American teen crowned Miss World 2010

SANYA: Blonde, blue-eyed American teenager Alexandria Mills won the Miss World crown for 2010 on Saturday, defeating more than 100 other hopefuls at a glittering ceremony in southern China.

Mills, an 18-year-old from the southern US state of Kentucky, wept as outgoing Miss World Kaiane Aldorino of Gibraltar placed the tiara on her head and led her to a diamond-shaped throne marking the pageant’s 60th anniversary.

The 1.75-metre (5’9”) beauty in white – a professional model listed with the Elite Models agency – waved to the cheering crowd at the 2,000-capacity Beauty Crown Theatre in the resort town of Sanya on Hainan island.

During the two-hour competition, which annually draws a global television audience of about one billion, Mills said her month spent touring China with the other 114 Miss World hopefuls had made a “big impact” on her life.

Botswana’s Emma Wareus was second, and Venezuela’s Adriana Vasini placed third in the pageant, which was first held in 1951.

The pageant got off to a colourful start with a performance by dancers and drummers from China’s Li ethnic minority group, who mainly live on Hainan island, which was hosting the event for the fifth time in eight years.

Before the contestants whirled in national costume for the “Dances of the World” segment, viewers were treated to a video montage of the women’s whirlwind tour of China – from the Great Wall to the shopping malls.

Early favourite Mariann Birkedal of Norway, listed by British bookmaker William Hill as the woman to beat ahead of Mills, finished in the top seven.

A win for Norway could have caused a stir in Beijing, where the government is furious that the Oslo-based Nobel committee awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

Aldorino, 24, said she had enjoyed her year as Miss World, saying that in all the countries she had visited, one thing had remained the same: “The smile on a child’s face, and that’s what has captured the moment”.

The competition emphasises the importance of charity work.

Miss “Beauty with a Purpose” – Kenya’s Natasha Metto, who has worked on combatting an epidemic of parasitic Jigger fleas in her country — earned a “fast-track” spot in the final group of 25, but was then eliminated.

Ireland’s violin-playing Emma Waldron, who won the talent contest and finished in the top five, wowed the audience by greeting them in Chinese, while Miss China, Xiao Tang, spoke mostly in English.

The event rivals the Miss Universe pageant owned by US tycoon Donald Trump, which was won by Mexico’s Jimena Navarrete in August.

In 1951, Sweden’s Kiki Hakansson became the first Miss World. Oscar-winning American actress Halle Berry was a finalist in 1986.

Venezuela and India have produced the most Miss Worlds, with five titleholders each. Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai took the crown in 1994. – AFP

Dubai attracts property investors again

KARACHI: Dubai has again started attracting wealthy Pakistanis, who are fed up with the deteriorating law and order situation at home and disappointed with the depressive economic growth.

Property dealers, bankers and exchange companies said millions of dollars had been transferred to Dubai during a year, while dozens of Pakistanis left the country fearing loss of life and property.

A number of businessmen, when contacted, said they were looking for another destination to leave this city to protect their life and property.

“Not only we pay taxes and face corrupt income tax officials but the frequent instances of robbery and killings are forcing me to quit this country as soon as possible,’ said Noor-ul-Aarfeen, a dealer of pharmaceutical products.

He said he was looking for investment in Dubai or Malaysia where his money would be protected by the government machineries. Businessmen from Peshawar have shifted to Dubai and Malaysia in large numbers as the city is in the grip of extortionists, while kidnapping for ransom is at peak.

One of the investors in Dubai said many people have shifted to the Gulf emirate mostly from Karachi and Peshawar.

“We know some Pakistanis have made investments in property as the return has improved compared to last year, while the property is safe,” said Nazir Ahmed, an investor dealing in property in Dubai.

He said return in Karachi property business is half of what Dubai offers these days, but the most distressing point is that property in Karachi is not safe.

When the State Bank was contacted to know how much transactions had taken place during a year from Karachi to Dubai, the response was that no significant transactions were made.

The open currency market dealers confirmed that transactions were made but it was difficult to identify whether it was for investment or for trading or other purposes. There is no restriction on transfer of money abroad from Pakistan.

“We have information that Pakistanis are investing in Dubai and many are willing to invest mostly because the law and order situation is the worst in Karachi forcing the wealthy people to think about other options for safety of life and property,” said Anwar Jamal, an investor and a currency dealer. He was running a business in Dubai before financial crisis gripped the country.

Dubai had been prime destination for investment by Pakistanis but the financial turmoil starting from US also gripped the world’s business center. Companies defaulted on vast level, which eroded the economic boom and hundreds and thousands lost their jobs. The collapse forced thousands of Pakistani investors to return home.

Investors believe that Dubai is still a trading hub for oil-rich Middle Eastern countries and it was never a case of total loss.The trading in terms of exports and imports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also improved. Exports rose to $1.475 billion in 2009-10 compared to $1.398 billion of the preceding year.

Imports rose to $4.781 billion in 2009-10 against $4.399 billion of preceding year. The imports were $5.129 billion in 2007-08 reflecting the boom in Dubai.

It was the year 2007 when financial crisis began to appear at global scene and crippled most of the banking and financial markets around the world.

Yemen hunts suspects behind air parcel bombs

SANAA: Yemeni security forces were on Sunday searching for suspects who posted parcel bombs on two US-bound flights after arresting a woman over an alleged Al-Qaeda plot that sparked a global air cargo alert.

The woman was detained on Saturday after being tracked down through a mobile number on a receipt for the explosives-filled packages, which were found on freighter jets in Britain and Dubai the day before, officials said.

But Abdul Rahman Barman of the Yemeni rights group Hood said he doubted the woman who he identified as 22-year-old Hanan al-Samawi was behind the plot as she had no known Islamist links and because Al-Qaeda was unlikely to have left an incriminating phone number on the packages.

Speaking to AFP on the telephone, he added his group had received information that “all employees” from the Sanaa offices of the FedEx and UPS used to post the parcels had been detained for questioning on Saturday.

Security forces had closed the offices of the US firms on Saturday, while setting up barricades in most areas of the Yemeni capital, checking the identification of passengers of cars.

Searches of passengers and their luggage were also stepped up at the airport, witnesses and security officials said.

Security measures were also boosted around the world as British Prime Minister David Cameron said the bomb found in his country was apparently designed to blow the aircraft out of the sky.

“Yemeni security forces arrested a woman suspected of sending two parcel bombs,” Yemen’s defence ministry said.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh said security services “received information that a girl has sent the parcels from the two cargo companies,” apparently referring to UPS and FedEx.

The arrested woman, a medicine student at Sanaa university and whose father is a petroleum engineer, was held with her mother, a Yemeni security official told AFP.
Yemeni officials also said they were examining 26 other seized packages.

US officials have said the two intercepted packages were addressed to synagogues in Chicago.

US President Barack Obama has made it clear he suspects the involvement of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) – the Yemen-based branch of Osama bin Laden’s extremist network – and vowed to wipe out the organisation.

In Britain, Cameron said of the bomb discovered at East Midlands airport in central England that authorities “believe that the device was designed to go off on the airplane”, possibly over British soil.

Dubai police said the parcel bomb found there bore the “hallmarks of Al-Qaeda”. It involved the high explosive PETN hidden inside a computer printer with a circuit board and mobile phone SIM card attached.

Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper and The Washington Post said investigators were focusing on a Saudi Al-Qaeda explosives expert based in Yemen, 28-year-old Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri.

Asiri’s brother Abdullah attempted to kill the Saudi deputy interior minister in August 2009 in a suicide attack that reportedly involved explosives concealed inside his own body.

PETN, or Pentaerythritol tetranitrate, was used in that attempt by would-be “underpants bomber” Farouk Abdulmutallab and also in 2001 by attempted shoe-bomber Richard Reid.

The New York Times reported that investigators said the bombs were expertly constructed.

The one discovered at Dubai airport was concealed in a Hewlett-Packard desktop printer, with high explosives packed into a printer cartridge to avoid detection by scanners, it said.

“The wiring of the device indicates that this was done by professionals,” the paper quoted an official involved in the investigation as saying. “It was set up so that if you scan it, all the printer components would look right.”

The bomb discovered in Britain was also hidden in a printer cartridge, the report said.

A rabbi at one of the Chicago synagogues allegedly targeted in the plot said the community’s website was visited dozens of times recently by individuals from Egypt, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The cargo scare presented a new twist as Western authorities have usually focused on dangers to passenger jets following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when Al-Qaeda hijacked planes and struck targets in New York and Washington.

Germany and France announced they would no longer accept air freight from Yemen. Australia said it would screen all air cargo from Dubai and Doha.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was due to discuss counter-terrorism cooperation during talks in Britain with Cameron on Sunday, Downing Street said. — AFP

South Africa bats after winning toss

ABU DHABI: South Africa’s stand-in captain Johan Botha won the toss Sunday and elected to bat against Pakistan in the second one day international at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.

South Africa lead the five-match series 1-0 after an eight-wicket win on Friday.

South Africa beat Pakistan twice in a Twenty20 series on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Botha is standing in for Graeme Smith who is nursing a finger injury he picked up when a Shoaib Akhtar ball hit him during Friday’s game.

South Africa made two changes with Jacques Kallis, who retired after scoring 66 runs Friday because of dehydration following a viral infection, also missing the game.

Pakistan made one change with left arm fast bowler Wahab Riaz replacing Umar Gul.
Teams:

Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Zulqarnain Haider, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Fawad Alam, Asad Shafiq

South Africa: Johan Botha (captain), Hashim Amla, Robin Peterson, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Colin Ingram, Charl Langeveldt, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Albie Morkel, Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Punjab Government responsible for unemployment: Elahi

LAHORE: PML-Q Punjab President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Sunday said that the Punjab Government has turned ‘wealthy Punjab’ into a ‘very broke Punjab’.

Elahi said that due to unemployment, people were committing suicides and for that only the current government was responsible.

Speaking at a Workers’ Convention in Gujranwala, Elahi said that a lot of trouble is expected due to the irresponsibility of the Punjab Government. He said that 14,000 cheques of the Punjab Government have bounced and it had no money to pay salaries either.

He said that Shahbaz Sharif was inaugurating long term projects just to put on a facade and it seemed as if he is carrying a plaque that says ‘Punjab for sale’.

At the end of the convention, the former chief minister announced a Rs.1 lakh cheque for Mohammad Inam Butt, the gold medal winner at the Commonwealth Games.

Butt, Amir remain suspended: Beloff

DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday rejected the appeals of Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Aamer against suspensions for spot-fixing.

The two, along with fast bowler Mohammad Asif, were provisionally suspended by the ICC over allegations they were involved in spot-fixing during Pakistan’s summer tour of England.

All three appealed, but Asif later withdrew his application.

ICC code of conduct commissioner Michael Beloff announced the decision after a two-day hearing which started early Saturday, saying the players will have to appear before another tribunal to further their cases.

“Salman (Butt) and (Mohammad) Aamer had appealed against the suspension imposed on them by the ICC on September 2 for various breaches of the code of conduct.

“Having considered every aspect of the case I dismiss their appeals and they remain suspended,” Beloff told reporters outside the ICC headquarters here.

The two cricketers arrived with their lawyers — Salman with Khalid Ranjha, a former law minister, and Aftab Gul, a former Pakistan player, and Aamer with his lawyer Shahid Karim.

Beloff said all three cricketers, including Asif, will have to appear before a ICC code of conduct commission which he will announce in due course.

“The players have denied the charges, but they will remain suspended before a code of conduct commission is formed to hear the case.

“It was not up to me to decide whether they committed any crime, the commission will establish their guilt and if they are found guilty then they will be given punishment as per the ICC code of conduct.”

The scandal broke after a report by British tabloid The News of the World prompted Scotland Yard to launch an investigation into allegations of spot-fixing during the Lord’s Test against England in August.

Police raided the team’s hotel in London and questioned Salman, Aamer, Asif and bowler Wahab Riaz, but they have yet to formally level any charges.

Owing to their suspensions, the trio have been excluded from Pakistan’s current tour of the United Arab Emirates, where South Africa is the opposition.

Pakistan Cricket Board legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi said the decision was under the ICC jurisdictions.
“The decision is within the ICC’s jurisdiction but it will not affect the actual case which we hope will be heard soon,” said Rizvi.

ICC in its brief statement said: “The chairman code of conduct commission heard the case in which players had challeneged the suspension under the ICC Anti-Corruption code. After considering all the evidence Mr. Beloff has rejected the challenges.

“As such, the players remain provisionally suspended from all cricket pending the outcome of the independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal which will hear their disciplinary case in due course.”

The ICC said Asif also remained suspended.

“As Asif chose not to challenge his provisional suspension, he also remains suspended.

The ICC will make no further comments.”The ICC code of conduct carries a minimum of five year punishment if corruption charges are proved. The maximum punishment is a life ban.

Salman’s lawyer Ranjha said his team was a little disappointed by the decision. “The decision has left us unhappy,” Ranjha told reporters. “The hearing was fair and thorough, and now we have 40 days to fight the disciplinary case and we will decide our course of action.” -AFP

Sealed border in Kurram causes inconveniences locals

PESHAWAR: After the attack by Nato forces in Kurram Agency, the Pak-Afghan border has been completely sealed.

When militants had difficulty in taking control of Upper Kurram, they sealed all routes leading in and out of the area, due to which residents of the area had to travel through to Afghanistan in order to reach any other part of the country. Basic commodities and utilities were also being transported through this way.

Recently, the Pak-Afghan border was sealed when Nato helicopters attacked a checkpost in Pakistan.

Col. Tauseef Akhtar, an FC Commander stated on Sunday that it was essential to seal this border in order to maintain security and peace.

Action will take place against corrupt officials: Malik

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sunday said that strict action against corruption will be taken after November 7.

Speaking to the media in Islamabad after visiting the FIA headquarters, Malik said that the heads of government institutions have been given a period of one week to take steps to eliminate corruption.

Malik said that the people should identify corrupt elements in the government institutions so that immediate action can be taken against them.

The minister also said that measures were being taken to combat human trafficking and that action will be taken against the staff deployed on checkpoints from where people were illegally leaving the country.

He said that action will be taken against extortionists and a special helpline will be established in this regard.

Prior to his press conference, Malik, while touring the FIA headquarters, announced that the women’s quota has been raised to 25 per cent in the FIA and also stated that employees’ salaries will now match those of the Motorway Police force.