Perera fires Sri Lanka into tri-series final

DAMBULLA: Thisara Perera bagged a maiden five-wicket haul to help Sri Lanka storm into the triangular one-day series final with a crushing eight-wicket win over India on Sunday.

The 21-year-old seamer, playing his first match of the tournament, finished with 5-28 off 7.4 tight overs as India were shot out for 103 in 33.4 overs, their third-lowest total against Sri Lanka in one-day internationals.

The total was not enough to put pressure on Sri Lanka, who completed the win in just 15.1 overs in the day-night match in Dambulla.

The hosts finished their league engagements with 11 points from four matches, while New Zealand have seven points and India five after three games.

The winners of the last league match between India and New Zealand on Wednesday will qualify for the final.

Sri Lanka put in a solid all-round performance in the must-win match as their batsmen backed their fast bowlers, with Tillakaratne Dilshan (35) and Mahela Jayawardene (33) adding 79 for the opening wicket in 9.2 overs.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara (13 not out) finished the match when he drove paceman Ishant Sharma through the covers for a four. Upul Tharanga remained unbeaten with 12.

Yuvraj Singh earlier top-scored with a fighting 38 in a disappointing Indian batting performance after the tourists elected to bat.

Opener Virender Sehwag (12), Rohit Sharma (11) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (10) were the others to reach double-figures.

Yuvraj was unlucky to be given out leg-before off paceman Lasith Malinga (2-21) as TV replays suggested the ball would have missed the stumps. He was the ninth man out after hitting one six and five fours in his 64-ball knock.

Sri Lanka jolted India when paceman Nuwan Kulasekara (2-31) trapped Sehwag leg-before and had Dinesh Karthik (nine) caught behind in a lively opening spell.

Perera, who played his last one-dayer in Zimbabwe in June, then wrecked the middle order when he claimed four wickets in five overs to dash India's hopes of posting a challenging total.

He was once on a hat-trick when he had Ravindra Jadeja caught by Chamara Silva at gully and Praveen Kumar caught by Tharanga at mid-off with his next delivery.

Perera ended the innings in the 34th over when he bowled Ishant Sharma. The Sri Lankan pacemen were well supported by wicket-keeper Sangakkara, who took four catches. -AFP

New Zealand offers to play in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: New Zealand has offered to play cricket matches in Pakistan to raise funds for those affected by floods that have devastated the country, a Pakistan Cricket Board official said Sunday.

“We have received an e-mail from New Zealand Cricket in which they have said they are even willing to play inPakistan to raise funds,” PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar told The Associated Press.

“It’s (the tour) in a very early stage, but we think it’s a very good gesture on the part of NZC.”

Cricket tours of Pakistan were abandoned after the Sri Lanka team’s convoy was attacked by gunmen last year.

At least eight million people in Pakistan are in need of water, shelter or other emergency assistance.

The Zimbabwe Cricket Union has already said it is planning to send its national team toPakistan to raise funds for relief efforts.

“Not only international cricket will be revived in Pakistan with these tours, it will also help us to raise funds for people affected by these floods,” Sarwar said.

Pakistan was stripped of its status as co-host for the 2011 World Cup after the ambush on the Sri Lanka cricket team’s bus at Lahore in March last year. Six police officers and a van driver were killed and several Sri Lankan players and officials were injured.

With foreign teams staying away due to security concerns, Pakistan has played in neutral venues, including United Arab Emirates and England.

Last year Pakistan played a one-day series against New Zealand in the UAE and also played its ‘home’ test series in New Zealand.

Iran's Ahmadinejad unveils new 'bomber' drone

TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled on Sunday a new long-range drone, dubbed Karar, which reportedly can bomb targets at high speed, state television reported.

Television footage showed the president applauding as a blue cloth which had been covering the drone was pulled back to reveal a short aircraft painted in military-green with the words “Bomber jet” written on its side.

Images were then broadcast on television showing the aircraft flying.

Ahmadinejad made a speech at the ceremony, held in a hall of Tehran's Malek Ashtar University, but did not mention the drone.

The unveiling of the aircraft comes as Iran marks on Sunday its annual Defence Industries Day.

State television's website reported that the drone has “different capabilities, including carrying bombs to destroy targets.” It said the plane can fly for a “long range at high speed.”

The website cited Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying that the Karar is a “symbol of the versatility and advancement of Iran's defence industries.”

The unveiling of Karar, the nickname of Imam Ali, the first Shia imam, comes two days after Iran test fired a domestically built surface-to-surface missile, Qiam (Rising).

Over the next few days Iran is expected to make series of further military announcements as the nation marks the annual government week, a period used by Tehran to tout its achievements.

In this period Iran is also expected to test fire a third generation Fateh 110 (Conqueror) missile. Iran has previously paraded a version of Fateh 110 which has a travel range of 150 to 200 kilometres (90 to 125 miles).

Also during government week, the production lines of two missile-carrying speedboats, Seraj (Lamp) and Zolfaqar (named after Imam Ali's sword) are due to be inaugurated.

The unveiling of Karar comes days after Iran took delivery of four new mini-submarines of the home-produced Ghadir class. Weighing 120 tonnes, the “stealth” submarines are aimed at operations in shallow waters, notably in the Gulf.

Iranian officials regularly boast about Tehran's military capabilities and the latest declarations coincide with warnings by local officials against any attack on the Islamic republic.

Iran's archfoes the United States and Israel have not ruled out a military strike against Tehran to stop its controversial uranium enrichment programme.

Meanwhile, Iran on Saturday began loading nuclear fuel in its Russian-built first nuclear power plant located in the southern port of Bushehr.

The plant, which is not targeted by UN sanctions, eventually aims to generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity. – AFP

Locals use stones, sandbags to stave off flood

HYDERABAD: Workers placed sandbags and stones to strengthen river levees in flood-ravaged Pakistan's south as the rising water threatened new areas Sunday.

Three towns in the Thatta district were in danger, and officials began evacuating around 150,000 people from lower lying areas Saturday. The surge in the Indus River is expected to empty into the Arabian Sea after passing through.

“We are right now trying to protect Shahdadkot town, which is threatened by the rising floodwaters,” Sindh provincial irrigation minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo told AFP.

He said an embankment built to protect Hyderabad was under immense water pressure and “we are trying to save the city from the unprecedented flood”.

Dharejo said the Sindh government had already escorted most of Shahdadkot's 100,000 population to safety.

“But there are still some people stranded in these villages (around Shahdadkot) and we are making efforts to rescue them,” he added.

Dharejo, however, stressed there was no threat to Hyderabad, the second-largest city in Sindh and Pakistan's sixth biggest overall.

“There is nothing of the sort... Hyderabad is so far safe despite the growing pressure from floodwaters. We have strengthened embankments around the city,” the official said.

At least two levees along the river are potential trouble spots and are being strengthened, said Hadi Bakhsh Kalhoro, an official with the Sindh province Disaster Management Authority.

''We are hopeful the flood will pass on to the delta without creating much trouble here,'' he said.

The floods began in late July in the northwest after exceptionally heavy monsoon rains, expanding rivers that have since swamped eastern Punjab province and Sindh province in the south.

The deluge has affected about one-fifth of Pakistan's territory, straining the civilian government as it also struggles against al-Qaida and Taliban violence. At least six million people have been made homeless and 20 million affected overall.

The United Nations has appealed for $460 million in emergency assistance, and expects to achieve that goal as the scope and scale of the disaster has become more apparent. The US has promised $150 million.

Pakistan can ill-afford the crisis. Its economy was already being kept afloat by billions in loans from the International Monetary Fund, and the cost of rebuilding after the floods will likely run into the billions.

The IMF said it would meet with Pakistani officials this week to discuss the floods and what the country must do to cope.

''The IMF stands with Pakistan at this difficult time and will do its part to help the country,'' said the IMF's Masood Ahmed, director of the Middle East and Central Asia department. – Agencies

People not allowed to create own justice system: Malik

SIALKOT: Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Sunday that the culprits responsible for the deaths of the two brothers in Sialkot will be caught and punished in the same place where they committed the crime.

Malik spoke to the media while visiting the family of the deceased brothers for condolences and said that local citizens will not be allowed to create their own justice system. He also added that a change in the punishment for ignorance on the part of police has been proposed to increase the jail term from two years to ten years. He said there is no difference of opinion on this between the federal and provincial government.

Malik said that the culprits will be punished without interference of any political pressure or motive.

Thousands evacuated after floods in China, N.Korea

BEIJING: More than 120,000 people have been evacuated in northeast China following devastating floods that have already left four dead and forced the relocation of thousands in neighbouring North Korea.

Heavy summer downpours have swelled to bursting point the Yalu river, which forms the border between the two countries, and forecasters are warning of yet more heavy rain to come.

China's civil affairs ministry said late Saturday that 127,000 people had been evacuated in Liaoning province in just three days due to heavy rains, as the nation continued to struggle against its worst floods in a decade.

In Dandong city alone, a border town with North Korea, more than 64,000 residents were evacuated and some power and transport links were cut off, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

A couple in their 70s and a mother and son died in Kuandian county, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Dandong, when flash floods swept away their homes, Xinhua said, citing a local flood control official.

A 60-year-old man was also missing in Kuandian after his house collapsed in a rain-triggered landslide.

In neighbouring North Korea, more than 5,000 people had been moved to safe places after parts of Sinuiju city and nearby rural communities near the border were “completely inundated,” the official Korean Central News Agency said.

China's national meteorological centre warned Sunday that heavy downpours were expected to continue in parts of Liaoning for another 24 hours at least, coupled with some storms and gales, further exacerbating the flood situation.

Heavy rains have also battered other parts of China this summer, and nearly 3,900 people have been killed or left missing this year in flood-related incidents, official figures show.

The northwestern province of Gansu was particularly badly hit on August 7 when a torrent of mud slammed into homes in the remote town of Zhouqu, leaving at least 1,434 dead and another 331 missing.

And in the southwestern province of Yunnan, rescuers are still searching for 69 people who went missing in rain-triggered mudslides in a remote, mountainous area. Twenty-three people have been confirmed dead, Xinhua said. – AFP

Pledges exceed UN appeal: Qureshi

NEW YORK / ISLAMABAD: The response to UN appeal for rescue and relief operation in flood-affected areas of Pakistan rose dramatically to over 800 million dollars by Friday and more pledges were expected to come in, according to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Over the last two days of the UN General Assembly’s special session on Pakistan, the funding in response to a UN appeal for $460 million doubled.

The foreign minister, who had come to New York to attend the special United Nations General Assembly session on Pakistan’s floods, noted that the ‘tremendous response’ to the appeal was led by the United States, which had doubled its contribution.

The special session was called by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Aug 19 to create awareness among member states about the enormity of the disaster. Mr Ban was profoundly moved by the unfolding tragedy in Pakistan during his visit last week and called for a special UN session to raise funds.

According to figures released by the United Nations Financial Tracking System, $490 million have been committed, while another $325 million have been pledged by governments around the world, leading multinationals and charities.
These figures include the contributions and pledges made to the United Nations appeal, Pakistan government and other relief agencies. Over half of the donations came just from three donors — European Union ($180 million), the US ($150 million) and UK ($100 million).

The three donors are stakeholders in the war against terror and hence realise the importance of helping Pakistan.

As the donations picked up, the UN appeal, according to the latest figures, stood 57 percent funded with $263 million received.

In New York, Mr Qureshi told reporters that another special session of the UN General Assembly would be held on Sept 19 in answer to a call by the US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton.

The foreign minister said a special meeting of Friends of Democratic Pakistan would be held in Belgium on Oct 15 to raise funds for flood victims.

Mr Qureshi also called on Pakistani expatriates to donate money and material to the charities.

NOT GOOD ENOUGH

Although the pledges have exceeded the $460 million UN appeal, aid workers have warned that the needs may outstrip the contribution as the number of people in want of critical assistance have gone up from six million to eight million since the appeal was made on Aug 11.

A mix of reasons were being given for the worls’s sluggish response to the calamity. These ranged from a corrupt image of the government to being a supporter of Taliban. British Prime Minister Cameron’s terror export remarks reinforced this perception and made donation collection more difficult.

Private charities and aid agencies in the West have been able to raise very little and their donation lines have remained silent.

“A humanitarian disaster of this size anywhere else would have had, in my judgment, a much quicker, a much more generous, a much more instinctive response,” Tim Costello, chief of World Vision Australia was quoted by the media as having said.

Going through the hostile remarks posted on various websites seeking comments on assisting Pakistan floods reveals that there is hardly any friend of Pakistan in the outside world.

“Governments are giving donations because of the geopolitical considerations, some multinationals are also donating after being encouraged by different capitals, but Pakistan clearly lacks public sympathy, which is crucial for generating funds,” a Western diplomat commented.