Aisam Qureshi, Rohan Bopanna ease to first-round win

KARACHI: After becoming the first Pakistani to be seeded at the US Open, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi ,and his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna entered the second round of the grand slam on Tuesday.

Seeded 16th at the last grand slam of the year, the Pakistani and Indian pair scored a straight-sets win (6-3, 7-6) over Brian Battistone and Ryler Deheart of the United States.

Both sides sailed through the first four service games but Qureshi and Bopanna did face a test at 2-2, when they had to save a break point before securing the game. In the next game, however, they put their opponents under pressure and managed to break serve and take a 4-2 lead. The set was essentially decided at this point, as the South Asian duo held their next two games to win 6-3.

The second set was a much livelier affair as the Americans, already forced into a corner, decided to fight back and dictated the pace of the set. At 2-3, Qureshi and Bopanna succumbed to their opponents’ aggression and lost their serve and the Americans held their own serve for a 5-3 lead. This was a stern test for the Indo-Pak duo, who showed great resolve to break back Deheart’s serve, and restore parity at 5-5, sending the set into a tie-break

Qureshi and Bopanna secured an early mini-break in the tie-break and led all the way up to 6-4. The Americans put a few points together to serve at 7-8 to stay in the match but unwilling to take the match to three sets, the Indo-Pak pair won the tie break 9-7, and the match 6-3 7-6(7).

In the next round, Qureshi and Bopanna will play the winner of the match between Sekou Bangoura and Nathan Pasha, and German pair of Michael Kohlmann and Jarkko Nieminen.

Floods slow growth, raise inflation: Gilani

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's economic growth will plunge two percentage points because of the floods and lead to ''massive'' job losses, the prime minister warned Wednesday in a speech that predicted a grim couple of years for the already fragile country.

Yousuf Raza Gilani said one-fifth of the country's irrigation infrastructure, livestock and crops had been destroyed.

''Performance of agriculture consequently will be much lower this year and the year ahead. This loss will have a snowball effect on manufacturing, services and export sectors,'' he said in a speech to his Cabinet. ''Food security of the country is also under threat.''

The floods began over a month ago in the northwest after extremely heavy monsoon rains and surged south along the Indus River and its tributaries. The army, along with international aid agencies, are struggling to reach the some 8 million people who are still in need of emergency assistance.

The scale of the disaster has raised concerns about the stability of the country, which was already struggling with an anemic economy and relentless attacks by the Taliban and al-Qaida. Gilani warned the floods may yet have ''social implications,'' but did not elaborate.

Gilani said economic growth would drop to 2.5 per cent in the 2011 financial year, down from a predicted 4.5 per cent this year. Inflation, currently predicted to hit 9.5 per cent next year, would likely be in the range of 15 per cent to 20 per cent.

''This economic loss will translate into massive job losses,'' he said.

The floods have receded in parts of north and central Pakistan but are continuing in the south. The waters are expected to remain for several weeks, prolonging the misery of millions desperate to return home and rebuild their lives.

Foreign countries have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to help Pakistan respond to the floods. – AP

Iraq civilian deaths dip as US combat mission ends

BAGHDAD: The number of civilians killed by violence in Iraq fell in August from the month before, even as the US military formally ended combat operations and cut its numbers to 50,000, government data showed on Wednesday.

The 295 civilians killed in bombings and shootings last month, according to Health Ministry statistics, was roughly a quarter lower than July’s tally of 396 and also below last August’s bodycount of 393.

Casualties were high in July, however, among the Iraqi security forces, a total of 54 soldiers and 77 police were also killed in insurgent attacks, the defence and interior ministries said.

The end to the US combat mission on Aug. 31 and accompanying fall in US military strength has been met with apprehension by many Iraqis because of the failure of their leaders to form a new government six months after an election.

Al Qaeda-linked insurgents have sought to exploit the political impasse through persistent suicide bombings and attacks.

They have claimed credit for a suicide bombing at an army recruitment centre in Baghdad on Aug. 17, in which 57 people were killed, and attacks on police stations on Aug. 25, in which more than 60 people were killed.

Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply since the 2006/07 height of the sectarian war unleashed after the 2003 US-led invasion. Still, insurgents and Shia militia continue to carry out daily attacks around the country.

The 50,000 US soldiers remaining in Iraq will turn their focus to advising and assisting their Iraqi counterparts, ahead of an end-2011 deadline for all US soldiers to withdraw.

There were three US fatalities in August attributed to hostile fire, up from just one the month before, according to icasualties.org. —Reuters

Hungry families block highway in Thatta

THATTA: Hundreds of hungry families blocked a highway in Pakistan's flood-hit south on Wednesday, demanding the government provide more food as the UN warned of a “triple threat” to desperate survivors.

Up to 500 people from a government-run relief camp in Thatta city, in the worst-hit province of Sindh, blocked the main road between Karachi city and Thatta for three hours calling for the state to provide food and shelter.

“No food or water has been provided to us for the past two days,” Mohammad Qasim, a 60-year-old resident of the flooded town of Sujawal, told AFP.

The World Food Programme issued a stark warning of the threat to food supplies after a month of catastrophic flooding that has affected 18 million people, as the deluge flows south on its way to the Arabian Sea.

Pakistan's government - widely painted as corrupt and bogged down in red tape and infighting - has been derided in domestic media over its response to the floods and has been the focus of angry isolated protests by the affected.

While the international community has now donated 700 million dollars, domestic anger has been mounting at the civilian government, which has staggered from crisis to crisis in the 30 months since its election.

“There is a triple threat unfolding as this crisis widens and deepens,” World Food Programme chief Josette Sheeran said at a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, after visiting flooded areas.

The triple threat was people's loss of seeds, crops and incomes, "leaving them vulnerable to hunger, homelessness and desperation - the situation is extremely critical," she said.

Devastation to farmland and transport links mean that food prices have rocketed, fanning frustration among the masses already struggling to make ends meet in Pakistan's shaky economy.

In televised comments Wednesday, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told his cabinet that the flooding had “devastated the infrastructure on a large scale and the government is trying to cope with the crisis”.

The floods have engulfed a fifth of the volatile country of 167 million, with 3.4 million hectares (8.4 million acres) of rich farmland ruined, according to latest UN figures.

“We need to bring in a lot more (food). We're still looking at a caseload in urgent need of about six million but with the floodwaters still moving it's quite possible that number will increase,” WFP spokesman Marcus Prior told AFP.

Meanwhile, floodwaters flowing south in Sindh province entered one town and threatened another on the east bank of the swollen Indus.

“Water has entered the outskirts of Jati town and is two kilometres (1.25 miles) away form Choohar Jamali town,” senior city official Hadi Bakhsh Kalhoro told AFP, adding that a few thousand people remained trapped in both towns.

Kalhoro said power cuts were hindering rescue efforts but said that all other districts in the southern province were now safe.

Pakistani troops and city workers managed to save Thatta from the waters by fixing a breach in river defences on Tuesday, with most of the population of 300,000 now returned home, according to officials.

Sindh is the worst-affected province, with 19 of its 23 districts ravaged as floodwaters have swollen the raging Indus river to 40 times its usual volume.

One million people have been displaced over the past few days alone.

River management official Qadir Bakhsh Palijo said that waters in the area were receding, but could take up to 10 days to lower to a “satisfactory level”.

Pakistan's government has confirmed 1,645 people dead and 2,479 injured but officials warn that millions are at risk from food shortages and disease.

The UN children's fund UNICEF said the disaster had affected nearly 8.6 million children, with the risk of more deaths from waterborne disease if clean water, good nutrition, sanitation and vaccination are not forthcoming. – AFP

Aamer's coach, family say he is innocent

ISLAMABAD: The former mentor and family of Mohammad Aamer proclaimed his innocence Tuesday after British police questioned him on spot-fixing allegations following a newspaper sting.

Asif Bajwa, who coached the pacer into an international cricketer from his school days, said the scandal was an effort to spoil the career of a man who has been recognised by the International Cricket Council as a top-class player.

“He has been nominated as the best emerging player in the world. He has become the most important member of Pakistan team, he is a future star. They want to tarnish his image by involving him in conspiracies,” said Bajwa.

The inquiry follows a sting by a British Sunday tabloid in which a bookmaker allegedly paid Pakistani players including Aamer to deliberately bowl no-balls in the last Test match between Pakistan and England last week.

“My brother is innocent. He has been trapped in an international conspiracy to defame our cricket team and country,” said Mohammad Ijaz, the elder brother of Aamer.

“Anybody can bowl a no ball at any time. I can give an oath on behalf of Aamer that he is innocent,” said Ijaz, adding that his brother was worried when he spoke to him on the telephone from London on Sunday.

“He is tense and worried. He told me he has nothing to do with this scandal. He has been set up because he was performing well,” he said.

“We know him and he knows that the country's respect is dearest to us. We love our country more than his career.”

Accused players to meet PCB chief in London, will not train

KARACHI: The three Pakistani cricketers who have been named in a spot-fixing scandal will not practise with their team in Taunton on Tuesday, manager Yawar Saaed said.

“The three will also be meeting with the Pakistan High Commissioner in London on Wednesday,” Saeed told a local television channel.

The three players, test captain, Salman Butt and pace bowlers Muhammad Amir and Muhammad Asif, have been accused by a 35-year-old Pakistani man of taking bribes to fix incidents during the Lord’s test against England last week.

The International Cricket Council, meanwhile, said that wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal will no longer be a part of the spot-fixing investigations.

The man, Mazhar Majeed, who was arrested and then released on bail, is accused of trying to defraud bookmakers.

Pakistan play a warm-up match in Taunton on Thursday ahead of two Twenty20 and five one-day internationals against England.

Sources in the Pakistan team said it was decided to keep the three players away from the practice session to avoid any more media attention.

“The three have also been told to prepare for the meeting at the high commission in which a British legal expert will also be present,” a source said.

The source said the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-corruption and security unit and Britain’s Scotland Yard would submit their report on the spot-fixing allegations by Thursday.

In Taunton, reporters were refused entry to the county ground, where Pakistan were due to train later on Tuesday.

Somerset Chief Executive Richard Gould told AFP: “Pakistan have requested a closed practice session today. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”

NO SUSPENSIONS

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement on Monday that until the investigations were completed no player would be suspended.

“Chairman Ijaz Butt just told me that since there is a case going on with the Scotland Yard we are not going to suspend any player,” Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman Nadeem Sarwar told AFP.

“He further said that this is only an allegation so far. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken.”

Sarwar refused to comment on reported demands by the International Cricket Council and some of the England players to suspend the men under investigation.

Blasts kill four US soldiers in Afghanistan

KABUL: Four US soldiers were killed in a bomb attack in Afghanistan Tuesday, Nato said, bringing the toll of Americans to 21 dead since Friday.

Nato spokesman James Judge confirmed to AFP that four American soldiers were killed in eastern Afghanistan by an improvised explosive devise (IED).

The deaths bring to 484 the total number of foreign troops killed in the Afghan war this year, compared to 521 for all of 2009, according to an AFP tally based on that kept by the independent icasualties.org website.

The deaths come a day after eight Nato troops — seven of them American — were killed in similar bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan.

The eighth soldier to die on Monday was not American, Isaf said.

The Canadian military said one of its troopers died Monday in a German hospital of injuries sustained in a bomb attack on August 22.

Makeshift bombs are responsible for most of the military deaths in Afghanistan, deployed by insurgents, made from fertiliser and detonated by pressure or remote control.

The United States and Nato have almost 150,000 troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban-led insurgency, most of them in the southern hotspots of Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

India offers 20 mln dollars in new flood aid to Pakistan

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday offered another 20 million dollars in flood aid to Pakistan, the country's foreign minister said, boosting efforts to build goodwill between the estranged neighbours.

S.M. Krishna told parliament a fresh installment of 20 million dollars would boost India's total aid contributions for Pakistan to 25 million dollars.

“As a more concrete assessment of the damage inflicted by this natural disaster and the urgent needs of the people of Pakistan emerges, government has decided to increase its assistance to Pakistan from five million dollars,” he said.

Earlier this month, Islamabad described the initial offer as a “very welcome initiative” by India as the two countries look to get a stalled peace process back on track.

They have made major efforts in recent months to build confidence in their relations, which were badly strained by the Mumbai 2008 terror attacks, which India blamed on militants from Pakistan.

Pakistan initially delayed accepting India's first offer of flood aid, leading the United States to publicly urge Islamabad not to let rivalry stand in the way of helping its citizens in flood-ravaged regions.

Krishna said 20 million dollars would be sent to the UN-sponsored “Pakistan Initial Floods Emergency Response Plan” while the balance of five million dollars would go to the World Food Programme for its relief efforts.

The floods have left 1,645 people dead and 2,479 injured, according to the latest count, but officials warn that millions are at risk from food shortages and disease. —AFP

Grenade explodes near office of Thai state TV channel

BANGKOK: A grenade exploded in a compound for a Thai state-run television channel in Bangkok on Tuesday although no injuries were reported, police said.

A loud explosion was heard from the Viphavadi-Rangsit road, a main highway into the capital close to one of the city's largest military bases, police said, citing witnesses.

It was the latest in a series of mysterious grenade or bomb attacks over the last five weeks in the capital, where a state of emergency remains in place after deadly clashes between troops and anti-government protesters in April and May, in which 91 people were killed and up to 2,000 wounded.

Broadcaster NBT, whose compound was hit by the grenade, has come under criticism from “red shirt” anti-government demonstrators, who accuse the channel of biased reporting and distorting information.

Abbas, Barak held secret meeting in Jordan

JERUSALEM: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak have met secretly in Amman ahead of Middle East peace talks that start in Washington this week, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.

The two met on Sunday in a private home in the Jordanian capital, where Barak also held talks with King Abdullah II.

The Israeli defence ministry did not immediately confirm the reports.

Abdullah and Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak will join an inaugural meeting in Washington on Wednesday between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas, who are to launch direct talks the following day.

Thursday's talks will launch the first direct negotiations between the two sides since the Palestinians broke off talks in December 2008, after Israel launched a devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip. – AFP

Devastating floods finally heading towards the sea

KARACHI: Floodwaters that have devastated Pakistan for five weeks headed to the Arabian Sea on Tuesday after swallowing two final towns, but the challenges of delivering emergency aid to 8 million people remained.

The floods have moved down from the mountainous northwest, submerging or affecting almost 1/5 of the country at their peak.

Waters have begun to recede in the north and in Punjab, but they have been submerging towns in southern Sindh province close to the Indus River over the last 10 days.

Government official Hadi Bakhsh said the last two towns in the path of the floods were hit late Monday.

''The floodwaters hit Khahre Jamali and Jati towns last night, and now there is no other village or town in the way of the deluge,'' he said, adding that people had already fled the towns, parts of which were under 10 feet (3 meters) of water.

''The floodwaters are now heading to the Arabian Sea,'' he said.

Authorities have struggled to feed, house and arrange medical care for the survivors of the floods. Foreign countries and the United Nations were slow to respond to the disaster, in part because it took a long time for its extent to become clear.

Aid is slowly reaching the worst-affected areas by army helicopter, road and boat, but millions have received little or no help.

The UN warned that additional funding for emergency food was urgently needed to ensure supplies into next month.

Once all the floodwaters recede, the country will be left with a massive relief and reconstruction effort that will cost billions of dollars and take years. An estimated 1 million homes have been damaged or destroyed, five times as many as were hit by this year's earthquake in Haiti. – AP

Google, Skype under fire in India after BlackBerry reprieve

NEW DELHI: After BlackBerry won a reprieve, Google and Skype stepped into the firing line Tuesday as India's security agencies widened their crackdown on online communications firms.

India's BlackBerry users heaved a sigh of relief late Monday after the government gave the smartphone's Canadian manufacturer a two-month window to provide a permanent solution to avert a ban on its messaging services.

Security forces in India, battling insurgencies ranging from Kashmir in the northwest to the far-flung northeast, are insisting that telecoms groups give them the capability to monitor their data.

Skype, the Internet phone service, and Google, which has a new phone feature built into its Gmail email service, are set to be next to receive an ultimatum from the spies in New Delhi.

“The notices to these entities will be issued beginning Tuesday and all of them will be asked to comply with the directive or else they will have to close down their networks,” a senior official told PTI news agency late Monday.

India is also targeting “virtual private networks”, which give employees secure access to their company networks when they are working out of the office.

The maker of the BlackBerry, Canada's Research in Motion (RIM), has proposed setting up a server in India through which BlackBerry messages can be routed, giving security forces access, the home ministry said in a statement.

RIM's proposals for “lawful access” to its messages would be “operationalised immediately” and their feasibility assessed, the ministry said.

A RIM official told AFP the company had not compromised its public commitment to make no special deals with governments.

Analysts note other security-conscious nations such as China and Russia appear to be satisfied that their intelligence agencies have sufficient access to BlackBerry communications although the arrangements between RIM and these countries are not known.

BlackBerry has also been facing a threatened October 11 ban by the United Arab Emirates and has been negotiating with Saudi Arabia on security issues.

For the Indian government, a ban on BlackBerry services, used widely by India's elite, could have caused serious communication problems with the Commonwealth Games due to take place in New Delhi in just over a month.

Banning the service would have also created disruption for Indian companies, which widely use the Blackberry. RIM has 1.1 million users in India, although not all of them are corporate clients.

“It would have been a real inconvenience, I don't know what I would have done. I use the BlackBerry all the time,” said an Indian oil company executive. – AFP

LHC issues notice to PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday issued a notice to PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt in the case regarding the accusations of match-fixing against Pakistani cricketers.

The court adjourned the hearing of the case till September 7.

Petitioner Advocate Ishtiaque Ahmed had argued that match-fixing allegations had tarnished Pakistan's image.

He said players involved in the scandal should be tried on charges of sedition and their properties should be seized.

Ijaz Butt should also be included in the probe, the petitioner said.

Obama marks the symbolic end of Iraq operations

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama marks the symbolic date of the end of US combat operations in Iraq on Tuesday, seven years after an invasion he opposed and at a time when the country still seems far from being stabilized.

Speaking from the Oval Office, Obama will address Americans in a nationally televised speech at 8 pm (midnight GMT). Before that he will go to a military base in Texas to meet with soldiers who have recently returned from Iraq.

The size of the US force in Iraq has dropped below a symbolic threshold of 50,000 troops. Starting Monday, their mission will be to “advise and support” the Iraqi army.

Under a timetable set by Obama when he took office, all US troops are supposed to be out by the end of 2011, although officials have said a small residual military presence is likely to remain indefinitely.

Iraqi officials, worried about a surge in attacks and a five-month-old political impasse that has blocked the formation of a new government, have expressed concern that the US military may be moving to the exits too quickly.

Just last week, 53 people were killed and hundreds were wounded by a dozen coordinated car bombings in 10 cities and towns across the country, the latest in a rash of attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Iraq's top army officer told AFP earlier this month that he feared worsening security problems after the Americans leave, and said they should stay until the Iraqi military is fully ready - in 2020.

But the White House has insisted that the Iraqis are capable of providing for their own security now, and the top US general said only a “complete failure” of the local security forces could lead to a resumption of US combat operations.

Obama assured Americans in an interview on NBC television Sunday that the timing was right for a drawdown.

“What you've seen is lower and lower levels of violence. The Iraqi security forces are functioning at least as well if not better than any of us had anticipated,” Obama said.

Alluding to the Iraqi's failure to form a new government, Obama said the political difficulties were “natural in a fledgling democracy. But we are confident that that will get done.”

During his speech, only the second of his presidency to use the solemn setting of the Oval Office, Obama is expected to raise the other major theater of US military operations: Afghanistan, where the president chose to escalate, tripling the number of US troops since the start of his mandate.

Insurgent violence there has intensified as the United States has pivoted from Iraq.

Though a vehement critic of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, when he was a state legislator in Illinois, Obama argues the war in Afghanistan is justified because the Taliban's Al-Qaeda allies pose a threat to the security of the United States.

The speech will also give Obama an opportunity to pay homage to US soldiers. More than a million have been deployed in Iraq since 2003 and some 4,400 lost their lives there.

He has consistently drawn a distinction between the political decision to invade and the performance of US troops on the ground. – AFP

Pakistan will not drop players without proof: PCB

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not suspend any players being investigated for alleged corruption without proof of wrongdoing, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt says.

A newspaper report alleging three players had been bribed to fix incidents in last week's fourth test against England has rocked the cricketing world and probes by British police and the International Cricket Council (ICC) are underway.

London police confiscated the mobile phones of test captain Salman Butt as well as pace bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, and the trio – plus wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal – have been questioned at the team's hotel.

“There is a case going on over here with Scotland Yard,” Ijaz told website cricinfo.com.

“This is only an allegation. There is still no charge or proof on that account. So at this stage there will be no action taken.”

The Pakistan team arrived in Taunton in west England on Monday to play a warm-up game for a seven-match one-day series against England which starts on Sunday.

The ICC's anti-corruption unit has been asked to submit a report on its investigation within the next three days.

ICC president Sharad Pawar told reporters on Monday the issue had been discussed in a teleconference by the head of the council's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit Ravi Sawani, Ijaz and his English counterpart Giles Clarke.

“We at the ICC are waiting for definite information from the PCB and our own anti-corruption unit. We hope to get something in the next two to three days' time and that information would lead to appropriate action, if required,” he said.

Pawar has ruled out the possibility of Pakistan cutting short their tour of England.

ROTTEN TOMATOES

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said anti-corruption officials were assisting Londonpolice with the criminal investigation and would ensure “appropriate punishments” for any players found guilty.

“We will not tolerate corruption in this great game,” Lorgat said in a statement.

On Monday, the police said they had released on bail a 35-year-old man who had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers following the report in Britain's News of the World newspaper.

According to the report, Mazhar Majeed, an agent who claimed to represent 10 Pakistanplayers including Butt, said Amir and Asif had bowled three no-balls between them by pre-arrangement in the fourth test against England which finished on Sunday.

The newspaper report also cast doubt on the second test between Pakistan and Australia in Sydney this year when Australia made a remarkable comeback to win by 36 runs after overcoming a 206-run first-innings deficit.

The scandal has outraged cricket fans in Pakistan where protestors in Lahore threw rotten tomatoes at donkeys who had the names of the players accused of taking bribes stuck on their foreheads.

“These players have let us and the country down. We are already facing so many problems because of the floods and terrorism and they took away our one source of happiness,” one protestor told a television channel. – Reuters

No clue to abducted labourers

CHITRAL: There was no clue to the whereabouts of 10 labourers, kidnapped by Afghan Taliban from a forest near Kalash valley on Saturday night, police sources said on Monday.

They said that it was, however, an established fact that the kidnapped labourers had been taken to Nuristan province of Afghanistan. They said that the kidnappers had made a demand from the local administration for the safe release of the kidnapped labourers.

Meanwhile, the students of Chitral have appreciated the establishment of the dealing office of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University Sherignal, Upper Dir, in Chitral to facilitate them.

Talking to Dawn here on Monday, Ali Sher, Hayatur Rahman and others said that setting up the office of the university in Chitral was highly welcomed in the relevant circles.

They said that the university should accelerate its efforts to open a sub-campus in Chitral and post-graduate classes in some disciplines of science, humanities, information technology and business management should be started.

Dutch arrest two men on US flight

AMSTERDAM: Dutch police Monday arrested two men on a US flight whose luggage reportedly contained box cutters, knives, and a cellphone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle.

ABC News reported that the pair were charged with “preparing a terrorist attack,” but Dutch airport police would say only that the men were arrested at Schipol airport Monday morning “at the request of the judicial police.” The US Department of Homeland Security told AFP it had informed Dutch authorities that two men travelling from Chicago to Amsterdam had packed “suspicious items” in their luggage.

But the department declined to say whether it had requested the arrest of the two men, and how and why they were allowed to board the flight despite the discovery of multiple suspect objects in at least one of their bags.

A law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that neither man had “prohibited items on their persons or their carry-on luggage.” The official also said there were federal air marshals on the flight the men took from Chicago to the Netherlands.

ABC News identified the men as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezam al-Murisi, and said Soofi was from Yemen, citing one of the man's neighbors.

The men boarded United Airlines 908 flight from Chicago, Illinois to Amsterdam despite a slew of security concerns, beginning in Birmingham, Alabama, where Soofi appears to have started his journey.

Airport screeners there reportedly stopped him because of his “bulky clothing.” They uncovered he was carrying 7,000 dollars in cash, and then opened his luggage, ABC News said.

There they found a cellphone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cellphones taped together and several watches taped together, but because no explosives were discovered, he was cleared for the flight to Chicago.

Once at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, he appears to have checked his luggage on a flight bound for Yemen, with scheduled stops in both Washington's Dulles airport and Dubai. But he did not board the flight.

Instead, he was joined by Murisi, ABC said, and the pair boarded a flight to Amsterdam.

The flight carrying Soofi's luggage reportedly travelled to Washington's Dulles airport, from where it was about to depart to Dubai and then on to Yemen when officials learned his bags were on board but he was not.

The plane was ordered to return to the gate, where the baggage was removed, though officials said no explosives were detected.

Soofi and Murisi were detained when their flight arrived in Amsterdam. – AFP

Arrest in England-Pakistan 'match-fixing' probe

LONDON: British police said Saturday they had arrested a man on suspicion on conspiracy to defraud bookmakers following newspaper allegations of match-fixing in the ongoing cricket Test between England and Pakistan.

The News of the World alleged that some members of the Pakistan team were involved in a scam in the fourth and final Test at Lord's.

"Following information received from the News of the World we have arrested a 35-year old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers," a spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police told media.

Meanwhile, Manager Pakistan cricket team Yawar Saeed, denying media reports of arrests of some Pakistani players, said: “No Pakistani player had been arrested and the team will go ahead with fourth day’s play on Sunday.”

News of the World, Britain's biggest-selling newspaper, alleged that two Pakistan bowlers delivered three blatant no-balls.

The weekly tabloid said it gave 150,000 pounds to a middleman who correctly told them in advance precisely when the deliveries would be bowled.

The newspaper published images and dialogue from the encounter and a picture of what it said was one of the promised no-balls on Friday.

It also ran a photograph of Pakistan captain Salman Butt standing with the man they claimed was the middleman, and one of their reporters.

Yawar Saeed told a television the allegations were being investigated.

He was cited as saying that none of his players had been arrested and the Test would continue Sunday as planned.

The newspaper claimed they had posed as front men for an Asian gambling cartel, paying 10,000 pounds to the alleged fixer as an upfront deposit.

They met again on Wednesday in a west London hotel room to hand over the rest of the money as their "entry ticket" into what they claimed was a "huge betting syndicate".

They claimed the middleman then correctly predicted when the no-balls would be bowled.

Pakistan collapsed spectacularly yet again in the series as England closed in on an innings victory on Saturday.

At stumps, Pakistan, following-on, were 41 for four in their second innings, having been made to follow-on after they were dismissed for just 74 first time around.

That left them still 331 runs adrift of England's first innings 446 as the home team eyed a victory that would give them a 3-1 win in their last series before they begin the defence of the Ashes in Australia in November.