DOHA: The eight best tennis stars of the world will be seen in action here in the WTA Tennis Championship, which is beginning today.

The championship being held in Doha, a city of Qatar, is not a Grand Slam but its importance is considered equivalent to a Grand Slam event.

The tennis season will be ended with this event.

Other tennis contests are held on the knockout basis but this event is played like round robin league.

As last year, the competitors have been divided into two groups named for the colors of the Qatari flag.

The White group comprises number one seed Dinara Safina, number four seed Caroline Wozniacki, number six seed Victoria Azarenka and number eight seed Jelena Jankovic.

The Maroon group is made up of number two seed Serena Williams, number three seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, number five seed Elena Dementieva and number seven seed Venus Williams.

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Karachi

Around 1.8 million people die from diarrhoeal diseases globally, 90 per cent of whom are children under five, mostly in developing coun

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LONDON: Former international cricket umpire David Shepherd has died aged 68 following a long battle with cancer, Gloucestershire County Cricket club said on Wednesday.

Shepherd, who played for Gloucestershire for 14 years, stood in 92 test matches and 172 one-day international games between 1983 and 2005.

He umpired three successive World Cup finals (1996, 1999 and 2003) and six tournaments overall, and will be fondly remembered for strictly observing cricket’’s Nelson tradition; giving a small hop whenever the score reached 111.

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Pakistan News

KARACHI: The deadly bomb blast in Peshawar Wednesday forced the investors not to take fresh positions in the local equity market where the benchmark KSE-100 Index shed 64 points to close at 9,251.

The market started today?s trade with positive numbers but the bomb blast in Peshawar eroded the early hour gains and the Index closed at the current level.

The trade volume was recorded at 170 million shares.

Arif Habib Securities topped the list of volume leaders, gaining paisas 48 to close at Rs54.85.

The selling eroded 75 points from the KSE-30 Index which pegged at 9,754.

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ISLAMABAD: The country may receive an investment worth US$500 million by the next year, as a comprehensive plan aimed at expanding the telecom sector services has been prepared, Geo News reported Wednesday.

Talking to Geo News, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Dr Yaseen said the investment volume in the telecom sector has whittled down over last two years, adding the main reason for this is world economic slump.

Yaseen said the plan ?Mobile Virtual Network Operators? has been hammered out, under which new licenses would be issued to local and foreign companies to provide telecom services after purchasing time.

Dr Yaseen said Expression of Interests bids has been summoned; the fee for a ten-year license would be $5 million.

Chairman PTA said license-receiving groups would not be entitled to establish their own network, adding these groups will provide telephone and value-added services on buying time.

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ISLAMABAD: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, presently on a visit to Pakistan, held a meeting with senior journalists here on Wednesday.

Clinton avoided some important questions by giving evasive answers.

Geo News senior corresponded Hamid Mir asked Hillary Clinton a question on rule of law that the US keeps on stressing. He asked her as to why the US intervened when 4 US nationals were caught by the law enforcing agencies along with weapons at 3 AM last night in Islamabad. Hillary Clinton clearly evaded the question.

She also dodged a question when she was asked that the US talks in favor of the Parliament?s supremacy but when Pakistan passed a joint resolution against predators? attacks why the US ignored it completely by continuing to carry out these strikes.

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Pakistan News

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi Wednesday said the meeting between the two big personalities were held to please US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and was meant to give message that they have turned into ?tame kids?.

Talking to media after offering condolences to former Cricket team captain Wasim Akram on the demise of his wife, he said he sees no importance for Hillary Clinton?s Pakistan visit.

Condemning the Peshawar blast which claimed over 85 lives, he said it is inefficient of the rulers that schools have to be closed down today.

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Pakistan News

Karachi

Although schools have been opened after a lapse of one week, children are mostly tense, fearful and pretty confused as to what is going

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PESHAWAR: The total death toll from Peshawar blast has mounted to 90 while rescue sources say that more people could still be buried under the debris. Over 150 people sustained injuries in the blast.

Hospital sources have confirmed that 160 were brought there, and a list of 136 of these injured has been made visible inside the hospital premises.

According to details, the powerful blast occurred at Peepal Mandi ripped near Meena Bazar, Peshawar. The explosion triggered fire in nearby shops while an old building came to ground with the heavy impact which also caused damage to other surrounding buildings.

Most of the buildings in the area had already been declared to be in poor condition.

AIG Bomb Disposal Unit Shafqatullah Malik said that explosives, weighing 150 kilograms, were planted in a vehicle.

DCO Peshawar Sahibzada Anees has confirmed 87 deaths in the tragic incident while the hospital sources confirmed 89 people dead, majority of them are women and children.

Condition of many injured is said to be serious and the toll is feared to rise further.

Senior NWFP Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour reiterated the commitment to bringing the terrorists to justice.

President Asif Ali Zardari has expressed profound grief over the loss of innocent lives in Peshawar bomb blast, while denouncing the incident, Prime Minister (PM) Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani directed concerned officials to provide the injured with all the possible medical relief. NWFP Chief Minister (CM), Amir Hyder Khan Hoti has ordered inquiry of the blast.

Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif, CM Punjab Shehbaz Sharif, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Quaid Altaf Hussain, Governor Punjab Salman Taseer, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Qamar Zaman Kaira, NWFP CM Amir Hyder Hoti, Governor NWFP Owais Ahmed Ghani, CM Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad, CM Balochistan Aslam Raisani, Governor Balochistan Zulfiqar Magsi, Federal Ministers Farooq Sattar and Babar Ghauri, Amir Jamaat-e-Islami Syed Munawar Hassan and Qazi Husain Ahmed strongly condemned the blast.

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ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) Registrar returned the two pleas filed by Chief Justice Supreme Court Justice (rtd) Abdul Hameed Dogar, Geo News reported Wednesday.

According to sources, the former Chief Justice requested to review verdict delivered on
July 31.

It should be mentioned that the former CJ took recourse to the court against the appointment of five judges including Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry under an executive order.

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