PTI Facebook Pages Hacked, Millions of Fans Lost

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s more than 30 fan pages were hacked today in a single go, costing the political party millions of fans go wasted.
No one has taken the responsibility for this massive hack down of PTI’s facebook fan pages.
Citing President of the Insaf Students Federation in Karachi, Arsalan Ghumman, The Express Tribune reported that the official Facebook pages of PTI leader Imran Khan, the student wing Insaf Students Federation, and several, more including that of Dr. Alvi were hacked into and hidden from the public’s eye.
“The pages were hijacked at 3 pm on Friday. We are in touch with the Facebook authorities to recover them,” he said.
On other hands Facebook is notorious for taking such cases non-seriously.
Reportedly, hacker first cracked the gmail id of Mr. Imran Ghazali, the web manager of PTI social media team before cracking into facebook pages of political party.
It is unclear so far if pages were deleted or are kept private (hidden from public) by the hacker.
If not recovered, this is going to be a big blow PTI’s short term plans. This incident yet again reminds us that we are living in a country without cyber law..
 

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Beating England 3-0 will be big, says Misbah

Misbah-ul Haq attends a practice session at The Dubai International Cricket Stadium

[© AFP]

Captain Misbah-ul Haq believes routing world number one England 3-0 will be a big achievement but stressed his team will not take that extra pressure into the third and final Test starting here from Friday.

No team has ever registered a clean sweep in the 58 years of Pakistan-England cricket and Misbah's team has a good chance of creating history after their comprehensive ten wicket win in the first Test and by 72 runs in the second.

England, who will also be in danger of losing their world's top rankings if they lose here, will have to find a quick solution to counter Pakistani spinners Saeed Ajmal (17 wickets) and left-armer Abdul Rehman who has 12 in two matches.

Misbah said Pakistan will look for an encore in the third Test.

"It will be a big achievement for the team (winning 3-0)," said Misbah of the clean sweep which Pakistan last achieved against Bangladesh at home in 2003, while their last against a top Test nation was beating West Indies 3-0 in 1997.

"The way the team is performing with consistency, if we play well like we did in the first two games good results will come but we will not take that extra pressure (of clean sweep)," said 37-year-old Misbah.

Since taking over as captain in the aftermath of spot-fixing scandal during which Pakistan lost 3-1 to England in 2010, Misbah has led Pakistan to eight wins with one defeat and five draws.

Misbah said England were still a good team and winning the last Test will not be easy.

"No doubt, England is a good team, they are number one in the world and it will not be easy because they will be more prepared, but we will try our best," said Misbah, who praised Ajmal and Rehman.

Ajmal took a career best 7-55 in the first Test here and Rehman registered his best 6-25 in the second in Abu Dhabi, feats which Misbah said were extraordinary.

"I think both have been bowling well for quite some time now and they create pressure on the batsmen and never give any opportunity to let them out of that and on top of that England batsmen were low on confidence," said Misbah.

Misbah hinted about keeping the same combination, although Pakistan have the option of using the bench player in paceman Wahab Riaz in place of Junaid Khan.

"I am a firm believer in the balance of the team because the first priority is to win and I think we will go with whatever is the best combination for the team," said Misbah, predicting the Dubai stadium pitch will help batsmen more than in the first Test.

England captain Andrew Strauss admitted the key would be countering Pakistan's spinners.

"That's one of the crucial things about playing spin, you have to adapt your game according to the surfaces you play on. I am very optimistic, you'll see people a bit clearer in what their gameplan is and how they are looking to play, which is a good starting point," said Strauss.

"These conditions are slightly different, so it's more about adapting your game to the conditions than going right back to square one and saying 'right, I need to change everything'. That's a dangerous route to go down.

"It's a setback (2-0 down) in the sense that we didn't want it to happen, and we didn't want to lose a series. But that's gone, finished - and in some ways, maybe it's a good lesson for us that if you're five percent off your game against the majority of sides you're going to come unstuck."

"We desperately want to avoid losing the series 3-0; we desperately want to come back and show we're better than we have shown so far in the series. I think there's a feeling among the whole squad that we can and should come back and do that."

Strauss added that middle-order batsman Ian Bell was fit after suffering stomach problem which forced him to miss practice on Wednesday.

The only question remaining is whether England will play with two spinners or drop one from Graeme Swann or Monty Panesar.

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Wi-Fi Service, Cellphone Headed for More Subway Stations

 Wall Street Journal

By Ted Mann

Rob Bennett for The Wall Street Journal

Subway travelers have been able to used cellphones in the C, E line station at Eighth Avenue and 23rd Street since September. Cell service is scheduled for 30 more stations this year.

Cellphone service will arrive at 30 additional subway stations in 2012, including Times Square and Rockefeller Center, broadening access to include much of Midtown, the firm conducting the improvements said this week.
Transit Wireless, which launched cell service in six stations on 14th and 23rd Streets in September, is working to extend cellphone access to the 30 new stations this summer. Construction is slated to begin in April, a spokesman said.
Among the stations scheduled to be wired for cell service this year are those at Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Columbus Circle and stations along 96th Street. A full list of the new locations is below.
The stations would come online in groups of five or six at a time, beginning in July or August, said Patrick Smith, spokesman for Transit Wireless.
Transit Wireless has negotiated deals with AT&T and T-Mobile to provide cell coverage in the subways, and negotiations with other wireless carriers for access to its underground system is ongoing, the company said.
The company also plans to announce the launch of free wireless Internet access in six subway stations within the next several weeks, said Smith. The wi-fi access would be free to subway passengers, and paid for through a sponsorship arrangement still under negotiation.
The MTA has previously estimated the cost of wiring all 271 subway stations in the transit system at roughly $200 million, a cost being borne entirely by Transit Wireless. Transit Wireless and MTA will share proceeds of the company’s contracts with wireless carriers, MTA officials have said, with a minimum annual payment to the transit system of $3.3 million once the cellphone network is complete.
“Bringing wireless service into our underground subway system reinforces the MTA’s effort to use technology to improve customer convenience that allows them to stay in touch with friends, relatives and business contacts,” said Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the MTA. “And by having access to real-time service status updates while underground, riders can better navigate the system.”
Meanwhile, the MTA announced the winners of its App Quest contest, in which software developers built applications to display subway data and schedules on smart phones. The winning app, called EmbarkNYC, features GPS navigation, street and subway system maps, and a trip planning feature that doesn’t require a cell phone signal to be operational.
A list of the contest winners is at the MTA’s contest website.
Stations scheduled to begin cell phone service in 2012:
1, 2, 3 station, W. 96th Street & Broadway
1 station, W. 86th Street & Broadway
1 station, W. 79th Street & Broadway
1, 2, 3 station, W. 72nd Street & Broadway
1 station, W. 66th Street & Broadway
1 station, Columbus Circle, W. 59th Street & Broadway
1 station, W. 50th Street & Broadway
1, 2, 3 station, Times Square, W. 42nd Street & Broadway
1 station, 7th Ave. & W. 28th Street 1 station, 7th Ave. & W. 23rd Street
1 station, 7th Ave. & W. 18th Street
B, C station, West 96th Street & Central Park West
B, C station, West 86th Street & Central Park West
B, C station, West 81st Street & Central Park West
B, C station, West 72nd Street & Central Park West
A, B, C, D station, Columbus Circle, W. 59th Street & Broadway
B, D, E station, 7th Ave. & W. 53rd Street
C, E station, 8th Ave. & W. 50th Street
B, D, F, M station, Rockefeller Center, 6th Ave. and W. 47-50th Streets
A, C, E station, Times Square, 8th Ave. & W. 42nd Street
N, Q, R station, 5th Ave. & W.59th Street
N, Q, R station, 7th Ave. & W. 57th Street
N, Q, R station, 7th Ave. & W. 49th Street
N, Q, R station, Times Square, W. 42nd Street & Broadway
R station, W. 28th Street & Broadway
R station, Madison Square, W. 23rd Street & Broadway
7 station, Times Square, W. 42nd Street & Broadway
Shuttle, Times Square, W. 42nd Street & Broadway
F station, 6th Ave. & 57th Street
E, M station, 5th Ave. & 53rd Street
Stations with existing cell phone coverage:
A, C, E station at Eighth Avenue and West 14th Street
L station at Eighth Avenue and West 14th Street
C, E station at Eighth Avenue and West 23rd Street
1, 2, 3 station at Seventh Avenue and West 14th Street
F, M station at Sixth Avenue and West 14th Street
L station at Sixth Avenue and West 14th Street

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US TODAY: Slain border agent's family files $25M claim against U.S.

PHOENIX -- The family of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry filed a $25 million wrongful death claim Wednesday against the federal government, saying he was killed because U.S. investigators allowed murder weapons into the hands of criminals.

Terry died Dec. 14, 2010, when his special-operations unit got into a shootout with border bandits in a remote canyon area near Rio Rico. At the scene, investigators found two AK-47s that were traced back to a gun-smuggling probe by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Congressional investigations and Department of Justice records have since revealed that ATF agents allowed as many as 1,400 guns to be transported into Mexico, and that the AK-47s were purchased by a known firearms trafficker. The so-called "gun-walking" strategy used in Operation Fast and Furious remains the subject of inquiries by Congress and the Department of Justice's inspector general.

• STORY: Justice, House GOP tangle over Fast and Furious

In the civil claim, which is a required legal step prior to the filing of a lawsuit, Terry's family says federal agents were not only negligent, but acted "in violation of ATF's own policies and procedures."

"The murder of Agent Terry and other acts of violent crimes were the natural consequence of ATF's decision to let dangerous weapons designed to kill human beings 'walk' into the hands of violent drug-trafficking gangs," says the claim, filed by Phoenix attorneys Patrick McGroder III and Lincoln Combs.

The 65-page document was filed on behalf of Terry's parents, Josie and Kent Terry Sr., as well as surviving siblings. In it, family members criticize federal authorities for attempting to cover up the flawed strategy in Fast and Furious, and its connection with Brian Terry's death.

The claim says family members met in March 2011 with former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, who resigned amid the scandal. The claim alleges he incorrectly said that guns found at the scene were from a store in Texas, and that the fatal bullet would never be found even though it was recovered during an autopsy.

"Burke hemmed and hawed, bobbed and weaved, refused to give straight answers, and flat-out lied about when he knew about Brian's death and Operation Fast and Furious," the family alleges.

The claim contains poetry, dozens of family photographs, lyrics from Terry's favorite songs and a detailed account of his life. In explanation of the $25 million demand, it concludes: "The love and companionship of a beloved son, warrior and American hero like Brian is impossible to quantify, but it is worth at least that much."

Wagner also reports for The Arizona Republic.

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Miami Herald to occupy a Memphis-owned building

A Memphis-based commercial real estate firm is exchanging one high-profile tenant in Miami for another, from the U.S. Southern Command headquarters to the Miami Herald.
The Miami Herald Media Company has signed a lease for the 158,000-square-foot building SMPO Properties built and opened in Doral in 1997 for $40 million.
The newspaper will move its business and news staffs of more than 700 people 12 miles inland from its longtime headquarters on the Atlantic in Downtown Miami to the affluent Doral suburb.
SMPO, owned by Oscar Seelbinder, built the building. GPA-I, a special-purpose business entity created for the project, took ownership and leased it to the Southern Command until the military moved out last August.
The Southern Command oversees military activity in South and Central America during crisis situations and disasters.
Seelbinder is also a partner in GPA-I with fellow Memphians including Jerry Sklar, an attorney; Ron Sklar, a builder-developer; and John H. Montgomery, who splits his time between Memphis and Chicago.
The Herald had been hunting for a new home. Newspaper publisher McClatchy Co., which owns the Miami Herald, sold the Herald’s seaside headquarters eight months ago for $236 million with the agreement the paper could stay rent-free for up to two years.
The Herald signed a 15-year lease for the two-story office building and nine acres. GPA also sold an adjacent six acres where the Herald will build a 120,000-square-foot production facility.
The Miami Herald lease isn’t the only big deal landed recently by SMPO, which is headquartered at 5858 Ridgeway Center Parkway in East Memphis.
Just before the Herald lease, SMPO completed a deal with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lease for 20 years a 45,000-square-foot laboratory building in Los Angeles.
“It’s the second-largest lab the USDA will have in the United States,” Seelbinder said. “The value of the lab is more valuable than the property leased to the Herald.”
SMPO was founded in 1984. It’s a comprehensive commercial real estate firm and what Seelbinder describes as a “merchant builder.’’
“You build things and then you sell them,” Seelbinder explained.
It began by building and leasing out post office buildings. SMPO has built more than 150 of them.
But the company also has built a CVS pharmacy, AutoZone stores, four FedEx facilities ranging from 115,000 to 575,000 square feet, and Captain D’s restaurants.
SMPO has sold the vast majority of the nearly 200 properties it has built over the years across 40 states, Seelbinder said.
“We only have a couple left,” he said. “It’s difficult to hold on when people offer prices. In merchant building, you put up property that’s income-producing. In essence, somebody will pay us more than we feel it’s worth and we sell it.”
In addition to developing, SMPO is a commercial real estate broker of government leased and credit-rated tenant transactions. The combined value of its brokered deals over the years exceeds $500 million.
SMPO also manages property, and as SMPO Financial, LLC, it even structures commercial real estate loans of $750,000 to more than $100 million.
Despite its successes and longevity, SMPO doesn’t seem that well known.
“There’s never been an importance placed on being in the public eye,’’ Seelbinder said.
“The primary business we do has more to do with public bids to government, and relationships with credit tenants. It just never has seemed important to have publicity.”

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Women’s Tennis: WVU Hosts Pitt and Akron

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The West Virginia women’s tennis team will play host to Pitt on Friday at 3 p.m., as well as Akron on Sunday at 12 p.m., with both matches being held at the Ridgeview Racquet Club.

Tina Samara

The Mountaineers enter Friday’s tilt against the Panthers with an 0-3 record, but are coming off a loss to No. 9 Virginia in which coach Tina Samara saw strides in the right direction.

“We took some positives away from our match against a very tough Virginia team,” says Samara. “We competed on Tuesday, and if we bring that same fire to the court this weekend, we like our chances.”

WVU had the opportunity to square off against players from Pitt, who enters the match at 1-1, during the fall season at the Martha Thorn Invitational and the ITA Regionals.

“We saw some of Pitt’s players this fall,” Samara says. “They have some strengths at certain spots, but I definitely think that they are beatable. Again, it comes down to what we do. If we stay within ourselves and do what we are capable of, we will be fine, but that is a big if.”

The Mountaineers lead the all-time series against the Panthers, 29-4.

“We should be coming out with more fire than normal because it is Pitt,” Samara says of the rivalry. “There is a little extra behind it. We made sure the upperclassmen told the younger girls what this match is all about.”

Sunday’s match against Akron (2-0) will present a different difficulty to the Mountaineers, as the Zips come in as a somewhat unfamiliar opponent. WVU did not compete against them in the fall.

“We don’t know a whole lot about Akron,” Samara says. “We have looked over their results, and they look like a pretty solid team.”

Akron won 5-2 over Michigan State on Jan. 22 and will enter Sunday’s match having played two matches the day prior.

In order for the Mountaineers to be successful in both matches this weekend, junior Emily Mathis will need to continue her strong play in the No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles spot.

“I am not worried Emily,” Samara says. “She will go out and do her best. She will fight hard and do what she does to get wins.”

A full recap of both matches will be available on MSNsportsNET.com after the completion of competition.

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