Pakistan’s fears over N-deal can be allayed: US

WASHINGTON: The United States can influence a range of factors in the US-India nuclear deal, said the US State Department while responding to Pakistan’s concerns about the agreement.

“There are a range of requirements in these types of deals, and certainly, we factor in a range of factors as we make them. So I will leave it at that,” the department’s spokesperson Jen Psaki told a briefing in Washington.

The United States reached “a breakthrough understanding” on nuclear cooperation with India last week that would allow US companies to establish reactors in the country.

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‘Both Islamabad and Delhi assured that US had strong ties with each of them’

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The deal was announced during US President Barack Obama’s visit to New Delhi last week. Pakistan, however, warned that the agreement would “further compound the already fragile strategic stability environment” in the region. Pakistan described the deal as “another country-specific exemption from Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) rules”, which would undermine its effectiveness.

The NSG is a multinational body concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of nuclear materials.

Critics of the controversial deal say it creates the dangerous precedent of allowing some countries access to fuel and technology without signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But the US State Department rejected this criticism. “It’s an understanding on an administrative arrangement for implementing the US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement,” she said.

“I don’t have more details to discuss publicly with you,” said the US official when asked to comment on Pakistan’s concerns.

Ms Psaki said the US had assured both countries that it had a strong relationship with each of them. “Those relationships are strong, they’re vital to our strategic interests, and they stand on their own,” she added.

“We work with Pakistan on a range of issues. We work with India on a range of issues.” The United States and India, she said, had been working on the nuclear deal for some time and it was finalised last week.

“But we certainly have reiterated our strong commitment to our strategic relationship with Pakistan. Secretary (of State John Kerry) was just there a couple of weeks ago visiting with them and reiterating our commitment,” she said.

When reminded that tensions between the two countries continued unabated, as did fighting across the Working Boundary in the disputed Kashmir region, the US official encouraged the two neighbours to resume talks for reducing tension.

“We consistently encourage dialogue between India and Pakistan. And obviously, the scope and scale of the process there is up to those countries to determine,” she said.

Asked if President Obama had discussed the issue with Indian leaders during his visit, Ms Psaki urged the journalist to ask the White House. “The secretary wasn’t even on the trip with him,” she added.

Nation must win war on terror: PM

LAHORE: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said the nation will have to win the war against terrorism for the sur­vival of future generations.

Addressing the passing out parade of the first batch of Counter-Terrorism Force (CTF) at the Elite Police Training School, Bedian, on Saturday, he said: “It is our responsibility to rid the nation of terrorism. We have to win the war against terrorism at any cost for the survival of our economy and future generations.”

Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Lahore Corps Comma­nder Lt Gen Naveed Zaman, Punjab acting Governor Rana Iqbal, IGP Mushtaq Sukhera and diplomats attended the ceremony.

“This war is the war of the whole nation. We have to rid of the menace of terrorism. By sacrificing their lives the Peshawar schoolchildren have strengthened our re­solve to eliminate terrorism from our soil. We will not rest till the last terrorist is eliminated,” the premier said.

In his address, Gen Raheel Sharif said the army was committed to enhancing the capacity of all law-enforcement agencies.

“The army is fully committed to enhancing the capacity of all law-enforcement agencies in the country. The army has also greatly improved its capacity of training and the scope of this will be extended to the whole nation,” he said.

The prime minister expres­sed satisfaction over the resolve and unity shown by all national institutions in the war against terrorism.

He said the martyrs had set an example by sacrificing their lives that would prove to be a beacon for the nation. He condemned the terrorist attack in Shikarpur. “The incident has saddened the whole nation.”

He said the strength of CTF would be increased to thousands as such steps were part of the National Action Plan. “The army chief and I will visit Karachi and Quetta and ask them to set up such a force.”

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, a total of 421 corporals, including 16 women, have completed their training course of nine months. A total of 1,182 corporals are being trained by the master trainers of the SSG and a police contingent from Turkey.

Egypt court rules Hamas armed wing 'terror group'

CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Saturday banned the armed wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, declaring it a "terrorist" group.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, denounced the ruling against the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades as “a dangerous political decision that serves the interests of the occupier,” referring to Israel.

Since Egypt's military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the authorities have accused Hamas of aiding jihadists who have waged a string of deadly attacks on security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

Saturday's court verdict followed a complaint from a lawyer accusing the Hamas armed wing of direct involvement in “terrorist operations” in the Sinai, which borders Gaza, a court official said.

The lawyer also accused the movement of using tunnels under the frontier between Egypt and Gaza to smuggle arms used in attacks against the police and army, the official said.

Egypt's military says it has destroyed more than 1,600 tunnels since Morsi's ouster.

In the ruling, the judge said that "the documents submitted by the plaintiff to the court showed that the organisation has conducted attacks...that targeted the military and the Egyptian police and facilities."

There was no immediate response to the court ruling from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades itself, but a Hamas spokesman in Gaza said the armed wing should not be dragged into “Egypt's internal affairs”.

In early January, Egypt began work on doubling the width of a buffer zone along the border with Gaza to prevent militants infiltrating from the enclave.

The buffer zone was created following a suicide bombing on October 24 last year that killed 30 Egyptian soldiers and wounded scores.

After that incident, Cairo declared a three-month state of emergency in parts of North Sinai, a remote but strategic region bordering Israel and Gaza.

Last week the decree was extended by three months. On Thursday militant attacks, including a car bombing, claimed by the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group left at least 30 people dead in North Sinai.

The following day a 50-year-old Egyptian interior ministry employee was shot dead in his home in the provincial capital El-Arish, officials said.

Jihadists in the Sinai have killed scores of policemen and soldiers since Morsi's overthrow, vowing revenge against a crackdown on his supporters that has killed more than 1,400 people.

Egypt blames Hamas, which is close to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, of supporting the blacklisted Egyptian movement.

Last March, Cairo banned and outlawed Hamas operations on Egyptian soil, ordering the freezing of its assets.

Despite worsening relations between Hamas and the regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief and architect of Morsi's fall, Cairo continues to play its traditional role of mediator between Hamas and Israel, including during last summer's war in Gaza.

Footprints: On the death row in Saudi Arabia

When Mohammad Afzal, a textile mill worker, was told that he could get better employment and also a chance to perform umrah, he jumped at the opportunity. Poor and uneducated, he had little idea what was happening and happily went off with Mohammad Arshad, a man who claimed to be an overseas employment agent.

That was the last his wife Razia saw of him, 10 years ago.

“He called after four months from Saudi Arabia, saying he was in jail on a charge of drug trafficking,” she says. Living in a simple brick house with her brother, she owns nothing of her own anymore.

“I sold everything right down to my sewing machine,” she says. “My youngest son Ramish, who was only a few months when his father left, fell ill, and I sold all my jewellery to pay for the medical expenses but could not save him.” She runs her finger on the photo of a grinning child as if caressing his face.

Afzal’s legal documents say that after he paid Arshad money for the passport and visa, the latter took him to an unknown place in Mardan. There, Afzal was given an injection that made him drowsy, and in this state he was forced to ingest heroin capsules. Razia says that it was a heavily guarded building and he was starved for three days, and then dropped off at the airport in a car with tinted windows.

“I get all the information from Afzal when he calls, which is usually every day,” she says.

On April 24, 2009, Afzal was given the death sentence.

“Sometimes when he does not call for a few days, I start to get very uneasy. Over there, anyone can be executed any day.”

She says that Afzal told her that more people are being executed now than before.

In January alone, three Pakistanis were executed in Saudi Arabia, says Maryam Haq, the legal director of the Lahore-based Justice Project Pakistan, an organisation working for Pakistanis imprisoned abroad.

Haq says that prisoners don’t have the right to an attorney unless they can afford it, which they usually cannot. Compounding the problem is the language gap. This becomes especially problematic, she explains, when “prisoners have to sign documents or when their statements in court are misinterpreted by Arabic-speaking lawyers”.

The most unfortunate part, says Haq, “is that the Pakistani government has miserably failed to protect its own citizens in another country”.

She cites the example of countries like Sri Lanka and India that have managed to free their prisoners from Saudi jails. But Pakistan, adamant at strengthening ties with Saudi Arabia, doesn’t seem to be interested in its people on the death row.

Haq calls the prisoners victims of the “so-called agents of the Overseas Employment Bureau”. Poor and uneducated, she says, they have “no idea what they are doing. Some of them have never even been on a plane before. Theyare not criminals”.

Moreover, says Haq, the Saudi authorities arbitrarily decide which prisoners to execute when, and don’t provide the families of executed prisoners any official notification of the execution. Haq mentions the case of a petitioner who still does not believe that her son has been executed because she has not received any official statement, or his body.

Mohammad Amjad, an uncle of one of the prisoners executed in Saudi jails, Shahpal, says they found out through another Pakistani prisoner that Shahpal had been executed. “They did not even give us the body to bury,” he says. Amjad denies that Shahpal had anything to do with drugs, and says that they still do not know the entire story.

Ramzan, the brother of Liaquat Ali, another prisoner, relates a tale similar to Afzal’s. He says when he accompanied Liaquat to Karachi for his flight as instructed by the agents, they were suddenly told that his flight had been cancelled. “They then called Ali to Islamabad for a second flight and this time he, along with another boy, was taken to a huge building in the middle of a forest near Charsadda, drugged and starved for a few days and then forced to board the plane,” says Ramzan.

According to Ramzan, the other boy went to the bathroom at the airport and managed to escape, getting the capsules out later with the help of a doctor. “We have filed a case with the Federal Investigation Agency but they have acquitted the agent, saying he is uninvolved,” Ramzan says.

The lawyer Ali’s family hired in Saudia Arabia charged Rs900,000 but nothing came of it. “We have sold almost all our land. What can we do?” Ramzan asks.

“I went to the prime minister’s office in the hope of being helped but none came my way,” says Razia. “Afzal told me a jailer was so overwhelmed by these executions he broke down crying once. He said to Afzal: ‘If your government asks for you back, you can be saved.’ But when will that happen?”

Sitting on a charpoy, she stares at the floor. While the sun is shining brightly, for this family, everything is bleak.

Kerry fined for failing to shovel Boston home

BOSTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry was slapped with a $50 fine for failing to have a side street adjoining his Boston home shovelled following the blizzard that dropped more than 2 feet of snow on Massachusetts this week, a spokesman said on Friday.

The fine was issued on Thursday after a snow-removal company hired by Kerry and his neighbours in the city’s historic Beacon Hill neighbourhood saw yellow tape blocking the sidewalk alongside the home and thought it was related to security for the top US diplomat. The tape had been put up to warn pedestrians of falling ice and snow, said Kerry’s spokesman, Glen Johnson.

“Once they understood that they were allowed to enter the area, the contractors finished the sidewalk late on Thursday morning,” he said. Kerry was in Saudi Arabia with President Barack Obama to attend the funeral of King Abdullah and meet with his successor, King Salman, at the time of the storm.

China vows no ‘Western values’ in universities

BEIJING: China’s education minister has vowed to ban university textbooks which promote “Western values”, state media said, in the latest sign of ideological tightening under President Xi Jinping.

“Never let textbooks promoting Western values appear in our classes,” minister Yuan Guiren said, according to a report on Thursday by China’s official Xinhua news agency.

“Remarks that slander the leadership of the Communist Party of China” and “smear socialism” must never appear in college classrooms, he added.

China’s universities are run by the ruling Communist party, which tightly controls discussions of history and other topics it construes as a potential threat to its grip on power.

The party often brands concepts such as multiparty elections and the separation of powers as “Western”, despite their global appeal and application.

China has tightened controls on academics since Xi assumed the party leadership in 2012, with several outspoken professors sacked or jailed.

Xia Yeliang, an economics professor at the prestigious Peking University, was fired from his post in 2013 after a 13-year tenure in a decision he attributed to persistent calls for political change in China.

Xia was one of the original signatories of the reformist petition Charter 08, whose main author Liu Xiaobo remains in prison even after winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Sujatha Singh's removal: Ousted Indian official speaks out

NEW DELHI: India’s ousted foreign secretary Sujatha Singh has hit out at the government saying her reputation was being maligned.

“My reputation is being mali­gned, my record being tras­hed. Why was this necessary?” Ms Singh told NDTV news channel.

Ms Singh was removed on Wednesday night by the government with seven months to go before retirement, and replaced by S. Jaishankar, the former envoy to the US, just after a successful visit by President Barack Obama.

Take a look: Indian foreign secretary removed

“It was a decision that had already been taken and nothing I could have done would have made a difference,” she said.

With Pakistan, Ms Singh was at the heart of controversy when she became the diplomat whose visit to Islamabad was cancelled in August by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, starting a new round of border tensions.

Ms Singh revealed that she was summoned on Wednesday by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who told her that Mr Modi wanted Mr Jaishankar as his Foreign Secretary.

“I said, as instructed by the prime minister, I hereby request for early retirement,” said Ms Singh.

“Why has it become so low and dirty?” the 60-year-old officer ques­tioned, and told NDTV that she wanted to set the record straight.

“I felt I needed to do this because I want an honourable exit. I don’t mean a tenure as Ambassador or a tenure in UPSC (Union Public Service Commis­sion). I mean an exit which is in keeping with what I have been as an individual, what I have been as an officer, as a Foreign Secretary,” she said.

Ms Singh said she deserved more credit than she had been given for driving foreign policy over the past eight months, and referred to what was described as a major takeaway of President Obama’s visit this week - the agreement on the nuclear deal.

“Shall I start by claiming credit for working on the nitty gritty of the recent understandings we arrived at on the civil nuclear deal with the US? The liability and the administrative issues? Believe me, I was fully involved in guiding the discussions, taking decisions on the line to take, on what to do and what not to do. I coordinated very closely with the Prime Minister’s Office,” she said.

“This government has charged a great deal on the foreign policy front over the past 8 months. None of this would have happened with the PM (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) or the EAM (External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj) operating on their own, in a vacuum.”

The officer confirmed reports that she had been offered an exit last year. “I was sounded out in December as to whether I’d be interested in a three or five year Constitutional position. I declined because of my belief that my responsibility was to the Ministry and to my Service,” she told NDTV.

Michael Jackson's family denied new trial in negligence case

LOS ANGLES: A California state appeals court on Friday denied Michael Jackson's family its latest attempt to reverse a jury's decision that cleared concert promoter AEG Live of negligence in the singer's death.

The three-judge panel ruled that Jackson's mother and children did not have standing for a new trial after their attorneys argued last week that AEG Live was liable for Jackson's treatment, and that jury instructions were confusing and not wide enough in scope.

A Los Angeles jury in 2013 cleared privately held AEG Live, the organizer of Jackson's ill-fated 50 "This Is It" comeback concerts in London, of negligently hiring cardiologist Conrad Murray as Jackson's personal physician.

The sensational five-month trial offered a glimpse into Jackson's private life and final days in which Murray administered surgical anesthetic propofol to the 'Thriller' singer as a sleep aid.

The child star turned King of Pop, who set the world dancing but whose musical genius was overshadowed by a bizarre lifestyle and sex scandals, died in 2009 at age 50 in Los Angeles from an overdose of the powerful anesthetic.

The lawsuit against AEG Live was filed by Katherine Jackson, 84, and the singer's three children.

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury found that Murray was sufficiently qualified for the job he was hired to do as general practitioner.

Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for Jackson's death and served half of his 4-year sentence in a Los Angeles prison.

Singer Shakira gives birth to second child in Barcelona

MADRID: Colombian pop star Shakira has given birth in Barcelona to her second child, a boy, she said on Friday.

A statement posted on Shakira's website said her son, Sasha, was born on Thursday night.

"The hospital confirmed that both mother and child are in excellent health," the statement said.

The singer and her boyfriend, Spanish football player Gerard Pique, had their first child, a son named Milan, in 2013.

Shakira, 37, and Pique, 27, met in 2010, but only confirmed that they were in a relationship in March 2011.

The 'Hips Don't Lie' singer, one of the best-selling Latin pop idols, gave birth in Barcelona's Teknon clinic, local media reported earlier. Pique is a defender for Spanish La Liga team FC Barcelona.

As with the birth of their first child, the couple recently asked fans in an online baby shower to buy gifts such as fresh water kits and vaccines to help needy children. Shakira is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.

Bangladesh cuts power to opposition leader Khaleda Zia's home

DHAKA: Bangladesh authorities on Saturday cut the power to opposition leader Khaleda Zia's home in an apparent bid to force her to call off a crippling anti-government transport blockade.

Local television showed footage of a technician from a state-run power utility climbing a ladder and cutting the line outside Zia's house, where she also has her office and where she has been holed up since the protests began early in January.

“We got permission from police to cut the power line,” the technician told reporters as he cut the line.

Private Channel 24 television said that Internet and satellite television connections to her office were also severed.

There was no official comment from police or the power utility.

Shamsuddin Dider, a spokesman for Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), told AFP that the 69-year-old leader was “shocked and surprised” by the “loathsome” move.

The power line was cut just hours after a government minister reportedly threatened to sever the connection and force her to starve to death if she did not call off the nationwide transport blockade.

“Even the food provided to you by your party officials will not reach your room. You'll have to die there without food,” shipping minister Shahjahan Khan told a rally late Friday, according to the local Daily Star newspaper.

Zia has been confined in her office in Dhaka's upmarket Gulshan district for weeks after threatening to rally her supporters against the government of bitter rival Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on January 5, the first anniversary of a disputed general election.

While in confinement, she called a nationwide blockade of roads, railways and waterways, triggering deadly unrest that has left at least 40 people dead and nearly 800 vehicles firebombed or damaged.

She wants Hasina to call fresh polls after last year's controversial polls, which opposition parties boycotted on the grounds they would be rigged.

The boycott meant most members of the 300-seat parliament were returned unopposed, handing Hasina another five years in power.

Zia denies the BNP and its Islamist allies were responsible for firebombings and has demanded the release of opposition officials and leaders detained over the violence.

Hasina has accused Zia of trying to trigger “anarchy” and ordered the security agencies to hunt down the protesters.

On Saturday an elite security force arrested Rizvi Ahmed, a top BNP leader, in Dhaka after he was accused of ordering firebombing of vehicles from a hideout.

The EU, the nation's biggest export destination, has urged Hasina's government and the opposition to hold talks to resolve the crisis.

French woman drug smuggler jailed for 20 years in Mauritius

PORT LOUIS: A court on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius on Friday sentenced a French woman convicted of drug smuggling to 20 years in prison.

Aurore Gros-Coissy, 27, was arrested in 2011 with 1,680 Subutex tablets, a drug sold on prescription in France as a heroin substitute for those trying to end their addiction, but banned in Mauritius.

She has always maintained her innocence, claiming the drugs were placed there by a friend, whose mother, Mauritian national Giantee Ramchurn, was also sentenced to 20 years in jail on Friday. Judge Bobby Madhub also fined Gros-Coissy 1,300 euros and Ramchurn some 2,600 euros.

Both had been found guilty in November last year.

As well as Gros-Coissy, four other French nationals have been jailed in Mauritius for smuggling Subutex and are serving prison terms ranging from 15 to 20 years.

2 Americans under fire in anti-West attack in Saudi Arabia

RIYADH: Gunmen fired at two US citizens on Friday on a road in oil-rich Eastern Province, leaving one wounded, in the fourth anti-Western attack in Saudi Arabia in as many months, police said.

“At 2pm today... a car carrying two American nationals... came under fire from an unknown source, resulting in one of them being wounded and hospitalised,” said a police spokesman, quoted by the official SPA news agency. He was “in stable condition”.

The two Americans were travelling on a road in Shia-populated Al-Ihsaa governorate of eastern Saudi Arabia, he said.

India tests long-range missile from mobile launcher

NEW DELHI: India on Saturday succeeded for the first time in using a mobile launcher to test-fire a long-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead deep inside rival China.

Although Saturday's launch was the third test of the Agni V missile, it was the first time the weapon had been fired from a so-called cannister mounted on a truck rather than from a concrete launchpad used in previous trials.

The new delivery mechanism gives the armed forces increased operational flexibility.

“Successful test-firing of Agni V from a cannister makes the missile a prized asset for our forces,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter after the test on an island off the eastern state of Orissa.

The Agni V — developed by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation — was first tested in April 2012.

Analysts say the Agni V has the range to strike any target on the Chinese mainland, including military installations in the far northeast.

India sees the rocket, which has a range of 5,000 kilometres , as a key boost to its regional power aspirations and one that narrows — albeit slightly — the huge gap with China's missile systems.

Agni, meaning “fire” in Sanskrit, is the name given to a series of rockets India developed as part of a guided missile development project launched in 1983.

While the shorter-range Agni I and II were mainly developed with traditional rival Pakistan in mind, analysts say later versions with a longer range reflect the shift in India's focus towards China.

India and China, each with a population of more than one billion, have prickly relations and a legacy of mistrust that stems from a brief but bloody border war in 1962.

India, the world's biggest arms importer, is in the midst of a $100-billion defence upgrade programme.

The new right-wing government has cleared long-delayed projects worth over $16 billion since storming to power at elections in May.

Modi has pushed for greater indigenisation of its defence industry, saying India must build up its military might to the point that no other country “dare cast an evil eye” on the South Asian nation.

More than 600 international flights fly over country: Aviation Adviser

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Aviation Advisor Shujaat Azeem has said Pakistan air traffic is safe and more than 600 international flights fly over the country.

He said this while talking to a private news channel days after the warning of the European Air Safety Agency (EASA).

EASA had issued a warning to national aviation authorities and aircraft operators to exercise "extreme caution" while flying in Pakistani airspace.

It issued a notice on its website stating that the "potential" of terrorist attacks in Pakistan has led to an increased risk for airlines.

Take a look: EU agency warns airlines to exercise 'extreme caution' in Pakistan airspace

He said he discussed the issue with French officials and clarified that the warning is not Pakistan specific but it is also for other countries.

“Our airspace is safe for traffic. EASA's warning is a precautionary step that is issued not only for Pakistan but also for eight other countries.” he said.

Williams overpowers Sharapova to win 19th grand slam

MELBOURNE: Top seed Serena Williams fought off a barking cough to clinch her 19th grand slam singles title with a 6-3 7-6(5) victory over Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final on Saturday.

Williams's sixth title at Melbourne Park moved her into a tie with fellow American Helen Wills Moody in third on the all-time list after she joined Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert on 18 at last year's U.S. Open.

Only Australia's Margaret Court (24) and Germany's Steffi Graf (22), who holds the record for the Open era, have more grand slam singles titles than the 33-year-old American.

“Growing up, I wasn't the richest, but I had a rich family in spirit and support,” Williams said at the trophy presentation. “Standing here with 19 championships is something I never thought would happen.

“I went on the courts with a ball and racquet and hope and that's all I had.

“I'm so honoured to be here tonight and to hold this 19th trophy.”

Williams had not lost to Sharapova since the 2004 WTA Finals, a run of 15 successive victories and was not about to let the Russian end that streak on Saturday.

The tone of the match was set in the first game when Williams broke the Russian's serve.

Even though rain forced them off court for 12 minutes as officials closed the roof in the sixth game, the American was not bothered by the disruption as she reeled off the next six points to establish a 5-2 lead after they returned.

Williams sealed the first set when she broke Sharapova for the third time and then continued her momentum in the second with a powerful service game while she put pressure on the Russian's serve.

Sharapova battled to stay in the match and did have chances to break, but Williams simply reached back and smashed down a succession of massive serves to get out of trouble.

She sealed victory in the tiebreak on her third match point when she powered down her 18th ace and then celebrated at the net after shaking hands with the Russian.

“I've got to congratulate Serena on creating history and on playing some of her best tennis,” Sharapova said.

“I haven't beaten her in a really long time, but I love every time that I step on the court to play against her because she's been the best and, as a tennis player, you want to play against the best.

“So congratulations on an incredible achievement.”

Egypt court rules Hamas armed wing 'terror group'

CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Saturday banned the armed wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, declaring it a "terrorist" group.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, denounced the ruling against the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades as “a dangerous political decision that serves the interests of the occupier,” referring to Israel.

Since Egypt's military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the authorities have accused Hamas of aiding jihadists who have waged a string of deadly attacks on security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

Saturday's court verdict followed a complaint from a lawyer accusing the Hamas armed wing of direct involvement in “terrorist operations” in the Sinai, which borders Gaza, a court official said.

The lawyer also accused the movement of using tunnels under the frontier between Egypt and Gaza to smuggle arms used in attacks against the police and army, the official said.

Egypt's military says it has destroyed more than 1,600 tunnels since Morsi's ouster.

In the ruling, the judge said that "the documents submitted by the plaintiff to the court showed that the organisation has conducted attacks...that targeted the military and the Egyptian police and facilities."

There was no immediate response to the court ruling from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades itself, but a Hamas spokesman in Gaza said the armed wing should not be dragged into “Egypt's internal affairs”.

In early January, Egypt began work on doubling the width of a buffer zone along the border with Gaza to prevent militants infiltrating from the enclave.

The buffer zone was created following a suicide bombing on October 24 last year that killed 30 Egyptian soldiers and wounded scores.

After that incident, Cairo declared a three-month state of emergency in parts of North Sinai, a remote but strategic region bordering Israel and Gaza.

Last week the decree was extended by three months. On Thursday militant attacks, including a car bombing, claimed by the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group left at least 30 people dead in North Sinai.

The following day a 50-year-old Egyptian interior ministry employee was shot dead in his home in the provincial capital El-Arish, officials said.

Jihadists in the Sinai have killed scores of policemen and soldiers since Morsi's overthrow, vowing revenge against a crackdown on his supporters that has killed more than 1,400 people.

Egypt blames Hamas, which is close to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, of supporting the blacklisted Egyptian movement.

Last March, Cairo banned and outlawed Hamas operations on Egyptian soil, ordering the freezing of its assets.

Despite worsening relations between Hamas and the regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief and architect of Morsi's fall, Cairo continues to play its traditional role of mediator between Hamas and Israel, including during last summer's war in Gaza.

Murray makes decider, Serena in dream Sharapova final

MELBOURNE: After three heart-breaking trips to the final, Andy Murray secured another shot at Australian Open glory by overhauling Tomas Berdych on Thursday after women’s top seed Serena Williams set up a blockbuster title-decider with Maria Sharapova.

Edged in a marathon first set, Murray fired up after a frosty exchange with the hard-hitting Czech and blazed to a 6-7 (6-8), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 victory under the lights of Rod Laver Arena.

The sixth-seeded Scot will contest his first Grand Slam final since his emotional triumph at Wimbledon in 2013. His next opponent will be decided in Friday’s semi-final between world number one Novak Djokovic and champion Stan Wawrinka.

Murray’s clinical disposal of Rafa Nadal’s conqueror sent an ominous signal to his eventual challenger and thrilled the centre court crowd after the women’s semi-finals were earlier wrapped up in straight sets.

With his former assistant coach Dani Vallverdu sitting in Berdych’s player’s box, Murray made redundant any plans the two might have hatched by taming the Czech’s monster serve and cutting him to pieces in the baseline exchanges.

“I was disappointed to lose the opening set after I had a couple of chances at the end but I felt I was playing better as the set went on and I was very aggressive at the beginning of the second set,” Murray said courtside on a chilly, breezy night.

“In the beginning I was feeling quite rushed and then I got more aggressive and made him do more running ... which was important.”

Murray sealed the match with a thumping ace down the ‘T’ after three hours and 26 minutes.

Arguably the match was won when the rangy Czech poked the Scottish bear at the change of ends after winning a tense first set.

Glaring at Murray, the Czech muttered a few words and earned a gentle rebuke from French chair umpire Pascal Maria. The Scot returned to the court a raging bull, throwing Berdych from side to side and returning every baseline rocket with interest.

The late match followed on from some fierce skirmishes earlier in the day when top seed Serena brushed aside teenager Madison Keys, the latest member of ‘generation next’ trying to steal her crown.

Williams was pushed hard by her 19-year-old challenger in a duel between two of the game’s hardest hitters before triumphing 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to reach her first Melbourne Park final in five years.

Keys burnished her credentials as the next torchbearer for American tennis, defiantly saving eight match points as her opponent roared in frustration before Serena sealed the contest with an ace down the middle.

“She pushed me really hard the first set ... and I had to really dig deep mentally to get through that,” Serena said. “It was a little frustrating. I had like nine or 10 match points and couldn’t close it out. That doesn’t happen so much. She played like she didn’t have anything to lose.”

Serena, who retains her world number one ranking by reaching the final, will face the woman she has tormented for over a decade in 27-year-old Sharapova, who trounced Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-2 in the first semi-final.

Five-times grand slam champion Sharapova will be hoping a 15-match losing streak against her American nemesis, stretching back to 2004, will have no bearing come Saturday.

Sharapova, a 2008 champion at Melbourne Park, lost to Williams in the 2007 final and again in the final at the 2013 French Open.

Most streaks are eventually broken and Sharapova, fit and in ominous form, took heart from her win over Makarova.

“I think my confidence should be pretty high going into a final of a Grand Slam no matter who I’m facing and whether I’ve had a terrible record, to say the least, against someone,” she said. “It doesn’t matter. I got there for a reason. I belong in that spot.”

Sharapova needed 10 minutes to hold in her opening service game, fending off two break points. She responded to the only service break against her in the first set by winning six straight games and seizing control of the match from the 10th-seeded Makarova.

The five-time major winner opened the 2015 season in confident style by winning the Brisbane International title but had a close call in the second round here, having to save match points against No. 150-ranked Russian qualifier Alexandra Panova.

“It’s been a strange road for me to get to the finals, but I’m happy,” Sharapova said. “I felt like I was given a second chance. I just wanted to take my chances.”

Aisam, Aqeel headline Davis Cup team

ISLAMABAD: Tennis stars Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan will be Pakistan’s key men for their Davis Cup tie against Kuwait in March.

The duo will be joined by Abid Ali Akbar and Ahmed Chaudhry in the four-member team named by the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) on Thursday.

The Asia/Oceania Group II first-round tie will be played at a neutral venue in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo from March 4-6.

It was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan but the International Tennis Federation (ITF) did not allow the PTF to host it in the country due to security issues.

“This is our tournament,” a senior PTF official told Dawn while requesting not to be named. “... but we will hold this event in Sri Lanka as the ITF didn’t allow us to hold this event here due to security reasons.”

Abid and Ahmed were selected through trials which were held here recently while Aisam and Aqeel, the country’s top-ranked players, were exempted from the trials.

A PTF spokesman informed that Rashid Malik, a veteran of many Davis Cup ties, has been named as the non-playing captain of the team.

Aisam and Aqeel are currently abroad with the former most recently taking part at the Australian Open while Abid and Ahmed will be making their Davis Cup debuts.

“Abid was selected due to his outstanding performance in the recently-held Begum Kulsum Saifullah Khan championship [where he won the trophy],” the PTF spokesman said.

“At the trials Abid also beat higher-ranked Mohammad Abid and Yasir, who represented the country in the previous editions of the Davis Cup.”

SECP reprimanded over insider trading, information leakage

ISLAMABAD: Senators on Thursday thrashed Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) officials over failing to control insider trading and information leakage that could lead to market manipulations.

Giving presentation on the Securities Bill 2015 to the members of Senate Standing Committee on Finance, chaired by Nasreen Jalil, SECP Chairman Zafar Hijazi said there were major shortcomings in the existing Securities and Exchange Ordinance 1969 that needed to be replaced with Securities Bill 2015.

He informed the committee that there were no provisions in the ordinance for duties of securities exchange, system audit of stock exchanges, powers of intervention of the commission for investor protection and regulation of clearing houses.

There were inadequate provisions dealing with the eligibility criteria for registration of stock exchanges, accounts and annual reports, investigations, inspections, recovery and prosecution, the committee was informed.

However, chairperson of the committee Senator Nasreen Jalil, said that the SECP needed to come with details of changes made in the new law as against the existing law.

Meanwhile, the statement by SECP chief that he has requested Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for making the commission fully autonomous, landed him with a barrage of queries from the senators.

India becomes world’s biggest gold consumer

LONDON: India overtook China as the world’s biggest gold consumer in 2014 as global physical demand fell, an industry report showed on Thursday, forecasting that prices that have declined for the last two years would bottom out this year.

Chinese gold demand slid by more than a third last year to a four-year low of 866 tonnes, while the country’s scrap gold supply rose 21 per cent to an unprecedented 182 tonnes, the report by GFMS analysts at Thomson Reuters showed.

Slower economic growth and a crackdown on corruption helped knock Chinese jewellery demand to 608 tonnes, 33pc below the previous year’s “extraordinary” levels, it said. Physical bar demand fell 53pc to 171 tonnes, a five-year low.

“We do expect an increase in Chinese demand this year. However, without a dramatic course of events we would not expect it to come close to matching the level in 2013,” GFMS analyst Ross Strachan said.

“The recovery will be helped by the fact there was an overhang of stock at the start of 2014 in China due to the voracious buying in 2013, and this kept purchases subdued last year.”

Indian jewellery demand rose 14pc last year to a record 690 tonnes, putting it back ahead of China as the world’s number one jewellery manufacturer.

The drop in buying in China helped drive a 19pc fall in global physical gold demand, with all areas declining except central bank buying, the report said. World jewellery demand fell 11pc.

An expected price decline to an average $1,180 an ounce in the first six months of this year is not expected to be enough to stimulate fresh retail investment demand, the report said. Gold prices are expected to average $1,170 an ounce in the full year.

That should mark the low point of spot gold’s decline of recent years, GFMS said. It ended a 12-year bull run with a 28pc drop in 2013 and declined another 1.5pc last year.

White House declines to call Afghan Taliban 'terrorists'

WASHINGTON: The White House on Thursday declined to describe Afghanistan's Taliban as a terrorist group, prompting consternation from the right, which accused President Barack Obama's administration of being out of touch.

“They do carry out tactics that are akin to terrorism, they do pursue terror attacks in an effort to advance their agenda,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

“What's also true though is that it is important to draw a distinction between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda,” he said, pointing to a difference in designation.

Read: US may not target Mullah Omar after 2014

“The Taliban is a very dangerous organisation,” he added.

The Treasury Department has imposed anti-terror sanctions on around 2,000 Taliban fighters, leaders, supporters and financiers.

But the White House's distinction got short shrift from its political opponents, with Republicans sending footage of the comments to supporters.

“It slits throats, it attacks buses, it drives car bombs into markets and it's not a terrorist group. Look, you can't parody this administration,” said conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer.

Also read: US soldier released in exchange for five Taliban prisoners

Others said the White House's distinction was based more on politics than reality, pointing to the negotiated release of Taliban captive and US soldier Bowe Bergdahl.

The White House says it does not negotiate with terror groups.

Taliban claim Kabul attack that killed 3 Americans, 1 Afghan

KABUL: The Taliban have claimed responsibility for an attack at the Kabul airport in which a gunman shot and killed three American contractors and one Afghan man on Thursday.

Friday's claim came in a message from the Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.

A US and an Afghan official said the shooting happened in the early evening hours Thursday, at the North Kabul International Airport complex which is a military section.

In a statement, Mujahid identified the attacker as Ehsanullhah from Laghman province.

He said the Taliban fighter had infiltrated the ranks of Afghan forces to stage the attack and wore an Afghan police uniform.

The Afghan official, who is with the Defence Ministry, said the attacker was in an Afghan army uniform.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation of the incident is still ongoing.

Indian woman who alleges rape sues Uber in US court

NEW DELHI: A woman who alleges an Uber driver raped her in the Indian capital has sued the online taxi service in a US court, accusing it of failing to provide passenger safety.

In her lawsuit, the Indian woman accuses Uber of putting profits over safety, calling the US-based company the “modern day equivalent of electronic hitchhiking”.

In an email to AFP late Thursday, the American lawyer for the 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Uber was being sued for unspecified damages for “physical and emotional harm”.

“Despite its self-proclaimed commitment to safety, opening the Uber app and setting the pick-up location has proven to be the modern day equivalent of electronic hitchhiking,” according to the lawsuit filed in a court in California.

“Buyer beware — we all know how those horror movies end,” the lawsuit said, accusing Uber of negligence.

The woman's lawyer, Douglas H. Wigdor, had earlier represented a hotel maid who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault in 2012. The San Francisco-based company did not comment on the lawsuit but said “our deepest sympathies remain with the victim of this horrific crime”.

A spokesman said the company was also “cooperating fully” with authorities to ensure the person responsible for the crime was brought to justice. Uber was banned from Delhi's streets in the aftermath of the December 5 attack on the woman, which sparked new safety fears in a city with a high record of sexual violence.

Read more: Uber suspends operations in Delhi after alleged rape

The trial of the accused driver, who allegedly attacked the woman as she was on her way home from dinner, is underway. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, kidnap and criminal intimidation.

Also read: Indian court charges Uber driver with rape, kidnapping

Uber, which connects passengers to drivers through smartphone apps, last week said it was resuming its Delhi operations, but authorities rejected its request for a licence to operate as a radio-taxi company.

Uber has said it is committed to protecting its passengers in India and globally. India is one of the company's key markets outside the United States and operates in nearly a dozen Indian cities.

Djokovic masters Wawrinka to reach Open final

MELBOURNE: World number one Novak Djokovic fought off Stan Wawrinka over five tense sets to master the defending champion and reach his fifth Australian Open final on Friday, where he will meet Andy Murray.

The Serb top seed won 7-6 (7/1), 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 in 3hr 30mins and will face the British sixth seed for a third time in Sunday's Grand Slam decider.

It was Djokovic's toughest match of the tournament and his serve was broken five times in another titanic duel with the Swiss world number four.

The clash was their fourth straight Grand Slam encounter to go to five sets with Djokovic winning three of them. He lost to Wawrinka in the quarter-finals at last year's Australian Open.

“I did not play on the level that I intended,” he said.

“There were parts of the match where I stepped in and played a game I needed to play, but other parts where I played too defensive and allowed him to dictate the play from the baseline.

“He has great depth in his shots. Once he has control of the rallies it's very difficult to play against him.

“So it was very emotional, very tense, as it always is against a top player in semi-finals of a Grand Slam.”

The top seed won through to his fifth Australian Open final, having won his previous four deciders in Melbourne. He beat Murray in the 2011 and 2013 finals.

But Murray also has form against Djokovic, beating him in the 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon finals, setting up an unpredictable Melbourne Park decider.

It was not a convincing performance from the Serb, who made 49 unforced errors to 27 winners and won just 70 percent of his first serves, but crucially he broke Wawrinka's strong serve seven times.

“I think it was more mental because once you back up and start playing defensively you spend a lot of energy,” Djokovic said of his mid-match lapses.

“He was the one that was dictating the rallies. There's no question about it.

“Some points of the match I did struggle physically to recover for the next one because I run a lot and he was getting a lot of balls back in play.

“I didn't have many free points on the first serve as I did throughout the tournament, so that was a significant change.”

Just not there

Wawrinka said he too struggled mentally and was not at his best.

“I was telling my box it was tough for me to stay with him, to find a way to win points,” he said.

“Because I was just trying to fight and to make some good choice, but today I was just not there.”

Djokovic had lost only one of his 74 service games prior to the semi-final, but Wawrinka broke him in the seventh game of the match with a series of withering backhands.

But the Serb hit straight back with outstanding side-to-side movement to level up with the set going to a tiebreaker.

Djokovic was too strong in the tiebreak with Wawrinka too loose with his shots to drop the opening set.

The Swiss fought off break points in his opening serving game of the second set, but Djokovic double-faulted on break point in the sixth to lose the set.

Both players traded service breaks in the third set, but the world number one seized control after Wawrinka could not close out a 40-15 lead and he reeled off the next four points to take the lead in the match.

But again Wawrinka hit back with two breaks in the fourth set to take it into a fifth, just like their three previous Grand Slam encounters.

Two double-faults and an overhit backhand cost Wawrinka an early service break in the final set and another errant backhand lost him a second service to hand the Serb a winning 4-0 break.

Djokovic, Wawrinka set up epic showdown; ill Serena through

MELBOURNE: Top seed Novak Djokovic and champion Stan Wawrinka set up ‘The Djoker v The Man 3.0’ at Melbourne Park after impressive quarter-final victories on Wednesday, while an ill Serena Williams moved a step closer to her 19th Grand Slam title.

The American, however, will first have to overcome the pure hitting of Madison Keys after the 19-year-old ended the fairytale run of Serena’s older sister Venus, despite suffering from a thigh injury that hampered her movement.

With many suggesting prior to the tournament it could signify an epochal shift in both games, the teenager represents the up and comers in the semi-finals after Djokovic and Wawrinka crushed the last hopes of ‘Generation Next’ in the men’s draw.

Djokovic, seeking to become the second man to win a fifth Australian Open title, beat Canada’s Milos Raonic 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-2 in the late match on Rod Laver Arena, hours after Wawrinka had easily dispatched fifth seed Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).

“Definitely expecting a marathon like the last couple of years. I’m sure that both of us will give our best to perform our best tennis,” Djokovic said in a courtside interview. “We always ask for the best of each other.”

It will be the third successive year Djokovic and Wawrinka have met at the Australian Open, with the man winning those epic clashes ultimately going on to clinch the title.

As defending champion in 2013, Djokovic prevailed 12-10 in the fifth set in their fourth round clash. Last year, Wawrinka won the fifth set 9-7 in their quarter-final, indicating fans on Friday should be set for another epic encounter.

“You know when you play Novak, especially in semi-final in a Grand Slam, you have to play your best game,” Wawrinka said. “You have to play your best tennis if you want to push him. So far I’m playing great. I’m confident with my game.”

American teenager Keys proved to be the ultimate party pooper with her 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Venus while at the same time indicating the mantle of American women’s tennis should be in safe hands when it is moved on from the two sisters.

Serena and Venus had been hoping to provide fans with the first all-Williams sisters clash at a grand slam since the 2009 Wimbledon final in the semi-finals.

Keys, who was inspired at four years old to take up the game after seeing Venus play at Wimbledon, refused to succumb to sentimentality and regardless of the quality of the match, in which the two players combined for 83 unforced errors, the 19-year-old was pleased to be through to the semis.

“It’s amazing, you just have to embrace the moment,” said Keys, who is now coached by three-time major winner Lindsay Davenport. “And I get to enjoy another moment next round.”

Unlike her earlier sluggish matches, Serena was in the zone from the off against last year’s finalist Dominika Cibulkova, a steely look in her eyes.

The powerful 33-year-old blasted 15 aces to pummel the 11th seed 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour and make her 26th Grand Slam semi-final. She has gone on to win 18 major titles.

But Keys’ chances of making the final have improved with the world number one battling the effects of a cold after a virus hit several players at the tournament.

“I’ve been sick the past few days,” a hoarse-sounding Serena told reporters. “It’s just getting worse and worse. I heard it’s a virus going around with a lot of the players. I think I caught it.”