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Waqas Dar

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Blog Entries posted by Waqas Dar

  1. Waqas Dar
    Israel announced on Sunday it had reached a deal worth $630 million to provide India's navy with missile defence systems, following a record weapons sale between the two countries last month.
    The new contract will see state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries supply LRSAM air and missile defence systems for four Indian naval ships, a statement from the company said.
    IAI said the contract will be carried out with India's Bharat Electronics Limited, which will be the project's main contractor. ?The new contract adds to other deals signed in the last decade by IAI with India's defence forces, reinforcing IAI's global leadership position in air and missile defence systems,? IAI president and CEO Joseph Weiss said in a statement.
    LRSAM is an advanced air and missile defence system, jointly developed by IAI and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation.
    In April, IAI said India will buy nearly $2 billion worth of weapons technology from Israel in what was described as the ?largest defence contract? ever signed by the military exporting giant.




  2. Waqas Dar
    Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif advised US President Donald Trump to discuss how to avoid another September 11 attack with the Saudi hosts of his first official visit abroad, Zarif wrote in an editorial published on Sunday.
    Tehran and Riyadh are regional arch-rivals which accuse each other of sponsoring fundamentalist militias aligned to their competing sects of Islam in war zones across the Middle East.
    Critics of Saudi Arabia say its strict view of religion fuels extremism, called takfir, and some even accuse the kingdom of responsibility for the September 11 attacks.
    Saudi Arabia denies providing any support for the 19 hijackers ? most of whom were Saudi citizens ? who killed nearly 3,000 people in 2001.
    ?(Trump) must enter into dialogue with them about ways to prevent terrorists and takfiris from continuing to fuel the fire in the region and repeating the likes of the September 11 incident by their sponsors in Western countries,? Zarif wrote for the website of the London-based Al Araby Al-Jadeed news network.
    At a campaign event last February, Trump himself suggested to supporters that the kingdom may be behind the attacks.
    ?You will find out who really knocked down the World Trade Center because they have papers out there that are very secret. You may find it's the Saudis, okay, but you will find out.?
    But since his election, Trump has put an end to his sharp commentary in public and on his twitter account about the key US ally and the world's top oil exporter.
    Separately, a senior Iranian military official rejected a call by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for newly re- elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to end Tehran's ballistic missile programme and what he called its ?network of terrorism?.
    Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, said Tillerson's remarks ?reflected ignorance about Iran?, the state news agency IRNA reported.
    ?Iran's defence policies and aims follow a set trend that cannot be affected by any element,? Jazayeri said. Iran's hardline-led security and military bodies operate separately to the presidency and are close to the country's ultimate authority ? Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
    Speaking at a news conference in Riyadh on Saturday, Tillerson also said: ?I'm not going to comment on my expectation. But we hope that if Rouhani wanted to change Iran's relationship with the rest of the world those are the things that he could do.?


  3. Waqas Dar
    HYDERABAD: Mumbai Indians beat Rising Pune Supergiant by one run in a gripping Indian Premier League final on Sunday.

    Pune captain Steve Smith hit a crucial 51 that seemed to put Pune on course for victory in the chase for Mumbai´s 129-8. But he was then one of two wickets to fall in straight balls to Smith´s compatriot Mitchell Johnson in the final over. Pune ended on 128-6.


  4. Waqas Dar
    RIYADH: US President Donald Trump had a brief encounter with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Sunday before the the Arab Islamic American Summit at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Riyadh.

    The US president shook hands with PM Nawaz and exchange of pleasantries took place between the two leaders.
    During the brief meeting, Trump said that he was very pleased to meet PM Nawaz to which the premier responded that the feeling is mutual.
    King Salman Bin Abdulaziz also warmly welcomed the PM.
    Defeating terrorism our mutual goal, Trump says in Saudi summit
    The session was earlier addressed by King Salman Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia
    Trump addressed the summit today which was attended by leaders from 55 countries, including Prime Minister Nawaz.
    PM Sharif arrived in Riyadh today to attend the summit on the invitation of King Salman Bin Abdulaziz.
    After departing Islamabad in the morning, the premier arrived along with his delegation, which comprises several government officials and media persons, including foreign affairs? adviser Sartaj Aziz and lawyer Akram Sheikh.
    The summit is being attended by around three dozen leaders of Islamic countries, including the prime ministers of Bangladesh and Malaysia, and presidents of Afghanistan, Egypt, as well as US President Trump.


  5. Waqas Dar
    The world set its sights on the new US President Donald Trump?s first official visit to the Saudi Arabia.
    The US president during his trip was accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump and daughter Ivanka Trump.
    It seems that the Trumps have their schedule full during the visit, as the US president attended the Arab Islamic American Summit summit, his wife visited the American International School and Ivanka met with female Saudi leaders.
    Melania and Donald Trump wave to crowds after arriving in Saudi Arabia - Reuters Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner arrive at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh on Saturday - AFP First Lady Melania Trump shares a laugh with a child during a visit to the American International School in the Saudi capital Riyadh on May 21, 2017 - AFP Melania Twitter First Lady Melania Trump signs a poster during a visit to the GE All-Women Business Process Services and IT Centre on May 21, 2017, in the Saudi capital Riyadh - AFP Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud presents U.S. President Donald Trump with the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal as first lady Melania Trump watches, at the Royal Court in Riyadh. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS Ivanka Trump (C) arrives with the US delegation to participate in the the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 21, 2017 - Reuters





  6. Waqas Dar
    RIYADH: Saudi Arabia´s King Salman on Sunday accused regional rival Iran of exporting extremist movements to the world and vowed to eliminate Daesh.


    [embed_video1 url=http://stream.jeem.tv/vod/2c8a90198843420e36e8f524141418d7.mp4/playlist.m3u8?wmsAuthSign=c2VydmVyX3RpbWU9NS8yMS8yMDE3IDU6MDA6MjEgUE0maGFzaF92YWx1ZT02Ukc1TmJ4Nm40YzB6cENITUNmUmd3PT0mdmFsaWRtaW51dGVzPTYwJmlkPTE= style=center] "The Iranian regime has been the spearhead of global terrorism since the Khomeini revolution" in 1979, King Salman said in a speech to leaders including US President Donald Trump.

    "We did not know terrorism and extremism until the Khomeini revolution reared its head," he said.
    Saudi Arabia was also determined to "eliminate Daesh", the king said of the extremist organisation. The Saudi leader´s speech came minutes before a highly anticipated address by Trump, who arrived in the kingdom on Saturday on his first foreign tour since taking office.
    The United States and Saudi Arabia on Saturday announced an arms deal worth almost $110 billion, described as the largest in US history.
    US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the deal was aimed at countering "malign Iranian influence".


  7. Waqas Dar
    Twitter: Ivanka Trump RIYADH: US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka said Sunday that Saudi Arabia has made "encouraging" progress in empowering women but more freedom is needed.
    "Saudi Arabia's progress, especially in recent years, is very encouraging," Trump's eldest daughter told a group of Saudi women she met in Riyadh while accompanying her father on a visit to the Muslim kingdom.
    "But there's still a lot of work to be done and freedoms and opportunities to continue to fight for," added Ivanka, who serves as an advisor to her father.
    "Around the world women continue to achieve unprecedented levels of rights and freedoms. Today you all stand on the frontlines of the fight for gender equality," she told a roundtable of women led by Princess Reema bint Bandar, deputy president of the Women's Sports Authority.
    Saudi Arabia imposes many restrictions on women.
    It is the only country where they are not allowed to drive. When in public, women in Saudi Arabia are expected to cover from head to toe.
    Riyadh has pledged a programme of social and economic reforms as part of the ambitious "Vision 2030" strategy launched last year.
    A royal decree earlier this month reportedly stipulated that women are no longer required to obtain a male guardian's consent to carry out certain activities.
    In February, a Saudi woman was appointed to head the Saudi stock exchange, Tadawul, while another was appointed as head of the major bank Samba.
    "The stories of Saudi women, such as yourselves, catalysing change, inspire me to believe in the possibility of global women's empowerment," said Ivanka.


  8. Waqas Dar
    LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced on Sunday that no additional taxes will be imposed in the provincial budget 2017-18.
    While presiding a high-level meeting to take recommendations on the forthcoming provincial budget, Sharif claimed that the budget would be people-friendly. ?The budget would be pro-people, pro-farmers and pro-businessman,? the chief minister added, ?government will expand the ambit of wellbeing programmes by adding more new schemes in the budget.?
    The chief minister said that government will continue to pursue its policy of ?equal progress? for urban-rural areas.
    ?We will allocate additional resources for underprivileged areas,? he added. Sharif said that it is his priority to provide quality public services to the people.
    The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, MNA Hamza Shahbaz Sharif. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah also attended the meeting through a video link. 


  9. Waqas Dar
    BIRMINGHAM: Middle-order batsman Umar Akmal failed to pass a fitness test ahead of Champions Trophy tournament.

    According to reports, Head Coach Micky Arthur will now make the final decision on Akmal`s inclusion in the squad.
    Earlier, in a video message released by Pakistan Cricket Board, Arthur said that fielding and fitness are of utmost importance to him.
    ?Fitness, fielding is of paramount importance. Good fielding gives us a chance for better batting and bowling," he said.
    Akmal was excluded from the team squad ahead of Pakistan?s tour to West Indies after failing to clear fitness test.  


  10. Waqas Dar
    SHANGHAI: China´s 19-year-old Ke Jie is given little chance in the three-game series beginning Tuesday in the eastern Chinese city of Wuzhen after AlphaGo stunned observers last year by trouncing South Korean grandmaster Lee Se-Dol four games to one.
    Lee´s loss in Seoul marked the first time a computer programme had beaten a top player in a full match in the 3,000-year-old Chinese board game, and has been hailed as a landmark event in the development of AI.
    AI has previously beaten humans in cerebral contests, starting with IBM´s Deep Blue defeating chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997, but AlphaGo´s win last year is considered the most significant win for AI yet.
    Go is considered perhaps the most complex game ever devised, with an incomputable number of move options that puts a premium on "intuition."
    Time to fold: AI system beats humans in poker
    The artificial intelligence system has beaten humans at Chess and Go previously
    Proponents had considered it a bastion in which human thought would remain superior, at least for the foreseeable future.
    AlphaGo´s triumph fuelled hopes of a brave new world in which AI is applied not only to driverless cars or "smart homes", but to helping mankind figure out some of the most complex scientific, technical, and medical problems.
    "AlphaGo´s successes hint at the possibility for general AI to be applied to a wide range of tasks and areas, to perhaps find solutions to problems that we as human experts may not have considered," Demis Hassabis, founder of London-based DeepMind, which developed AlphaGo, said ahead of this week´s matches.
    AI´s ultimate goal is to create "general" or multi-purpose, rather than "narrow," task-specific intelligence -- something resembling human reasoning and the ability to learn.
    Sci-fi nightmare? 
    But for some, it conjures sci-fi images of a future in which machines "wake up" and enslave humanity.
    Physicist Stephen Hawking is a leading voice for caution, warning in 2015 that computers may outsmart humans, "potentially subduing us with weapons we cannot even understand."
    Ke faces AlphaGo on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
    Ke is a brash prodigy who went pro at 11 years old, has been world number one for more than two years.
    After AlphaGo flattened Lee, Ke declared he would never lose to the machine.
    "Bring it on," he said on China´s Twitter-like Weibo.
    But he has tempered his bravado since then.
    Ke was among many top Chinese players who were trounced in online contests in January by a mysterious adversary who reportedly won 60 straight victories.
    That opponent -- cheekily calling itself "The Master" -- was later revealed by DeepMind to have been an updated AlphaGo.
    "Even that was not AlphaGo´s best performance," Gu Li, a past national champion, told Chinese state media last week.
    "It would be very hard for Ke to play against it, but then again, Ke has also been working extremely hard to change his methods in preparation. I hope he can play well."
    Go involves two players alternately laying black and white stones on a grid. The winner is the player who seals off the most territory.
    AlphaGo uses two sets of "deep neural networks" containing millions of connections similar to neurons in the brain.
    It is partly self-taught -- having played millions of games against itself after initial programming.


  11. Waqas Dar
    LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced on Sunday that no additional taxes will be imposed in the provincial budget 2017-18.

    While presiding a high-level meeting to take recommendations on the forthcoming provincial budget, Sharif claimed that the budget would be people-friendly. ?The budget would be pro-people, pro-farmers and pro-businessman,? the chief minister added, ?government will expand the ambit of wellbeing programmes by adding more new schemes in the budget.?
    The chief minister said that government will continue to pursue its policy of ?equal progress for urban-rural areas'.
    ?We will allocate additional resources to underprivileged areas,? he added. Sharif said that it is his priority to provide quality public services to the people.
    The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, MNA Hamza Shahbaz Sharif. Law Minister Rana Sanaullah also attended the meeting through a video link. 


  12. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: In order to ensure participation of women in the upcoming polls, amendments have been made to the sections of Representation of Peoples Act, 1976, which empowers the Election Commission of Pakistan to declare by-polls null and void if women of the constituency have been stopped from casting vote.

    The bill was presented by the Pakistan People?s Party Senator Sherry Rehman in the National Assembly. In the session on Thursday, sections 78 and 103 AAA of the RPA were amended.
    The section 78 can lead to disqualification of a candidate found involved in the abuse of power or using undue pressure, which involves stopping a woman from casting a vote.
    Whereas, the amendment to Section 103 AAA gives the ECP authority to declare a by-poll null and void if irregularities are reported from a constituency during the voting process. The section also empowers the ECP to launch an inquiry if there exist reports claiming wrongdoing in by-polls.
    The appeal against the ECP?s decisions would only be submitted to the Supreme Court.
    The Senate had referred the bill to the lower house for approval, after giving it a green signal in March 2017.
    The bill requires the authorities to make separate lists based on gender for every polling station.
    Due to the lack of gender segregate lists in the past, the reports of lack of participation from women in different constituencies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan could not be verified.
    The reports claimed that women could not participate in the voting process due to secret agreements among political parties or contestants.
    The bill would come to enactment after being signed from the President?s office.


  13. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: In order to ensure participation of women in the upcoming polls, amendments have been made to the sections of Representation of Peoples Act, 1976, which empowers the Election Commission of Pakistan to declare by-polls in any constituency null and void in case of lack of female voters.

    The bill was presented by the Pakistan People?s Party Senator Sherry Rehman in the National Assembly. In the session on Thursday, sections 78 and 103 AAA of the RPA were amended.
    The section 78 can lead to disqualification of a candidate found involved in the abuse of power or using undue pressure, which involves stopping a woman from casting a vote.
    Whereas, the amendment to Section 103 AAA gives the ECP authority to declare a by-poll null and void if irregularities are reported from a constituency during the voting process. The section also empowers the ECP to launch an inquiry if there exist reports claiming wrongdoing in by-polls.
    The appeal against the ECP?s decisions would only be submitted to the Supreme Court.
    The Senate had referred the bill to the lower house for approval, after giving it a green signal in March 2017.
    The bill requires the authorities to make separate lists based on gender for every polling station.
    Due to the lack of gender segregate lists in the past, the reports of lack of participation from women in different constituencies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan could not be verified.
    The reports claimed that women could not participate in the voting process due to secret agreements among political parties or contestants.
    The bill would come to enactment after being signed from the President?s office.


  14. Waqas Dar
    File photo: AFP KANDAHAR: Around 25 Afghan policemen were killed early Sunday when Taliban fighters stormed multiple security outposts in the volatile southern province of Zabul, officials said, as the insurgents escalate their annual spring offensive.
    Local officials made desperate calls to Afghan television stations to seek attention as they were unable to get hold of senior authorities for help, highlighting the disarray in security ranks.
    The coordinated attack is another stinging blow to NATO-backed Afghan forces. It comes just a month after the Taliban killed at least 135 security forces in northern Balkh province, in the deadliest insurgent attack on an Afghan military base.
    "This morning, a group of Taliban fighters armed with heavy and light weapons launched coordinated attacks on several police checkpoints in Shah Joy district of Zabul province, killing 20 policemen," provincial governor Bismillah Afghanmal told AFP.
    A district official told AFP that at least 15 others were wounded in the fighting.
    The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on their website. The raid, the latest in a series of brazen Taliban assaults, underscores the insurgents´ growing strength more than 15 years since they were ousted from power by the US invasion of 2001.
    Taliban militants launched their annual "spring offensive" in late April, heralding a surge in fighting as the US tries to craft a new Afghan strategy and NATO considers sending more troops to break the stalemate against the resurgent militants.
    The offensive normally marks the start of the fighting season, though this winter the Taliban continued to battle government forces.
    US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis last month warned of "another tough year" for security forces in Afghanistan.
    His comments came after Taliban fighters dressed in army uniforms and armed with suicide vests attacked a military base outside the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif last month, killing at least 135 policemen and soldiers.
    The brazen attack prompted fury in Afghanistan, leading to the resignations of defence minister Abdullah Habibi and army chief Qadam Shah Shaheem.
    The US State Department denounced the "barbaric, unconscionable" attack, but stressed that America has no intention of giving up on the country despite more than 15 years of brutal war.
    The Pentagon has asked the White House to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan to break the deadlocked fight against the Taliban.
    US troops in Afghanistan number about 8,400 today, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, who also mainly serve in an advisory capacity -- a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago.
    German and Afghan guard killed in Kabul guest house attack
    Gunmen attacked an international guest house in Kabul, killing a German woman and an Afghan guard, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

    A Finnish woman is missing and presumed to have been kidnapped in the raid late Saturday, officials added.
    The guest house was run by a Swedish NGO Operation Mercy, whose director Scott Breslin told local news agency TT that the organisation is holding a crisis meeting.
    "A Finnish lady was kidnapped from police district (three) last night at 11.30. A German lady and an Afghan guard were killed," interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said on Twitter.
    A Finnish foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that a Finnish citizen has been kidnapped in Kabul.
    "We can confirm that we know about this but we are not giving details at the moment. The only thing we can say is it is not known who the kidnappers are," said spokeswoman Karoliina Romanoff.
    Operation Mercy´s Breslin told TT in a brief statement: "We know that she´s missing, we will send out a press release later."
    The kidnapping of foreigners has been on the rise in Afghanistan, with criminal gangs staging abductions for ransom or handing the victims over to militant groups.
    In August last year gunmen wearing military uniforms kidnapped two professors of the American University of Afghanistan in the heart of Kabul.
    The two, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weekes, appeared in a Taliban hostage video that surfaced in January, the first apparent proof that they were alive.


  15. Waqas Dar
    File photo: AFP KANDAHAR: At least 20 Afghan policemen were killed early Sunday when Taliban fighters stormed multiple security outposts in the volatile southern province of Zabul, officials said, as the insurgents escalate their annual spring offensive.
    Local officials made desperate calls to Afghan television stations to seek attention as they were unable to get hold of senior authorities for help, highlighting the disarray in security ranks.
    The coordinated attack is another stinging blow to NATO-backed Afghan forces. It comes just a month after the Taliban killed at least 135 security forces in northern Balkh province, in the deadliest insurgent attack on an Afghan military base.
    "This morning, a group of Taliban fighters armed with heavy and light weapons launched coordinated attacks on several police checkpoints in Shah Joy district of Zabul province, killing 20 policemen," provincial governor Bismillah Afghanmal told AFP.
    A district official told AFP that at least 15 others were wounded in the fighting.
    The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on their website. The raid, the latest in a series of brazen Taliban assaults, underscores the insurgents´ growing strength more than 15 years since they were ousted from power by the US invasion of 2001.
    Taliban militants launched their annual "spring offensive" in late April, heralding a surge in fighting as the US tries to craft a new Afghan strategy and NATO considers sending more troops to break the stalemate against the resurgent militants.
    The offensive normally marks the start of the fighting season, though this winter the Taliban continued to battle government forces.
    US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis last month warned of "another tough year" for security forces in Afghanistan.
    His comments came after Taliban fighters dressed in army uniforms and armed with suicide vests attacked a military base outside the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif last month, killing at least 135 policemen and soldiers.
    The brazen attack prompted fury in Afghanistan, leading to the resignations of defence minister Abdullah Habibi and army chief Qadam Shah Shaheem.
    The US State Department denounced the "barbaric, unconscionable" attack, but stressed that America has no intention of giving up on the country despite more than 15 years of brutal war.
    The Pentagon has asked the White House to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan to break the deadlocked fight against the Taliban.
    US troops in Afghanistan number about 8,400 today, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, who also mainly serve in an advisory capacity -- a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago.
    German and Afghan guard killed in Kabul guest house attack
    Gunmen attacked an international guest house in Kabul, killing a German woman and an Afghan guard, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

    A Finnish woman is missing and presumed to have been kidnapped in the raid late Saturday, officials added.
    The guest house was run by a Swedish NGO Operation Mercy, whose director Scott Breslin told local news agency TT that the organisation is holding a crisis meeting.
    "A Finnish lady was kidnapped from police district (three) last night at 11.30. A German lady and an Afghan guard were killed," interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said on Twitter.
    A Finnish foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that a Finnish citizen has been kidnapped in Kabul.
    "We can confirm that we know about this but we are not giving details at the moment. The only thing we can say is it is not known who the kidnappers are," said spokeswoman Karoliina Romanoff.
    Operation Mercy´s Breslin told TT in a brief statement: "We know that she´s missing, we will send out a press release later."
    The kidnapping of foreigners has been on the rise in Afghanistan, with criminal gangs staging abductions for ransom or handing the victims over to militant groups.
    In August last year gunmen wearing military uniforms kidnapped two professors of the American University of Afghanistan in the heart of Kabul.
    The two, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weekes, appeared in a Taliban hostage video that surfaced in January, the first apparent proof that they were alive.


  16. Waqas Dar
    QUETTA: Five mortar shells fired from Iran landed in Balochistan?s Chaghai area on Sunday, Pakistani security officials said.

    Officials added that no casualties were reported in the incident.
    Last month, Ten Iranian border guards were killed by militants said to be operating from Pakistan. Iran said that Jaishal Adl militants had shot the guards with long-range guns, fired from inside Pakistan.
    Later, the head of the Iranian armed forces warned Islamabad that Tehran would hit bases inside Pakistan if the government does not confront militants who carry out cross-border attacks.
    The situation was later resolved via dialogue and the rhetoric subsided. 


  17. Waqas Dar
    Screen grab of the substandard oil being discarded by PFA officials  LAHORE: A factory where animal fat was being used to produce cooking oil was sealed and two perpetrators arrested late Saturday night.

    Teams of the Punjab Food Authority (PFA), led by its director-general Noorul Amin Mengal, raided the factory while operations were under way there and seized 14,000 litres of the substandard oil.
    PFA officials said the oil was being prepared ? mostly at night to avoid suspicion ? in huge quantities to cater to the ?Ramazan demand?.
    Two people were arrested and an FIR has been registered, the officials informed. 
    The officials further stated that records of sales and supply of raw material have also been confiscated so as to nab all those involved in the scam.
    In January this year, the PFA raided a cooking oil production factory and sealed it after discovering questionable processes and unhealthy elements in its products.
    A total of 50,000 litres of cooking oil was confiscated from the factory after it was found that chicken waste was being used to manufacture the product.
    The oil was said to be under use in a number of hotels in the city. 


  18. Waqas Dar
    File photo/AFP JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump heads for Israel and the Palestinian territories Monday as part of his first trip abroad since taking office, hoping to renew peace efforts but with controversy trailing him.

    The unpredictable president arrives having already upturned expectations when it comes to the decades-old Middle East conflict, giving Palestinians more hope than they may have anticipated and disappointing right-wing Israelis who heralded his election.
    He has spoken of reaching "the toughest deal to make", one that has long bedevilled US presidents, vowing "we will get it done".
    But he is also contending with a raft of problems back home, including a special counsel investigating whether his associates colluded with Russia.
    Any leader would face an enormous challenge in seeking to bring the Israelis and Palestinians together for meaningful talks, and Trump´s inexperience and domestic political struggles will only add to it.
    Beyond that, Trump has faced criticism from Israelis in recent days related to the White House´s approach to the ultra-sensitive status of Jerusalem.
    Concerns have also been raised over Trump´s sharing of intelligence with Russia said to have originally come from Israel.
    "I think the trip´s in a lot of jeopardy being able to be productive because of all the chaos and controversy that´s going on in Washington," Dan Shapiro, US ambassador to Israel under Barack Obama and now a senior fellow at Tel Aviv´s Institute for National Security Studies think tank, told AFP.
    ´Palestinians are cautious´
    Trump arrives in Israel on Monday afternoon following his visit to Saudi Arabia, where Washington announced a huge $110-billion arms deal with Riyadh, and will hold talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later in the day in Jerusalem.
    US, Saudi agree arms deals worth almost $110 billion: White House
    National oil firm Saudi Aramco said it signed $50 billion of agreements with US firms
    He is expected to become the first sitting US president to visit the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray and located in east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967 and later annexed.
    Israel sees all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians view east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
    On Tuesday, he visits Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank for talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
    After a visit later Tuesday to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, he is due to give a speech at the Israel Museum.
    Trump has sent mixed signals about how he will approach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
    He cast uncertainty over years of international efforts to foster a two-state solution when he met Netanyahu at the White House in February.
    At that meeting, he said he would support a single state if it led to peace, delighting Israeli right-wingers who want to see their country annex most of the West Bank.
    At the same time, he urged Israel to hold back on settlement building in the West Bank, a longstanding concern of Palestinians and much of the world.
    He also held face-to-face talks in Washington with Abbas earlier this month, confidently predicting that a peace agreement was within grasp.
    Trump advocated during his campaign breaking with decades of precedent and moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a prospect deeply alarming to Palestinians.
    He has since backed away, saying the move was still being looked at.
    Trump´s seeming openness to at least some of Abbas´s concerns has given Palestinians more reason for hope than many may have expected, but still reason to remain wary, some analysts say.
    "The Palestinians are cautious since Trump´s position is not clear and seems to be still developing," said Palestinian political scientist Ghassan Khatib.
    "Trump´s early days led to worry, so now with the help of other Arab countries they want to balance Trump´s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
    ´Blame game´
    On the Israeli side, Netanyahu heads what is seen as the most right-wing government in the country´s history, and members of his coalition were elated with Trump´s election.
    Some even called for an end to the idea of Palestinian state.
    Trump´s actions since have left them disappointed, with the embassy remaining in Tel Aviv -- at least for now -- and the White House seeking to restart peace efforts.
    Wielding swords, Trump, US officials sway to tunes of Arabian ardha dance
    Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon waltzed in the Ardha dance ceremony with King Salman in the nation?s King Abdulaziz cultural centre
    Even if Trump can see beyond his domestic political troubles and focus on moving peace efforts forward, he will have to overcome the constraints of both Netanyahu and Abbas.
    The 82-year-old Palestinian leader has grown unpopular, while Netanyahu will have difficulty making significant concessions that his right-wing base will accept, many analysts say.
    "Neither side wants to be in the position of saying no to him, and that does give him some leverage," Shapiro said.
    "But it´s still an uphill effort for an administration that is still new to these issues, relatively inexperienced and with parties who are very well-practised in positioning for the blame game rather than trying to work toward a common goal."


  19. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: People who were agitated at the closure of Shahra-e-Faisal should be ready for the entire city to be shut down, said Pak Sarzameen Party chief Mustafa Kamal on Sunday.
    The people who are facing trouble in providing basic facilities to their families will take to the streets and even the entire province, Sindh, could be closed down, he said while talking to the media. "We will not move an inch from our 16-point demand."
    During the news conference, Kamal also welcomed Pakistan Muslim League-Functional's Nawab Rashid, who has joined PSP.
    "Rashid bhai said he will spend the rest of his life working for this good cause," Kamal said.
    About Shahra-e-Faisal, the PSP chief was referring to the incident of May 14, last Sunday, when Million March of PSP was intercepted. Police had baton-charged the party workers and officials and also arrested many of them, including Kamal, who was later released.
    The step was taken to prevent the party workers and officials from marching towards Chief Minister House, situated in Red Zone, where the city commissioner had imposed Section 144 earlier that day. 


  20. Waqas Dar
    Photo: The Emoji Movie Twitter LOS ANGELES: If emojis were alive, their job would not be easy: called on at all hours to show up on screen happy-faced, with heart-shaped eyes, as mini-pizzas or ... piles of poop. They form the indispensable background to our digital lives.

    It is almost impossible to imagine a text message without emojis. These thousands of symbols establish the tone to our communications: happy, sad, annoyed, frustrated, ironic. New York´s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) last year recognized their importance, adding them to its collections.
    Filmmaker Tony Leondis could not resist the temptation: He has designed a world in which these fantasy figures exist. His "The Emoji Movie," a Sony animation, reaches US theaters in July.
    "I want to know what the story is behind the phone" where emojis dwell, he told reporters at a round-table discussion attended by AFP. "What is that world? And build from there."
    And so was born the city of "Textopolis," located deep in the smartphone of 15-year-old Alex. There, all life revolves around a unique industry: making emojis.
    Imagine a vast control room, its walls covered with tiny cubicles, each containing one of the fun figures, just waiting for young Alex to employ them in a text.
    Becoming ´normal´
    In Leondis´s world, the emoji industry works 24 hours a day, in shifts, with each figure ready to jump to the screen at a moment´s notice.
    The work is tedious and allows no change in character: a happy-face emoji must always be happy; same for an angry one.
    And if an emoji has more than one personality, it is considered a failure of the system.
    Photo: The Emoji Movie Twitter  Enter Gene (voiced by T.J. Miller), an emoji born without a filter and having multiple expressions.

    Frustrated, Gene embarks on an adventurous effort to become "normal" like other emojis, with the help of his friend "Hi-5" -- the "Give me five" hand, voiced by James Corden -- and of hacker Jailbreaker (Ilana Glazer).
    The protagonists wander through "the cloud" and pass through various cell-phone applications, like Instagram, Spotify and even Candy Crush, where Gene risks being mistaken for a yellow candy and getting crushed as part of the game.
    Other voices are provided by Colombian actress Sofia Vergara, as a flamenco dancer, and Jennifer Coolidge, Maya Rudolph, Jake T. Austin and Patrick Stewart.
    Gene, like his father and mother, is supposed to carry on the family tradition by representing the indifferent emoji "Meh."
    His family is the supplier of that expression, adding to the pressure on Gene to fall in line.
    "He not only feels like an outsider, he feels like a failure," says Miller, who took part in the round-table. His adventure is a "last shot at fitting in."
    No longer cool
    The film by Leondis, who also directed "Lilo & Stitch 2," has blockbuster potential, according to specialized website Exhibitor Relations: It predicts $350 million to $400 million in world ticket sales.
    The filmmaker explained that the biggest challenge was to create his own design of a cell phone and original emojis not resembling those of any commercial brand. Every illustration was subjected to an almost clinical inspection by the studio´s legal department.
    The film´s writers decided that emojis do not eat or drink. "You´re not gonna eat Pizza," quipped Miller. "That´s cannibalism."
    Their scenes of everyday emoji life are full of humor.
    "So, I told management, I can´t work like this. These lights, I´m melting in here," says Ice Cream Cookie in a typical office conversation.
    Or... "This is such a lot of..." one employee says, before realizing that he is speaking in front of the excrement emoji (Stewart), who tells him dead-seriously, "No, go ahead, finish that sentence."
    There is a sort of VIP area where the most popular emojis can gather. A security guard at the door refuses to let Hi-5 enter because he is no longer a member. Alex had traded him in for the clenched fist emoji -- cooler, at the moment, in adolescent eyes.


  21. Waqas Dar
    SUKKUR: Opposition leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah said Pakistan will not accept international pressure in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.
    He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of an event in the city on Sunday.
    Also read: Who is Kulbhushan Jadhav?

    Praising the courageous operation by security agencies which resulted in the arrest of a ?serving Indian agent,? Shah said the government should resolve the issue according to our own laws.
    Talking about the issues facing the country, Shah said protests against load-shedding are a daily affair. He claimed that the agriculture sector has been completely destroyed due to the federal government?s flawed policies in the last four years.
    Also read: PPP protests load-shedding in Hyderabad
    He further said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif?s policies are damaging the federation, and clarified that his Pakistan Peoples Party has no reconciliation policy with the ruling party ? Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. 


  22. Waqas Dar
    Photo: AFP LOS ANGELES: The date was 1977, and no one had yet made "whooshing" lightsaber noises with a broomstick or yelled "May the Fourth be with you" at strangers.

    But that was all about to change as a 33-year-old Californian filmmaker named George Walton Lucas Jr. prepared to release his third feature -- a far-fetched, slightly corny intergalactic saga of good and evil starring a sulky farm boy with daddy issues.
    Jump forward 40 years and "Star Wars" has grown into the most lucrative and influential movie franchise of all time -- Princess Leia´s signature side hair buns are all the rage on Halloween and Jedi is an official religion in several countries.
    "I´m running out of hyperbolic adjectives to describe the power of ´Star Wars,´ but that´s because it is the ultimate standard-bearer," Shawn Robbins, chief analyst for BoxOffice.com, told AFP.
    "Four decades of record-breaking, genre-defining entertainment across film, television, video games, toys, books and everything else the brand has touched simply speaks for itself."
    With its indie flick budget of just $11 million, the brash-looking "Star Wars" opened on Wednesday, May 25, 1977 -- the anniversary falls on Thursday -- on an inauspicious 32 screens, taking in $1.6 million on its first weekend.
    Bumps in the road
    Starring relative newcomers Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford as swashbuckling Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo, it benefited from word-of-mouth buzz and the crowds lining up to see it quickly grew exponentially.
    Ear muffs in the style of Star Wars character Princess Leia -- the signature side hair buns are all the rage on Halloween Its first theatrical run ended with a phenomenal $221.3 million while various reissues by 20th Century Fox brought the domestic total to more than twice that amount.

    The premiere was at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where it played to sold-out audiences five times a day for over a year, according to resident historian Levi Tinker, who told AFP the crowds literally wore out the hand-woven Chinese carpet in the lobby.
    Two sequels -- "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) and "Return of the Jedi" (1983) -- grossed more than $450 million each worldwide, but there were sizeable bumps in the road ahead.
    Lucas´s 1997 "special edition" reissues were met with jeers thanks to digital tweaks deemed unnecessary or downright off-putting.
    Then there was the Lucas-directed 1999-2005 prequel trilogy beginning with "The Phantom Menace" -- films considered sub-par in almost every department.
    The 73-year-old filmmaker -- who had struck a deal with Fox to keep 40 percent of the gross from the original movie, as well as merchandising and sequels rights -- was just as shrewd when he sold LucasFilm to Disney in 2012 for a staggering $4 billion.
    A Yoda-inspired hot air balloon -- "Star Wars" has grown into the most lucrative and influential movie franchise of all time The Mouse House breathed new life into "Star Wars" with the announcement of a sequel trilogy and three standalone "anthology" films, and has already added $3 billion with its first two movies to bring the total box office past $7.5 billion.

    ´Into the infinite´
    Speculation is already building over the future of the franchise with the approach of the final movies by 2020 but, long before then, fans have Rian Johnson´s "The Last Jedi" -- the second of the sequels -- to look forward to in December.
    It continues seamlessly from "The Force Awakens" (2015), which became one of three films in history to take $2 billion after posting the biggest domestic and worldwide debuts ever.
    "´The Last Jedi´ now has the potential to challenge those numbers and -- particularly given the goodwill generated by ´The Force Awakens´ and ´Rogue One´ -- it is set up to be an absolute monster," said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at comScore.
    Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford were relative newcomers to movies when "Star Wars" opened in 1977, featuring them as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo Jeff Bock, of Exhibitor Relations, believes the untimely death of Fisher in December will give "The Last Jedi" the same boost experienced by "Fast and Furious 7" and "The Dark Knight Rises" after the deaths of Paul Walker and Heath Ledger.

    In any case, experts agree that LucasFilm is unlikely to want to let go of a franchise which can add $1-2 billion with each new release, even if fan fatigue is an ever-present threat.
    "Like the universe itself, Star Wars will just keep expanding into the infinite," said Bock.
    "Literally, there is no end in sight for this franchise."


  23. Waqas Dar
    Photo: Reuters  NEW DELHI: China invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and six cabinet colleagues to its "new Silk Road" summit this month, even offering to rename a flagship Pakistani project running through disputed territory to persuade them to attend, a top official in Modi's ruling group and diplomats said.

    But New Delhi rebuffed Beijing's diplomatic push, incensed that a key project in its massive initiative to open land and sea corridors linking China with the rest of Asia and beyond runs through Pakistani controlled Kashmir.
    The failure of China's efforts to bring India on board, details of which have not been previously reported, shows the depths to which relations between the two countries have fallen over territorial disputes and Beijing's support of Pakistan.
    India's snub to the "Belt and Road" project was the strongest move yet by Modi to stand up to China.
    But it risks leaving India isolated at a time when it may no longer be able to count on the United States to back it as a counterweight to China's growing influence in Asia, Chinese commentators and some Indian experts have said.
    Representatives of 60 countries, including the United States and Japan, travelled to Beijing for the May 14-15 summit on President Xi Jinping's signature project.
    But Ram Madhav, an influential leader of Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) involved in shaping foreign policy, said India could not sign up so long as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - a large part of the "Belt and Road" enterprise - ran through parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir that India considers its own territory.
    "China routinely threatens countries when it finds issues even remotely connected to its own sovereignty question being violated," Madhav said. "No country compromises with its sovereignty for the sake of trade and commerce interests."
    Economic Potential
    India, due to the size and pace of expansion of its economy, could potentially be the biggest recipient of Chinese investment from the plan to spur trade by building infrastructure linking Asia with Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to a Credit Suisse report released before the summit.
    Chinese investments into India could be anything from $84 billion to $126 billion between 2017 to 2021, far higher than Russia, Indonesia and Pakistan, countries that have signed off on the initiative, it said.
    What I found out about the OBOR during a trip to China
    With the One Belt One Road project China hopes to bring South Asia on one platform and transform it into a powerful force.
    China has not offered any specific projects to India, but many existing schemes, such as a Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor that has been planned for years, have now been wrapped into the Belt and Road enterprise.
    China is also conducting feasibility studies for high-speed rail networks linking Delhi with Chennai in southern India that would eventually connect to the modern day "Silk Road" it is seeking to create.
    But if India continues to hold back from joining China's regional connectivity plans the commercial viability of those plans will be called into question, analysts say.
    China has held talks with Nepal to build an $8 billion railway line from Tibet to Kathmandu, but it ultimately wants the network to reach the Indian border to allow goods to reach the huge Indian market.
    Strategic Fears
    India has other worries over China's growing presence in the region, fearing strategic encirclement by a "string of pearls" around the India Ocean and on land as China builds ports, railways and power stations in country such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
    Ashok Kantha, who was India's ambassador to China until 2016, said India had repeatedly conveyed its concerns to China, especially about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the need to have open discussions about it.
    "Where is the economic rationale for CPEC?" he said. "There is no major economic driver, the drivers are essentially political and strategic in character."
    Just a week before the summit, China's ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui, offered to change the name of CPEC to placate New Delhi and ensure it didn't boycott the Beijing conference.
    Luo did not elaborate on the proposal, made during a speech at an Indian military think-tank, according to people who attended the meeting and local media reports. A transcript released later by the Chinese embassy did not include a reference to changing the project's name.
    But Chinese officials in the past have suggested this could mean adding India to the name to make it the "China-Pakistan-India Economic Corridor".
    A Chinese diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested India could build infrastructure on its side of Kashmir which could eventually be linked to the roads and power lines China planned to build in Pakistani Kashmir.
    Indian experts said another proposal explored in meetings between former diplomats and academics from the two sides was renaming the project the "Indus Corridor" to overcome India's objection that the "China-Pakistan" name endorses Pakistan's claim to Kashmir. Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which they both claim in full.
    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying did not comment directly on any offer to change the name of CPEC, but drew attention to President Xi's remarks during the summit that China would follow the principle of peaceful co-existence and that New Delhi need not worry.
    "I think the concerns from the India side should be able to be resolved," she said.
    Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gopal Baglay said New Delhi had not received any suggestions through proper channels and that India wanted a meaningful discussion with China on the whole project.


  24. Waqas Dar
    Photo: BCCI  HYDERABAD, INDIA: Steve Smith´s Rising Pune Supergiant eye their maiden Indian Premier League crown as they meet tournament favourites Mumbai Indians in a mouth-watering title clash in Hyderabad on Sunday.

    Pune, who ended seventh in the eight-team Twenty20 tournament last year, had a mixed start this season only to pick up momentum towards the business end.
    Pune´s record buy Ben Stokes proved to be the trump card as the England all-rounder´s showing with the bat and ball was instrumental in the side clinching a play-off berth.
    But the team showed in the first qualifier against Mumbai that it is not a one-man army after young spinner Washington Sundar turned out to be the unlikely hero with his match-winning haul of three wickets.
    Sundar´s performance made up for Stokes´ absence, after he left for national duty before the knockouts.
    However Pune, whose two-year run along with the Gujarat Lions ends this season, may be playing their last game in the cash-rich league after being denied an extension by the league´s governing council early this month.
    The two banned franchises - Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals - are all set to come back in the next edition of the league, having served two year suspensions for their involvement in 2013 spot-fixing saga.
    But captain Smith, who took charge from Mahendra Singh Dhoni ahead of this season, is focused on the task at hand as he praised the team for its stupendous showing.
    "It´s just been about enjoying this season and doing what we can up until we play the last game. We have had a fairly successful year and played consistent cricket throughout," Smith said on the eve of the final on Saturday.
    "I am excited about playing in my first IPL final and hopefully we can make it a good one tomorrow."
    Mumbai beat Kolkata to storm into IPL final
    Sharma returned with figures of 4-16 to help bowl out Kolkata for 107, with Mumbai achieving the target in 14.3 overs
    Dhoni´s finishing powers might be on the wane but the gutsy wicketkeeper-batsman´s presence is enough to intimidate the opposition. His 26-ball unbeaten 40 in the previous game was a proof of his game-changing ability.
    "Steve Smith has led the side admirably and got Pune into the finals. Of course he has had great help from Dhoni," former India captain Sunil Gavaskar wrote in a column in The Times of India.
    Pune´s bowling arsenal boasts of fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat (22 wickets in 11 games) who is getting adequate support from fellow paceman Dan Christian, leg-spinner Adam Zampa and Sundar.
    Learning from past mistakes
    But two-time champions Mumbai would be no pushovers as skipper Rohit Sharma insisted that the team would take their confidence forward from the win against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the second qualifier.
    Mumbai, who would be playing their fourth IPL final, have been the team to beat in this edition with 11 wins out of their 16 matches.
    "We know that we have not performed well against them but conditions will be different for both the teams and we will try to learn from our past mistakes," Sharma, whose team has lost all its three games against Pune this season, said.
    "As a team you have to prepare for the unexpected."
    Champions in 2013 and 2015, Mumbai boast of a number of match-winners including some power-packed foreign presence in big-hitter Kieron Pollard and New Zealand fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan.
    Mitchell McClenaghan has proven to be lethal with the ball this season While McClenaghan did not play the last game due to an injury, Sharma insisted the team will take a call on their paceman ahead of the final game.

    Wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel has given the team many good starts in the tournament with Sharma, burly West Indian Pollard and Sharma also rising to the challenge.
    Indian seamer Jasprit Bumrah has been the perfect death bowler for Mumbai with his ability to bowl consistent yorkers.


  25. Waqas Dar
    SWABI: The chehlum for Mashal Khan was observed in his native town Zaida, Swabi on Sunday.
    A large number of locals visited Mashal's grave and held prayers for the Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan student who was brutally murdered over blasphemy allegations.
    A Quran Khwani was also held at Mashal's house, where his family members had gathered to commemorate the chehlum. 
    Speaking to the media, Mashal's father Iqbal Jan reiterated his call for the arrest of the 'real' perpetrators of the murder. 
    The police have so far arrested 57 people suspected to be involved in Mashal's killing.
    The most recent arrested was of Hammad, a student of Zoology at AWKUM.
    On May 16, the police arrested a lecturer of Islamic Studies and two students in the lynching case.
    Wajid, alias Malang, was a lecturer at a government degree college. Other suspects included students Jalal and Sajid.
    According to the police, Wajid was the right-hand man of the main accused in the case, Arif, who is on the run and had also given an incendiary speech before Mashal was murdered by a mob.
    Mashal, a journalism student at AWKUM, was stripped, beaten, shot, and thrown from the second floor of his hostel by a violent mob on April 13 which had accused him of blasphemy. No such charges have been proved.


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