Central Bank sells Rs10 billion of T-bills

KARACHI: Pakistan's Central Bank sold 10 billion rupees ($125 million) of Treasury bills on Saturday under five-day repo contracts at 9.00 percent to mop up funds from the money market.

Test matches should be result-oriented: Younis Khan

LAHORE: The second and the final Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be beginning tomorrow at the Gaddafi Stadium.Pakistan team captain Younis Khan said that he has focused all his attention towards keeping the team united rather than winning the match.In a press conference here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday, Younis Khan said that this wicket is looking better than the wicket at the National Stadium Karachi.He said that he feels if the matches would be result-oriented then spectators would come to the stadium.Younis said that one change is expected in the Pakistan team for the Lahore Test.The Pakistan team captain said that the cricketers had made a silent protest on their central contract but he is grateful to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for hearing his voice.He said that the PCB suffered most by the Indian Cricket League (ICL).Younis said that he understands that there should be a players’ association.Meanwhile, captain of the Sri Lankan team Mahela Jayawardene said that though he is not a wicket expert but he feels that the wicket at the Gaddafi Stadium would be helpful to fast bowlers.Jayawardene said that the second Test would be of much importance for his team.

PML-N to call a nationwide strike on March 6

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League (N) has decided to call a nationwide strike on March 6. According to sources, an important meeting of PML (N) parliamentarians was held at Raiwind on Saturday which was chaired by party Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif. The participants decided to stage a countrywide strike on March 6 against the Supreme Court verdict in Sharif brothers’ case. Meanwhile, protests continued for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday over disqualification of Sharif brothers and imposition of Governor-rule in Punjab. PML (N) workers staged strike camps at various places in the city including Shahdara Chowk, G. T. Road and Liberty Chowk.

Nation not to accept undemocratic decisions: Nawaz Sharif

SHEIKHUPURA: Pakistan Muslim League (N) Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif has said the people would not accept the Supreme Court ruling. He said no undemocratic action would be tolerated and the mandate of the people should be respected.Addressing a huge public rally here on Thursday, Nawaz said Pakistan is passing through hard times because of verdicts of the PCO judiciary. He said President Asif Ali Zardari had deceived the nation and did not honour his commitments.

Pakistan declares first innings at 765 for six wickets

KARACHI: Pakistan declared their first innings on 765 for six in reply to Sri Lanka's 644 for seven one hour after lunch on the final day of the first test against Sri Lanka in Karachi on Wednesday.Pakistan has secured a lead of 121 runs. Sri Lanka was 54-3 in its second innings at tea on the fifth and final day of the first test.The host captain Younis Khan after brilliantly scoring triple ton finally lost concentration at 313 and went back to the pavilion.Khan today came to the field having an eye on Brian Lara’s record and was seen chasing the highest ever score of 400 runs, but sadly he couldn’t achieve the target, as he was bowled out by Sri Lankan bowler Fernando at 313, when his team’s score was at 596.

I committed no crime playing ICC: Yousuf

KARACHI: Pakistan star cricketer Mohammad Yousuf said that he wants to play cricket for Pakistan and he is the need of the national team but he is not being given any chance.He said that he has left the matter to the nation and if he did any wrong he apologizes to the nation for that.Addressing the media at the Karachi Press Club here on Saturday, Mohammad Yousuf said that he is not going to any court for justice as the people of the country are his judges.He said that he is a cricketer and this is not his job to making rounds of the courts and if he does that then how can he play cricket.He said that he did not commit any crime by playing the Indian Cricket League (ICL).Yousuf appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari to look into his matter and hopes that he would make a positive decision regarding his inclusion in the national team.The “running machine” said that he is the second best batsman in the world according to the latest ICC Test ranking and on the ninth position in the ODI rankings.He asked that when no ban has been imposed on the ICL players in India then why the ICL’s Pakistani players have been banned here.

Pak-SL-BD triangular series cancelled

KARACHI: The triangular series between Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh scheduled for April this year in Dubai has been cancelled.Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief operating officer Saleem Altaf told Geo News that Sri Lanka team is not available in April for the series and thus the event has been cancelled. He further said that the Pakistan cricket team would tour Australia in the beginning of the next year to play a series of Test matches and One-day Internationals against the hosts.

Rustam-e-Pakistan dangal to be held on Feb 15

LAHORE: The final of Rustam-e-Pakistan Dangal, Pakistan’s traditional style of wrestling, will be held at the Punjab Stadium here on February 15. The entry will be free for spectators at the Dangal where national champion Bashir Bhola Bhala will face Hamid Ali Khan for the title as the winner of the Dangal will become the Rustam-e-Pakistan.The competitions of this local (desi) wrestling have again been started in Lahore after a long time. It would help in boosting the standard of traditional wrestling. Besides the participating wrestlers, spectators are also taking much interest and eagerly awaiting for these contests.

Younis positive for test series versus Sri Lanka

KARACHI: Newly installed Pakistan skipper Younis Khan is looking upbeat for the two test match series against Sri Lanka starting here from February 21. “We are well equipped and prepared to perform under all kinds of conditions,” he told media on Friday. “We need the backing of the nation and the media and we are capable of delivering for the country,” he added. “We are capable of adjusting on all kinds of surfaces and not bothered by preparations of the tracks for the series,” he pointed out. However, he said our curators should not be misled by nature of pitches themselves like in the test series against South Africa two years ago.

Hillary Clinton warns, woos North Korea

WASHINGTON: North Korea's nuclear program is "the most acute challenge to stability in northeast Asia," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday.Clinton said in a 45-minute address to the New York-based Asia Society, the Obama administration is prepared to seek a permanent, stable peace with Pyongyang as long as its government pursues disarmament and does not engage in aggression against neighboring South Korea."If North Korea is genuinely prepared to completely and verifiably eliminate their nuclear weapons program, the Obama administration will be willing to normalize bilateral relations, replace the peninsula's long-standing armistice agreements with a permanent peace treaty and assist in meeting the energy and other economic needs of the North Korean people," she said.The United States wants to move forward with the six-party talks, working with China, South Korea, Japan, Russia and North Korea to address North Korea's nuclear program, she said. However, keeping in line with the Obama administration's approach of "engaging" its enemies, Clinton said the United States would consider bilateral contacts with Pyongyang.Despite the olive branch, Clinton warned Pyongyang "to avoid any provocative action or unhelpful rhetoric toward South Korea."

Fire damage two shops, flat in Karachi

KARACHI: Two shops and a flat were devastated by fierce fire in three separate incidents in Karachi on Thursday, fire-fighting sources said.According to details, fire erupted in Liaquatabad super market that burnt two gift items’ shops but was brought under control soon by fire brigade crew.Other two incidents occurred in Hijrat Colony and Ranchor Line areas where a clinic and a room of a house burnt to ashes but no casualty was reported, sources added.

Ban on ICL players causes loss to cricket: Abdul Razzaq

SHEIKHUPURA: Test cricketer Abdul Razzaq said here on Friday that graph of national cricket team fell due to imposing ban on players, participating in the Indian Cricket League (ICL).He said that he is happy on getting the permission for playing domestic cricket and would soon be returning to Test cricket.All-rounder Abdul Razzaq is taking part in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match for the ADBP against Pakistan Customs at the Sheikhupura Stadium after he was allowed to play domestic cricket.Talking with Shaikh Suhail Ahad of Geo News here at the stadium, Abdul Razzaq said that the imposing ban on ICL players was former chairman PBC Nasim Ashraf’s own decision and it should have been ended after his exit. He said that all players, trapped by the ban, now want to play for Pakistan and if there are better players they must be given a chance.

53 million more people get into the grip of poverty: WB

DUBAI: World Bank has said that the surging global recession has pushed further 53 million people below the poverty line in developing countries and feared that 20 to 40 million more children would die in utter poverty.WB released projections for the current year said that 130 to 150.5 million people would fall below the poverty line due to hiking prices of food items and fuels. Besides, in the wake of slowdown and low growth rate 46 million people would be compelled to live on $1.25 per day, while 53 million people on $2 per day. The Bank expressed the fear that if the global recession persists, the 20 to 40 million children would embrace death due to poverty.

We are fighting war of Pakistan’s survival’, says Zardari

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari warned international community on Saturday Taliban have presence across large part of Pakistan and we are fighting war of Pakistan’s survival, Geo News reported.President said this during an interview to a US television scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday. Taliban are taking advantage of our some weaknesses, he informed and added, “Taliban want to overtake the state of Pakistan.”Fight against Taliban is about our own survival, he warned and urged, “It is indispensable to halt rising influence of Taliban by using force as they desire to change our living style.”Government is backed by military in its war against terrorism. Taliban could have overtaken Islamabad if Pakistan military would not support government, Zardari maintained.

US missile strike kills 6 in S Waziristan

WANA: Six people have been killed and eight others injured in US missile attack in Ladha area of South Waziristan on Saturday.According to sources, US drone plane fired two rockets at a house in Malik Khel in Laha. Six bodies have been recovered from the rubbles of the house. The eight injured have been shifted to local hospital. A British news agency reported that missile targeted the house of Taliban commander in Zangari area. The missile strike was the third such attack since U.S.President Barack Obama took office last month.

Health

The cookie diet: What it is
Being hungry and craving sweets are two of the main reasons people fall off their diets. But what if eating cookies and not being hungry was part of your diet plan? The cookie diet uses cookies to entice dieters into easy weight loss. After all, what could be more appealing than losing weight while indulging in one of our favourite treats?
But these are not your grandmother's cookies. Instead they're designed to be meal replacements made with fiber, protein, and other ingredients intended to keep you full. They're not nearly as sweet as grandma's, though they're certainly palatable. They contain no drugs or secret ingredients, other than amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and fiber that act to suppress hunger.
How it works
On the cookie diet, there are no decisions about what to eat, but which flavour cookie to eat, and what to have for dinner. It's a relatively mindless diet strategy that has reportedly helped half a million of patients lose weight.
The cookies contain select amino acids thought to suppress hunger, fiber, and other ingredients that digest slowly to help keep you feeling full. Eating four to six of the cookies a day will give you somewhere around 500 calories.
Dinners are simple: Lean protein and veggies, or a light dinner and a salad. The dinners range from a low of 300 to a high of about 1,000 calories each, meaning the diet has a grand total of 800-1,500 calories per day.
Anyone following 800-calorie per day plan is sure to lose weight, but medical supervision is recommended for people following very low-calorie diets (less than 1,200 per day), as they are likely to be deficient in nutrients. Most of the very low-calorie cookie diet plans recommend a daily multi-vitamin to fill in the nutritional gaps.
"One of the greatest motivators to sticking to a diet is when you manage hunger, decrease cravings, and watch the weight come off, and virtually everyone will lose weight at 800 calories," Siegal says.
Evan Bass, a physician, has been following the cookie diet for more than a year and has lost upto 45 pounds.
"The first two weeks were the hardest," he says. "I was tired with no energy for exercise but once I got used to it, I felt great and could be more physically active while eating cookies daily for breakfast and lunch."
He says he loves the chocolate chip cookies, especially when they're warmed in the microwave, and has not grown tired of eating 6-8 cookies a day.
As a result of being on the diet and checking in regularly, Bass says he has seen his health improve, along with his food choices and his commitment to being physically active.
"To maintain my weight loss, I still eat cookies during the week and allow some indulgences on the weekend," he says. "But I keep a close watch on my weight and when it goes up 5 pounds that is my signal to be more vigilant about what I eat and my activity."
What you can eat
The cookies that replace breakfast, lunch, and snacks range from 90-150 calories each. They come in a variety of flavours, including chocolate, banana, blueberry, oatmeal, and coconut. The cookies are convenient, portable, and don't need refrigeration.
On Siegal's medically supervised cookie diet, you have one meal for dinner, consisting of four to six ounces of lean protein with steamed veggies or raw veggies. The meal contributes about 300 calories. Eight daily glasses of no-calorie coffee, tea, water, or other beverages are allowed, but no alcohol, sweets, fruits, dairy, or other foods are recommended.
Dieters using the online cookie diet plans without medical supervision are directed to eat about 500 calories worth of cookies each day, plus a dinner made up of sensible foods. This approach controls daytime calories, but dinner could be a calorie disaster unless it is chosen wisely.
What the experts say
Dee Sandquist, American Dietetic Association spokeswoman says, "the cookie diet is another version of the meal replacement plan, known to be an effective option for some people. For lots of people, decisions about meals are tough, whether at home or eating out, and when you can drink a shake or, eat a cookie or a bar instead of a meal, it simplifies it and helps some dieters stay in control."She emphasises the importance of making wise food choices when following the cookie diet, and recommends that dieters include lean protein, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and low-fat dairy in the dinner meal, even it if ends up being more than 300 calories.
She also suggests checking the nutrition facts panel to see how many grams of fiber, carbohydrates, protein, and other nutrients are in each cookie, as these numbers vary from plan to plan.
As for the very low-calorie monitored cookie diet plans, critics say 800 calories is below the recommended level for safe and effective weight loss. They say the 800-calorie cookie diet is lacking in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, and fiber, all of which should be a part of any healthy weight loss plan. Siegal says that his clinical experience over the last 30 years has shown that fast weight loss is safe under a doctor's care, and that any nutrients lacking in the plan are made up for by the daily multi-vitamin.
The weakness in the cookie diet, experts say, is the lack of an exercise plan. Experts recommend that physical activity should be a regular part of everyone's life.
Food for thought
For people who have trouble controlling what they eat, meal replacement cookies can be an excellent way to control calories and lose weight.
Although the idea of a cookie for a meal sounds like a childhood dream, the truth is that it could get monotonous eating cookies every day. And without regular physical activity and guidance to help you make long-term lifestyle changes, lost weight may creep back.
While you'll most likely to lose quick weight on an 800 calorie a day plan, the cookie diets lack a transitional plan to help dieters get back to eating more normally and to maintain the lost weight.
Dietitians recommend that, once you reach your goal weight, you should increase your intake of healthy foods; especially fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and low fat-dairy for at least two meals a day, and rely on meal replacements for one meal a day.
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Top

Researchers probe brain's communication infrastructure
Brain signal never switches off and also supports many cognitive functions. Researcher's look at one of the human brain's most fundamental "foundations" is an important step forward in understanding the functional architecture of the brain …

By Kate Melville
Washington University School of Medicine researchers are taking the first direct look at one of the human brain's most fundamental "foundations": a brain signal that never switches off and may support many cognitive functions. Their findings, appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are an important step forward in understanding the functional architecture of the brain.
Functional architecture refers to the metaphorical structures formed by brain processes and interactions among different brain regions. The "foundation" highlighted in the new study is a low-frequency signal created by neuronal activity throughout the brain. This signal doesn't switch off even in dreamless sleep, possibly to help maintain basic structure and facilitate offline housekeeping activities.
"A different, more labile and higher-frequency signal known as the gamma frequency activity has been the focus of much brain research in recent years," says study author Biyu He. "But we found that signal loses its large-scale structure in deep sleep, while the low-frequency signal does not, suggesting that the low-frequency signal may be more fundamental."
"What we've been finding is reorienting the way we think about how the brain works," adds co-researcher Marcus Raichle. "We're starting to see the brain as being in the prediction business, with ongoing, organised carrier frequencies within the systems of the brain that keep them prepared for the work they need to do to perform mental tasks."
Neurologists have spent many years exploring the upper levels of the brain's functional architecture. In these studies, researchers typically ask volunteers to perform specific mental tasks as their brains are scanned using fMRI. Such "goal-oriented" tasks might include looking for or studying a visual stimulus, moving an arm or leg, reading a word or listening for a sound. As the subjects perform these tasks, the scans reveal increases in blood flow to different parts of the brain, which researchers take as indications that the brain areas are contributing to the mental task.
In the past decade, however, scientists have realised that deeper structures underlie goal-oriented mental processes. These underlying brain processes continue to occur even when subjects aren't consciously using their brain to do anything, and the energies that the brain puts into them seem to be much greater than those used for goal-oriented tasks.
"The brain consumes a tremendous amount of the body's energy resources -- it's only two percent of body weight, but it uses about 20 percent of the energy we take in," says Raichle. "When we started to ask where all those resources were being spent, we found that the goal-oriented tasks we had studied previously only accounted for a tiny portion of that energy budget. The rest appears to go into activities and processes that maintain a state of readiness in the brain."
To explore this deeper level of the brain's functional architecture, Raichle and others have been using fMRI to conduct detailed analyses of brain activity in subjects asked to do nothing. However, a nagging question has dogged those and other fMRI studies: Scientists assumed that increased blood flow to a part of the brain indicates that part has contributed to a mental task, but they wanted more direct evidence linking increased blood flow to stepped-up activity in brain cells.
In the new study, the researchers took fMRI scans of five patients with intractable epilepsy. The scans, during which the subjects did nothing, were taken prior to the temporary installation of grids of electrodes on the surfaces of the patients' brains. The level of detail provided by the grids is essential clinically for pinpointing the source of the seizures for possible surgical removal, a last resort employed only when other treatments failed.
The results confirmed that the fMRI data she had gathered earlier reflected changes in brain cell activity exhibited in the gamma frequency signal. But she also noticed the persistent low-frequency signal, which also corresponded to the fMRI data. "When we looked back in the literature, we found that a similar signal had been the subject of a great deal of animal research using implanted electrodes in the 1960s through the 1980s," she says. "There were suggestions, for example, that when this low-frequency signal, which fluctuates persistently, is in a low trough, the brain may handle mental tasks more effectively."
"What we've shown provides a bridge between the fMRI work many scientists are doing now and the earlier work involving electrical recordings from the brain that emphasised slow activity," says he. "Bringing those two fields together may give us some very interesting insights into the brain's organisation and function."

Pak shares Mumbai probe details with India, seeks further information

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has handed over report of Mumbai attacks’ investigation to India and sought further information and material relating to the investigationAbdul Basit Khan, who took over as Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman, said in his maiden press briefing that the Foreign Secretary handed over the FIA report into Mumbai attacks probe to Indian high commissioner Satyaprata Pal in the Foreign Office.To a question, he said Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan is free but is not serving on any position. Therefore, he has no access to any atomic plant or any sensitive location, he added.The FO spokesman said Dr. Qadeer is not being interrogated further despite foreign pressure.He said commencement date of Ms Benazir Bhutto’s assassination by UN commission will be announced soon.Meanwhile, India in its foreign office statement on Thursday confirmed that its high commission in Pakistan has received the investigation report into the Mumbai attacks. In the report Pakistan admitted involvement of Pakistani elements in the Mumbai incident.The report also states that Pakistan has arrested some people for their link in the Mumbai attacks and that they are being interrogated.India termed it a “positive” development.

‘Afghanistan could be Obama’s Vietnam’

LONDON, Feb 11: Unless the insurgents’ advance is halted, Afghanistan will become President Barack Obama’s Vietnam, fears Col John Nagl, a consultant.A Daily Telegraph report (War against Taliban ‘will be lost by autumn’ unless strategy changes) datelined Washington and published on Wednesday quoted Col Nagl, an Iraq veteran who helped devise the strategy, as saying that gains made by the Taliban needed to be reversed by the end of the fighting season, around late September or early October, or else the Taliban would establish a durable base that would make a sustained Western military presence futile.“Counter-insurgency campaigns have momentum, like a football game when the crowd senses something before it happens. Right now the Taliban has that momentum,” said Col Nagl.In his campaign Mr Obama committed to sending extra resources to Afghanistan and was bullish about the chances of success. But at a press conference this week, he played down expectations of ushering in a Western-style democracy and instead set a goal of preventing the country from becoming a haven for terrorists.The president’s spokesman on Tuesday announced that he had asked Bruce Riedel, a former CIA agent and academic, to head an inter-agency review that would include civilian and military affairs in Afghanistan and the region, indicating that the so-called ‘surge’ might not be ordered by the president.The leaking of Col Nagl’s assessment report to the media at this juncture is regarded by some diplomatic circles here as a desperate attempt by the supporters of the ‘surge’ idea in Pentagon to force President Obama’s hand.The Telegraph report cleverly juxtaposed Col Nagl’s assessment with a statement by Adm Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in which he had said that he expected to announce the deployment of a further 30,000 US troops soon, even though President Obama’s administration was waiting to evaluate the reviews.

Obama, Zardari agree on ‘active engagement’

WASHINGTON, Feb 11: US President Barack Obama telephoned President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday, a day after his special envoy met the Pakistani leader with a message from his boss urging Pakistan to be a ‘stalwart ally’ in the fight against terrorism.After the telephone call, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs issued a statement in Islamabad saying the two leaders agreedon the need for a strategy to try and resolve the region’s problems.“Both also agreed to start an active engagement for the resolution of problems facing our region through a holistic strategy,” the statement said. “They underscored a need for a joint strategy to bring peace and security to the region.”President Zardari expressed the hope that the new US strategy would be “a beneficial change for the world,” particularly for the South Asian region and Pakistan-US relations, the statement said.The Obama administration is working on a new strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, which focusses on fighting terrorists hiding in the tribal region and also promises to triple US economic assistance to Islamabad.Mr Obama’s telephone call caused much speculation in Washington where analysts were trying to understand why President Obama had to call the Pakistani leader while he already had an envoy there.President Obama said earlier this week that his envoy Richard Holbrooke was trying to encourage Pakistan to be “a stalwart ally” and “work in a regional fashion to root out those safe havens” in Fata.India’s roleObservers in Washington say that if a regional approach leads to inviting India to join the hunt for militants in the tribal areas, it cannot be acceptable to Pakistan.US officials have indicated that while they do not want to necessarily involve India in the tribal fight, they do believe that India has a role to play in bringing peace to Afghanistan.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, however, indicated earlier this week that the United States was finding it difficult to encourage greater cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan in fighting the militants along their border.She also said that the Obama administration opted for a special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan because of “the bad blood” that prevented the two countries from working with each other.Dr Khan’s releaseAt the State Department, spokesman Robert Wood did not discuss President Obama’s telephone call but underlined another issue that he said was being discussed between Islamabad and Washington: a court decision to release Dr A. Q. Khan.“Ambassador Holbrooke certainly raised this issue” when he met Pakistani leaders in Islamabad, said the spokesman.US Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg had already discussed the release with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Munich earlier this week.“Mr Steinberg wanted to make sure that the Pakistanis understood how seriously we take this, and wanted assurances, and was given verbal assurances,” said Mr Wood. Now “we’ll just have to see how that plays out”.He said Mr Steinberg wanted Pakistan to ensure that Dr Khan would not continue to be a proliferation threat.“We were given those assurances. We’ll have to see how things go. We certainly don’t want to see that black market up and operating,” said the State Department spokesman. “We’ll continue to follow the issue very closely.”Mr Wood rejected the media speculation that Pakistan was secretly trying to arrange a meeting between Ambassador Holbrooke and some Taliban leaders and that President Obama’s call might also be linked to those efforts.“I haven’t heard that at all, not at all. I don’t believe that to be the case at all,” said Mr Wood.The State Department official also insisted that he saw no link between Wednesday’s terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and Ambassador Holbrooke’s visit to Kabul.“I have no reason to be able to draw that kind of a conclusion,” he said.

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