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Waqas Dar

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Blog Entries posted by Waqas Dar

  1. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: The mobile phone of an Indian envoy was confiscated on Friday when he clicked a picture of the judge during the hearing of the Indian citizen Uzma's case at the Islamabad High Court.
    Indian High Commission's First Secretary Piyush Singh came to the court along with Uzma, who has alleged she was forced to marry Pakistani citizen Tahir, adding that she was unaware of Tahir's first marriage and that he is the father of four children. 
    During today’s proceedings of the case, the First Secretary clicked a picture of the judge, which infuriated Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani.
    The judge expressed his anger and said that it’s not a theater, asking the Indian envoy to not take advantage of his position.
    Following this, the court’s staff took into custody the Singh’s mobile and deleted the picture.
    The Indian envoy’s phone was returned after he wrote an apology regarding his disregard of the court’s decorum.


  2. Waqas Dar
    PARACHINAR: Afghan forces on Friday opened fire at a Frontier Corps checkpost inside Kurram Agency, injuring two FC soldiers.
    According to political authorities, Afghan forces in the country’s Khost province opened fire at a checkpost in the border area of Lower Kurram inside Pakistan while FC personnel were busy in the construction of a wall near the border.
    FC forces gave a befitting response to the firing.
    Two FC personnel Luqman Haider and Suleman were martyred in the fire and have been shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in the Tal area.
    Security forces and political administration have started investigation into the incident.
    Last week, at least 11 were martyred and 46 injured when Afghan border forces opened fire on Frontier Corps Balochistan soldiers deployed for security of census team near the Chaman border.
    The firing led to tensions between the two countries, prompting the closure of the Bab-e-Dosti gate at Chaman border by Pakistan.
     


  3. Waqas Dar
    A rare Harry Potter prequel handwritten by author J.K. Rowling on a postcard has been stolen during a burglary in central England, police said on Friday as they appealed for help from fans of the wizard across the world.
    The 800-word story, set three years before Harry Potter is born and which sold for 25,000 pounds ($32,152) at a charity auction in 2008, was stolen from a property in Birmingham between April 13-24.
     
     
    "Please don't buy this if you're offered it," Rowling wrote on Twitter. "Originally auctioned for @englishpen, the owner supported writers' freedoms by bidding for it."
    The proceeds from the auction were donated to English PEN, an organisation which champions freedom of expression, and to Dyslexia Action.
    "The only people who will buy this unique piece are true Harry Potter fans. We are appealing to anyone who sees, or is offered this item for sale, to contact police," said Constable Paul Jauncey from West Midlands Police.
    Handwritten over two sides of an A5 postcard, the untitled prequel features the characters Sirius Black and Harry's father James. It opens with a youthful Sirius and James cornered by two irate policemen at the end of a high-speed motorcycle chase.
    After an exchange of words with the policemen, the two teenagers make their escape using a touch of magic. The card concludes with the words "From the prequel, I am not working on -- but that was fun!"
    More than 450 million copies of the seven original Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide in 79 languages. The movie franchise has grossed more than $7 billion worldwide.


  4. Waqas Dar
    The sweet history of chocolate is assembled in New York's first chocolate museum founded by Jacques Torres – a famed pastry chef and chocolatier.
    For Torres, the museum is an opportunity to share his passion with others. “I love to transfer the love that I have for chocolate and the knowledge that I have for chocolates to whoever wants to learn about it. So museum makes the perfect sense to bring a museum here around the store,” he said.
    The space – located at Torres' flagship store – showcases artifacts from the Mayans and Europeans and includes interactive displays. The museum explains that chocolate was first produced as a drink 5,000 years ago by the Mayan culture and was consumed to celebrate special events.
    It was only later that Europeans turned chocolate into an edible solid form.
    The museum opened in March 2017 and cost between $10-15.


  5. Waqas Dar
    Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote to Leonardo DiCaprio on Twitter on Thursday in a bid to reassure the Hollywood actor his government was taking steps to protect a rare porpoise in Mexican waters teetering on the brink of extinction.
    Populations of the vaquita, a tiny snub-nosed porpoise that lives in the Gulf of California, have dropped sharply in recent years because of gillnet fishing for shrimp and totoaba, a popular delicacy in Asia, sparking increased international concern.
     
     
    On Wednesday, DiCaprio called on his 17.5 million Twitter followers to get behind a World Wildlife Fund campaign online, which urged people to petition the Mexican president to "take strong action now" to save the vaquita.
    On Thursday evening, Pena Nieto took to Twitter in English to defend his government's efforts on behalf of the vaquita, addressing the actor directly with his first tweet.
     
     
     
    "I welcome @LeoDiCaprio and @World_Wildlife's concern regarding the Vaquita Marina," Pena Nieto wrote. "@Mexico has focused all its efforts to prevent the extinction of this species," he said before sending out five more tweets, all in English, to draw attention to what Mexico is doing.
     
     
     
    Mexico imposed a two-year ban on gillnet fishing in the vaquita's habitat in 2015, extending it earlier this year. Critics have complained the ban needs better enforcement.
    Viva Vaquita, a group dedicated to saving the porpoise, says on its website that the vaquita population was estimated to be less than 50 in January 2017, based on earlier study findings.


  6. Waqas Dar
    Even the sons of Bollywood’s romance king Shah Rukh Khan aren’t an exception to gossip of alleged affairs that commonly surround celebrities. Nevertheless, the actor laid the rumours to rest in a definitive statement made during his TED Talk on April 28.
    Khan took the stage in Vancouver, Canada – the video of which was officially revealed on Thursday – and spoke about his life in general and the struggles he has faced during his career, among other things. Yet one of the most important topics of the artist’s discussion was AbRam – his youngest kid.
     
     
    Back when little AbRam Khan was born in 2013, many people tried to connect his birth with reports of a supposed affair that Aryan Khan – SRK’s oldest son – had during a trip to Romania, disturbingly arriving at the accusation that the newborn was the leading actor’s grandson.
    Another rumour that sprang up claimed that AbRam’s birth took place through a surrogacy.
    Related: AbRam, Shah Rukh Khan spotted at IPL
    “Four years ago, my lovely wife Gauri and me decided to have a third child. It was claimed on the net that he was the […] child of our first child, who was 15 years-old. […] And yeah, there was a fake video to go with it,” explained the 51-year-old.
     
     
    The Kuch Kuch Hota Hai star went on to mention how they “were so disturbed as a family. My son, who is 19 now, even now when you say 'hello' to him, he just turns around and says, ‘But bro, I didn't even have a European driving license.’”
    Talking about how social media and the Internet, in general, have impacted the lives of everyone, Khan stated, “Reality became virtual and virtual became real. I started to feel that I couldn't be who I wanted to be or say what I actually thought. [We] were going through mid-life crisis. Humanity, like me, was becoming an over-exposed prima donna.”
    SRK, who recently starred alongside Pakistan's darling Mahira Khan in Raees that marked the latter's Bollywood debut, will host a TED's Hindi TV series called TED Talks India: Nayi Soch.
    Watch the video of the legendary actor's entire talk here:
     

     


  7. Waqas Dar
    QUETTA: At least 10 people have been killed while several others including Deputy Chairman Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri injured in a roadside blast in the Mastung area of Balochistan, police sources confirmed on Friday.
    According to reports, the deputy chairman Senate was returning from an event at Ittehad Bainul Muslimeen at Jama Masjid Hammadia when his vehicle was targeted. 
    JUI-F leader Maulana Abdul Malik while speaking to Geo News confirmed that Maulana Haideri had been injured in the blast. Malik added that Maulana Haideri had asked for a bulletproof vehicle which was not provided. 
    Sources informed Geo News that Maulana Haideri has been shifted to the Civil hospital while other injured are being shifted to the hospital.

    The blast was very powerful, said Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, adding that though he is not seriously hurt, he is deeply saddened by the deaths of his colleagues.
    Jang correspondent Attaullah who reached the spot of the blast said bodies were still lying and security forces were trying to ascertain whether the attack was a suicide bombing.
    The area has been cordoned off by security forces and investigations are underway.

     
    This is a developing story and will be updated as further details are available. As with breaking news initial reports may sometimes be inaccurate.


  8. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: A judicial commission should be made to probe the incident of May 12, 2007, in which many citizens, including 14 workers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement were killed, said MQM leader Faisal Sazbwari on Friday.
    He added they want the issue to be investigated rather than a resolution be passed.
    "The series of indiscriminate fire started from Patel Para [area of Karachi]," he said, talking about the MQM rally that was under way in the area of May 12, 2007.
    "There were many people, including women and children, who had dispersed during the firing, some got injured, while others were killed."
    The firing in Patel Para was probably the beginning of the May 12 bloodshed, Sabzwari maintained while speaking in the Sindh Assembly.
    "It was an unfortunate day," the MQM leader said. "The peace and politics of the city all were affected on that day, but the most harmed was the party that is the major stakeholder in the city's politics – MQM."
    While hinting at possible suspects, Sabzwari said there was the vehicle of Pakistan Peoples Party's Sherry Rehman which was surrounded by armed men, they could be her guards. "But there was another minister's vehicle, the book of which was being stuffed with weapons."
    Not only for those killed in the May 12 carnage, justice should also be provided for those who lost their lives when the city came under attack on the day PPP leader Benazir Bhutto was martyred.


  9. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: I want justice for all the Mashal’s in Pakistan. It will be good for our country and politicians if the seeds of justice are planted; our image abroad will also improve this way.
    This was stated by Iqbal Khan, father of Mashal Khan, the Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, student who was brutally killed by a mob over blasphemy allegations on campus on April 13.   
    “My demand from day one has been that my son Mashal who was murdered cannot return, but there should be justice for others like him,” said the slain father's student outside the Supreme Court on Friday. 
    Iqbal also demanded that after [police] action against those who incited the violence on that fateful day, those who facilitated the gruesome incident should also be brought to book. “The university administration should also be questioned [over the incident],” he urged.
    Iqbal was also thankful to the Chief Justice of Pakistan for taking a suo motu notice of the incident.
    The total number of arrested suspects in the case now stands at 49.
    Last week, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police approached the Federal Investigation Agency to put the name of the main accused in the case, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf tehsil councillor Arif, on the Exit Control List. Arif is reportedly on the run and police are searching for him.
     


  10. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: Opposition members in the Senate staged a walkout on Friday after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan did not show up for a planned briefing on the Dawn Leaks issue.
    Commenting on the issue, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said they are not satisfied with the government’s claims of having settled the matter.
    Speaking during the session, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan came down hard on the civilian government for its ‘inept’ handling of Dawn Leaks.
    He said if the issue has been ‘settled’ between two state institutions then the matter should be brought before Parliament.
    Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sheikh Aftab Ahmed responded that there is no winner or loser in this situation; and that all institutions realise the need to work within the boundaries of the Constitution.
    Later, opposition members walked out of the House over the interior minister's absence.  


  11. Waqas Dar
    MEXICO CITY/CHICAGO: Mexico's growing beef industry is targeting Muslim consumers in the Middle East for its prime cuts as it seeks to reduce dependence on buyers in the United States.
    The potential for a US-Mexico trade war under President Donald Trump has accelerated efforts by Mexican beef producers to explore alternative foreign markets to the United States, which buys 94 percent of their exports worth nearly $1.6 billion last year.
    Trump has vowed to redraw terms of trade with Mexico and Canada to the benefit of the United States. Mexican beef companies fear they may be dragged into a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the three countries. That has firms looking to the Middle East, where most meat is imported from non-Muslim countries using animals slaughtered by the halal method prescribed by Islamic law.
    Mexico – the world's sixth biggest beef producer – plans to quadruple exports of halal beef to 44 million pounds by the end of 2018 from 11 million pounds this year, according to data from the Mexican cattle growers association AMEG.
    The country should have 15 plants, up from a current six, certified to produce halal meat by the end of next year, according to AMEG data.
     

    A worker cuts up beef at a SuKarne meat processing facility in the town of Vista Hermosa, in Michoacan state, Mexico, March 31, 2017. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
     
    Jesus Vizcarra, chief executive and owner of SuKarne, Mexico's biggest beef exporter, said his company sees big potential for sales to Muslim-majority countries. "We have to seek out more markets," he said in an interview, pointing to near-term targets in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Lebanon.
    "There's an opportunity in these Middle Eastern countries," said Vizcarra, who is known in Mexico as the King of Beef and has boasted of being born in a slaughterhouse.
    At SuKarne's sprawling Monarca plant, located 435 kilometres west of the Mexican capital in Michoacan state, more than 150,000 cows leisurely pick at row after row of grain channels in dusty feedlots.
    The plant is the company's first halal-certified facility and began its first-ever shipments to Muslim markets earlier this year.
    "EYES WIDE OPEN"
    Mexico's cattle growers' association sent a trade mission to Dubai and Qatar late February to meet potential buyers, said Rogelio Perez, AMEG's top trade official. Inspectors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will visit Mexico by June after Saudi inspectors were in Mexico in March, he said.
    "They left with a very good taste in their mouths regarding Mexican production systems," he said.
    Plants must be certified as halal compliant by third-party companies such as US-based Halal Transactions of Omaha or UAE-based RACS.
    Earlier this year, Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, expressed interest in buying Mexican beef for the first time although no deals have yet been cut.
    Sales to Muslim countries would take a bite out of the market share for halal meat held by beef packers from the United States and Brazil, according to industry and trade sources.
    Mexico's beef industry is able to grow its export markets due to a successful push to meet exacting US standards and modernise the sector over the past two decades.
     

    Certified beef cattle eat from a feeding fence at a SuKarne meat processing facility in the town of Vista Hermosa, in Michoacan state, Mexico, March 31, 2017. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
     
    That has put Mexican packers in a strong position to diversify away from the US market.
    "It was our big strength until President Donald arrived, and now it's our major weakness," said Bosco de la Vega, president of Mexico's state farm council, adding that Mexico should limit beef exports to the United States to a maximum of half the overall flow.
    He said Mexico can do so in the next five years.
    Russia is considering buying large volumes of Mexican beef, and Mexico is also seeking to expand shipments to existing buyers like Japan and South Korea.
    Mexico's herd hit a record 31 million animals in 2015 and totalled 30.8 million in 2016, producing 4.142 billion pounds and exports of 712 million pounds.
    Top exporters Brazil, India, and Australia each export over 2.5 billion pounds.
    "We're on the path of diversification," Mexican Agriculture Minister Jose Calzada recently told reporters. "And we won't stop because these occasional insults from the United States toward Mexico have opened our eyes."


  12. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar has taken a suo motu notice of an incident at a private news channel’s show recording in which scores of participants were reportedly injured after the stage collapsed.
    The chief justice has ordered the Islamabad chief commissioner and inspector-general of police to submit a report on the incident within 48 hours.
    According to media reports, on April 28 an entertainment show was being recorded at a private housing society in Islamabad when the stage of the TV set collapsed, injuring several people.
     


  13. Waqas Dar
    Pakistan has called for expansion of the Security Council in a manner that allows for more non-permanent seats representing regional groups.
    Speaking in the intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council Reform, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Dr Maleeha Lodhi said the Council needed to be expanded in a manner that gives a greater chance of representation to the regional groups that are under-represented due to the increase in the number of Member States.
    She argued that the expansion was needed to meet the objective of a more democratic, accountable, representative, transparent and effective Security Council.
    The envoy noted that over the last fifty years, the number of new Member States did not correspond equally to all regional groups.
    Ambassador Lodhi pointed out that the permanent members do not represent any region nor were nominated in the Charter because they belonged to a particular region. “Their continued presence in this category does not require any endorsement from their regional group or, for that matter, a vote by any of us in the General Assembly”.
    That is why, she said, expansion of seats in the non-permanent category would assure fair and adequate regional representation.


  14. Waqas Dar
    NEW YORK: Zainab Ahmad is one of America’s top counterterrorism prosecutors, specialising in extra-territorial cases, trying bad characters not present in the United States or gathering evidence related to crimes committed in far-off lands to present before juries here.
    Ahmad, 37, was born in New York to immigrant parents from Pakistan, that international slouch on counterterrorism that could not have done more to sully its record on the issue.
    It was her dogged pursuit over years and across time-zones that forced Alhassane Ould Mohamed, a Malian also known as Cheibani, to plead guilty in 2016 to murdering an American diplomat in Niger in 2000. She had 18 witnesses flown in to the US from Niger and Mali.
    In November 2015, a New York jury agreed with Ahmad to convict a Pakistani man, Abid Naseer, who had been arrested in a connection with an al-Qaeda plot in Britain.
    “We were a bit desperate before Zainab showed up here,” a British police officer told The New Yorker. “When Zainab walked in the room, we said, ‘Crikey, she looks awfully young. Is this a junior sent here to fact-find?’
    “Within a few minutes, though, it was, like, ‘Whoa, she knows what she’s doing.’ There was no comparison with UK prosecutors. Zainab stayed four days with us on that first visit, and left us a big list of evidence she wanted, and exactly how she wanted it packaged up.”
    The story was originally published in The News


  15. Waqas Dar
    MANAMA: FIFA will rule on the issue of Israeli clubs playing in the West Bank in October, president Gianni Infantino said on Thursday, once again delaying a decision on the contentious issue.
    FIFA´s annual Congress voted to back -- by a majority of 73 to 27 percent - a proposal that pushed football´s governing body to report by March 2018, but Infantino said feedback would come before then.
    "We will take responsibility and we will take a decision on this matter," he said.
    He said a decision would be made at the next FIFA Council meeting, which takes place in India on October 27.
    The Palestine Football Association (PFA) argues that the presence of six Israeli clubs on its territory is in breach of FIFA statutes, which forbids another member association playing on another territory without permission.
    Israel argues that FIFA rules are unenforceable as there is no permanent border.
    The Congress heard from both the Palestinian and Israeli federations before taking the vote.
    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who phoned the FIFA president on the issue, welcomed the announcement in a video posted on Twitter.
    "We´ve achieved another victory in the battle on our intl (international) standing by foiling an attempt to undermine our standing in @FIFAcom," wrote Netanyahu.
    "We´ll continue to defend Israel & to strengthen its int´l standing."
    But the PFA blasted the decision.
    "We are disappointed that FIFA has decided to allow political pressure to win over the FIFA statutes," the PFA said in a statement.
    "We fear Mr. Infantino´s action of today has set a precedent where governments decide the agenda for a FIFA congress, and violations of the statutes and misuse of its legal devices become so common in a way that encourages those who allow football to be used as a tool to normalize oppression.
    "We will pursue the matter in the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) because we consider the way in which our proposal was overthrown by Mr. Infantino illegal, and an additional violation of the FIFA Statutes and standing orders of the congress."
    Palestinian football chief Jibril Rajoub told delegates his association wanted the same rights as others.
    "We are not looking for suspension or expulsion but the full recognition of our right that no Israeli clubs play in our territory," he said.
    "None of you will accept that any clubs play in your territory."
    The issue has now been presented to five separate Congresses.
    However, Ofer Eini of the Israeli association, said the PFA was looking for a political solution.
    "The sole purpose is to establish the political boundaries," he told the Congress.
    "This is outside the authority of FIFA to establish borders.
    "What are you trying to stop five or six teams of children from playing football? Will that resolve the Palestinian problem?"
    A FIFA commission chaired by South Africa´s Tokyo Sexwale has presented several potential solutions and a fresh report was handed to the FIFA Council on Wednesday, said Infantino, without giving further details.
    Following the decision, campaign group Avaaz said the FIFA president had been "bullied" by Israel.
    "FIFA has failed and football has lost again," said Fadi Quran, senior campaigner with Avaaz.
    In a press conference after the Congress finished, Infantino admitted it was a "sensitive issue" and noted that the new American leadership said it was trying to find a peace settlement.
    "Hopefully President Trump can find a solution. If he has any good ideas, I am happy to take them on board," he said.


  16. Waqas Dar
    GENEVA: A new particle accelerator unveiled at CERN, the European physics research centre, is expected to spawn portable accelerators that could help doctors treat cancer patients and experts analyse artwork.
    CERN is gradually upgrading its hardware to get more data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), its 27-kilometre circular accelerator that smashes protons together at almost the speed of light to probe basic questions about the universe.
    Its latest upgrade, resembling a 90-metre oil pipeline hooked up to a life support machine, replaces the 39-year-old injector that produces the flow of particles for the LHC.
    Standing by the new Linac 4 machine, which cost 93 million Swiss francs ($93 million) and took 10 years to build, project leader Maurizio Vretenar said CERN had miniaturised the technology and saw many potential uses.
    "It's a brave new world of applications," he told Reuters in Linac 4's tunnel 12 meters under Geneva.
    CERN has already built a version to treat tumours with particle beams and licensed the patent to ADAM, a CERN spin-off owned by Advanced Oncotherapy.
    Another medical use is to create isotopes for diagnosing cancers. Since they decay rapidly, they normally have to be rushed to patients just in time to be used.
    "With our portable technology they could be made inside the hospital already," Vretenar said.
     

    People visit the new linear accelerator Linac 4, the newest accelerator acquisition since the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is due to feed the CERN accelerator complex with particle beams of higher energy, during its inauguration at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Meyrin near Geneva, Switzerland, May 9, 2017. Picture taken with a fisheye lens. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
     
    His next goal is a one-metre prototype weighing about 100 kgs, with which museums could analyse paintings and jewellery. The bulk of funding for the project came in a few weeks ago.
    "We are building something portable," he said. "We already have a collaboration with the Louvre, and with the Italians at Florence at the Italian institute for conservation of artworks."
    The Louvre in Paris is the only museum in the world that already has an accelerator, and when it is closed on Tuesdays, artefacts are taken down to the basement for analysis, he said.
    Other museums don't have the same luxury, and may not want to send their artworks away for analysis.
    The results take a few hours and can show which mine a piece of jewellery came from, or detect heavy elements that date and identify the paint used, revealing restorations or fakes.
    There's no risk of damage, Vretenar said.
    "We are very careful. The intensity of particles is very low," he said. "It's not like here, there's only a few protons."


  17. Waqas Dar
    NEW YORK: Shakira announced Thursday that she will release a new album later this month after the superstar sported a reggaeton sound on her first single.
    Shakira, one of the top-selling Latin artists of all time, told her nearly 45 million Twitter followers that her 11th studio album, "El Dorado," will come out on May 26.
    The album´s title refers to the mythical city of riches which Spanish explorers sought in her native Colombia. The cover art of "El Dorado," however, is somber with Shakira´s face peeking out of an off-white background.
    To preview the album, Shakira last year released the single "Chantaje," which means "Blackmail," a playful duet about temptation and desire with Colombian reggaeton singer Maluma.
    The video, in which the pink-haired Shakira and Maluma dance flirtatiously through a secret club hidden in an Indian grocery store, was the fastest Spanish-language piece to generate 100 million views on hosting site Vevo.
    Shakira last month followed up with a second track, "Me Enamore" ("I Fell In Love"), which has touches of reggaeton rhythms as she sings of her relationship with Spanish footballer Gerard Pique.
    The danceable, sultry feel marks a return to classic Shakira. Her last album in 2014, which was largely in English and entitled simply "Shakira," featured her singing confessional-style to an acoustic guitar in a sound more in line with US singer-songwriters.
    Shakira´s last album reflected at times on motherhood. She has two children with Pique and gave birth just before and after the album.
    With her mix of Latin and Arabic rhythms and rock influences, Shakira is one of the biggest crossover acts from Latin America, scoring major global hits with songs such as "Hips Don´t Lie" and "Whenever, Wherever."


  18. Waqas Dar
    QUETTA: Intelligence agencies have nabbed a suspected facilitator of the Sehwan shrine bombing during an operation in Uthal area of Balochistan.
    The suspect, identified as Tahir, is accused of transporting the suicide bomber from Uthal to Sehwan, in Sindh.
    He is also suspected of having worked for Abdul Hafeez Pandrani, a leader of the Hafeez Brohi group affiliated with the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) who now is reported to have joined Daesh.
    Police and intelligence agencies suspect Pandrani to be the mastermind of the Sehwan bombing
    On February 16 this year, a suicide bomber struck the shrine of the revered saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, Sindh, killing around 90 people and injuring many more.
    Following the incident, intelligence agencies claimed to have arrested six suspected facilitators in operations conducted in the bordering areas of Sindh and Balochistan.
    Sources said those arrested were involved in facilitating in the Sehwan blast and belong to the Hafeez Brohi group of LEJ.
    Sources claimed that the suspects were involved in organising the proscribed Daesh’s network in the area.
    Following the arrests, the tally of those arrested has been up to six.
    Earlier, LEAs arrested a suspected facilitator of Sehwan shrine bombing from Khairpur, sources said.
    The suspect, affiliated with the Hafeez Brohi group, was rounded up from a suburban area of Khairpur.
    The group was previously affiliated with outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi but lately pledged allegiance to Daesh.
    The same group is said to be behind the suicide attack at an imambargah in Shikarpur earlier.


  19. Waqas Dar
    There was no mention of Indian businessman Sajjan Jindal in meeting between the prime minister and chief of army staff, said Minister of State for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb, adding that the news report which made rounds on Thursday was incorrect.   
    "Jindal is a friend of the prime minister and met him in his personal capacity," she said in a statement issued on Friday. 
    On May 11, a news report quoted official sources as saying that during a meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had taken COAS General Qamar Bajwa into confidence over Jindal's visit to Pakistan. The news report read that Pakistan's civil leadership had informed high-level officials of the army that the recent meeting between Nawaz and Jindal was a part of back-channel diplomacy. 
    It further stated that the COAS had also informed his officials about the matter.
    Read: Nawaz, Jindal meeting part of back-channel diplomacy
    In April, Jindal made an unannounced visit to Pakistan and met Nawaz.
    Jindal, who is also said to be accompanied by other businessmen, met the Pakistani prime minister in his personal capacity in Murree, where the premier had gone for a private trip.
    The meeting came at a time when India and Pakistan were going through tense times – Indian security forces brutality being at an all time high in Kashmir, along with the contention over the agent of Research and Analysis Wing, Kulbhushan Jadhav.
    Nawaz’s daughter had also tweeted over the matter, writing Jindal is an old friend of the prime minister and that there was nothing 'secret' about the meeting and should not be blown out of proportion.  
     


  20. Waqas Dar
    A South African woman seeking advice on Twitter about buying a driver's license got more than she bargained for on Wednesday when her inquiry caught the eye of police minister and prolific tweeter Fikile Mbalula.
     
     
    "It's a criminal offence to buy a driver's license (like a) ngathi ligwinya," Mbalula tweeted back, using a local word for a doughnut. "It will get you, the traffic department, and the driving school arrested."
     

     
    Mbalula, nicknamed "Razzmatazz" from his time as sports and recreation minister, has more than 750,000 Twitter followers and sees his personal feed as a useful tool in the fight against South Africa's high crime rates.
    South Africa's traffic laws and regulations are tight by African standards although reports of driving instructors asking for bribes or people driving without a valid license are common.


  21. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with four chief ministers and several federal ministers left for China on a six-day visit early Friday morning. 
    Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited the premier to attend the two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. 
    In the six-day sojourn, the premier is also scheduled to meet high-level Chinese leadership.
    Sharif is accompanied by chief ministers of all four provinces, as well as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Railways Minister Saad Rafique, Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir and IT Minister Anushay Rehman, among others. 
    The high-level delegation left Friday morning in a special plane from Islamabad airport. 
    “Pakistan is an important partner of China in promoting One Belt One Road Initiative and we believe that Prime Minister Sharif’s visit and his attendance at the forum will give a boost to our cooperation in the relevant fields,” Geng Shuang — a spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry — said while responding to a question during his regular press briefing.
    The spokesperson said, as an organiser and host of the forum, China will warmly welcome all the guests from around the world, including Pakistan.
    He said the CPEC is a premier and pilot project of the One Belt One Road Initiative and progress has already made in this regard.
    “The forum will be held from May 14, 15 and we all are looking forward to it,” he added.
    According to official sources, during his stay in China, the prime minister will also hold important meetings with the top Chinese leadership, particularly Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Kaqiang, to further promote bilateral relations between the two countries.
    On the first day of the forum, the prime minister will attend the inaugural session of the One Belt One Road Summit, a plenary meeting of high-level dialogue and the state banquet.

    The prime minister will also attend leaders’ roundtable sessions scheduled to be held on the second day of the forum.
    As many as 28 heads of state and government, over 50 leaders of international organisations, over 100 ministerial-level officials, as well as over 1,200 delegates from various countries and regions will participate in the forum.
    The forum will build consensus and connect development strategies of various countries and will also examine cooperation in key areas and finalise major projects in infrastructure connectivity, trade and investment, financial support and people-to-people exchanges, according to a senior official of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
    Medium and long term cooperation initiatives will be announced and long-term cooperation mechanisms explored to build a closer and more result-oriented network of partnerships, he added.   
     
     
     


  22. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with four chief ministers and several federal ministers left for China on a six-day visit early Friday morning. 
    Chinese President Xi Jinping has invited the premier to attend the two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. 
    In the six-day sojourn, the premier is also scheduled to meet high-level Chinese leadership.
    Sharif is accompanied by chief ministers of all four provinces, as well as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Railways Minister Saad Rafique, Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir and IT Minister Anushay Rehman, among others. 
    The high-level delegation left Friday morning in a special plane.
    “Pakistan is an important partner of China in promoting One Belt One Road Initiative and we believe that Prime Minister Sharif’s visit and his attendance at the forum will give a boost to our cooperation in the relevant fields,” Geng Shuang — a spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry — said while responding to a question during his regular press briefing.
    The spokesperson said, as an organiser and host of the forum, China will warmly welcome all the guests from around the world, including Pakistan.
    He said the CPEC is a premier and pilot project of the One Belt One Road Initiative and progress has already made in this regard.
    “The forum will be held from May 14, 15 and we all are looking forward to it,” he added.
    According to official sources, during his stay in China, the prime minister will also hold important meetings with the top Chinese leadership, particularly Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Kaqiang, to further promote bilateral relations between the two countries.
    On the first day of the forum, the prime minister will attend the inaugural session of the One Belt One Road Summit, a plenary meeting of high-level dialogue and the state banquet.

    The prime minister will also attend leaders’ roundtable sessions scheduled to be held on the second day of the forum.
    As many as 28 heads of state and government, over 50 leaders of international organisations, over 100 ministerial-level officials, as well as over 1,200 delegates from various countries and regions will participate in the forum.
    The forum will build consensus and connect development strategies of various countries and will also examine cooperation in key areas and finalise major projects in infrastructure connectivity, trade and investment, financial support and people-to-people exchanges, according to a senior official of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
    Medium and long term cooperation initiatives will be announced and long-term cooperation mechanisms explored to build a closer and more result-oriented network of partnerships, he added.   
     
     
     


  23. Waqas Dar
    The world needs greater transparency on the pricing of medicines, and an overhaul of some approaches, in order to increase access to life-saving drugs, global health experts said on Thursday.
    Drugmakers are under growing fire, given a wave of new treatments for serious conditions like cancer and hepatitis C coming to market at sky-high prices, putting them out of reach of many patients and national health services.
    "The problem has become global," said Suzanne Hill, head of essential medicines at the World Health Organisation (WHO). "Many of these (drugs) are now on the WHO model list of essential medicines but their high price is limiting access," she added.
    Hill was speaking after a one-day forum on fair pricing sponsored by the UN health agency and the Dutch government in Amsterdam.
    The meeting – involving governments, industry, and civil society – was convened as a first step to drawing up concrete plans on drug pricing.
    WHO assistant director-general Marie-Paule Kieny said there was agreement that industry needed reasonable returns on research and development, but governments should play a stronger role in setting prices and directing the drug research agenda.
    A lack of transparency on drug development costs, how prices are set, and the varying amounts charged for the same medicines in different countries are all viewed as obstacles to building a fairer system.
    "More transparency is absolutely vital to give us evidence for future action," Kieny told reporters.
    'Serious reservations'
    Drugmakers are acutely sensitive to the issue after Donald Trump accused them of "getting away with murder" on prices shortly before he was inaugurated as US president – and it is also rising up the agenda in many other countries.
    In a bid to placate payers, patients and politicians in the all-important US market, several companies – most recently Sanofi – have pledged to limit price rises there.
    Still, firms remain reluctant to specify exactly how they come up with drug prices and prefer to stress the value that their medicines bring.
    So-called value-based pricing has become a mantra for much of the industry, but Kieny said she had "serious reservations" about a system that essentially puts a value on a life and then allows a drug to be priced up to that level.
    "We think value-based pricing is not feasible for a product that is indispensable," she said.
    Thomas Cueni, head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, said the Amsterdam meeting had been constructive, despite differences of opinions.
    "What we would recommend firmly is not to shoot for the stars and get bogged down on ideological debate, but rather focus on one or two areas where there is consensus to think outside the box, like antimicrobial resistance and shortages," he said.
    There is general agreement that new market models are needed to promote the discovery of novel antibiotics, which may end up being reserved for emergency use. Shortages of some off-patent generic medicines, caused by unsustainably low prices for some old drugs, is another shared concern.


  24. Waqas Dar
    David Beckham has received some scathing reviews in the British press for his cameo in the film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, but director Guy Ritchie has given the former soccer star the thumbs up for his performance.
    "I love him and I think he's great on screen. I find him very talented," Ritchie told Reuters at the film's European premiere when asked if Beckham had the potential to be as good at acting as at soccer.
    Ritchie's take on the medieval legend follows King Arthur, played by Charlie Hunnam, who is robbed of his birthright and has a tough upbringing. But once he pulls the Excalibur sword from the stone, he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy.
    Beckham, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder known for his bending kicks, plays the soldier Trigger in the sword-pulling scene. He "shows just about enough dramatic range to have played the stone the sword got stuck in," The Telegraph said in its review, adding that he had "sabotaged" the scene.
    "It's a misguided, fist-biter of a performance," Empire said.
    Beckham, who also had a cameo in Ritchie's previous movie, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., said it was "nice to be involved" in the film.
    "I think people are going to love it. You know obviously with Guy's movies you know what you're going to get but there's a few surprises, a bit of comedy along the way," said Beckham, who attended the premiere with his son Brooklyn.
    Hunnam, of Sons of Anarchy fame, said he had to convince Ritchie to let him audition for the role.
    "I flew myself to England and I basically showed up at his front door and said 'listen, we're going to talk about this because I think you might be making a bit of an error here.'"
    King Arthur: Legend of the Sword also stars actors Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, and model Poppy Delevingne.
    The film, distributed by Warner Bros., began its global rollout in some countries on Wednesday and hits North American cinemas on Friday.


  25. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: Mainly hot and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country during the next 12 hours, stated the Met department on Friday.
    However, rain and dust storm with gusty winds is expected in isolated places in Quetta, Kalat, Zhob, Makran, Sukkur, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar, Malakand, Hazara, Mardan, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad divisions, Islamabad, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir.
    The hot weather accompanied by long hours of load-shedding has made it difficult for people of the affected areas to smoothly carry on with their routine life.
    Recent rain and thunderstorm in parts of Punjab uprooted trees and left water standing in many streets. The areas include Rajanpur, Jhang, Shorkot, Faisalabad, Gujranwala.


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