Syria Rebels: Base Captured Near Turkish Border

AMMAN, Nov 18 - Syrian rebels said they captured a large special forces base on a main road between the city of Aleppo and the Turkish border on Sunday.

No independent verification of the rebels' statement was immediately available.

World Bank In Tention; Climate Change Report Says 'Turn Down The Heat' On Warming Planet

WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - All nations will suffer the effects of a warmer world, but it is the world's poorest countries that will be hit hardest by food shortages, rising sea levels, cyclones and drought,
the World Bank said in a report on climate change.Under new World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, the global development lender has launched a more aggressive stance to integrate climate change into development.We will never end poverty if we don't tackle climate change. It is one of the single biggest challenges to social justice today," Kim told reporters on a conference call on Friday.
The report, called "Turn Down the Heat," highlights the devastating impact of a world hotter by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, a likely scenario under current policies, according to thereport.Climate change is already having an effect: Arctic sea ice reached a record minimum in September, and extreme heat waves and drought in the last decade have hit places like the United States and Russia more often than would be expected from historical records, the report said.
Such extreme weather is likely to become the "new normal" if the temperature rises by 4 degrees, according to the World Bank report. This is likely to happen if not all countries comply with pledges they have made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Even assuming full compliance, the world will warm by more than 3 degrees by 2100.In this hotter climate, the level of the sea would rise by up to 3 feet, flooding cities in places like Vietnam and Bangladesh. Water scarcity and falling crop yields would exacerbate hunger and poverty.
Extreme heat waves would devastate broad swaths of the earth's land, from the Middle East to the United States, the report says. The warmest July in the Mediterranean could be 9 degrees hotter than it is today -- akin to temperatures seen in the Libyan desert.The combined effect of all these changes could be even worse, with unpredictable effects that people may not be able to adapt to, said John Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, which along with Climate Analytics prepared the report for the World Bank.If you look at all these things together, like organs cooperating in a human body, you can think about acceleration of this dilemma," said Schellnhuber, who studied chaos theory as a physicist. "The picture reads that this is not where we want the world to go.
SHOCKED INTO ACTIONAs the first scientist to head the World Bank, Kim has pointed to "unequivocal" scientific evidence for man-made climate change to urge countries to do more.Kim said 97 percent of scientists agree on the reality of climate change.It is my hope that this report shocks us into action," Kim, writes in the report.Scientists are convinced that global warming in the past century is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. These findings by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were recognized by the national science academies of all major industrialized nations in a joint statement in 2010
Rim said the World Bank plans to further meld climate change with development in its programs.Last year, the Bank doubled its funding for countries seeking to adapt to climate change, and now operates $7.2 billion in climate investment funds in 48 countries.The World Bank study comes as almost 200 nations will meet in Doha, Qatar, from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7 to try to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the existing plan for curbing greenhouse gas emissions by developed nations that runs to the end of the year.They have been trying off and on since Kyoto was agreed in 1997 to widen limits on emissions but have been unable to find a formula acceptable to both rich and poor nations.Emerging countries like China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, have said the main responsibility to cut emissions lies with developed nations, which had a headstart in sparking global warming.Combating climate change also poses a challenge for the poverty-fighting World Bank: how to balance global warming with immediate energy needs in poor countries.In 2010, the World Bank approved a $3.75 billion loan to develop a coal-fired power plant in South Africa despite lack of support from the United States, Netherlands and Britain due to environmental concerns."There really is no alternative to urgent action given the devastating consequences of climate change," global development group Oxfam said in a statement. "Now the question for the World Bank is how it will ensure that all of its investments respond to the imperatives of the report.
Kim said the World Bank tries to avoid investing in coal unless there are no other options.
But at the same time, we are the group of last resort in finding needed energy in countries that are desperately in search of it," he said.

Obama: U.S. 'At All Costs, Fully Supportive Of Israel's Right To Defend Itself

President Barack Obama on Sunday said that the U.S. is "fully supportive of Israel's right to defend itself."

The comments were made during his visit to Thailand.Obama also said that the U.S. is seeking an end to
violence in the region, according to Reuters. He said that he will know within the next 2 days whether or not progress can be made in ending conflict between Israel and Gaza.The AP reports that Obama said peace in the region must begin with "no missiles being fired into Israel's territory."No country on earth would tolerate missiles raining down," Obama said, according to the AP. "If [peace] can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable. It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded.
Sunday marked the 5th day of violence in the region. Israel had launched its offensive on Wednesday. Since then, 51 Palestinians, including 14 children, have been killed. In Israel, three civilians have been killed.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that the country was ready for a "significant expansion" of its offensive.Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai reportedly has said that the goal of the offensive is to "send Gaza back to the middle ages."

Emergency landing in Karachi Airport after PIA plane catches fire

KARACHI: The engine of a  London bound Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Airbus 310 caught fire during  take off from Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport forcing it to perform an emergency landing on

Sunday, DawnNews reported.The national carrier’s aircraft caught fire while taking off from the runway, according to eyewitness accounts.An emergency was declared at the airport.The Karachi-Lahore-London flight PK 787, carrying 160 passengers,  landed safely after developing a technical fault in one of its engines.

Media; A Ruler of the Pakistan

In the history of the country, never have so many retired generals been in the dock or been talked about this much in the media at the same time for their past deeds and misdeeds. The scenario is made more eye-brow
raising by the fact that the list of generals under media scrutiny include a former chief of army staff and two ex director-generals of the Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI).

The current times are clearly unprecedented, and needless to say, the development has incensed the incumbent top military leadership.
On November 5, General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani passed a very public statement stressing the need for all state institutions to work within their constitutional limits. Many also interpreted his words as an implied warning against media trial of army officers both serving and retired.
In any case, his statement is thought to have emboldened the accused generals, who have stepped up their defence.
Deliberated attempts have been made to resuscitate their images as over the last fortnight or so, the generals have appeared on television and approached print media journalists with documentary evidence in their favour. Others are writing regular emails to clarify their position in relevant cases.
However, the common theme to their defence seems to be that as army men they were subservient to the civilian leadership, and simply carried out orders issued by the relevant governments.
For instance, former army chief General Aslam Beg in a detailed interview with a private television put the entire blame of the army’s involvement in politics on late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who in 1975 established the ISI cell in the Presidency.
On the ISI-Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) saga of 1990 general elections, General Beg, without going into details, claimed he only followed lawful command of the then late President Ghulam Ishaq.
How could I refuse orders of the supreme commander of the armed forces (President Ishaq),” snapped General Beg, when the host of a TV talk show questioned the involvement of army in politics under his commandGen Beg even claimed that the army’s role in politics had legal cover until October 19, 2012, when the Supreme Court cancelled the ISI cell in the Presidency.Visibly perturbed over how the media was grilling them, Gen Beg retorted: “You (media) people are hurting the institution of army.”If this was not enough to warn the government, media and judiciary, Gen Beg predicted rolling back of the entire system, if “the trial of the former military officers continued in the public domain.Similarly, former DG ISI General Asad Durrani, who along with Gen Beg has been declared guilty of distributing money among IJI politicians in the 1990 elections, has put up a strong defence during his television appearances.Gen Durrani too argues that Ghulam Ishaq Khan was the brains behind the scheme of things.In a recent interview, Gen Durrani said that since President Ishaq and Army Chief General Beg were fully on board with regard to distribution of funds among certain politicians, he as DG ISI could only follow their orders and handed over the money to the selected politicians.Three other generals  Lt-Gen Khalid Munir Khan, Lt-Gen M. Afzal Muzaffar, Maj-Gen Khalid Zaheer Akhtar  in the headlines for the Rs2 billion loss that the National Logistic Cell (NLC) incurred between 2004 and 2008 too claim they were simply toeing the line.The three accused generals have approached the media with documentary evidence showing they had worked according to the policy laid down by Mr Aziz’s government to invest in the stock exchange, which eventually led to the colossal loss.The three retired generals were recently re-instituted to face a military court trial, after being found guilty of corruption and irregularities in investments by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly. The GHQ is yet to conclude its inquiry report.Meanwhile, in a completely separate case, another former ISI chief, General Javed Ashraf Qazi is busy writing emails in his defence as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigates his role in the controversial lease of Pakistan Railway (PR) land in Lahore.General Qazi and two other retired generals, Lt General (retired) Saeeduz Zafar and Major General (retired) Hassan Butt, who were office-bearers in PR, have been accused of leasing 150 acres of PR land in Lahore to a private party on much cheaper rates as compared to the open market.General Qazi argues that as former minister for railways, he only put railway land into commercial use, which had brought monetary benefits to the cash-strapped Pakistan Railways.The golf course was earlier under the use of a handful of railway officers, which is now generating billions of rupees for the PR,” he insists.The openness with which the generals are approaching the media is a turn around from their stiff attitudes. Earlier, the same generals would have gotten away by avoiding all talk of the cases It is clear that the military establishment has realised that the changed dynamics and the new reality of the media in the country.

Modern Pakistan pictures

Film with Salman no chance ,says Shah Rukh

Film with Salman not going to happen, says Shah Rukh
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan says his longstanding "disagreements" with Salman Khan will not
come to an end courtesy a film, a filmmaker or an actress. And neither would it be on a public platform.
The two Bollywood icons, who did films like "Karan Arjun" and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" together, had a major fight in 2008 at Salman's then girlfriend, Katrina Kaif's birthday bash.
Even as Katrina hopes to produce a movie featuring Shah Rukh and Salman, SRK says it's not going to happen - not at anyone's behestMy thing is that we had a little bit of personal issue. This is not the first time. It was four years ago and it had been before. We (Salman) have been very close for 20 years and even more. From the time I came, I respect his family and the fact that they gave me so much of love. I can never be disrespectful about that. Having said that, we have grown together."
We have certain things similar and certain things which we completely disagree on. So, at this point of time we are at that plain of disagreement and there might come a time when these things will get resolved, not resolved... but it will never be on a public platform. It will be a personal thing," Shah Rukh said at an event in New Delhi.He is assured that "it will not be if a producer, director casts me in a film, even if it is Katrina Kaif.It will never get resolved if two or three people came in between and say 'resolve it'... I don't think a film is going to bring us together and resolve anything," added Shah Rukh.He says people must stop expecting to see the two actors together as it "looks like a Yash Chopra hero and heroine have got separated.It can be that we board the same plane and start chatting, but not for a film. But I don't think it will happen now. We don't really sit and think of it," added King Khan, who was at the summit with Katrina, one of the leading ladies of his latest release " Jab Tak Hai Jaan".