KARACHI: On the directives of Minister for Environment Shaikh Mohammed Afzal, the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Waste Management Cell Karachi visited various industrial areas on Saturday. The cell members visited SITE Industrial Area, Keamari Town, Jinnah Bridge and Terhi Goth. Warning the concerned town administrations and industry managements, the Vehicular Emission Control Programme project director said action would be taken under EPA laws for dumping garbage and burning it. He also said all such industrial areas where garbage was being burnt were bound by the law to neither dump garbage there nor set it on fire. The cell members have served a notice to a paper mill for violating EPA laws and summoned the administration officials to the authority’s office.

MIRPUR/KARACHI: At least 15 people, including mourners and policemen, were killed and over 100 injured when a suicide bomber ripped through a Muharram procession near an imambargah in Muzaffarabad on Sunday as another explosion near a Muharram procession in Karachi injured 35 people, according to police.

In Muzaffarabad, a suicide bomber blew himself up when intercepted by security personnel guarding a Muharram procession. The procession was passing close to a police barricade in front of the imambargah on CMH Road at about 6.30pm when the bomber struck, a senior police officer told APP. At least 15 of those injured are in critical condition.

The gathering attracted about 1,000 people, said police officer Tahir Qayum. Those killed included two policemen, he said.

The AFP news agency quoted police as saying that the bomber was trying to enter the imambargah. Panic ensued the blast, which flung a severed leg and other body parts across the ground outside the imambargah as the power went off, said witnesses.
“The bomber came in front of me. He was accompanying the procession. Police searched everybody on the gate and the bomber blew himself during the body search,” said Atif Bashir, a medical storekeeper with a bandaged forehead. “All of a sudden the electricity cut. There was panic and people were crying for help,” he told AFP at the bomb site.

Security was put on high alert across Azad Jammu and Kashmir following the attack, and the army was called in to assist the civil administration in maintaining law and order.

Karachi bombing: In Karachi, police - on the basis of the bomb disposal squad’s findings - claimed that the explosion was triggered by a build up of gas in a manhole, but doctors who treated the blast victims said they found pellets in the bodies of the injured, suggesting that an explosive device was detonated.

The blast took place at around 6:30pm when the procession, which started from Orangi Town No 10, was on its way to Orangi No 2 1/2. staff report/agencies

International airports were scrambling yesterday to tighten security on U.S. flights, causing passenger chaos on the busiest travel day of the year, in the wake of Christmas Day’s foiled attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airplane.

U.S. President Barack Obama, on vacation in Hawaii, ordered a review of security protocols and the no-fly list to determine how a man with explosives strapped to his body boarded a flight weeks after the man’s father contacted U.S. authorities to warn them of his son’s growing radicalism.

Jammed airports were a scene of bedlam yesterday as travellers were left waiting in line for hours and rushing to make alternative plans as a slate of ramped-up security measures disrupted connecting flights and slowed departures to a crawl.

But nothing better demonstrated the heightened anxiety in the skies than a case of airsickness that became a national security incident.

When a Nigerian man locked himself in the airplane’s bathroom for about an hour yesterday on the same Amsterdam-Detroit flight that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to blow up on Friday, staff on board asked for emergency assistance.

As it turned out, the “disruptive passenger” was a sick businessman who needed to use the washroom. Authorities said yesterday he posed no threat.

In the meantime, travellers in and out of the U.S. are facing stringent security screenings, pat-downs and restrictions on their on-board movement for the foreseeable future, after Friday’s close call was averted only by the adrenaline-driven bravery of passengers on the 278-person flight.

Although a Vancouver Airport spokeswoman said the new security measures, put in place this weekend, will last at least until 2 a.m. Dec. 30, neither Transport Canada nor the U.S. Transportation Security Administration would speculate on how long these new measures would be in place or what would replace them.

In the meantime, the emergency measures were causing pandemonium at airports across Canada yesterday. Passengers faced waits as long as seven hours as they went through lengthy body searches and painstaking checks of slimmed-down carry-on bags.

Reports from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport that security protocol had been followed correctly raised further concerns that would-be terrorists are moving to exploit an overlooked gap in passenger-screening measures.

It’s reminiscent of Richard Reid’s attempt in 2001 to blow up a plane with the same explosives hidden in his shoes, and, more recently, of a 2006 transatlantic plot to blow up 10 flights from Britain to the U.S. and Canada using liquid explosives. Many of the heightened restrictions prompted by that incident have since been relaxed. But terrorism experts say this latest near-miss could force security authorities to re-examine the way they evaluate threats posed by passengers, and prompt even stricter incarnations of no-fly lists previously criticized for grounding innocent travellers.To simplify airport chaos yesterday, personnel were asking passengers to refrain from bringing carry-on bags with them at all, although few complied and departure lounges were scenes of chaos as harried travellers packed and re-packed their luggage.

A Canadian Air Transport Security Authority screener at Toronto’s Pearson airport said yesterday CATSA staff in the U.S. departures lounge was almost doubled yesterday, and staff were being paid overtime to go through hands-on screenings of tens of thousands of frustrated passengers.

Despite staffing increases to accommodate the confusion, dozens of flights were delayed and several airlines had to cancel flights simply because the new screenings meant travellers weren’t getting through the airport fast enough.

At 5 p.m. yesterday, American Airlines had cancelled 16 of its 36 flights scheduled for that day - largely due to the security measures that a spokesman said was forcing them to “thin out” the schedule.

Air Canada and its affiliate Air Canada Jazz cancelled several short-haul U.S. flights, most of them out of Toronto, due to security delays.

Mark Hansen, a Berkeley professor specializing in aviation security, said the pat-downs now being implemented are helpful but are likely a stop-gap measure, to be replaced with better high-tech ways of detecting non-metal weapons like the plastic explosive pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) that Mr. Abdulmutallab allegedly attempted to detonate on Friday.

But he noted it’s also possible this will prove a temporary flare-up in airport-security paranoia.

“The history is that these things do subside - there’s an immediate reaction and then, as time goes on, the memory fades and the reality of the invasiveness and the inconvenience of strict screening persists. And so we eventually move toward a system that is less stringent.”

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama cautiously accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday in Oslo , acknowledging “the considerable controversy” over his award because he’s accomplished little on the world stage in less than a year on the job and has just called for sending 30,000 to 35,000 more U.S. troops to war in Afghanistan .

Given the stature of some past winners, and the ordeals faced by humanitarian leaders who’ve never won, Obama said that “I cannot argue with those who find these men and women, some known, some obscure to all but those they help, to be far more deserving of this honor than I.”

In his acceptance speech at Oslo City Hall on a daylong stop that’s irked some Norwegians because of its brevity, the president wove themes of optimism and realism. He spoke at once of the inevitability of some war and his belief in a ” North Star ” of faith in human progress.

Obama hit on perhaps the central reason for the Nobel committee’s decision when he emphasized his belief that the U.S. must rely more on multilateralism to handle evolving conflicts. European frustration with former President George W. Bush’s unilateral approach, especially toward Iraq , has helped to fuel their investment in Obama as an alternative.

In turn, the president called on other nations to step up their commitments to U.N. peacekeeping efforts, nuclear disarmament and imposing serious sanctions on regimes that pose a threat to world stability.

“It is also incumbent upon all of us to insist that nations like Iran and North Korea do not game the system,” he said. “Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war.”

“I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war,” Obama said. “There is no simple formula here. But we must try as best we can to balance isolation and engagement, pressure and incentives, so that human rights and dignity are advanced over time.”

Nobel committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland , in remarks before Obama’s, defended the choice, saying the prize should be an “instrument for peace rather than stamp of approval” and that “peace must be built again and again.”

Obama used his remarks to praise civil demonstrators in Zimbabwe and Iran and in Myanmar , where he singled out pro-democracy figure Aung Sang Suu Kyi by name.

While embracing the nonviolent messages of Martin Luther King Jr. , who also won the Nobel prize, and Mohandas Gandhi , who did not, the president said that “as head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone.”

“Evil does exist in the world,” Obama said. “A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaida’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism. It is a recognition of history, the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.”

Obama becomes the third sitting U.S. president, after Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt , to win the peace prize.

President Jimmy Carter won the prize two decades after his presidency. Former Vice President Al Gore’s Nobel came after the end of the Clinton administration.

In studying past acceptance speeches, Obama and his speechwriting team also pored over the words of nonpresidential winners, including George Marshall , the former secretary of defense and secretary of state and the first career soldier to win the Nobel for his initiative to rebuild Europe after World War II.

Obama arrived in Norway shortly after 8 a.m. local time Thursday, or 2 a.m. EST , the sky dusky and flecked with snow and sleet.

Accompanied by his wife and an official entourage, the president went by motorcade to the Nobel Institute for the ceremonial signing of the guest book. The motorcade passed clusters of onlookers, including children with flags, and protesters with a banner that read, “Obama, you won it now earn it.”

Then he was off to a bilateral meeting with Norway’s prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg , at which Stoltenberg announced that his country was raising its financial commitment to fund the Afghan army and police to $110 million through 2014.

“I only wish that my family could stay longer in this wonderful country, but I still have a lot of work to do back in Washington, D.C. , before the year is done,” Obama said.

The leaders took just two questions, one from each press corps.

Obama told U.S. reporters, in response to a question about whether July 2011 really was a firm date to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan , “I’ve been unambiguous about this, so there should not be a debate. Starting in July 2011 we will begin that transition, that transfer of responsibility.”

He said the pace and tactics would be conditions-based and that the drawdown would not be sharp, “but July 2011 will signal a shift in our mission.”

A Norwegian reporter asked what Obama would do to counter criticism that his Nobel prize was premature.

The president said his foreign policy goal “is not to win a popularity contest or to get an award” but “to advance America’s interests, to strengthen our economy at home and to make ourselves a continuing force for good in the world. . . .

“If I’m successful in those tasks, then hopefully some of the criticism will subside, but that’s not really my concern. And if I’m not successful, then all the praise and the awards in the world won’t disguise that fact.”

At the Slottet Royal Palace of Norway , the Obamas met with King Harald V, Queen Sonja , Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit.

The queen confessed wishing that she were taller to first lady Michelle Obama , who’s 5 feet 11, and when the queen asked whether the Obamas were accustomed to the crowd of news crews following them, President Obama’s answer was, “Unfortunately.”

MOSCOW - In an electric four-hour solo performance on live television, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he will think about whether to reclaim the presidency - one of the strongest signals yet that he may run again for Russia’s top office in 2012.

Putin, who also vowed that Russia would step up its efforts against terrorism, spoke during a question-and-answer show on television and radio that highlighted his dominance of Russia’s political scene.

“I will think about it, there is still enough time,” Putin said when asked whether he will run in the next election.

“Don’t hold your breath,” Putin told another person who asked whether he was planning to leave politics.

Putin added he wants to focus now on his job as premier and make sometimes unpopular decisions without having to take electoral considerations into account.

Putin had to shift into the premier’s seat in 2008 following two consecutive terms in office, but since then the presidential term has been extended to six years and Putin is eligible to run again in 2012.

Some 2 million questions were submitted by telephone or on the Internet to Putin’s marathon television show, which was similar to previous call-ins he did when he was president. It clearly demonstrated that he continued to call the shots, overshadowing his designated successor, President Dmitry Medvedev.

Analysts said no one could miss Putin’s desire to reclaim the presidency.

“While he coyly said it’s too early for a decision, it certainly looked like he has already decided” to return to the presidency in 2012, said Nikolai Petrov of the Carnegie Endowment’s Moscow office.

“He’s too much of a professional to unveil his actual plans in such a format. But he did not reject the idea of returning to the presidency, and - unlike in previous comments - he made no mention of Medvedev,” Petrov told The Associated Press.

Olga Kryshtanovskaya, a sociologist who studies the Russian political elite, said Putin had decided to run again even before he stepped down.

“I think it was decided in 2007, when strategy was being planned,” she told the AP. “I think it was decided that Putin should not seek a third consecutive term, but that after four years he could return to the presidency.”

The bookish Medvedev, who has never made a similar TV appearance since his March 2008 election, was in Italy on Thursday to meet with the Italian leaders and the pope.

“If Putin doesn’t rule out running, neither do I rule myself out” for 2012 election, Medvedev told journalists in Rome when asked about Putin’s remarks.

Medvedev also said that he and Putin will act as “responsible politicians” and reach an agreement on the 2012 elections to avoid “elbowing one another” - echoing comments made previously by Putin.

Asked about his relationship with Medvedev, Putin said their common educational background and views allowed them to “efficiently work together.”

Putin, who has cast himself as a paternal figure protecting people from terrorism and economic upheavals, said Thursday that the threat of terrorism remains “very high” following a deadly train bombing that killed 26 people last week. He promised that authorities would act “very harshly” to root out militants.

“We have enough resolve and firmness for that,” he said.

The bombing last Friday of the Moscow-to-St.Petersburg express train fueled fears that Russia could face another wave of terror attacks. It was the first deadly terrorist strike outside the North Caucasus since the bombings of two airliners and a Moscow subway station attack in 2004.

Putin also focused heavily on economy during Thursday’s show, which featured televised links with workers from several industrial towns.

Putin said Russia has “overcome the peak of the crisis” and claimed credit for softening its impact. He added the government will have to spend more money to support the economy in the meantime.

Russia is weathering its worst economic downturn in a decade as commodities prices - the backbone of its economy - collapsed late last year. But it emerged from the recession in the third quarter, its GDP rising by a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent.

Putin used the show to further burnish his common-man appeal, chastising the Russian rich for arrogantly showing off their wealth, saying their fancy imported cars looked as grotesque as golden teeth.

He congratulated a 55-year-old caller on her birthday and promised to send computers to a provincial school in reply to a student’s plea.

He promised more compensation to a widow whose husband was among 75 people killed in a disastrous accident at Russia’s largest hydroelectric plant, and offered wage hikes and more social benefits to others.

“If the situation demands it, I will come to you or to any other place in the Russian Federation, it’s my duty,” he said.

In a careful balancing act in response to a question about Josef Stalin, Putin credited the Soviet dictator for his industrialization drive and World War II victory but denounced the massive repressions under Stalin’s regime.

Delving into foreign policy issues, Putin sharply admonishing the United States for keeping “anachronistic” Cold War-era trade restrictions imposed to penalize the Soviet Union for its refusal to allow free emigration of the Jews.

“The Soviet Union is gone, but they (restrictions) have remained,” he said.

Putin also accused the United States of hampering Russia’s accession into the World Trade Organization.

“Accession into the WTO remains our strategic goal, but some nations, including the United States, are impeding Russia’s WTO bid,” he said.

WASHINGTON - Under pressure from Republicans and an impatient public to fix the sputtering economic recovery, President Barack Obama is refocusing on this politically potent issue by talking job creation with business and labor leaders at the White House.The White House has lacked a unified economic message in recent weeks, with its attention focused instead on health care and Obama’s three-month review of the Afghanistan war. With unemployment in double digits for the first time in decades, Democratic lawmakers are suggesting a second economic stimulus aimed directly at job creation may be needed.

Administration officials are hoping Thursday’s jobs forum, an Obama trip to Pennsylvania on Friday and a major economic speech on Tuesday will help counter Republican critics who contend the administration’s economic recovery efforts have failed and its oversight of the $787 billion stimulus package has been inadequate.

At the jobs forum, Obama planned to defend his administration’s handling of the economy and argue that it would be in far worse shape had Congress not passed the huge stimulus bill earlier this year. Under intense GOP attacks, public support for the stimulus effort has faded.

“I certainly hope it’s more than a photo op,” said the No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia. “All of us want to do anything we can to get Americans back to work. Past history has been, with this White House, that there’s been a lot of pomp and ceremony with very little follow-through in terms of delivering results.”

Administration officials said they don’t expect major policy announcements from the president, Vice President Joe Biden or members of the Cabinet who were scheduled to be on hand.

“Increasing employment is everyone’s responsibility, from government to businesses to households,” Obama economic adviser Larry Summers said in advance of the forum. “The White House jobs forum will take stock of where we are on the implementation of the Recovery Act and explore new job creation measures, including infrastructure investment, incentives for small businesses, developing our green economy and promoting U.S. exports.”

The nation’s unemployment rate is 10.2 percent, the highest since 1983. Some 15.7 million Americans are out of work. The average jobless worker has been unemployed for more than six months. These sobering statistics spell potentially serious trouble for Democrats in next year’s midterm elections.

The recession technically may be over, but analysts say many of the jobs lost in the downturn probably will not return and high unemployment is likely to persist.

WASHINGTON - The tally of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly for the fifth straight week, a hopeful sign that the job market is slowly improving.

Still, claims remain above the levels that most analysts say would be consistent with an economy that is adding jobs. The unemployment rate is at 10.2 percent and expected to keep climbing into next year.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance dropped by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 457,000, the lowest total since the week of Sept. 6, 2008, the Labor Department said Thursday. Wall Street economists expected an increase, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

A Labor Department analyst said the closing of state unemployment offices for last week’s Thanksgiving holiday was responsible for some of the decline.

Economists closely watch initial claims, which are considered a gauge of layoffs and a sign of whether companies are willing to hire.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, dropped for the 13th straight week to 481,250, about 180,000 below the peak for this recession reached this spring.

But the Federal Reserve said in a report Wednesday that employers in most regions are reluctant to hire new workers, even as the economy stages a modest recovery.

Many economists say that claims need to fall to about 425,000 for at least a month to signal that employers are adding jobs. The nation’s economy has lost jobs for 22 straight months.

The department’s employment report for November, to be released Friday, is expected to show that employers shed another 130,000 jobs after cutting 190,000 in October. Economists forecast the unemployment rate will remain at 10.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of people claiming unemployment benefits for more than a week rose by 28,000 to 5.5 million, the department said. Analysts had expected a decline.

That total doesn’t include millions of unemployed Americans that are receiving benefits under extended programs paid for by the federal government.

About 4.5 million people were receiving extended benefits in the week ended Nov. 14, the latest data available. That’s an increase of about 300,000 from the previous week. The jump is a result of Congress adding another 14 to 20 weeks of extra benefits last month, the fourth extension since the recession began and the longest total extension on record.

That boosted the total number of weeks a person could collect unemployment to as much as 99 in the hardest-hit states.

Layoffs continued this week. Gannett Co. said it was cutting 26 newsroom jobs at its flagship USA Today newspaper and eliminating 11 positions at USA Weekend magazine. Another media company, the Greenspun Media Group, which publishes the Las Vegas Sun, announced it was reorganizing its operations in a cost-cutting move and would lay off an unspecified number of workers.

Among the states, California had the largest increase in claims, with nearly 15,000, which it attributed to layoffs in the service industry. Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas had the next largest increases. The state data lag initial claims by one week.

The largest decrease in claims was in Michigan, with a drop of 1,242, which it attributed to fewer layoffs in the auto industry. Indiana, Hawaii, Oregon and the Virgin Islands also reported declines.

WASHINGTON - Despite misgivings, members of Congress seem poised to back President Barack Obama’s plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan after getting assurances the commitment isn’t open-ended.

The surge-and-exit strategy that Obama announced Tuesday night marks the largest expansion of the war since it began eight years ago. Critics conceded that Obama will have little trouble early next year getting Congress to provide an added $30 billion or $40 billion to carry it out.

The president’s chief military and diplomatic advisers faced more questioning from lawmakers Thursday after encountering only tepid criticism Wednesday from members of the Senate Armed Services and House Foreign Affairs committees.

Anti-war Democrats, who rose to power because of voter opposition to Bush’s strategy in Iraq, said they are skeptical that the troop buildup is necessary or will work. But at the same time, party leaders - who were among Obama’s biggest supporters in his campaign for president - said it was unlikely that they would try to block the deployments or the money he wants.

Critical to winning Democratic support was a July 2011 deadline that Obama set to begin troop withdrawals.

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said setting the date will “produce the sense of urgency in the Afghan government that has been lacking up to now.”

Republicans won assurances from Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the 2011 withdrawal date was flexible. They otherwise supported the troop buildup because it fulfills a request by U.S. commanders in Afghanistan for more soldiers and Marines.

“Once we achieve our objectives - an Afghanistan that can defend itself, govern itself, control its borders and remain an ally in the war on terror - then we can reasonably discuss withdrawal, a withdrawal based on conditions, not timelines,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, told Gates, “You’ve struck exactly the right balance.”

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday, “In July 2011, we’ll start to transition security responsibilities to Afghan forces.”

But there has been “no determination of how long that will take,” Mullen said on CBS’ “Early Show.”

Gates said Wednesday the president was committed to begin pulling at least some troops out by the target date. But the president will have the authority to change gears after the Defense Department conducts a formal assessment in December 2010.

“We’re not just going to throw these guys in the swimming pool and walk away,” Gates said of the Afghan security force.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of a military spending panel, told reporters he anticipates the Pentagon asking for $40 billion for the war early next year and Congress approving it.

“It’s not likely that there would be any circumstances where the president would lose this battle,” he said.