ALI AKBAR TURK FOUNDATION

WASHINGTON:

After a long night of wreaking havoc in the US Northeast, Hurricane Sandy made its way through the state of New York before heading to Canada, leaving in its wake destruction and death.

At least 38 people were killed in the United States and Canada after Sandy made landfall on Monday night in New Jersey. The death toll is expected to climb further as several people were still missing, officials said. Up to 67 people were killed earlier as the storm swept through the Caribbean.

More than 8.1 million homes and businesses in the US and another 130,000 homes and facilities in Canada were without power on Tuesday About a quarter of New York City’s homes and businesses were without power 15 hours after Hurricane Sandy roared ashore.the National Hurricane Centre announced that the hurricane was moving westward across Southern Pennsylvannia.

The centre warned of a storm surge, saying that the combination of the tide and storm surge could cause areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters, especially during the next high tide cycle.

President Barack Obama declared a “major disaster” in New York and New Jersey on Tuesday, an order that cleared the way for federal grants and loans to help storm victims acquire temporary housing and repair damage.

Damage from the mega-storm that blasted the US East Coast could hit $20 billion, disaster estimator Eqecat said, as economists put total losses to the economy at $30-50 billion.

Eqecat President Bill Keogh confirmed the company’s estimates of $5-10 billion in insured losses and $10-20 billion in total losses from Hurricane Sandy.

Seawater coursed between the iconic skyscrapers of New York’s financial district in lower Manhattan, flooding subways and road tunnels and shorting out the power grid.The New York Metropolitan Transit Authority announced that water had entered into the subway system under the East River, with seven subway tunnels having been flooded. However, the MTA added that they could not confirm when the subway system would be re-opened.Two nuclear plants – one in New York and one in New Jersey – were shut down in the aftermath of the storm, but operators stressed that neither posed any risk to the public.

NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg said that the two biggest challenges the city faced were restoring the mass transit system and power supply. In a statement to the press, Mayor Bloomberg said that a least 750,000 people in the city did not have power. He added that over 6,100 people were in shelters, and at least 10 people had been killed in the city as a result of Sandy.New York University hospital was forced to evacuate more than 200 patients when the backup generator failed. Four newborns had to be carried down nine flights of stairs, while nurses manually squeezed bags to deliver air to each of the baby’s lungs, CNN reported. Election race put on hold he catastrophe overshadowed the US electoral race, forcing a halt to campaigning a week before Americans were due to go to the polls to choose between Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.Obama urged Americans to heed local evacuation orders as he stepped off the campaign trail and spent the day in the White House helping to coordinate the response to the disaster.Although the president will not participate in campaign events in Ohio scheduled for Wednesday, he is scheduled to visit New Jersey on Wednesday to view the storm damage and talk to citizens affected by the storm. He is also expected to meet with first responders, according to a statement issued by the White House.Both the Democratic incumbent and his Republican rival Romney were keen to display resolute leadership in the face of the storm, given the memory of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Romney also canceled some campaign appearances.

Pakistan flights Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) indefinitely postponed two of its six weekly scheduled flights to and from New York City’s John F Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.“Flights PK-721 and PK-722 which were scheduled on October 30 to and from New York City were announced to be postponed indefinitely as we received intimation on JFK Airport’s closure Tuesday early morning,” said Syed Sultan Hasan, PIA’s public affairs general manager.The interruption has altered the travel plans of over 600 travellers on PIA flights so far, said Hasan, adding that alternative travel arrangements for the affected passengers will be made as soon as the JFK Airport resumes operations.+The airport was closed, with its runways under water, as of October 30 at 5am Pakistan Standard Time. The fate of flights PK-724 and PK-711, scheduled for November 1 and November 3, depends on the resumption of regular operations at JFK airport, added Hasan.Flight PK-721 had to take off from Karachi with a compulsory stopover at Manchester Airport for security clearance. The Civil Aviation Authority’s spokesperson, Pervez George, said that calling off the flight was the only viable option as taking off from the stopover point would amount to leaving the passengers in the lurch for an indefinite period of time. (With additional input from Noman Ahmed in Karachi, wires)

COURTESY EXPRESS TRIBUNE..

KOHAT, Oct 13: At least 16 people were killed and 35 others injured when a car bomb ripped through a market in Darra Adamkhel on Saturday.Twenty-eight of the injured were admitted to Peshawar`s Lady Reading Hospital.According to officials, the bomber`s target was an office of a peace committee, but the place escaped devastation because he was unable to find a spot for parking the explosive-laden vehicle anywhere near the building.More than 30 shops and eight cars were destroyed in the explosion.A spokesman for Tehrik-iTaliban Pakistan condemned the blast, saying his group had nothing to do with it. `We are against attacking public places and killing innocent people.The explosion left a huge crater on the road. It took place at 10.25am when the market was throbbing with activity.Darra Adamkhel is notorious for having one of the largest centres of illegal weapons manufacture in the country.Officials said it was unclear whether the vehicle had come from outside or from within Darra Adamkhel.Vehicles entering the tribal area are subjected to rigorous security checks at a number of points on the way.Security forces, which regained control of Darra Adamkhel from militants in 2008, cordoned off the area and refused to let journalists in for coverage.They collected evidence and human remains for investigation.In March 2008, 45 tribesmen, including prominent elders, were killed and more than 50 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up during a jirga in the Darra market. The elders were hold-ing negotiations for forming a lashkar to take on the Taliban.Agencies add: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has called upon the federal government to consider launching a `decisive operation against terrorists` `It was a suicide attack and the target was the local peace committee,` he said while talking to journalists in Peshawar about the latest strike in the province.These Taliban have killed our innocent people in so many attacks. They are still killing our people. Instead of wasting time, we should hit them back and do it as early as possible to save the precious lives of our innocent girls like Malala Yousufzai, he said.The peace committee comprised a breakaway group of militants who had ditched their Taliban colleagues and formed a militia supporting local elders and government efforts against militancy, a local intelligence official said.

courtesy DAWN NEWS

52 killed, around 700,000 affected in Pak floods:

Flash floods caused by heavy rains have killed at least 52 people and affected around 700,000 in Pakistan's troubled Baluchistan province.Floods also destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of crops, officials said Monday.Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has announced a relief and rehabilitation package of 2,600 million rupees for the flood victims but officials say the rescue operations and rehabilitation of families could take months to complete.Akbar Durrani, an official of the provincial disaster management authority said the monsoon rains had broken a 30-year-old record.Durrani said the flash floods had damaged crops spread over 350,000 acres of land in 13 districts.Baluchistan is already facing an uphill battle due to a violent insurgency by separatists while militants have been involved in targetting minority Shia Muslims.Durrani said 22 people have died in Naseerabad alone and eight in Jafffarabad. remaining casualties were reported from other parts of the province.

ASSALAM ALIKUM TO ALL:

after a successfull opening of ALI AKBAR FOUNDATION.i nd my team is very Glad to see that members are taking interest in Registring ur self in the website. thnxs to ALLAH that give us sucessfull opening of FOundation....

Again thnxs for all members who regsitered themselves in the website.

REGARDS

JUNAID IQBAL

Thnxs to ALLAH for the success of FOundation.

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we kindly request you to plz join the community. we will be thnx full to you for this act.

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we therefore requested you to plz register ur self in this site nd support us and also join our communtiy page on Facebook..

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