Amazon expands Kindle lineup, boosts price of basic e-reader

<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 23px; text-transform: uppercase;">BY JENNIFER SABA AND DEEPA SEETHARAMAN</span> <img /> <br /> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="color: #999999;">New Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 Tablets are displayed during a launch event in New York September 17, 2014.</span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="color: #999999;">CREDIT: REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc ramped up its push into hardware on Wednesday with the debut of six new or upgraded devices, including a high-end $199 e-reader called the Kindle Voyage and its cheapest-ever touch-screen tablet.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The No. 1 U.S. online retailer also revamped its basic Kindle e-reader to include a touch screen. It will cost $79, about 15 percent more than the current basic model.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Other new devices unveiled on Wednesday are a $99 Kindle Fire HD tablet, which includes a smaller, six-inch screen as well as a tablet designed for kids that starts at $149. Amazon also upgraded its 7-inch and 8.9 inch Fire tablets.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> All the upgraded and new devices start shipping in October.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The expanding Kindle lineup underscores Chief Executive Jeff Bezos' commitment to developing devices as a way to retain users and bolster its core business of retail and shopping.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> This year alone, Amazon has launched a set-top box, a grocery ordering wand and a Fire smart phone, which debuted in July to lackluster reviews.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Amazon, which entered the hardware sector with the 2007 launch of the Kindle, has adopted a strategy of selling the devices at cost, and it profits when users buy content or goods.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It has been investing heavily in content, inking a deal this year to stream some HBO shows including "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" to members of its Prime subscription program.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "The vast majority of people are still using the tablets," David Limp, vice president of devices for Amazon, said during a briefing with reporters in New York.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Executives touted the Kindle Voyage as the thinnest device Amazon has ever made. The company hopes heavy readers might adopt the device, which more closely mimic a paper book.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The $79 Kindle is crucial to attract new users, particularly in markets like China, Japan and Germany, where e-readers are starting to gain traction, executives said.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (Writing by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Ken Wills)</div>

Amazon expands Kindle lineup, boosts price of basic e-reader

BY JENNIFER SABA AND DEEPA SEETHARAMAN New Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 Tablets are displayed during a launch event in New York September ...

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Can solar power save South Asia?

<div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b>Emily Cadei, OZY </b></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <img alt="solar" height="480" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/809c77851bcadd07120747c6eec7fc8cb1a38adb/c=125-0-899-582&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2014/09/12/1410554336000-solar.jpg" width="640" /></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">In 2010, Shazia Khan had a bright idea, literally. That's when this Pakistani-American, born and raised in upstate New York, launched the nonprofit EcoEnergyFinance, based in Karachi, Pakistan.</span><br /> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Today, EcoEnergy is out in the villages of Pakistan's Sindh Province, going where no electricity line has gone before. It sells solar lanterns that charge themselves under the baking South Asian sun, and then provide eight to 16 hours of electricity. Solar could well help fill the subcontinent's gaping energy needs. It draws on as many as 300 days of sunshine a year, while circumventing the need for huge infrastructure projects to get electricity where it's needed.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "We're focused on the rural poor because … the Pakistani government knows there is an energy crisis in Pakistan, but whenever they take any sort of policy measures to address this problem, they really don't talk about the rural poor at all," says Khan, formerly an environmental lawyer at the World Bank. "They're focused on setting up these really big power plants."<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> South Asia's needs are crushingly obvious. Rolling blackouts in India plunged 700 million people into darkness for two days in late July 2012, a jolting reminder that amid talk of South Asia's economic miracles, energy remains a mammoth Achilles' heel. South Asia's energy resources just can't keep up with its booming population and economy.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The regular sunshine amounts to a huge underutilized resource, as solar technology improves and costs fall. Potentially it could cut India's and Pakistan's reliance on foreign coal, gas and oil.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Most transformative: The mechanics of solar power make it fairly simple to deliver "off-grid" and avoid the limitations of India's and Pakistan's abysmal energy infrastructure. Solar could bring electricity to the hundreds of millions of rural poor who lack access, in the same way that mobile phones allowed millions of people to leapfrog the expensive infrastructure of the landline.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Today, roughly one-third of Indians rely on kerosene, dung or wood for most energy needs. Next door in Pakistan, it's worse — roughly 40 percent of its 180 million people have no electricity. The financial and physical state of the electrical grids is worse than decrepit. Energy theft is routine in both countries, creating mounting piles of utility debt that make it hard to keep the lights on, let alone improve or expand power lines.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> At the end of 2012, Pakistani's energy-industry debt topped $9 billion, according to The Economist. "It's one unholy mess," says Michael Kugelman, an expert on South Asia energy issues at the Wilson Center think tank in D.C.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Powering up solar, though, raises its own set of issues, including creating incentives for investment in an industry with high upfront costs and low initial returns. "It is very much a long-term investment and not something that can address the immediate energy crisis in Pakistan or the insatiable energy thirst in India," Kugelman says. The greatest hope for capitalizing on solar energy's potential lies with innovative small-scale projects that can connect people to electricity for the very first time, like EcoEnergyFinance.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The company recently received a grant to pilot a pay-as-you-go program for the lanterns via cell phone SIM cards, rather than collecting monthly installment payments, village by village. Another grant will help set up solar-powered energy hubs in villages, where residents can come to power their cell phones and other electronic devices.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> EcoEnergyFinance aims to become cash-flow positive, so it can reinvest income and scale up operations.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Solar energy is a very fundamentally easy thing to put into place," says Kugelman. It just takes solar panels and a few other pieces of equipment. And there's appeal for entrepreneurs and startups to work in communities that have never had electricity. "You're not competing with other industries, the oil industry, the gas industry," he says.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In India, Dr. Arunabha Ghosh, the CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, a Mumbai-based nonprofit research institute, says his organization has counted 250 companies producing off-grid energy. Most use solar, and most sell individual home systems. Still, more companies are now building "microgrids" — clusters of solar panels connecting anywhere from 20 to 100 households. Some are using the the same pay-as-you-go model that Khan's nonprofit is experimenting with in Pakistan, Ghosh says.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Though the industry is fledgling, political leaders have begun to put money and political capital behind solar. In May, Pakistan's prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, inaugurated the country's first solar power park, with aims of producing 1,000 megawatts of energy by 2016. It's one of the largest in the world. India has an even bigger solar facility in the works, though environmental concerns may slow the project.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> According to Ghosh, solar energy in India has grown a hundred-fold, from almost nothing to 2.6 gigawatts in installed capacity in the last four years. That's still just a fraction of the total 300 gigawatts of installed electrical capacity. Ghosh thinks that with the right policies, however, solar and other renewables could grow to make up 15 percent of of India's electrical capacity in the next 15 to 20 years.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> New Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also a solar enthusiast, after successfully launching several projects when he was chief minister of the state of Gujarat. Solar energy will be central to achieving his lofty energy promises, including one light bulb in every Indian household by 2019.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Big projects are still shackled by a lack of financing options and know-how necessary to attract big private investors and scale up solar energy use. But that's not stopping pioneers like Shazia Khan. And Ghosh says it's projects like hers that will embed solar power in the region's energy future. In the same way people in rural communities around the globe have come to rely on cell phones for everyday life, he predicts that solar energy, too, will become "indispensable."<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Ozy.com is a USA TODAY content partner providing general news, commentary and coverage from around the Web. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Courtsy by USA TODAY.</div>

Can solar power save South Asia?

Emily Cadei, OZY  In 2010, Shazia Khan had a bright idea, literally. That's when this Pakistani-American, born and raised in upst...

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Pakistani woman embraced by Islamic State seeks to drop US legal appeal

<div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 23px; text-transform: uppercase;"><b>BY DAVID INGRAM</b></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <img alt="An Aafia Siddiqui supporter carries silk roses next to a poster during a celebration to mark Siddiqui's 41st birthday in Karachi March 2, 2014. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/Files" height="438" src="http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140918&t=2&i=974521829&w=580&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=LYNXMPEA8H04O" width="640" /> <br /> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="color: #999999;">An Aafia Siddiqui supporter carries silk roses next to a poster during a celebration to mark Siddiqui's 41st birthday in Karachi March 2, 2014.</span></div> <div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="color: #999999;">CREDIT: REUTERS/AKHTAR SOOMRO/FILES</span></div> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (Reuters) - A Pakistan-born neuroscientist has become a rallying cry for militant groups demanding her release from a U.S. prison. But in a little-noticed move she is trying to abandon her legal fight for freedom, saying the U.S. court system is unjust.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Islamic militants in Syria, Algeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan have made Aafia Siddiqui's release a condition for freeing certain foreign hostages. Islamic State, for example, proposed swapping American journalist James Foley for her, but he was executed after their demands, which also included an end to U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, were not met.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A 42-year-old mother of three with degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University, Siddiqui is serving an 86-year sentence in a prison medical center in Texas. A jury in 2010 convicted her of attempting to shoot and kill a group of FBI agents, U.S. soldiers and interpreters who were about to interrogate her for alleged links to al Qaeda.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Siddiqui, who during her trial interrupted proceedings repeatedly and at times was removed from the courtroom, wrote U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan on July 2 seeking to end her most recent appeal.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "I refuse to participate in this system of total injustice that has punished and tortured me repeatedly, and continues to do so, without my having committed a crime," she wrote.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Siddiqui said she wanted to be sent home to Pakistan through diplomacy, not through the legal system. But her lawyer Robert Boyle told the judge he was concerned she did not fully understand that as a consequence of her request she might not have another opportunity to challenge her conviction.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> U.S. prosecutors were scheduled to respond to Siddiqui's letter with their own letter by late on Wednesday.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Siddiqui was likely unaware of the attempt by Islamic State to free her in a prisoner swap for Foley, Boyle told Reuters. Federal Medical Center Carswell severely restricts her contact with the outside world, he said.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Siddiqui already lost one appeal. In 2012, an appeals court rejected arguments that her trial was unfair and upheld her conviction.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Her latest appeal, filed in May, argues that Siddiqui received an unfair trial because she was not allowed to fire defense lawyers who were paid by the Pakistan government, and that U.S. prosecutors failed to turn over important evidence.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> WIDESPREAD KIDNAPPINGS</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In 2003, Siddiqui was wanted by the FBI for questioning for possible ties to al Qaeda and was detained by Pakistani authorities, according to U.S. media reports at the time.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> U.S. officials alleged that when the Afghan police captured Siddiqui in July 2008, she was carrying two pounds (900 grams) of sodium cyanide, which releases a highly toxic gas, notes that referred to a mass casualty attack, and a list of U.S. landmarks.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Siddiqui was never charged with links to terrorism. The FBI agents, U.S. soldiers and interpreters said that as they were about to interrogate her at an Afghan police compound in Ghazni, Afghanistan, she grabbed a rifle and began shooting at them. None of them were wounded, but Siddiqui was shot in the abdomen when they returned fire.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Siddiqui's family says she was raped and tortured at the U.S. military's Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. U.S. officials have said they found no evidence of that, but Islamist militant groups say her case is an example of the worst excesses of the U.S. war on terror.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> At her trial, Siddiqui's lawyer urged an acquittal because there was no evidence the rifle had been fired. No bullets, shell casings or bullet debris were recovered and no bullet holes were detected, the lawyer said.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Prosecutors cited testimony from witnesses and said the witnesses had no motive to lie.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Freeing Siddiqui or winning her repatriation to Pakistan has at a times been a popular cause in her homeland, where her trial was seen as unfair. In 2011, Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a Swiss couple and said they could be freed if Siddiqui were released. [ID:nL5N0F23US]</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In Afghanistan, the Taliban asked for her release as part of a deal to free U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. In May, Bergdahl was released in a prisoner swap that freed five Taliban leaders held at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Calls for Siddiqui's release were made by al Qaeda-linked kidnappers in Algeria in January 2013. A few months later, two Czech women who had been kidnapped in Pakistan appeared in a video demanding the scientist's freedom in return for their release. It was not clear who was holding them.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (Additional reporting by Alistair Bell; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Ross Colvin, Courtsy by Reuters)</div>

Pakistani woman embraced by Islamic State seeks to drop US legal appeal

BY DAVID INGRAM An Aafia Siddiqui supporter carries silk roses next to a poster during a celebration to mark Siddiqui's 41st birth...

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Sri Lanka court gives green light to deport Pakistani asylum seekers

<div style="text-align: justify;"> COLOMBO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Sri Lankan court on Monday gave permission to authorities to send back scores of Pakistani asylum seekers, after the government said they were a threat to the island's security and public health.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Deputy Solicitor General Janak de Silva asked the Appeal court to lift an earlier suspension of deportations, saying there was evidence Pakistanis were committing crimes and bringing malaria into the country, which was otherwise virtually free of the disease.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Interim relief was vacated and the court has dismissed the application. Now all the asylum seekers are exposed to deportation if government wants," said Lakshan Dias, lawyer of a 38-year-old Pakistani woman who complained after her husband, brother and father were detained pending deportation.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The court on Aug. 15 ordered authorities to temporarily stop deporting the Pakistanis, after the woman said her family was being forcibly sent home without having their claims properly assessed.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The United Nations refugee agency says 88 Pakistanis have been deported since Aug. 1 in what is has called a breach of international law.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The agency has called for an end to the deportations and demanded access to another 75 detained people who are awaiting deportation.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The Sri Lankan government says the Pakistanis are part of an influx of economic immigrants in the past year who have become a burden on the country's resources and potentially compromised state and regional security.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Most of the Pakistanis are from the Ahmadiyya Islamic sect. The Ahmadi consider themselves Muslims, but a 1984 Pakistani law declared them non-Muslims and many Pakistanis consider them heretics.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In July, a mob killed an Ahmadi woman and two of her granddaughters in Pakistan after another sect member was accused of posting blasphemous material on Facebook.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> According to UNHCR guidelines, members of religious minorities may need protection and require particularly careful examination of their asylum claims.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Sri Lankan authorities deny violating any international laws, saying the country is not a signatory to the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The number of refugees or asylum seekers rose by 700 percent in the year through June 2014 from the previous year, says the foreign ministry. That included 1,562 asylum seekers and 308 refugees.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Nita Bhalla, Sourced by: Reuters)</div>

Sri Lanka court gives green light to deport Pakistani asylum seekers

COLOMBO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Sri Lankan court on Monday gave permission to authorities to send back scores of Pakistani asylum ...

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Afghanistan expected to send defence minister to NATO summit

<div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 23px; text-transform: uppercase;">BY ADRIAN CROFT</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (Reuters) - Afghanistan is expected to send its defence minister to a NATO summit in Wales this week, NATO officials said on Monday, after a political crisis dashed hopes that a newly-elected president could make his debut on the international stage there.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Who, if anyone, would represent Afghanistan at a summit that will discuss the country's future had become a guessing game following the country's disputed presidential election.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The summit on Thursday and Friday will mark the end of 13 years of combat in Afghanistan by U.S. and other foreign troops.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The summit will open with a session on Afghanistan at which U.S. President Barack Obama and other NATO leaders will be joined by officials from 27 other countries as well as representatives from the United Nations and European Union.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said last month that a new Afghan president would attend the summit if he took office in time.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> But that now appears impossible after it emerged on Monday that talks on a power-sharing deal between Afghanistan's rival presidential candidates had collapsed.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "It has become clear that the electoral process in Afghanistan is very unlikely to reach its conclusion in time for a new Afghan president or president-elect to join us in Wales," said a senior NATO official briefing reporters on condition of anonymity.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "We understand President (Hamid) Karzai has nominated Defence Minister Bismullah Khan Muhammadi to represent the Afghan government in Wales," the official said.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Rival candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani have both claimed victory in a vote intended to mark the country's first democratic transfer of power.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Abdullah's team has pulled its observers from the U.N.-led audit of votes from the June 14 run-off ballot, saying it was dissatisfied with the way that fraudulent votes were being handled.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The setbacks have deepened the uncertainty about when Karzai can hand over power to a successor.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Karzai will not attend the NATO summit because of his disagreements with Washington over Afghan security needs after most foreign troops leave his country at the end of 2014, his spokesman said last week.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The political uncertainty calls into question whether NATO will be able to go ahead with its plans to keep a smaller training and advisory mission in Afghanistan after the end of this year.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> U.S. and NATO officials say foreign troops cannot stay unless the Afghan government signs two agreements providing a legal basis for them to do so.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Karzai has refused to sign. Both presidential candidates say they would sign but if the election deadlock drags on much longer, NATO officials say they may be forced to take a decision to pull out NATO troops altogether at year-end.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (Editing by G Crosse)</div>

Afghanistan expected to send defence minister to NATO summit

BY ADRIAN CROFT (Reuters) - Afghanistan is expected to send its defence minister to a NATO summit in Wales this week, NATO officials said...

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Pakistani protesters clash with police, soldiers secure state TV

<img alt="Anti-government protesters run after police personnel during the Revolution March in Islamabad September 1, 2014. REUTERS-Zohra Bensemra" src="http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140901&t=2&i=969280067&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=378&r=LYNXMPEA80165" /> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (Reuters) - Pakistani soldiers and paramilitary forces secured the headquarters of the state television channel PTV in Islamabad on Monday after a crowd of anti-government protesters stormed the building and took the channel off the air.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Protesters led by opposition leaders Imran Khan, a hero cricket player turned politician, and Tahir ul-Qadri, a firebrand cleric, have been on the streets for weeks trying to bring down the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Protests descended into deadly chaos over the weekend, with demonstrators clashing with police in a central area near many government buildings and embassies. Three people were killed.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Sharif, who was toppled by the army in a 1999 coup but staged a comeback with a big election win in May last year, has refused to quit while protest leaders have rejected his offers of talks, creating a dangerous deadlock.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Clashes broke out early on Monday and continued sporadically throughout the day. The state PTV channel and its English-language PTV World service were taken off the air after protesters stormed its headquarters.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A PTV source told Reuters the protesters had occupied the main control room and smashed some equipment. Uniformed members of a paramilitary force and soldiers later secured the building and the station later came back on the air.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In the nuclear-armed nation where power has often changed hands through military coups rather than elections, the army is bound to play a key role in how the conflict unfolds but it has not directly intervened, apart from meeting the protagonists and calling on them to show restraint.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Army chief General Raheel Sharif met Prime Minister Sharif on Monday, but it was unclear what they discussed.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Reuters the government was preparing to launch a selective crackdown against protesters, possibly later on Monday, and warned demonstrators against storming government buildings.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "The writ of the state must be enforced. We hope to make a decisive move sometimes later today, not in the evening but even before that," he said. "I personally feel that the next few hours will determine the course of coming events."<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Protesters have camped out in Islamabad since mid-August, paralysing life in the centre of the capital and creating massive traffic jams. The protest site, where many sleep rough, is littered with rubbish and reeks of human waste.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> How the crisis ends will be ultimately decided by the army. If the protests get out of hand, the military could step in decisively, imposing a curfew or even martial law.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> There is also a question mark over how much protest leaders are capable of controlling their own people, many of them frustrated after weeks of hardship and no solution in sight.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Alternatively, the army could side with the protesters and put pressure on Sharif to resign, in which case an interim government would have be put in place and early parliamentary elections held to elect a new government.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> However, few observers believe the army is bent on seizing power again. A weakened Sharif would allow the army to remain firmly in charge of key issues such as relations with India and Afghanistan while allowing the civilian government to deal with day-to-day economic problems in which it has little interest.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> DISAGREEMENTS<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Some ruling party officials have accused elements within the military of orchestrating the protests to weaken the government.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Khan and Qadri have instructed their supporters to avoid any confrontation with the armed forces and strictly follow their orders. As soldiers entered the PTV building, many protesters smiled and shook hands with them.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The military insists it does not meddle in politics but it was known to be frustrated with the government, in particular over the treason trial of former military chief and ex-President Pervez Musharraf, who deposed Sharif in 1999.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> There has also been disagreement on how to handle Islamist militants, and on relations with old rival India.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> On Monday morning, despite heavy rain, crowds of protesters fought running battles with retreating police after breaking the main gate into the Pakistan Secretariat area which houses government ministries as well as Sharif's official residence.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> After a brief lull during the day, protesters once again charged towards police lines in the so-called Red zone - home to the prime minister's house, parliament and foreign embassies - as they sought to reach the prime minister's house.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Sharif, who was prime minister twice in the 1990s, swept to office last year in Pakistan's first democratic transition of power. He is due to address both houses of parliament on Tuesday in an apparent effort to show that he is firmly in control.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Seeking to appear decisive as the conflict unfolded, the government has also registered treason cases against Khan and Qadri following the weekend clashes, the defence minister said.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> But Sharif looks increasingly cornered, and even if he survives the crisis he is likely to remain significantly weakened for the rest of his tenure.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Khan says he will not call off the protests until Sharif resigns.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Pakistan's Hosni Mubarak who buys people with his money was once thought of as indispensable, but today his legs are shaking," he said, likening Sharif to the ousted Egyptian leader.<br /> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> (Additional reporting by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Editing by Robert Birsel)</div>

Pakistani protesters clash with police, soldiers secure state TV

(Reuters) - Pakistani soldiers and paramilitary forces secured the headquarters of the state television channel PTV in Islamabad on Mond...

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South Asian countries come together in fight against wildlife crime

<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"> <b>Kathmandu, August 31, 2014 (Press Trust of India):</b> South Asian countries, including India, have endorsed a statute to develop an action plan for the next six years for working collaboratively to fight wildlife crimes. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="http://ste.india.com/sites/default/files/2014/08/29/268199-wildlife-700.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="South Asian countries come together in fight against wildlife crime" border="0" height="364" src="http://ste.india.com/sites/default/files/2014/08/29/268199-wildlife-700.jpg" width="640" /></a>The Second Annual Meeting of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) concluded in Kathmandu on Friday finalising and endorsing the SAWEN Statute and updated their collaborative roadmap for fighting wildlife crime in South Asia. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A statement released by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) here said: "Strengthening transboundary cooperation and collaboration for intra-country law enforcement initiatives through intelligence sharing on poaching and trade trends, along with exchanging knowledge and skill for fighting wildlife crime across South Asia was the unequivocal concern of the representatives of the South Asian countries. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "This push from the SAWEN member countries places the region firmly in the spotlight of a growing international commitment to dealing with increasingly organised illegal wildlife trade networks as part of a broader strategic approach to combat trans-national organised crime", the statement said. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The three day meeting was particularly successful in adopting the 'SAWEN statute' and beginning an intense process for developing an action plan for the next 6 years. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The statute clearly describes the vision, goal, objectives and the crucial role that SAWEN will play in combating wildlife crime in the region. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The statute, endorsed by member country delegates to the meeting, will now await the final endorsement from the governments of the eight South Asian countries, the statement said. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Various international donors including the World Bank, USAID and the US Department of State also took part in the meeting. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Minimising illegal wildlife trade from South Asia is crucial to the conservation of wildlife in the region," said Megh Bahadur Pandey, Chief Enforcement Coordinator of SAWEN. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Countries cannot fight highly organised and globalised wildlife crimes in isolation and need to collaborate and cooperate with other countries and partners," he added.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px;">(With PTI & Business Standerd  Inputs)</span></div>

South Asian countries come together in fight against wildlife crime

Kathmandu, August 31, 2014 (Press Trust of India): South Asian countries, including India, have endorsed a statute to develop an action pl...

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