PTCL raises DSL usage cap before extra fee is charged

Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) last week began charging its DSL broadband users PKR 5,000 extra if they cross the 300 GB download limit in a given month, Pro Pakistani reported. Previously, it charged customers PKR 1,000 for overshooting 50 GB per month. PTCL said it is notifying its customers by callin g and e-mailing them. The extra charge and the 300 GB cap apply to the 1 Mbps, 2 Mbps, 4 Mbps, 6 Mbps and 8 Mbps DSL services. The 10 Mbps, 20 Mbps and 50 Mbps services will not incur this extra charge. ...

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Syrians thank Russia and China for opposing U.N. resolution

REPORTING FROM ALEPPO, SYRIA, AND BEIRUT -- As the United States and allied nations continued to criticize Russia and China for vetoing a United Nations resolution on Syria, hundreds of residents of the city of Aleppo came out in cold, windy and rainy weather Tuesday to thank the two countries. The rally coincided with the visit to Damascus of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met with President Bashar Assad and was greeted in the Syrian capital with all the pomp and circumstance of a visiting head of state. Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned the Syrian government’s crackdown on dissent and backed an Arab League plan calling on Assad to cede power.  The...

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Greek debt talks drag on but banks signal progress on bond-swap deal to forgive some debt

Shoppers are seen on Athens' main commercial Ermou Street, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2012. Parties backing Greece's coalition government will hold a second day of emergency talks Monday on a vital austerity deal with rescue creditors, after a weekend of negotiations failed to produce the breakthrough needed to avert bankruptcy in March. (AP Photo/Dimitri Messinis) ATHENS, Greece - Greece's private creditors signalled progress late Tuesday on a debt-relief deal but crucial talks between Greek coalition leaders about forcing more austerity upon a hostile public were again postponed.Anger flared on the streets of Athens as more than 20,000 protesters marched through the Greek capital and unions called a general strike...

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Maldives VP sworn in, president quit after protests

By Bryson Hull (Reuters) - President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, widely credited with bringing democracy to the Indian Ocean archipelago, resigned on Tuesday after weeks of opposition protests erupted into a police mutiny, and handed power to his deputy. Nasheed, the Sunni Muslim nation's first democratically elected president, handed over to Vice-President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik and said in a televised address "I believe that if the government were to remain in power it would require the use of force which would harm many citizens." Protests last year over the faltering economy and scrambling ahead of this year's presidential election, have seen parties adopting hardline Islamist rhetoric and accusing...

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Rankings: Azhar placed alongside Tendulkar

Azhar (R), who scored 157 in the third Test, was rewarded with a leap of 12 places and now has 749 points. PHOTO: AFP After a match-winning century, Azhar Ali has not only claimed a career-best place in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Player Rankings for Test batsmen but also shares the 10th position with India’s maestro Sachin Tendulkar.According to information provided by the ICC, Azhar, who scored 157 in the third Test, was rewarded with a leap of 12 places and now has 749 points. Younus Khan’s ton helped him make a leap of five places which puts him back in the fifth position. However, captain Misbahul Haq lost four places to slide to 17th.In the ICC Rankings for Test bowlers, left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman has maintained an...

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