KARACHI: Pakistan will resume its first innings at 44-1 on day 3 of the Karachi Test at National Stadium here on Monday.Earlier on day 2, Sri Lankan duo Mahela Jayawardene (240) and Thilan Samaraweera (231) rewrote the record book with a massive 437-run stand that put Sri Lanka in the driver’’s seat on day two of their first cricket Test against Pakistan here on Sunday.The outgoing Lankan skipper Jayawardene and Samaraweera starred in a fourth-wicket partnership of 437 runs from 634 balls that not only smashed a five-decade-old record but also guided Sri Lanka to a massive 644 for seven before the visitors declared.The spectre of follow on looms large on Pakistan, who finished the day at 44 for one, having lost opener Salman Butt (23) to Muttiah Muralitharan.Debutant Khurrum Manzoor (18) and captain Younis Khan (0) were batting at stumps with the hosts needing another 401 to avoid the ignominy of follow on.With the pitch offering little to the bowlers, Jayawardene, resuming the second day on 136, and Samaraweera, on 130, carried batting fluently and effortlessly taking their team to 505 at lunch.During their long partnership they surpassed the 52-year old batting record of 411 runs for the fourth wicket by Peter May and Colin Cowdrey of England in 1952 against the West Indies. Sri Lanka’’s total is also their highest against Pakistan and also the highest by any team at the National Stadium.Pakistan gained some consolation just before tea when they grabbed three wickets in 10 balls.Former captain Shoaib Malik broke the partnerhip when he had Jayawardene caught by wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal while trying to sweep a leg side ball.Jayawardene went after having batted for 423 balls and hit 26 fours.His partner, Samaraweera, who made his first double century and highest Test score fell seven balls later at the same scoreof 614 when he was bowled by a flipper from leg-spinner Danish Kaneria.Samaraweera batted for 318 balls and hit 31 fours.Pakistan got their third wicket when Tillakaratne Dilshan(0) was caught behind beaten by a doosra by Malik leaving the visitors on 614 for six at tea.Sri Lanka declared shortly after resumption when Kaneria got his third wicket bowling Prasanna Jayawardene for 18 to leave him with figures of 3 for 170.
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BARA, Pakistan, Feb. 22 (UPI) — U.S. military and technical personnel are training Pakistani forces in secret operations aimed at battling al-Qaida and the Taliban, The New York Times reports.
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American military advisers are working in Pakistan to help its armed forces battle Al Qaeda and the Taliban in lawless tribal areas.
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Over 70 American military advisers and technical specialists are secretly working in Pakistan to help its military units conduct operations against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in western tribal areas, The New York Times reported.
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SWAT: Almost all schools in district of Swat are open following peace deal between the government and Tehrik Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi.The peace deal was reached between the NWFP provincial government led by Awami National Party and banned militants group led by TNSM. Academic activities in Swat schools are back amid strict security. However, official sources said security presence would be maintained in the district until situation returns to normal. Officials also maintained that security around academic institutions has been tightened.
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Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) — India’s 670 million voters may be about to set back President Barack Obama ’s campaign against Islamic militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam on Sunday criticised the lifeless wicket prepared for the first Test after Sri Lanka racked up a record total to take a stranglehold on the match.
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BERLIN: The heads of Europe’’s largest economies agreed Sunday on the need for greater regulation of financial markets and to double IMF funding to avoid a repeat of the global economic crisis.The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands met in Berlin to hammer out a joint European stance for the Group of 20 meeting of developed and developing countries in London on April 2.They agreed that “all financial markets, products and participants, including hedge funds and other private pools of capital which may pose a systemic risk, must be subjected to appropriate oversight or regulation,” a summary of the meeting said.The leaders proposed adding an extra 250 billion dollars (195 billion euros), double the current level of funding, to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) budget so it can work more effectively to prevent future financial crises.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said a reinforced IMF would be able to help central and eastern European countries swept up in a growing economic crisis as western banks withdraw credit.”We are proposing today a 500-billion-dollar IMF fund that enables the IMF not only to deal with crises when they happen but to prevent crises,” Brown told a press conference. “There is a need for a global New Deal so that the world economy can recover,” he said, referring to the plan to end the 1930s Great Depression.French President Nicolas Sarkozy said participants in the April summit to be attended by US President Barack Obama, “will bear a historical responsibility” and warned that concrete decisions had to be reached by then.”By April 2, we have to succeed and we cannot accept that anything or anyone gets in the way of that summit if we fail there will be no safety net,” Sarkozy said.
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MINGORA: Taliban militants kidnapped the district coordination officer (DCO) and six of his guards in Swat on Sunday, the group and officials said, de
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The incidence of strokes in low- and middle-income countries has doubled since 1970, surpassing for the first time the rate in rich nations, down by 4
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