explain the decision at a news conference later Friday.

The suspensions followed allegations by a British newspaper that Amir and Asif deliberately bowled no-balls at predetermined points in last week’s fourth test against England.

Amir, Asif and Butt were expected to be questioned by police on Friday. They were first questioned late Saturday when the allegations were made public and had their mobile phones confiscated.

The ICC provisionally barred the players from all forms of cricket pending a resolution of charges of “various offences” under the sport’s anti-corruption code.

“We will not tolerate corruption in cricket – simple as that,” Lorgat said in a statement. “We must be decisive with such matters and, if proven, these offences carry serious penalties up to a life ban. The ICC will do everything possible to keep such conduct out of the game, and we will stop at nothing to protect the sport’s integrity. While we believe the problem is not widespread, we must always be vigilant.”

The ICC said the players have 14 days to decide if they want a hearing.

“It is important, however, that we do not prejudge the guilt of these three players,” Lorgat said. “That is for the independent tribunal alone to decide.”

Butt, Amir and Asif had earlier missed their team's warm-up match against county side Somerset to meet with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt and Hasan in London.

Attack on Ahmedi worship place in Mardan kills one

PESHAWAR: A suicide attack on an Ahmedi worship place killed at least one person and wounded several others in northwest Pakistan on Friday, police said.

Police official Ahsanullah Khan said the bomber in Friday's attack appeared to have detonated himself after he was prevented from entering the worship place in the town of Mardan.

Five Indian athletes suspended from Games

NEW DELHI: Four Indian wrestlers and a shot-putter were suspended from next month’s Commonwealth Games on home soil after failing drug tests, officials said on Friday.

All five tested positive for methylhexaneamine, a banned stimulant used widely as a nasal decongestant, according to Rahul Bhatnagar, who heads the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

Three male wrestlers, Rajiv Tomar, Sumit Kumar and Masuam Khatri, female wrestler Gursharanpreet Kaur and male shot-putter Saurav Vij were suspended pending tests of their “B” samples.

They were all thrown out of the national squads for the Commonwealth Games which begin in the Indian capital New Delhi on October 3.

Two other wrestlers and an athlete, who were not part of the Games squad, also tested positive, Bhatnagar said.

“It is unfortunate these failed tests came just before the Games,” Bhatnagar said. “But we have a no-tolerance policy towards that. They can get their ‘B’ tests done if they want.”

Wrestling and athletics officials said the tests were done during pre-Games trials and camps and were hoping to name replacements in the respective squads.

Doping has afflicted Indian sport over the last decade with weightlifters being the chief culprits.

The Indian weightlifting federation was fined 500,000 dollars by the world governing body after six lifters failed dope tests last year.

The federation managed to pay only 125,000 dollars and were forced to take an interest-free loan from Games organisers to pay the rest of the fine and ensure their participation in Delhi 2010. —AFP

Easy wins for big names in US Open second round

NEW YORK: Roger Federer and Caroline Wozniacki cruised into the third round of the US Open on Thursday while Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic and Robin Soderling showed why they are title contenders as well.

Swiss second seed Federer, seeking his 17th Grand Slam crown and a seventh consecutive trip to the US Open final, beat Germany’s 104th-ranked Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 41 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Five-time US Open champion Federer will face 109th-ranked Paul-Henri Mathieu to decide a fourth-round berth on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts.

“It’s the perfect start,” Federer said.

“Body is well. Mentally obviously I’m fresh, too. I haven’t played too much, so I’m really eager. I’m ready for tough matches coming around. It’s good I’m saving myself, really, and my game is fine.”

Danish women’s top seed Wozniacki blanked Taiwan’s Chang Kai-Chen 6-0, 6-0 in 47 minutes, her 11th match victory in a row after titles at Montreal and New Haven leading into the Open. She has dropped only two games in two matches.

“I go out there and I don’t give up. I don’t give any free points away and that is one of my strong points,” Wozniacki said. “I am feeling fresh, all recovered from everything. I am happy to be playing injury-free. It’s perfect.”

Russian beauty Sharapova routed Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2, moving closer to a fourth-round showdown with Wozniacki. The 2006 US Open winner struggled with injuries last year but is back on form now.

“Last year here, the position I was in, I was trying to see where my game was, so it’s nice to be back on the court and not having to worry about anything other than trying to win,” Sharapova said.

Serbian third seed Djokovic advanced 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) over German Philipp Petzschner, saying, “I was shakey the whole match but I was able to hold on.”

Djokovic reached the 2007 US Open final and the Flushing Meadows semi-finals the past two years, each time losing to Federer, whom he could again face in the semi-finals.

“It’s important to save energy in the opening rounds,” Djokovic said.

“Overall I can be satisfied with how I played. I played well when I needed to and was a little bit lucky.”

Swedish fifth seed Soderling downed American Taylor Dent 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. The French Open runner-up meets Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker next.

“I’m pretty confident. I know I can do well when I play well,” Soderling said. “But you need to play well. No one can play well every match. So anything can happen. I can lose first round. I can go on really deep as well.”

Russian sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko, a 2006 and 2007 US Open semi-final loser to Federer, was ousted 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 by 38th-ranked Richard Gasquet in the biggest upset of the day.

Gasquet, among a record 12 Frenchmen to reach the second round, lost only seven of 52 points on his first serve as Davydenko made his quickest US Open exit since 2005.

Davydenko joined a US Open seeded scrap heap that includes No. 7 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, US ninth seed Andy Roddick and Croatian 11th seed Marin Cilic, who lost to Japanese qualifier Kei Nishikori 5-7, 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 in an exhausting five-hour duel.

“I was cramping from the second set but I kept fighting and fighting and got the fourth set tie-breaker. That was key for me,” Nishikori said.

“It was hot but I feel good now.”

China’s Peng Shaui, ranked 61st, shocked Polish ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the biggest upset on the women’s side.

Taiwan’s Chan Yung-Jan made her deepest Grand Slam run after 17 tries by beating Austria’s Tamira Paszek 6-3, 6-3.

“I was not 100 percent in my first match and was missing the easy ball, but that was better today and I’m looking to play even better from now on,” Chan said. —AFP

BP says cost of Gulf of Mexico spill hits $8 billion

LONDON: BP says it has so far spent $8 billion responding to the disastrous oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately eight billion, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, static kill and cementing, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs,” BP said in a statement.

The April 20 spill was triggered when an explosion ripped through the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and sinking the huge offshore platform two days later.

BP has forecasted that the disaster will cost a total of about 32.2 billion dollars, after pushing the group into a 16.9-billion-dollar loss in the second quarter — which was the biggest quarterly loss in British corporate history.

The statement reiterated that BP had agreed to set up a 20-billion-dollar compensation fund for residents affected by the spill.

The company said Friday that the total included $399 million paid to settle 127,000 claims from businesses and other affected by the oil spill.

The oil company said more than 28,000 people and 4,000 vessels are still engaged in responding to the spill. BP says no oil has flowed from the well since July 15. —Agencies

India’s Maoists spark hostage drama

NEW DELHI: Indian Maoist militants in the east of the country threatened to kill three captured policemen on Friday unless the local government agreed to release seven left-wing prisoners.

On Thursday, the militants claimed they had executed a fourth captive, Kumar Yadav, a sub-inspector, after trying him in a “people's court” in the impoverished eastern state of Bihar.

“We killed him and warned the state government to release our comrades by 10:00am on Friday morning. Failing this we will kill all three policemen,” Maoist spokesman Avinash told local Hindi TV news channels on Thursday evening.

Bihar police chief Neelmani denied that Yadav had been murdered, however, telling reporters: “All four abducted policemen are safe.”

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, widely credited with improving the fortunes of deeply deprived Bihar, is seen as having a different approach to tackling India's Maoist menace.

Kumar has favoured dialogue and development over a hardline strategy of trying to crush the militant movement, which has been described by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as India's biggest internal security threat.

Authorities in New Delhi launched a major offensive last year to tackle the worsening insurgency, but since then the Maoists have hit back with repeated strikes against police and paramilitary forces.

The policemen were abducted during a raid on Sunday that left 10 other officers dead.

Suicide blast kills at least one in Tajikistan

DUSHANBE: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police station in northern Tajikistan on Friday, killing at least one person and wounding 20, a police source said.

“There were people in the building and it's now burning,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

He said the death toll was likely to rise but that it was not immediately clear if the dead included the suicide bomber.

The attack occurred in Khujand, about 340 km north of the capital Dushanbe and near the border with Uzbekistan.

Governments in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia are clamping down on what they see as growing radicalism in the predominantly Muslim, though secular, region after a rise in clashes between security forces and armed groups.

Tajikistan, which has a porous 1,340-km border with Afghanistan, has jailed 115 people this year on charges of belonging to banned groups, mostly Islamic.

Last month, 10 followers of a banned Islamic group were jailed in Khujand for terms of three to 15 years.

Explosion strikes near police mobile in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Police say a roadside bomb near a police van killed a police officer and wounded three others.

Police official Shafiullah Khan said the bomb was detonated by remote control Friday as officers patrolled on Ring Road in Peshawar's Achini Bala area on Friday, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where floods have affected millions of people in recent weeks. – AP

Taliban claim responsibility for Lahore attacks

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Pakistan's Taliban on Friday took responsibility for triple bombings at a Shia Muslim procession in the city of Lahore that killed 33 people.

Wednesday's blasts in the eastern city was the first major militant attack in Pakistan since floods waters tore through the country over the past month.

“It's revenge for the killings of innocent Sunnis,” a spokesman for Qari Hussain Mehsud, mentor of the Taliban's suicide bombers, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

“We also have videos of the fidayeen (bombers) and we may release them,” the spokesman Shakirullah Mehsud told Reuters.

Hussain is a senior leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Taliban Movement of Pakistan led by Hakimullah Mehsud, who was charged by US prosecutors this week in the plot that killed seven CIA employees at an American base in Afghanistan last December.

The United States on Wednesday included TTP in its list of foreign terrorist organisations and announced a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest and another TTP leader, Wali-ur-Rehman.

Commonly known as “Ustad-e-Fidayeen” or “the mentor of suicide bombers,” Hussain began his militant career with an anti-Shia group before joining TTP, the main Taliban grouping in Pakistan which is fighting Pakistani government forces and is also increasingly seen as direct threat to the United States.

The attack in Lahore came as the government is struggling to cope with country's worst floods with millions of people threatened by malnutrition and diseases.

The floods struck just as the army said it had made progress in the war against the TTP militants. – Reuters

Soldiers kill 25 in gunbattle near Mexico border

MONTERREY, Mexico: A shootout between soldiers and suspected drug cartel members in northeastern Mexico left 25 purported gunmen dead Thursday, the military said.

A reconnaissance flight over Ciudad Mier in Tamaulipas state spotted several gunmen in front of a property, according to a statement from Mexico's Defense Department.

When troops on the ground moved in, gunmen opened fire, starting a gunbattle that killed 25 suspected cartel members, according to the military. The statement said two soldiers were injured but none were killed.

Earlier, a military spokesman had said the shootout happened when troops on patrol in the town of General Trevino, in neighboring Nuevo Leon state, came under fire from a ranch allegedly controlled by the Zetas drug gang.

The spokesman, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said the troops returned fire at a ranch, known as ''The Stump.''

Authorities rescued three people believed to be kidnap victims in the raid, according to the statement. The military said troops seized 25 rifles, four grenades, 4,200 rounds of ammunition and 23 vehicles.

Drug violence has claimed more than 28,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon intensified a crackdown on cartels after taking office in late 2006.

The Zetas began as a gang of drug assassins but have since evolved into a powerful cartel. A fight between the Zetas and their former allies, the Gulf cartel, has increased drug violence in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states, according to government figures.

The Zetas are suspected of being responsible for the kidnapping and killing of 72 Central and South American migrants in Tamaulipas last week, in what could be Mexico's biggest drug-related massacre. – AP

Japan approves new financial sanctions against Iran

TOKYO: Japan's cabinet Friday approved new sanctions against Iran, including an assets freeze on figures linked to its nuclear programme and tighter restrictions on financial transactions, media reported.

The step comes a month after Tokyo approved punitive measures in line with a June UN Security Council resolution which slapped a fourth set of sanctions on Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment work.

The new sanctions include a freeze on the assets of more than 100 groups and individuals linked to the country's nuclear programme, which many nations fear masks a drive for atomic weapons, Jiji Press reported.

The new package of sanctions also bar Japanese financial institutions from buying bonds issued by Iran's central bank, media reports said.

The United States, the European Union, Canada and Australia have also announced additional sanctions, which have been opposed by Russia and China, now Iran's closest trading partner, with major energy interests in the country.

Washington has urged Tokyo to help raise the pressure on Tehran, despite Japan's usually friendly ties with Iran, a major oil supplier to the energy-hungry archipelago nation.

In early August US State Department special adviser for non-proliferation and arms control Robert Einhorn said in Tokyo: “Japan imports a lot of oil from Iran, but the steps we are asking Japan to take would not interfere in any way with Japan's energy security, its imports of oil from Iran.” Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is peaceful. – AFP