Four women beggars arrested

RAWALPINDI: During the ongoing campaign against the beggars, City Traffic Police on Wednesday arrested four women in thejurisdiction of Police Station Cantonment.

Senior Officer Traffic (SOT) Police Ishtiaq Shah said that the campaign against the beggars would be carried out without any discrimination.

He said the traffic police arrested four women who were begging on The Mall Road Saddar.

He said that cases had been registered against them under beggary act

Eid shopping gains momentum in Quetta

QUETTA: Eid shopping has gained momentum with large number of people visiting the shopping centers and other markets of the provincial capital. 

As the Eid-ul-Fitr was nearing, the main markets and trade centers in downtown are crowed with buying stuffs such as shoes, jewellery, cosmetics and other wearing.

The bazaars are seen flooded with visitors specially women and children. The shopkeepers have displayed their best items outside their shops to appeal the customers while vendors have also set up carts on footpaths.

Owing to the dilapidated conditions of the city roads and additional vehicles coming from across the province to Quetta for shopping, roads were seen crammed with vehicles forcing them wait in queue for hours.

Law enforcement agencies have adopted stringent security measures to cover the shopping areas and to avoid untoward incident. Police personnel in plain clothes have also been deployed in the city to keep vigil on the anti-social elements

Shahbaz's abduction case: FIA's special team begins probe

LAHORE: FIA's special investigation team and the Punjab police jointly launched the probe in abduction case of Shahbaz Taseer, son of slain former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif assured that the government would take every possible measure for the recovery of Shahbaz Taseer and he would be recovered soon.

Earlier in the day, Shahbaz was kidnapped from Lahore's Gulburg area.

According to police, Shahbaz Taseer was traveling on his regular route from his residence to his office, when he was stopped by four men traveling in a car and on a motorcycle. He was removed from his vehicle and his mobile phones and laptop were thrown back in his car by the kidnappers.

After receiving news of the kidnapping, police rushed to the crime scene and surrounded the area.

Sources said that he was traveling with his friend who was later released by the kidnappers. His friend later informed the police about the abduction.

Tiny Military Surveillance Robot

Karachi: clash between two groups claims 1 life

 KARACHI: A clash between two groups claimed one life in Gulistan e Jauhar area of the metropolis, meanwhile unidentified men torched a regional office of political party,

According to the police, the clash took place in Qaim Hussain Hazara Goth area of Gulistan e Jauhar Block 11 in which one man, identified as Syed Jaffer, was shot dead. Deceased has been taken to Jinnah Hospital.

ANP Sindh Spokesman said that their regional office has been set on fire. The incident created panic and triggered tension in the area.

Rangers raided in various houses after the clash but failed to catch culprits.

Miles of bunkers, tunnels at Kadhafi compound

 TRIPOLI: Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's plundered Bab al-Aziziya compound is a maze of dark tunnels and bunkers that reputedly also also houses an Olympic size swimming pool and a garage for luxury cars.

"It's the money of the Libyan people which paid for all of this," commented Said, 35, on Thursday, a day after his release from a prison where he languished for several weeks for having demonstrated against Kadhafi's regime.

"They ripped out my nails," he told AFP in the warren of rooms, adding that he was now looking for compensation in the tunnels full of debris, scattered clothing, food and empty bullet magazines.

A large room contained dozens of notebooks on several tables, and shelves full of hard drives and computer servers.

The bedrooms, vandalized like the other structures, had their beds and mattresses ripped open. A weapons cache lay scatterred nearby along with a dirty Russian body armour.

Brazilian plastic surgeon Liacyr Ribeiro, who operated on Kadhafi in 1994 for under-eye bags, shared details Wednesday in Rio De Janeiro about his rare visit to the longtime Libyan leader's "amazing" bunker.

Ribeiro was participating in a medical conference in Tripoli when Libya's health minister at the time asked him to "examine someone dear to me."

"I thought it was his wife," said the 70-year-old doctor. "I went with him in his car, but when we arrived I realised it was Kadhafi. The entrance of the bunker was a zigzag shape, and they made me wait in the library."

Then they lead Ribeiro to a building "where there was a tent."

"It was there that Kadhafi greeted me," said the surgeon. "I told him it was too dark to examine him there, and he took me into a very modern dental office.

"It was amazing! I did not at all expect to see such a thing," he added of the bunker, where he said there was a gym with an Olympic-sized pool.

"At the time Kadhafi was in very good physical form," added Ribeiro, who said he returned a year later to perform a hair implant operation.

Among dozens of people interviewed on Thursday in Bab al-Aziziya, many said they had heard of the pool and a garage full of luxury cars. But no one had seen it or knew its location.

Despite the occasional bullets slamming into the walls of the compound, hundreds of rebels and civilians scrambled across the complex in search of booty -- be it air conditioning units or golden chandeliers.

One young man was even seen filling an entire truck with furniture, carpets, blankets and television sets.

"We think there are snipers," said Fawzi Maktuf, 23, as he drove a pick-up truck mounted with an anti-aircraft gun. "We have arrested someone who was firing, but there are bullets from time to time."

Kidnapped retired colonel found dead

KOHAT: A retired colonel of Pakistan army Shakil Ahmed Tariq, who had been abducted from his residence in Defence Colony area Kohat district on early Saturday, was found dead in a car on Indus Highway near Zero Point, Earlier on Saturday, an exchange of fire between kidnappers and National Highway Authorities (NHA) had taken place leaving one personnel martyred and two others wounded. Col Shakil (retd) was abducted when he was coming back home after offering prayers in mosque. Dead was Head Constable Hamid Ali Shah while the wounded personnel included ASI Chanar Gul and Adnan. Police cordoned off the area and launched search operation against the abductors.

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Shahbaz Taseer's abduction: case registered, two suspects held

 LAHORE: Police on Friday registered a case of abduction of Salman Taseer's son Shahbaz Taseer against unidentified culprits, Geo News reported.

According to reports, the case has been registered in Gulberg police station Lahore on the complaint of Shahbaz Taseer's maternal aunt. The case number 1036 has been lodged against some unidentified culprits under PPO 365.

Meanwhile, police have apprehended two suspects in connection with the abduction of Shahbaz Taseer. The accused are said to be involved in chasing him.

Astronomers discover planet made of diamond

LONDON: Astronomers have spotted an exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard. 

The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.

The evolutionary history and amazing density of the planet all suggest it is comprised of carbon -- i.e. a massive diamond orbiting a neutron star every two hours in an orbit so tight it would fit inside our own Sun," said Matthew Bailes of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.

Lying 4,000 light years away, or around an eighth of the way toward the center of the Milky Way from the Earth, the planet is probably the remnant of a once-massive star that has lost its outer layers to the so-called pulsar star it orbits.

Pulsars are tiny, dead neutron stars that are only around 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) in diameter and spin hundreds of times a second, emitting beams of radiation.

In the case of pulsar J1719-1438, the beams regularly sweep the Earth and have been monitored by telescopes in Australia, Britain and Hawaii, allowing astronomers to detect modulations due to the gravitational pull of its unseen companion planet.

The measurements suggest the planet, which orbits its star every two hours and 10 minutes, has slightly more mass than Jupiter but is 20 times as dense, Bailes and colleagues reported in the journal Science on Thursday.

In addition to carbon, the new planet is also likely to contain oxygen, which may be more prevalent at the surface and is probably increasingly rare toward the carbon-rich center.

Its high density suggests the lighter elements of hydrogen and helium, which are the main constituents of gas giants like Jupiter, are not present.

Just what this weird diamond world is actually like close up, however, is a mystery.

"In terms of what it would look like, I don't know I could even speculate," said Ben Stappers of the University of Manchester. "I don't imagine that a picture of a very shiny object is what we're looking at here."

Lifting withholding tax on phutti notified

      KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued the notification relating to withdrawal of the 3.5 percent withholding tax levy on the sale and purchase of phutti, Geo News reported.

Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association has termed the notification a positive step for the industry.

Cotton ginners will be providing details of the sellers of phutti on the specified form of the FBR, under this notification. The notification further said that it would be mandatory for the cotton ginners to deduct 10 percent withholding tax from the commission of the commission agents, while 3.5 percent withholding tax will have to be paid on buying phutti from traders other than growers. 

10 die in car bomb attack on Nigeria UN HQ

ABUJA: A car bomb ripped through the United Nations' headquarters in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on Friday, killing at least 10 people, security sources and witnesses said.

They said the car rammed into the office building before exploding in an attack similar a June assault on the Abuja police headquarters claimed by Boko Haram, a Nigerian radical sect.

"We have had 10 dead and there could be more," said a medical official who declined to give his name.

The U.N. building was blackened from top to bottom and there mains of a car had fallen into the basement. Soldiers, firefighters and rescue workers swarmed over the area.

Geo News receives CCTV video of Shahbaz’s car

LAHORE: Geo News has received CCTV video footage of Shahbaz Taseer’s car moments before he was kidnapped in the Gulberg area of the city. The video shows the white Mercedes of Shahbaz Taseer making a turn towards his office at 10:19 AM. It is on this street that the son of the former Punjab governor was kidnapped. Reportedly, an SUV and a motorcycle stopped Shahbaz Taseer's car and he was kidnapped by four men. Police say that Shahbaz had been provided with a security escort which was not with him at the time of the kidnapping.

Salman Taseer's son abducted from Lahore

LAHORE: Sahahbaz Taseer, son of slain ex-governor Punjab Salman Taseer has been abducted from Lahore's Gulburg area Friday, . According to the sources, he was traveling with his friend when four armed men abducted them on gunpoint and later released Shahbaz's friend. Shahbaz's friend later informed the police about the kidnap. Police has confirmed the news.

Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO

SAN FRANCISCO: Apple's legendary co-founder and top ideas man Steve Jobs resigned as chief executive Wednesday in a move long expected after he began a dramatic fight with cancer.

In a written statement, Apple, the world's second most valuable company by market capitalization, announced that chief operating officer Tim Cook would replace Jobs as CEO, and said Jobs would become chairman of the board. Jobs is seen as the heart and soul of Apple, with analysts and investors repeatedly expressing concern over how the Cupertino, California-based company will fare without the figure seen as its driving force.

"Steve's extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company," board member Art Levinson said in a statement.

Apple stock price slid more than five percent to $356.32 in trading that followed news of Jobs's resignation and it remained to be seen what the market has in store for the company with the opening bell on Thursday.

Jobs will still be around as chairman of the Apple board and the company has product plans mapped, according to the analyst. Apple is expected to launch a fifth-generation iPhone in September or October.

No reason was given for Job's resignation, but his health problems, including a lengthy medical leave for a liver transplant in 2009 and his gaunt appearances at public events, fueled speculation he would have to give up the everyday running of the company he co-founded in 1976.

Women on vitamins have fewer preemies

 NEW YORK: Women who take multivitamins regularly around the time they get pregnant appear to have a lower risk of going into labor prematurely or having a smaller-than-normal baby.

That's according to a study of nearly 36,000 pregnant Danish women, who were asked about their diet, weight and vitamin use, among other things.

Poor nutrition is thought to play a role in pregnancy complications, such as preterm births and poor growth rates within the womb.

The new study strengthens that link, but it doesn't prove that taking multivitamins is a good idea for women who plan to get pregnant or already are, researchers warn in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

In fact, U.S. health officials advise expectant mothers against taking regular vitamins, which might harm the baby. But they do recommend supplementing the diet with folic acid, which cuts the chance of certain birth defects.

The new work looked at multivitamin use around the time of conception -- four weeks before and eight weeks after a woman's last period -- which hasn't been studied much.

Among women who said they had taken multivitamins at least eight out of the 12 weeks, there were 4.3 percent preterm births (before 37 weeks). For those who didn't take the supplements, the number was 5.3 percent.

The vitamin-popping women were also less likely to have a smaller-than-normal baby.
Those links held even after accounting for differences between the two groups -- such as diet and smoking -- but only in normal-weight women. The reasons aren't clear, but could be linked to problems in absorbing the nutrients, suggest Janet M. Catov, of the University of Pittsburgh, and her colleagues.

Still, they stop short of recommending that women start taking multivitamins when trying to get pregnant.

First, women who took the supplements appeared to be healthier in the first place, and there is no perfect way to prevent that from muddying the findings.

And second, there is a dearth of studies to test the effects of vitamins on babies' health.

Rebels announce transfer of govt to Tripoli

 TRIPOLI: Libyan rebels have transferred their political leadership to the capital Tripoli from their base in Benghazi, a senior official of the National Transitional Council announced Friday.

"I declare the beginning and assumption of the executive committee's work in Tripoli," committee vice-chairman Ali Tahuni told a press conference. "Long live democratic and constitutional Libya and glory to our martyrs."

Tarhuni, minister of oil and economics in the provisional administration, also named the holders of key cabinet posts including interior minister, information minister and infrastructure minister, as well as the head of security for Tripoli.

He added that the top rebel leadership -- NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil and head of the executive committee Mahmud Jibril -- would arrive in Tripoli as soon as the security situation permitted.

But Tarhuni stopped short of declaring the fall of Moamer Kadhafi's regime, saying that such an announcement would come from either Jalil or Jibril.

He vowed rebels would catch the strongman who ruled Libya for almost 42 years, adding that Kadhafi's flight presented no obstacle to the running of the new, constitutional and democratic Libya.

"We are free. We can move about in our cities. He is the one in the sewer moving from sewer to sewer... We will catch him and once we capture him we will tell you how."

He called on forces loyal to Kadhafi to lay down their arms, promising their safety and lawful treatment.

"Put your weapons down and go home. We will not take revenge. Between us and between you is the law. I promise you will be safe."

Tripoli on Thursday was mostly under rebel control except for a few pockets of resistance where gunfire, explosions and sniper attacks remain common making life dangerous for residents.

In the absence of police, whom Tarhuni urged to return to work, stressing that security is essential to building the future of free Libya, rebels have set up checkpoints across the coastal city.

"Keeping security is very important. I call on police to go back to work.

Without security and the ability of movement building the future of free Libya will be very difficult," Tarhuni said.

On the diplomatic front, the oil minister said the NTC will honour all its promises and deals with other nations, "at least in this transitional period until Libyans chooose their government."

Turning to his own portfolio, Tarhuni said the oil sector would resume work soon, starting with the reactivation of the oil refinery in the western town of Zawiyah.

He said the NTC has dispatched engineers to assess the major oil fields of Misra and Sarir as well as the installations in the oil port of Brega and that he expected the revival of Libya's oil sector "very soon."

China's Li, top seed Wozniacki advance

 NEW HAVEN: Top ranked Caroline Wozniacki cruised into the next round and China's Li Na had to endure a rain delay before booking her spot in the semi-finals of the New Haven Open on Thursday.

Wozniacki remained undefeated advancing with a 7-5, 6-3 win over American teenager Christina McHale.

Three-time defending champ Wozniacki has a perfect 15-0 career record at the annual final tournament before the US Open, which begins in four days.

Wozniacki broke McHale's serve in the eighth game of the second set of the one hour, 42 minute centre court match.

China's Li endured several hours of rain delays before advancing with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 quarter-final victory over Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Li will play Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska who beat fourth-seed Marion Bartoli 7-5, 7-5.

Wozniacki will face third-seeded Francesca Schiavone, who advanced without hitting a shot after Anabel Medina Garrigues withdrew due to a knee injury.

Medina Garrigues, who was seeking a third title of 2011, fell to the ground and grabbed her knee after failing to convert a third match point in the second set of her 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) victory on Wednesday.

With the start of the US Open looming on Monday, Medina Garrigues said she didn't want to take a chance on making her knee worse.

She is the 30th seed for the final Grand Slam of the season and due to take on a qualifier in the opening round.

Even as they battled to get through the day's matches, officials of the Open tune-up moved up the start of the championship match on Saturday in hopes of beating Hurricane Irene.

The tournament is scheduled to end on Saturday to allow players time to prepare for the US Open.

Organizers moved the start time of the final four hours to 1:00 pm (17:00 GMT) on Saturday.

Hurricane Irene, packing winds of up to 185 kilometres (115 miles) per hour, has already brought destruction to the Caribbean and Bahamas as it roars toward the East Coast of the United States.

Irene is expected to slam into North Carolina on Saturday and eventually to reach the New York area, which usually only experiences the remnants of hurricanes.

New Haven organizers have already had to cope with Mother Nature this week.

On Tuesday, play was suspended for more than two hours as the earthquake with an epicentre in northern Virginia shook the stadium.

Tuesday's 5.8 magnitude quake was felt as far south as Alabama and as far north as Toronto.

Karachi violence: 13 held in search operations

 KARACHI: Police and Ranges jointly carried out search operation in different parts of metropolis including Rexer Lane, Bilal Colony, Pak Colony and Bara Board, detaining several suspects, Geo News reported.

Meanwhile, a dead body stuffed in gunny bag was also found from near Denso Hall, Medicine Market. Police said that he was tortured before being shot dead.

According to the details regarding search operations, police and Rangers launched search operation in Bilal Colony area of Korangi in the wee hours of Friday. More than 13 suspects have been apprehended during the operation.

Earlier, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik also visited Bilal Colony area to witness the situation. Talking to media, he said that the operation would soon be launched in affected parts of Pak Colony. He said that the government was striving to restore peace in the city and they would soon be succeeded.

Karachi situation serious for local intel: US

WASHINGTON: US refuted the report regarding rescue of its citizen Warren Weinstein who was abducted from Lahore city, State Department said. Answering a question in a daily press briefing, US state department's spokesman Victoria Nuland said that the news reports regarding recovery of Warren Weinstein were untrue. She said that US continued to work with the Pakistan, adding that the cooperation was excellent but they have not found Weinstein yet. In a reply to a question regarding target killing in Karachi, Nuland said that the situation in the city was a serious issue for Internal Security Services of Pakistan.

Casino attack in Mexico's Monterrey kills 51

 MONTERREY: Armed men killed at least 51 people in an attack on a casino in northern Mexico that left the building ablaze with gamblers trapped inside, officials said on Thursday.

People remained stuck inside the Casino Royale building in Monterrey, a prosperous city 140 miles (230 km) from the Texas border that has suffered from increasing violence in recent
months as the country's war with drug gangs intensifies.

Nuevo Leon state attorney general Adrian de la Garza was quoted by local media as saying 51 people died in the attack Civil protection warned the death toll could rise further. Television images showed firemen had controlled the blaze while relatives of people trapped inside the building lined up to demand information about their loved ones.

Paramedics and firemen continued to pull bodies covered with plastic bags from a hole on the wall as night fell in one of Mexico's top industrial hubs.

Through his Twitter account, President Felipe Calderon called the attack a "barbaric act of terror" and vowed to keep fighting organized crime

Oil mixed in Asian trade

 SINGAPORE: Oil was mixed in Asian trade Friday amid muted trading interest as investors awaited for a key speech by US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke, analysts said.

In morning trade, New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light sweet crude for October delivery eased 10 cents to $85.20 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for October delivery rose 19 cents to $110.81.

Bernanke is set to speak later Friday at a central bankers' conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where his speech will be under heavy scrutiny for clues on whether he will push for further measures to bolster the sagging US economy.

The US is the world's biggest oil-consuming nation.

"We are waiting to see what the Fed has to say," said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy for TD Securities.

The unrest in Libya, where pockets of resistance from forces loyal to strongman Moamer Kadhafi remained in parts of the capital Tripoli, was a factor in underpinning Brent crude prices.

Brent is more affected than WTI by the situation in Libya as oil from the North Sea as well as from Libya serve the European markets.

Around 85 percent of Libyan oil output was exported to Europe until the revolt disrupted the country's production six months ago.

Meanwhile, new weather forecasts that Hurricane Irene was no longer bearing down on the US Gulf of Mexico coast -- home to many refineries and offshore oil rigs -- and was instead heading for the US east coast brought relief to the markets.

'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark'

 LOS ANGELES: It's the thing you don't see that's always the scariest part of a horror movie. And it's those places you can't see as a kid -- underneath the bed, inside the closet, up in the attic -- where the horrible child-eating monsters are always waiting to get you.

Put those things together, and you've got "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark," a goosebump-y haunted-house flick where the floorboards and the mattresses and the big old furnace in the basement really are hiding something deadly.

A remake of a fairly-effective TV movie from 1973 -- the monsters were cheap, but the suspense was smartly ratcheted -- the new "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" was directed by first-timer Troy Nixey, although you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a new movie from Guillermo del Toro, whose name gets the most prominent placement on the posters and in the advertising.

Even if del Toro didn't yell "Action!" and "Cut!" the movie bears his imprint, from his fascination with scary stories told from a child's point-of-view ("The Devil's Backbone") to the elegantly grotesque creatures (which bear more than a resemblance to the creepy-crawlies from "Pan's Labyrinth").

The child in question this time around is Sally (Bailee Madison), an unhappy young girl being shuttled from her unstable mother to go and live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce), who's in the process of restoring a gorgeous old mansion with the help of his girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes).

Kim does her best to get close to Sally, particularly since the work-obsessed Alex doesn't pay much attention to her, but Sally resists. And while exploring one day, Sally finds a sealed-off room that Alex opens up over the warnings of Harris (Jack Thompson), the house's longtime caretaker.

And you can pretty much imagine what happens from there -- beasties get loose, Sally hears and eventually sees them, no one believes her. But Nixey (working from a script by Del Toro and Matthew Robbins) cranks up the suspense with each appearance of the creatures; as "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" progresses, we learn more and more about just what these terrifying imps have in mind, and why we should grip our armrest when we see them make off with a pair of scissors.

Strong performances anchor the film. In movies like "Bridge to Terabithia" and "Brothers," and even in the ludicrous "Just Go With It," Madison has proven herself to be an expert at tween gravitas, and she nails Sally's fear and hopelessness throughout.

Even Holmes gets the pitch of the film just right, juggling her initial skepticism about monsters in the house with having stepmom duties suddenly thrown at her. If Pearce registers less than his two co-stars, it's because the character he's playing is so inert that he can't avoid slipping into the background.

If there's one big flaw with "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark," it's that in 2011, there's only so long that we can watch movie characters face the perils of a haunted house without thinking,

"GET OUT ALREADY!"

Long after it should be thoroughly obvious to even the most hardened skeptic that something very unnatural is going on in that old mansion, Alex insists that they stick around, and there aren't enough plot demands to make his stubbornness ring true.

(As clunky as "The Haunting in Connecticut" was, at least the script made it clear that the family couldn't afford to move.)

But if you're a fan of Guillermo del Toro's baroque brand of horror -- there's a disturbing mural here that would fit perfectly into almost any of the Mexican filmmaker's movies -- you'll find plenty of fun scares and popcorn-box-twisting tension.

'Vaccines generally safe, cause some side effects'

 WASHINGTON: Vaccines can cause certain side effects but serious ones appear very rare - and there's no link with autism and Type 1 diabetes, the Institute of Medicine says in the first comprehensive safety review in 17 years.

The report released Thursday isn't aimed at nervous parents. And the side effects it lists as proven are some that doctors long have known about, such as fever-caused seizures and occasional brain inflammation.

Instead, the review comes at the request of the government's Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which as the name implies, pays damages to people who are injured by vaccines. Federal law requires this type of independent review as officials update side effects on that list to be sure they agree with the latest science.

"Vaccines are important tools in preventing serious infectious disease across the lifespan, from infancy through adulthood. All health care interventions, however, carry the possibility of risk and vaccines are no exception," said pediatrician and bioethicist Dr. Ellen Wright Clayton of Vanderbilt University, who chaired the institute panel.

Still, the report stresses that vaccines generally are safe, and it may help doctors address worries from a small but vocal anti-vaccine movement. Some vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, are on the rise.

"I am hopeful that it will allay some people's concerns," Clayton said.

The review echoed numerous other scientific reports that dismiss an autism link.

But it found convincing evidence of 14 side effects:
-Fever-triggered seizures, which seldom cause long-term consequences, from the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine.
-MMR also can cause a rare form of brain inflammation in some people with immune problems.
-The varicella vaccine against chickenpox sometimes triggers that viral infection, resulting in widespread chickenpox or a painful relative called shingles. It also occasionally can lead to pneumonia, hepatitis or meningitis.
-Six vaccines - MMR and the chickenpox, hepatitis B, meningococcal and tetanus-containing vaccines - can cause severe allergic reactions known as anaphylaxis.
-Vaccines in general sometimes trigger fainting or a type of shoulder inflammation.

There's suggestive evidence but not proof of a few other side effects, including anaphylaxis from the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine and short-term joint pain in some women and children from the MMR vaccine.

On the other hand, the report cleared flu shots of blame for two long-suspected side effects: Bell's palsy and worsening of asthma.

That doesn't mean there aren't other side effects - the review couldn't find enough evidence to decide about more than 100 other possibilities. Some vaccines are just too new to link to something really rare. Another example: Flu shots have long come with a caution about rare, paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome, but Clayton said research hasn't settled if that's a coincidence since the disorder is more common during the winter.

The Health Resources and Services Administration, which runs the vaccine compensation program, is reviewing the report but said it's too early to predict if it will prompt changes to the injury list

Libya rebels fight on in Tripoli

Fierce battles rock Tripoli neighborhood

<batkhela-movies> TRIPOLI: Libyan rebels on Thursday fought a fierce battle against Moamer Kadhafi loyalists in the Tripoli neighborhood of Abu Salim, where one of Kadhafi's sons was reportedly sighted.

After hours of intense fighting in the main street of Abu Salim, rebels managed to push out the majority of the loyalist fighters from the flashpoint area.

"Abu Salim is under control. Kadhafi people are now in Mashrur, an adjacent neighborhood," said Mohammed Sayed Gargab, chief of a fighting squad.

There were fierce clashes all afternoon in Abu Salim Street, the main thoroughfare of the contested district, which was the largest residential pocket in the capital still under the thumb of Kadhafi loyalists.

Many residents remained in the area at the heart of clashes, an AFP journalist said, as rebels combed the streets for traces of the strongman and his relatives.

"This morning Khamis Kadhafi was here in the traffic police office and he was giving guns to cops and the residents. A witness called us and we came to try to catch him," Gargab said.

There were rumours throughout the day that the veteran leader and family members were holed up in the neighborhood. These could not be independently confirmed by AFP.

"We have information that Khadafi and his sons are hiding with a family in Abu Salim," said rebel fighter Ahmed Zintan.

A member of the rebels' National Transitional Council refused to comment.

Rebel commanders said two of their fighters were killed and dozens wounded in Abu Salim, which by 7 pm (1700 GMT) ,seemed globally under control except for a few snipers who fired sporadically.

Five handcuffed prisoners of war were loaded on to a pickup truck and paraded in front of rebels and residents, an AFP journalist said.

Another AFP journalist saw the corpses of dozens of Kadhafi fighters, most of them in civilian clothing, lying in a destroyed traffic police station and and in the entrance halls of buildings on the main street.

The bodies of at least 20 Kadhafi fighters, two of them with their hands tied behind their backs, also lay on a roundabout flanking Kadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, raising a sharp stench and drawing clouds of flies.

"There is no way to get the bodies out of here because the streets are full of snipers," said Salah Muhamad Ali, who was manning a checkpoint at the roundabout.

"These are all foreign mercenaries. They are not Libyans," he said, pointing to the bullet-ridden bodies.

Sallu’s pretty face in big pain

MUMBAI: Bollywood star Salman Khan is suffering from trigeminal neuralgia, a facial nerve disorder. For the first time, he reveals that he is going through “the worst pain on the planet.”

“I am suffering from trigeminal neuralgia, a facial nerve problem I have had since the last seven years. But now, it’s getting worse” says the 45-year-old, who had to undergo an angiography (medical imaging technique used to visualise the body from within) last month.

Even though he’s been suffering since long, Khan has never let that hamper his professional commitments. He is busy promoting his forthcoming film, Bodyguard, in full swing. “I’m doing fine. It’s just that now, I had no choice but to pay attention to my health” Salman said.

Facebook, Twitter to face riot-spooked British officials

 SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook and Twitter on Thursday will meet with riot-spooked British officials to discuss how social networks can play roles in keeping people safe during civil unrest.

The focus of a lunchtime meeting with the British Home Secretary has shifted from the notion of blocking social networks during riots to how police can use them to inform law-abiding citizens and track down wrong-doers.

"We look forward to meeting with the Home Secretary to explain the measures we have been taking to ensure that Facebook is a safe and positive platform for people in the UK at this challenging time," Facebook said in an email response.

"In recent days we have ensured any credible threats of violence are removed from Facebook and we have been pleased to see the very positive uses millions of people have been making of our service to let friends and family know they are safe and to strengthen their communities," the statement continued.

Representatives of popular microblogging service Twitter and Canada-based BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion are also to take part in the hour-long meeting.

In the wake of riots, British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested cutting off social networking services used by people causing trouble in the streets.

"Free flow of information can be used for good, but it can also be used for ill," Cameron said in recorded official remarks.

"We are working with police, intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop police communicating via these websites and services when they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality," he continued.

Facebook opposes any ban on its services and will stress at the meeting how social media can be a tool for public safety and crime fighting.

BlackBerry is taking part because messages sent using its service are encrypted, thwarting efforts by police to intercept communications between rioters.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair on Sunday attacked claims that "moral decline" was behind this month's riots, warning talk of a broken society could ruin the country's reputation abroad.

In a rare intervention in domestic politics since leaving power, Blair also warned that flawed analysis by politicians risked producing the wrong policy responses to the violence.

The former Labor leader said the real cause of the unrest, which erupted in London before spreading to other English cities in four nights of mayhem, was groups of disaffected youths outside the mainstream.

Rangers given exceptional powers in Karachi

KARACHI: Rangers have been given authority to exercise exceptional powers in the metropolis, . A notification in this regard was issued by the Sindh Home Ministry. 

They have been given the authority to conduct searches without warrants, finish no-go areas and take action against target killers and extortionists.

Rangers have also been given the authority to use power to deal with 

Pakistan cricket team leaves for Zimbabwe

LAHORE: The Pakistan cricket team left for Zimbabwe on Thursday, 

According to details, Pakistan left for Zimbabwe under the captainship of Misbah Ulhaq from Lahore via Abu Dhabi. The national team will play one Test match, three One-Day International matches and two Twenty-20 matches.

While talking to the media at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport, coach Waqar Younis said that he is hopeful that the team will perform according to the expectations and yield good results despite a one-week training camp.

He also expressed his satisfaction over the inclusion of all-rounder Shoaib Malik in the team.

Neil Armstrong urges return to the Moon

 SYDNEY: Neil Armstrong has urged a return to the Moon to train for missions to Mars as the United States contemplates the future of its space programme following the end of the shuttle era.

The first man to walk on the Moon is due to address the US Congress on new directions for NASA in coming weeks.

He has previously criticised US President Barack Obama for being "poorly advised" on space matters and said it was "well known to all that the American space programme is in some chaos at the present time, some disarray".

"There are multiple opinions on which goals should be the most important and the most pressing," he told a function in Sydney late Wednesday.

The US shuttle programme came to an end last month with the Atlantis cruising home for a final time, 42 years after Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission.

Critics have assailed NASA for lacking focus, with no next-generation human space flight mission to replace the shuttle programme.

Now 81, Armstrong said the agency had become a "shuttlecock" for the "war of words" between the executive, legislative and congressional arms of US government.

The normally private and reserved space veteran said Mars should be the next frontier for exploration but urged more missions to the Moon as the vital next step.

Armstrong said working on the Moon would allow scientists to practise "a lot of the things that you need to do when you are going further out in the solar system" while maintaining relatively close contact with Mission Control.

Communication is the major problem for trips to Mars, he added, with the relay of a message between Earth and the Red Planet delayed by about 20 minutes, compared with 1.5 seconds between here and the Moon.

Travel time is also a major concern, with the quickest journey of two months only possible when Mars is closest to Earth -- when it also happens to be spinning most rapidly, meaning massive amounts of fuel are required to land.

Armstrong said Mars was a "worthy challenge" but it was expensive, time-consuming and carried substantial risks not faced in the lunar programme, predominantly to do with radiation.

Specialized mosquitoes may fight dengue

 NEW YORK: Scientists have made a promising advance for controlling dengue fever, a tropical disease spread by mosquito bites. They've rapidly replaced mosquitoes in the wild with skeeters that don't spread the dengue virus.

More than 50 million people a year get the dengue virus from being bitten by infected mosquitoes in tropical and subtropical areas, including Southeast Asia. It can cause debilitating high fever, severe headaches, and pain in the muscles and joints, and lead to a potentially fatal complication. There's no vaccine or specific treatment.

Some scientists have been trying to fight dengue by limiting mosquito populations. That was the goal in releasing genetically modified mosquitoes last year at sites in Malaysia and the Cayman Islands.

Australian scientists took a different tack, they report in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

First, they showed that Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the chief carriers of the dengue virus, resist spreading that virus if they are infected with a particular kind of bacteria. Then they tested whether these resistant mosquitoes could displace their ordinary cousins in the wild, thus reducing the number of dengue-spreading mosquitoes.

The resistant mosquitoes have an advantage in reproduction. Resistant females can mate with either resistant or ordinary mosquitoes, and all their offspring will be resistant. But when ordinary females mate with a resistant male, none of the offspring survive.

For the experiment, scientists released more than 140,000 resistant mosquitoes over 10 weeks in each of two isolated communities near Cairns in northeastern Australia, starting last January. By mid-April, monitoring found that resistant mosquitoes made up 90 percent to 100 percent of the wild population.

The result is a "groundbreaking first step," Jason Rasgon of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore wrote in a commentary accompanying the paper. Rasgon, who did not participate in the study, said the next hurdle is to test the idea in areas where dengue is spread constantly, rather than sporadically as in Australia. Researchers will also have to show it works against varied strains of the dengue virus, he said.

Eight perish, several hurt in Nowshehra blast

 NOWSHEHRA: Eight people were killed and as many sustained injuries in a hand grenade attack near Old Customs House here on Thursday, .

The hand grenade attack took place at a market at Risalpur Chowk where people had come out in big numbers to complete their Eid shopping, said DPO Nowshehra Muhammad Hussain.

The injured and dead were shifted rushed to local hospitals while emergency relief activities have been kick-started by welfare organizations.

Many shops including two hotels were damaged in the attack.

According to some other sources the blast was a result of a remote detonated explosion.

William & Catherine' dramatizes the royal romance

 LONDON: Four months after a royal wedding isn't too late for a movie about the courtship, especially if the couple in question is Prince William and the former Kate Middleton.

That's how Hallmark Channel sees it, at least, and evidence supports the newlyweds' ongoing popularity with the worldwide public ... the attention to their recent trip to Canada and the United States being a prime example. Lifetime depicted their relationship the week before the wedding in the April drama "William & Kate," and Hallmark offers its version when "William & Catherine: A Royal Romance" premieres Saturday, Aug. 27.

Newcomers Dan Amboyer and Alice St. Clair have the title roles, but the teleplay co-written by executive producer and director Linda Yellen also spends much time on other parties to the relationship, giving some veteran performers chunky roles.

Two-time Emmy winner Jane Alexander plays Queen Elizabeth II, and Victor Garber ("Alias") and Jean Smart -- fresh from what turned out to be a short stint as the governor on CBS' "Hawaii Five-0" -- are cast as Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

Faisalabad: Body of kidnapped child recovered

FAISALABAD: The eight-year-old grandson of a business leader was kidnapped then tortured and killed, The child’s tortured body was found from near his residence bagged in a gunnysack. According to the police, the child was kidnapped on August 22 and the next day his family received a phone call from his kidnappers. His body was recovered on Wednesday and when police searched nearby houses they discovered evidence relating to the child’s murder. An old lady Zehra bibi was taken into custody and according to the police her son, Imran’s identity card was recovered from the scene of the crime. The whereabouts of Imran are unknown. Police say the child was kidnapped for ransom and he was killed because his kidnappers feared they would be caught. The family of the child claims that acid was thrown on him, while the police state that confirmation of acid burns will be made once the post-mortem is done. Investigations are underway to arrest those responsible for the kidnapping and murder of the child.

Israeli raids kill 3 more Palestinians in Gaza: medics

 GAZA CITY: An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians and wounded 20 others in the northern Gaza Strip, while a third died of wounds received earlier, Palestinian medical sources said Thursday.

The attack at Beit Lahiya at the end of a day of exchanges between the Israeli air force and Palestinian freedom fighters took the total Palestinian death toll to six in some 24 hours and threatened a fragile truce agreed at the beginning of the week

All political parties urge Hazare to end fast

NEW DELHI: With the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government failing to muster support from political parties over the Lokpal Bill and the health of anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare a concern as the hunger strike entered tenth day, the political crisis over the issue continued to escalate. Both sides seemed to harden their positions amid criticism of the government from within its own ranks. Two separate meetings were held between the campaigners and the government-one with law minister Salman Khursheed and the other with both Khursheed and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee late on Wednesday. With no breakthrough emerging, Khursheed said discussions would continue on Thursday. All parties meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier in the evening to evolve a consensus to end the public stand-off with Hazare and his campaign decided to give the Jan Lokpal Bill, proposed by the anti-graft campaigners, "due consideration so that the final draft of the (government's) Lokpal Bill provides for a strong and effective Lokpal which is supported by a broad national consensus". All parties unanimously requested Hazare to end his hunger strike. However, the government did not accept opposition demands for withdrawal of the current Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha earlier this month. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it was unhappy with the rejection of its demand.

Oil higher ahead of Bernanke speech

 SINGAPORE: Oil was higher in Asian trade on Thursday ahead of a speech by US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke, analysts said.
 
Oil markets were also underpinned by the ongoing Libya unrest as it became increasingly apparent that the North African country will take longer than expected to get its crude production facilities back to pre-crisis levels.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate light sweet crude for October delivery rose 14 cents to $85.30 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for October delivery was 21 cents up at $110.36.

"Over the coming week, crude markets will be looking for clearer information on the condition of the Libyan oil and gas infrastructure," said Sanjeev Gupta, who heads Ernst and Young's Asia-Pacific oil and gas practice.

Oil prices could drop temporarily if the crisis in the oil-rich North African nation eases, or if strongman Moamer Kadhafi is caught, said SEB Commodity Research analyst Filip Petersson.

"Bearish influences could come from Libya -- e.g. if Kadhafi is caught - but these are likely to be short-lived as the market is starting to realise that Libya is highly unlikely to be back at pre-war capacity anytime soon," he said.

Meanwhile, investors are watching out for Friday's speech by Bernanke, which will be scrutinised for signs of whether he will support new stimulus measures to juice the sluggish economy.

The US is the world's largest oil-consuming nation

Karachi: 10 held in Chanesar Goth search operation

KARACHI: Ten suspects were apprehended during the search operation that carried out in Chanesar Goth, Mehmoodabad area of Karachi in wee hours of Thursday, 

According to the police, the operation was launched on the intelligence report regarding presence of suspected criminals in the area of Chanesar Goth, Mehmoodabad.

During the operation, police detained 14 suspects out of which four were set free after interrogation. Women in the area also protested against the raids.

Meanwhile, police also carried out search operation in Quaidabad area.

funny video

Zardari undersigns doctors pay raise

 ISLAMABAD: President Zardari has signed the summary regarding post graduate doctors salaries doing housejob, raising their pays form Rs18,000 to Rs50,000, 

14 criminals arrested during Karachi operation: Rangers

KARACHI: 14 criminals have been arrested during the operation in Karachi,

According to Rangers spokesman, Brigadier Waseem Ayub chemicals used for making weapons, explosives, extortion slips along with 50 kg of Hashish, 20 kg of heroine and 1,000 liquor bottles were recovered from the possession of the criminals. Rangers also confiscated three cars from the criminals. The spokesman added that the criminals were being interrogated.

Brigadier Waseem said that the result of the operation will soon be seen and the media would be informed of the developments. Future operations would be conducted on the basis of intelligence and there was good contact between the Rangers and police, the Brigadier added.

Tripoli 'under control' of Kadhafi forces, son say

 TRIPOLI: Tripoli is "under control" of the regime, a son of Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi claimed early Tuesday, after rebels said they had taken most of the capital and gunfire rattled the port city.

Seif al-Islam, wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, met with a correspondent and two other journalists, after ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said rebel forces had arrested him.

"Tripoli is under our control. Everyone should rest assured. All is well in Tripoli," the defiant son of the Libyan strongman told at a vacant lot outside his father's Bab al-Azizya compound in Tripoli in the very early hours of Tuesday.

"You have seen how the Libyan people rose up" to fight the rebels who arrived in Tripoli, he said, referring to battles in the capital between Kadhafi loyalists and rebel forces.

"The West has high-tech technology which disrupted telecommunications systems and sent messages to the people," declaring the fall of the regime, he said about text phone messages sent Sunday to the residents of Tripoli.

"This is a technological and media war to cause chaos and terror in Libya," he added, dressed in a Khaki shirt.

Seif al-Islam, who arrived for the meeting in an armoured 4x4, claimed the rebels had suffered "heavy casualties" Monday when they stormed Kadhafi's compound.

"I am here to refute the lies," he said about reports of his arrest.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Kadhafi, the strongman's eldest son who also had been reported arrested, had escaped, the Libyan ambassador to Washington told CNN.

Ali Suleiman Aujali with the Libyan rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) told CNN that Mohammed was apparently taken by "maybe Kadhafi's forces." A senior rebel source confirmed the escape to AFP, saying "Yes, it's true, he has escaped." The source in the rebel capital of Benghazi, eastern Libya, spoke on condition of anonymity.

But the Libyan leader's whereabouts remained unknown, as the capital plunged into darkness after electricity supplies were turned off everywhere but his compound, and gunfire crackled around the Mediterranean port city.

He broadcast three defiant audio messages on Sunday, vowing he would not surrender and urging the people of Tripoli to "purge the capital," even as rebel forces swept through the capital and took over waterfront Green Square.

"The Kadhafi era is over," rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil told a news conference in the eastern rebel capital of Benghazi after his forces stormed the capital, more than six months after the fighting began.

He said he hoped the dictator would be "captured alive so that he will be given a fair trial."

He had also declared that Seif al-Islam had been arrested.

Despite those reports, Seif al-Islam arrived for the meeting with journalists in a vehicle in front of his father's building complex, which was bombed by the Americans in 1986.

Seif al-Islam is accused together with his father with orchestrating a plan to put down the Libyan revolt by "any means necessary" since it was sparked in mid-February.

This included the murder of hundreds of pro-freedom Libyan protestors and injuring hundreds of others when security forces shot a crowds using live ammunition, as well as the arrest and torture of numerous others.

Before the revolt erupted, Seif al-Islam was increasingly seen as a successor to his father, despite publicly ruling out any dynastic ambitions in the North African country.

Todays Weather Sattelite Picture of Pakistan

Police present 4 alleged target killers

 KARACHI: North Nazimabad police arrested four criminals during spot-checking who were involved in target killings in the city Tuesday, Geonews reported.

SSP Central and SSP South held a newsconference and presented the four alleged target killers in front of the media. The police officials said the four, Shahnawaz, Rafiq, Naeem Jan and Mustafa were arrested from North Nazimabad and during interrogation it was revealed that they belonged to the Akram Baloch group which is involved in the Lyari gang war.

The criminals also revealed that they had killed 13 people and dumped their bodies in various areas of the city.

According to SSP Central, mobile phone videos of people being tortured were also recovered from the criminals. The four continue to be interrogated and a case has been lodged against them.

Petition filed in SHC seeking army’s assistance

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued notices Tuesday following a constitutional petition filed in the court seeking deployment of army in Karachi to bring the deteriorating law and order situation in the city under control, Geo news reported.

The notices were issued to federal and provincial governments, Sindh Home Minister and IG Sindh.

The petitioner in his constitutional petition stated that law and order situation had gone beyond the control of Sindh police and Rangers, therefore the court should order deployment of army in Karachi in accordance with article 245.

The SHC has also issued notices in target killings case. The notices were issued to IG Sindh and DG Rangers along with federal and provincial governments.

Karachi, was thrown as a dead man come alive bag

 KARACHI: A man believed to be dead was recovered alive from a gunnysack Tuesday, Geo news reported. Criminals dumped the man believed to be dead in Lyari and fled.

When the gunny bag containing the body was taken to the hospital, it was discovered that the person identified as Imran was alive. He was immediately provided medical treatment.

According to Imran’s mother, he had left the house for Eid shopping and was kidnapped, tortured and shot. His injured body was stuffed in a gunnysack and thrown in the Lyari area.

Karachi: police, Rangers jointly launch search operation

KARACHI: Police and Rangers jointly carried out search operation in various parts of the metropolis on late Tuesday, detaining six suspects and recovering weapons from their possessions, Geo News reported. According to the details, the operation was launched in Orangi Town, Kati Pahari, Muhammad Pur and adjoining areas. During the search operation several suspects were detained. Rehman Malik along with Karachi Police Chief Saud Mirza, DIG East Imran Yaqub and various others police officials visited the areas soon after the launching of search operation. On the occasion, Malik told media that that the operations were not being carried out in any particular area, adding the operation would be launched anywhere in the metropolis on intelligence report about presence of criminals. Malik said that six suspected have been arrested while weapons were also recovered from their possessions during the operation. Meanwhile, Rangers has begun search operation in Khamisu Goth area of New Karachi and in Mikasa Apartment of Gulshan e Iqbal. Earlier, heavy contingent of Police and Rangers were deployed in Lyari. Due to the resistance showed by the residents by torching tyres on the streets no operation was carried out. Meanwhile, unidentified men opened fire in Agra Taj area of Lyari, injuring six people, which were rushed to Civil Hospital.

Sana Mir hopes for better performance

 LAHORE: Captain of the Pakistan Women’s cricket team, Sana Mir expressed hope that the team would perform well during West Indies tour,

A 14 member squad would depart for the Caribbean from Karachi tonight. Sana Mir while speaking to reporters in Lahore said the series will not be easy and that two changes had been made in the team.

The women’s cricket team will play four one day international and four T20s against the West Indies

Wild world: Millions of unseen species fill Earth

 WASHINGTON: Our world is a much wilder place than it looks. A new study estimates that Earth has almost 8.8 million species, but we've only discovered about a quarter of them. And some of the yet-to-be-seen ones could be in our own backyards, scientists say.

So far, only 1.9 million species have been found. Recent discoveries have been small and weird: a psychedelic frogfish, a lizard the size of a dime and even a blind hairy mini-lobster at the bottom of the ocean.

"We are really fairly ignorant of the complexity and colorfulness of this amazing planet," said the study's co-author, Boris Worm, a biology professor at Canada's Dalhousie University. "We need to expose more people to those wonders. It really makes you feel differently about this place we inhabit."

While some scientists and others may question why we need to know the number of species, others say it's important.

There are potential benefits from these undiscovered species, which need to be found before they disappear from the planet, said famed Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, who was not part of this study. Some of modern medicine comes from unusual plants and animals.

"We won't know the benefits to humanity (from these species), which potentially are enormous," the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wilson said. "If we're going to advance medical science, we need to know what's in the environment."

Biologists have long known that there's more to Earth than it seems, estimating the number of species to be somewhere between 3 million and 100 million. Figuring out how much is difficult.

Worm and Camilo Mora of the University of Hawaii used complex mathematical models and the pace of discoveries of not only species, but of higher classifications such as family to come up with their estimate.

Their study, published Tuesday in the online journal PLoS Biology, a publication of the Public Library of Science, estimated the number of species at nearly 8.8 million.

Of those species, 6.5 million would be on land and 2.2 million in the ocean, which is a priority for the scientists doing the work since they are part of the Census of Marine Life, an international group of scientists trying to record all the life in the ocean.

The research estimates that animals rule with 7.8 million species, followed by fungi with 611,000 and plants with just shy of 300,000 species.

While some new species like the strange mini-lobster are in exotic places such as undersea vents, "many of these species that remain to be discovered can be found literally in our own backyards," Mora said.

Outside scientists, such as Wilson and preeminent conservation biologist Stuart Pimm of Duke University, praised the study, although some said even the 8.8 million number may be too low.

The study said it could be off by about 1.3 million species, with the number somewhere between 7.5 million and 10.1 million. But evolutionary biologist Blair Hedges of Penn State University said he thinks the study is not good enough to be even that exact and could be wrong by millions.

Hedges knows firsthand about small species.

He found the world's smallest lizard, a half-inch long Caribbean gecko, while crawling on his hands and knees among dead leaves in the Dominican Republic in 2001. And three years ago in Barbados, he found the world's shortest snake, the 4-inch Caribbean threadsnake that lays "a single, very long egg."

The study's authors point to other species as evidence of the growing rate of discovery: the 6-inch, blind, hairy lobster-type species found in 2005 by a submarine looking at hydrothermal vents near where the Pacific meets Antarctica and a brilliant-colored frogfish found by divers in Indonesia in 2008.

Of the 1.9 million species found thus far, only about 1.2 million have been listed in the fledgling online Encyclopedia of Life, a massive international effort to chronicle every species that involves biologists, including Wilson.

If the 8.8 million estimate is correct, "those are brutal numbers," said Encyclopedia of Life executive director Erick Mata. "We could spend the next 400 or 500 years trying to document the species that actually inhabit our planet."