W O R L D

Turkey closes Syria embassy
Beirut, March 26
Turkey closed its embassy in Syria today, further isolating President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces again bombarded the battered city of Homs with mortars in an effort to quell unrest.
A wounded Syrian youth lies under a pre-Baath Syrian flag, adopted by the anti-regime opposition, in Lebanon, where scores of Syrians have been receiving treatment. — AFP 

‘Titanic’ director James Cameron hits world’s floor
New York, March 26
“Titanic” film director James Cameron has completed the world’s first solo dive to the deepest-known point on Earth, reaching the bottom of the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench southwest of Guam in a specially designed submarine. The filmmaker arrived at the site known as “Challenger Deep” shortly before 8 am local time on Monday (2200 GMT on Sunday), reaching a depth of 35,756 feet (10,898 metres) beneath the ocean’s surface, said the National Geographic Society, which is overseeing the expedition.

Power crisis triggers protests in Pak
One person was killed and private property and vehicles were damaged as violent protests erupted on Monday in parts of Pakistan’s Punjab province following prolonged power outages. A large number of people took to the streets and damaged property to vent their anger against power cuts, whose duration is 12 hours in cities and 18 hours in rural areas. 
MOB FURY: Protesters turn violent in Lahore on Monday. — AFP 

Popcorn: The perfect health snack
London, March 26 
Don't forget to pick up a tub of popcorn the next time you go for a movie at a nearby theatre, for a new study has claimed that the humble cinema snack is the perfect health food.

Turkey closes Syria embassy
Tanks continue to shell Homs

Beirut, March 26
Turkey closed its embassy in Syria today, further isolating President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces again bombarded the battered city of Homs with mortars in an effort to quell unrest.

Video showed towering flames and thick black smoke billowing from at least two locations in Homs, Syria’s third largest city, which has become the epicentre for the year-long revolt. Residents accused the army of indiscriminate shelling.

“Every day the shelling goes on. The regime is wiping out the city,” said Waleed Faris, an activist who lives in Homs. Following the example of many Arab and Western states, Turkey said it had suspended all activities at its embassy as the security situation worsened.

Once a close ally of Assad, Turkey has denounced his efforts to crush the rebellion and has thrown its weight behind his opponents, announcing on Sunday that it would work with Washington to provide “non-lethal” aid to the Syrian opposition.

Kofi Annan, the joint envoy for the United Nations and Arab League, was due to fly to China later in the day as part of an effort to persuade all major powers to put pressure on Assad to accept the terms of his six-point peace plan.

Annan met Russian leaders on Sunday and won assurances that Moscow was fully behind his initiative, which calls for Assad to back a ceasefire and let in humanitarian aid, but does not demand that he quit - something Western powers are pushing for.

Both Russia and China have previously vetoed U.N. Security Council resolutions highly critical of Damascus, drawing accusations that they were giving Assad a licence to kill. They argue that the West is too one-sided, but have given full public backing to Annan’s mission. — Reuters

‘Titanic’ director James Cameron hits world’s floor
Makes first solo dive to the Earth’s deepest-known point

New York, March 26
“Titanic” film director James Cameron has completed the world’s first solo dive to the deepest-known point on Earth, reaching the bottom of the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench southwest of Guam in a specially designed submarine.

‘Titanic’ filmmaker James Cameron slides into the hatch of the Deepsea Challenger submersible in Sydney. — Reuters

The filmmaker arrived at the site known as “Challenger Deep” shortly before 8 am local time on Monday (2200 GMT on Sunday), reaching a depth of 35,756 feet (10,898 metres) beneath the ocean’s surface, said the National Geographic Society, which is overseeing the expedition.

Cameron’s first words to the surface on reaching the bottom following a descent that took two hours and 36 minutes were “All systems OK,” National Geographic said on its website.

“Hitting bottom never felt so good. Can’t wait to share what I’m seeing w/ you,” the 57-year-old filmmaker said in a separate Twitter message posted just after he touched down.

After a faster-than-expected 70-minute return ascent, he safely reached the surface at noon local time Monday (0200 GMT) about 500 km southwest of the US territory of Guam in the western Pacific, National Geographic said in a press statement.

The expedition was a joint project by Cameron, National Geographic and watchmaker Rolex that has been dubbed “Deepsea Challenge” and was designed to expand understanding of a little-known corner of the Earth.

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, is the project’s principal science collaborator.

The single-man vehicle piloted by Cameron, the Deepsea Challenger, stands 24 feet tall and was designed to descend upright and rotating at a speed of about 500 feet per minute.

While he is perhaps better known as director of such films as “Titanic,” “Avatar” and “Aliens,” Cameron is no stranger to underwater exploration. For “Titanic,” he took 12 dives to the famed shipwreck in the North Atlantic, leading him to develop deep-sea film and exploration technology.

He has since led six expeditions, authored a forensic study of the German battleship Bismarck wreck site and conducted extensive 3-D imaging of deep hydrothermal vents along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the East Pacific Rise — Reuters

Exploring Mariana Trench

The low point of Mariana Trench, known as ‘Challenger Deep’, has been reached by humans just once before in 1960. US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and the late Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard had spent 20 minutes there in the submersible craft, Trieste

Cameron, the first person to make a solo dive to the spot, spent about three hours at the bottom collecting research samples for marine biology, geology and geophysics and taking still photographs and video footage of the trench 

Osama’s widows, family to be charged for illegal Pak stay

Islamabad, March 26
A Pakistani court will formally charge slain Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden’s widows and other family members for illegally entering and living in the country next week, a defence lawyer said today.

The court is expected to frame charges against three widows and two of Bin Laden’s grown up daughters on April 2, lawyer Muhammad Aamir told the media.

The Federal Investigation Agency had filed a case against Bin Laden’s family members earlier this month under the Foreigners Act and Pakistan Penal Code for illegally entering and living in the country. The family members are currently being held in a house in Islamabad that has been declared a sub-jail.

The court provided the five women copies of the charges and evidence against them today. If the women are convicted, they could be deported or imprisoned. Under Pakistani law, the maximum sentence for such offences is five years, Aamir said.

The family members were detained by Pakistani security agencies after US special forces killed Bin Laden at a compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad on May 2 last year.

Laden’s two Saudi Arabian and one Yemeni wives were living with him along with eight of their children and three employees. — PTI 

Power crisis triggers protests in Pak
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif accused the central government of deliberately harming the province through power interruptions that last from 12 to 18 hours in a day. He said the PPP government was destroying industry and agriculture in the province and disrupting business and civic life.

Popcorn: The perfect health snack

London, March 26 
Don't forget to pick up a tub of popcorn the next time you go for a movie at a nearby theatre, for a new study has claimed that the humble cinema snack is the perfect health food.

Researchers at the University of Scranton have found that popcorn — already known for being fibre-packed and relatively low in fat — is packed with more health-boosting antioxidants than fruits and vegetables.

Antioxidants are known to reduce one's risk of cancer, dementia and even heart disease. And, the potent antioxidants, called polyphenols, in popcorn can fight harmful molecules that accumulate in the body and damage cells. They can also help to increase blood flow by relaxing the arteries, the 'Daily Express' reported. The researchers said polyphenols are more concentrated in popcorn, which averages only about 4 per cent water, compared with the 90 per cent that makes up many fruits and vegetables.

In fact, the study revealed that the amount of polyphenols found in popcorn was up to 300 mg a serving, which would provide 13 per cent of an average intake of polyphenols a day. 

In another surprising finding, the researchers discovered the hulls of popcorn, the part everyone hates for its tendency to get caught in the teeth, has the highest concentration of polyphenols and fibre.

Dr Joe Vinson, who led the study, said: “Those hulls deserve more respect. They are nutritional gold nuggets.”

Popcorn may be the perfect snack food. It's the only snack that is 100 per cent unprocessed whole grain.

"One serving of popcorn will provide more than 70 per cent of the daily intake of whole grain. The average person only gets about half a serving of whole grains a day and popcorn could fill that gap in a very pleasant way." But Dr Vinson cautioned that the way it is served — cooking it in oil and adding butter, salt or sugar — can put a dent in its health benefits. Air-popped popcorn has lowest number of calories, compared with popping it in oil. — PTI