Flames, rioting engulf London for third day

LONDON: Violence escalated across London and at least three other cities Tuesday as police fought thousands of rioters and looters and Prime Minister David Cameron headed back to Britain to face the crisis.
In unprecedented scenes of rioting in the capital, buildings were in flames in Croydon, Peckham and Lewisham in the city’s south, while gangs of looters roamed the streets of Hackney in the east, Clapham in the south, Camden in the north and Ealing in the west.
Scotland Yard said it had deployed an extra 1,700 officers to deal with the London unrest, the worst in years. Armoured cars were used to quell the rioters.
Hundreds of riot police poured into Hackney to try to contain the violence in a district just a few kilometres from where the 2012 Olympics will take place in a year’s time                                                                                                                                                                                                     

US ready to help improve Karachi situation: Wassan

Speaking to the media at his residence after briefing US Consul General William Martin on the overall situation in the city, Wassan (home minister) said the US had offered equipment and other expertise to overcome the situation in the city.

The home minister said the Government of Sindh is yet to accept the offer made by the US.

He said 15 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) will arrive by the end of August.

The Sindh government is giving the police five billion rupees to buy new vehicles and equipment. It will buy 40 armoured personnel carriers.

The struggling police force is understaffed and underequipped, given the size of Karachi city and the terrifying spread of crime

Agencies struggle to dismantle Hizb ut-Tahrir network

Security agencies are trying to dismantle a ‘multi-faceted’ communication network of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) but there has been little headway so far, a senior military official said months after some mid-ranked army officers were detained for alleged links with the banned organisation

.“Yes, we are at it… making efforts to dismantle whatever means they [HuT activists] are using to communicate with society and within the outfit,” the official told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity. “There has not been any major breakthrough yet.”

The official said that the organisation’s presence outside Pakistan was a key factor hindering the country’s spy agencies’ attempts to break links of HuT activists among themselves and with other people.

“It seems that the communication network is being operated from countries like the United Kingdom or some other European states where the outfit is not banned… that makes all the difference,” said the official in an apparent attempt to justify the so called ‘failure’.

The revelation came three months after Brigadier Ali Khan, a serving army officer, and some other unnamed personnel were detained for their alleged links with the HuT — an organisation that seeks to establish a caliphate in Pakistan by overthrowing the democratic government.

Subsequently, intelligence agencies launched a countrywide crackdown on HuT activists and some of its activists – allegedly the masterminds behind its ‘highly sophisticated cyber warfare’ – were picked up from different parts of the country.

The arrest last month of a telecom engineer, Osama Hanif, from Islamabad was part of the campaign to dismantle the organisation’s technological network that still operates freely without any hindrance. The official also confirmed that some of the arrests of HuT activists were linked to efforts to block its communication but refused to give the exact number.

The HuT uses many platforms on the internet, cellular phones and written materials to send their message across despite a ban on its activities.

SEAL Team Six,killed

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) —Saturday, The Taliban claimed they downed the CH-47 Chinook  with a rocket while it was taking part in a raid on a house where insurgents were gathered in the province of Wardak overnight during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite Navy SEALs unit that killed Osama bin Laden in a May raid in Pakistan, as well as seven Afghan commandos, U.S. officials said Saturday, It was the deadliest single loss for American forces in the decade-old war.The casualties are believed to be largest loss of life in the history of SEAL Team Six, officially called the Navy Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU. The team is considered the best of the best among the already elite SEALs, which numbers 3,000 personnel.

WHO IS A GIRL?

A girl is  the most beautiful part of Gods creation. She starts compromising at very tender age.She sacrifices her chocolates for her brother.Later she sacrifices her love for just a smile on her parents face.She sacrifices her full youth for her husband and children without complain and finally her life ends up only by compromising for others happiness.She is that creature of God who no one can compete.Respect every girl in your life.You will never know what she has sacrificed for you.

Ali Khan: A one-hit wonder?

Ali Khan, who set the music industry ablaze in 2006 with his single “Saathiya”, an extremely well-received song that topped the charts for several weeks. After “Saathiya”, Khan receded into the background, busying himself with just a few unplugged performances. However, after a span of almost five years, Khan made a comeback with the video of “Koi Aye Na” and has a long story to tells about what he was up to.

“I produced ‘Saathiya’ overnight, sitting in the studio at my place,” Khan told The Express Tribune. “I never thought the song would be such a hit and the positive response gave me a lot of confidence that I could create my own music.”

Fame was something new for the boy who had just stepped into the music industry and despite all the criticism regarding his very synthetic voice, electronic compositions and copied music video ideas, fans and producers had their eyes fixed on him. That is when Indian record label Tips Music approached Khan.

“They offered me a three-album contract worth INR37.5 million, which included the cost of producing the album plus music videos per album. Apart from that, they even told me that I might get an offer for one of their films as well,” said Khan.

During his visit to Mumbai in 2007, after several meetings, Khan agreed on the offered deal. However, since he wanted to produce the album himself and not with Indian producers, he signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Tips. “I saw Atif Aslams’ talent get wasted when, in my opinion, he produced below-average music for the album Doorie with Indian producers. Therefore, I decided to sign an MOU which would allow me to take time in compiling the album for worldwide release,” said Khan.

Retail consolidation: Makro and Metro in merger talks

Officials from the Metro Cash and Carry confirmed that they were in talks for a merger with Makro Habib. Metro officials implied that they were in advanced stages of the negotiation since they mentioned that the merger would be subject to the approval of the State Bank of Pakistan. SBP approval would only become a concern once both parties had agreed on the initial outlines of an agreement.

It was not immediately clear which party would act as the buyer in the deal, nor which investment banks are acting as advisors to both parties.

Analysts view the consolidation as good for both companies. Khurram Shehzad, the head of equity research at Invest Capital, an investment bank, said that the merger would allow both companies to take advantage of their synergies.

The Germany-based Metro Cash and Carry has five wholesale outlets in Pakistan, two in Lahore and one each in Karachi, Islamabad and Faisalabad and has been operating since 2007. Makro Habib Pakistan – a joint venture between the Dutch wholesale giant Makro and the Pakistani conglomerate House of Habib – also has five stores, three in Karachi and two in Lahore and began operations in 2005.