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Waqas Dar

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Blog Entries posted by Waqas Dar

  1. Waqas Dar
    SYDNEY: Australia on Friday proposed new laws to compel companies such as US social media giant Facebook and device manufacturer Apple to provide security agencies access to encrypted messages.
    The measures will be the first in an expected wave of global legislation as pressure mounts on technology companies to provide such access after several terror suspects used encrypted applications ahead of attacks.
    Australia, a staunch US ally, is on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown radicals since 2014 and authorities have said they have thwarted several plots, although Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said law enforcement needed more help.
    "We need to ensure the internet is not used as a dark place for bad people to hide their criminal activities from the law," Turnbull told reporters in Sydney.
    "The reality is, however, that these encrypted messaging applications and voice applications are being used obviously by all of us, but they're also being used by people who seek to do us harm."
    Australia's proposal will require device manufacturers and technology companies to help its law enforcement agencies intercept and read messages sent by suspects.
    The proposal, to be introduced when parliament resumes in August, could be adopted within months, lawmakers have said.
    But the plan sets the scene for a clash between Australia's government and some of the world's biggest technology companies.
    Apple, which declined a request by Reuters to comment on the proposal, has previously resisted sharing such information, citing privacy concerns. A Facebook spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
    While Australia is poised to become the first country to adopt laws on encrypted messages, other nations have said they will introduce similar laws.
    Several European nations, including France and Britain, have committed to new laws requiring access to encrypted messages, a key issue in this month's talks among the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing network.


  2. Waqas Dar
    PM chairing a PML-N parliamentary party meeting in 2014. Photo: File  ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will chair a parliamentary party meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) today.
    Sources said in the meeting, to be attended by federal lawmakers of the party, participants will devise a strategy in response to the opposition?s calls for the premier?s resignation following the submission of the Panama case Joint Investigation Team report.
    PML-N lawmakers will also repose confidence in the premier, who has been under pressure from the opposition parties to resign from his post owing to the ?damning? charges levelled in the JIT report.
    Sharif is the president of the PML-N whereas Senator Raja Zafarul Haq is the party chairman.
    ?Won?t resign?
    On Thursday, chairing a meeting of the federal cabinet, Sharif said he will not resign regardless of the demands being made by the group conspiring against him as the people of Pakistan have elected him.
    Addressing the cabinet members, Nawaz termed the JIT report a concoction of allegations and stories regarding his family's private businesses.
    The language used in the JIT report displays malafide intentions, he said, adding that his conscience is clear.
    PM Nawaz Sharif rejects resignation demands
    Cabinet members repose confidence in Nawaz Sharif following Panama JIT's report
    "Those demanding my resignation on false and unwarranted claims should first look at themselves," said Sharif, referring to the opposition parties.
    The premier said the PML-N got more votes than all the parties demanding his resignation, adding he will not let the country's development become a target of conspiracies.
    The members of the meeting agreed there?s no legitimacy to the demands of the premier's resignation, and expressed their complete support in the prime minister.
    Panama case JIT submits final probe report in Supreme Court
    The JIT has spent over 60 days in its probe into the Sharif family's money trail
    Since the JIT report was submitted to the Supreme Court?s special implementation bench on Monday, and subsequently leaked to the media, the premier has been holding regular consultative meetings with his top advisers.
    JIT report
    In its final report, the JIT observed major disparities in the finances of the Sharif family and their known and declared sources of income.
    Following the report, the opposition parties demanded the premier resign. However, the ruling party leaders remarked they will contest the ?concocted? report in the Supreme Court.


  3. Waqas Dar
    Misbah-ul-Haq/AFP file photo  Pakistan?s most successful Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq has been awarded Honourary Life Membership by the prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) for his services to the game.
    Misbah was presented with the membership at Lord?s Cricket Ground during the rain-interrupted match between Afghanistan and the MCC XI earlier this week. Misbah was a member of the MCC XI, which was captained by former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum.
    MCC, the owner of Lord?s Ground and the "guardian of the Laws of Cricket", awards the life membership to "the finest cricketers and men and women associated with the game".
    Younis, Misbah among Wisden cricketers of the year
    English trio Ben Duckett, Chris Woakes and Toby Roland-Jones have joined the Pakistani pair to complete the list of five Wisden Cricketers of the year 2017
    Misbah is the 22nd Pakistani cricketer to receive the honour, joining the ranks of the likes of Majid Khan, Abdul Qadir, Mushtaq Mohammad, Zaheer Abbas, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Javed Miandad.
    Before Misbah, commentator and former cricketer Ramiz Raja was the most recent Pakistani to be awarded the membership in 2015.
    There are 18,000 Full and 5,000 Associate Members of MCC. These Members own the Ground and all MCC?s assets (the most famous of which is the Ashes Urn), govern the Club through various committees, and some 2,000 of them represent MCC on the field each year.


  4. Waqas Dar
    A rogue Venezuelan police pilot wanted for lobbing grenades and shooting at government buildings appeared briefly at an opposition vigil on Thursday night in a surreal twist to the crisis-worn country?s political drama.
    Oscar Perez, 36, who also is an action film star who portrays himself as a James Bond-cum-Rambo figure on social media, surprised opposition supporters by popping up at a Caracas event to mark the deaths of about 100 people related to anti-government unrest that started in April.
    "We don't want any more blood on the streets," he said.
    Perez, flanked by young men clad in balaclavas and surrounded by cameras, said the opposition must continue protesting.
    On Sunday, the opposition will hold an unofficial referendum to let Venezuelans have their say on Maduro's plan to rewrite the constitution.
    Two weeks ago, Perez hijacked a police helicopter flying over Caracas' centre and fired shots at and lobbed grenades on the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Court to fight what he said was a tyrannical government.
    Perez has appeared only once since that incident - in a video saying he was in Caracas and keeping up the fight against the government of unpopular President Nicolas Maduro, who has called Perez a terrorist.
    Venezuela is undergoing a major crisis as hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in recent months calling for an end to Maduro's presidency, amid food shortages, a collapsing currency and soaring inflation.
    Perez?s stunt shocked many in Venezuela, although some suggest it was a false flag operation by the government to distract from the crisis.
    His Instagram feed shows him riding horseback in combat gear, scuba-diving with rifles and pistols and jumping out of a helicopter with a dog.
    Perez produced and starred in a 2015 Venezuelan action movie called "Suspended Death" about the rescue of a kidnapped businessman, which includes scenes of him firing a rifle from a helicopter and emerging from water in scuba gear.




  5. Waqas Dar
    US President Donald Trump, who is fighting off allegations of ties between his election campaign and Moscow, said he would invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the White House but added that now was not the right time for that.
    The Republican president drew criticism last week from Democrats who accused him of not pressing Putin hard enough at a meeting they held in Germany over Moscow's alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential campaign.
    Accusations that Moscow meddled in the election and colluded with the Trump campaign have dominated Trump's first months in office. Russia denies meddling, and Trump says there was no collusion.
    Trump's comments came as he defended his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign after he was told she might have damaging information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
    Trump told Reuters on Wednesday that he did not know about his son's meeting until recently. But in a conversation with reporters later that day, Trump said that "in fact maybe it (the meeting) was mentioned at some point," adding he was not told it was about Clinton.
    Trump has said he wants to work with Moscow on issues like Syria, and told reporters travelling with him on Air Force One to Paris that he was open to the idea of inviting Putin to the White House at some point.Syria, and told reporters traveling with him on Air Force One to Paris that he was open to the idea of inviting Putin to the White House at some point.
    "I don?t think this is the right time, but the answer is yes, I would," when asked if he would extend such an invitation to the Russian leader. The comments were released by the White House on Thursday.
    'Did You Do It?'
    US intelligence agencies said earlier this year that Russia sought to help Trump win the election by hacking private emails from Democratic Party officials and disseminating false information online.
    Trump said in the Reuters interview on Wednesday that he had asked Putin last week if he was involved in Russian interference in the campaign, spending the first 20 or 25 minutes on that issue during a meeting that lasted more than two hours.
    "I said, 'Did you do it?' And he said, 'No, I did not. Absolutely not.' I then asked him a second time in a totally different way. He said absolutely not," Trump said.
    Washington this week has been fixated on emails disclosed by Donald Trump Jr., showing him eagerly meeting with lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in June last year - the most tangible evidence of a connection between Trump's campaign and Russia, a subject that has also prompted an investigation by a federal special counsel.
    Trump Jr. was told by an intermediary that the lawyer had information that was part of Moscow's official support for his father's campaign.
    Trump said in Paris on Thursday that nothing of substance came of the meeting.
    "My son is a wonderful young man. He took a meeting with a Russian lawyer, not a government lawyer but a Russian lawyer. It was a short meeting. It was a meeting that went very, very quickly, very fast," he said at a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
    Trump said it was normal in US politics for campaign teams to look into allegations about their opponents, as his son agreed to do before the meeting in June 2016.
    Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, a Republican, planned to send a letter on Thursday to the younger Trump to ask him to appear before his committee in a public session, CNN reported.
    US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top-ranking Republican in Congress, urged Trump's son to testify.
    "I think any witness who's been asked to testify in Congress should do that," Ryan said.
    Watchdog groups filed a complaint against Donald Trump Jr., Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and former campaign chief Paul Manafort on Thursday with the Federal Election Commission, which oversees elections, arguing the three violated the law by meeting with the Russian.


  6. Waqas Dar
    Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is planning a movie based on the notorious Manson Family killings, according to US media.
    The American director is discussing the project with several A-list actors, the Hollywood Reporter said, and will direct from his own script.
    The weekly trade paper, citing unnamed sources, said Brad Pitt, who starred in Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" (2009), and Jennifer Lawrence have been approached.
    Legendary producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who have worked with Tarantino on all his recent films, will also be involved, the publication reported.
    The plan is reportedly to shoot in 2018, although no distribution deal is yet in place.
    Charles Manson, who at 82 is still behind bars, was the leader of a California cult called "The Family" which murdered several people, including the pregnant Hollywood star Sharon Tate.
    Lawrence and Australian actress Margot Robbie are being considered for the role of Tate, who was slain while Manson was not present, said Variety magazine.
    Pitt could play Vincent Bugliosi, the lawyer who prosecuted the family.
    In a bloody killing spree in August 1969, Manson and his followers killed seven people in two days.
    Although he has been branded "America's icon of evil", Manson is not regarded as a serial killer, as others mostly carried out the murders he was initially sentenced to death for.
    Tarantino, who dropped out of high school insisting he could learn more on his own, won best screenplay Oscars for black comedy western "Django Unchained" in 2013 and cult favourite "Pulp Fiction" in 1995.


  7. Waqas Dar
    South Africa great Graeme Pollock has told AFP the Proteas will have to accept being a "middle of the road" Test side at best if they stick with racial transformation as a key component of selection.
    Transformation is designed to cope with the legacy of apartheid, when largely only white players such as Pollock, one of the greatest batsmen in cricket history, were allowed to play for official South Africa sides.
    Pollock accepts players of his era could have done more to help their non-white counterparts, but is concerned the balance has now swung too far in the opposite direction after South Africa "got it right when Graeme Smith was captain" (from 2003 to his retirement in 2014).
    South Africa face England in the second Test at Trent Bridge 1-0 down in a four-match series after a crushing 211-run defeat inside four days at Lord's last week.
    Pollock believes political reasons are undermining South Africa's long-term competitiveness as a Test nation.
    "The major thing is the problem with the politics and interference with the selection of players," Pollock told AFP at a meeting of cricket enthusiasts in London.
    "It's affecting the performance of the side -- they don't put the 11 best players on the field.
    "It's never going to change. As South Africans, we've got to accept that South Africa are going to be middle of the road in their future Test cricket."
    As of last August, Cricket South Africa defined the transformation policy as one where national teams should include on average and across all formats, six players of colour, of which two must be black African.
    The target at domestic level is a stricter six players of colour per side per match, of which three must be black African.
    Pollock said it was at domestic level where the effects were most noticeable.
    He cited the elevation of white opener Heino Kuhn -- out for just one and nine on Test debut at Lord's -- as a case in point.
    "You are going to pick a guy like Heino Kuhn, the opening batsman, who got a couple of hundreds in first-class cricket. He's not good enough to play Test cricket.
    "The guys are playing in a bad standard of first-class cricket in South Africa because of the politics and interference in selection," the 73-year-old left-hander added.
    Hampshire's Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw are among several players who've forfeited their South Africa careers in order to play for English counties and Pollock said: "There are so many South Africans playing county cricket...the exchange rate (17 South African rand to the pound sterling) is a big factor."
    'Best for our country'

    However, current South Africa captain Faf du Plessis insisted Thursday that transformation could not be used as an excuse for poor performance.
    "Within the team it has never been a challenge, we understand what to do and what to expect and what is best for our country -- we've been getting on with it," du Plessis, who didn't play at Lord's following the birth of his first child, told reporters at Trent Bridge, the venue for Friday's second Test.
    'Didn't do enough'

    Pollock's own Test career was cut short in 1970, after just 23 matches in which he had already scored 2,256 runs, including seven hundreds, by an anti-apartheid boycott that saw South Africa exiled from official international cricket for over two decades.
    "I thought it would be sorted out before 22 years had passed," he said.
    Pollock was one of several leading players involved in a brief walk-off protest during a Rest of South Africa v Transvaal match in 1971 but he conceded this was not much in the context of apartheid.
    "We had a walk off in 1971 and we were told 'stick to cricket'. We genuinely wanted to try to do something.
    "But overall...we didn't do enough. Absolutely, definitely."


  8. Waqas Dar
    PARIS: US President Donald Trump said Thursday that "something could happen" regarding the Paris climate accord following his decision to withdraw from the landmark global agreement to limit climate change.
    Trump was speaking at a joint news conference with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, who had earlier said he hoped to persuade the US leader to change his mind.
    "Something could happen with respect to the Paris accord," Trump said, six weeks after announcing that the United States would abandon the 2015 pact.
    "But we will talk about that over the coming period of time," he said. "And if it happens, that will be wonderful, and if it doesn't, that will be okay, too," said Trump, who has previously said he wants to renegotiate the agreement.
    Trump, whose country is the world's second-biggest producer of greenhouse gases after China, drew widespread criticism when he announced on June 1 that he would quit the climate pact.
    Macron said he "respected" Trump's decision but France remained committed to the accord, adding that Paris "will make sure that step by step we can do everything which is in the accord."
    Earlier Thursday, the 39-year-old French leader said he had a "strong disagreement... about the climate" deal, with Trump, adding: "I hope in the end to be able to persuade him."


  9. Waqas Dar
    Wayne Rooney marked his first game back in an Everton jersey with a goal in a friendly against Kenya's Gor Mahia in Tanzania on Thursday.
    England's record goalscorer was making his first appearance since he rejoined his boyhood club from Manchester United last week on a free transfer after 13 years at Old Trafford.
    And Rooney delighted the crowd by scoring a superb goal from long range to help the Toffees win 2-1 in what was the first match for a Premier League side in East Africa.
    Youngster Kieran Dowell scored their winner.
    Everton are touring the region as part of their preparations for the upcoming Premier League season after signing a deal with Kenyan betting firm SportPesa to become the club's new shirt sponsor.
    The Toffees received a warm welcome after arriving in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday with large numbers of Tanzanian football fans eager to greet Rooney and his new team-mates.
    In May, Everton announced they had penned a five-year sponsorship deal with SportPesa to succeed Thai brewing company Chang.
    "We're pleased to have secured the biggest commercial partnership deal in the club's history with an ambitious and growing, global company," Everton chief executive Robert Elstone said at the time.
    "From the outset we have been impressed by SportPesa and the company's plans for the future. Over the coming months and years we will be working closely to realise our ambitions together."
    "We are thrilled to have secured an alignment with Everton, a club weaved prominently throughout the tapestry of world football," added Ivo Bozukov, director of global strategy for SportPesa.
    SportPesa, which is looking to increase its visibility through the Premier League, is further strengthening its ties with the city of Liverpool by moving its European headquarters there.
    The Kenyan company were Hull City's shirt sponsors last season, but the Tigers were relegated from the top flight at the end of the 2016-17 campaign. SportPesa also has partnerships with Arsenal and Southampton.


  10. Waqas Dar
    Long-running comedy sketch show "Saturday Night Live" was showered with love by the Television Academy Thursday after a year of mercilessly spoofing President Donald Trump -- receiving 22 Emmy nominations.
    The NBC series led the field along with HBO's sci-fi western "Westworld" for television's version of the Oscars. It also broke its own record for total nods since the awards began, boosting that number to 231.
    Alec Baldwin was nominated for his zinging portrayal of POTUS himself, as was Melissa McCarthy for her "Unhinged Spicey" routine as under-fire White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
    On a triumphant morning for SNL, the Academy proved itself to be bipartisan, however, handing Hillary Clinton impersonator Kate McKinnon another nod in the comedy supporting actress category that she won last year.
    While Baldwin's turn as a pouty, insouciant Trump has won almost universal acclaim, the president himself has remained steadfastly unimpressed.
    "Watched 'Saturday Night Live' hit job on me. Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks," the tweet-happy chief executive opined a month before the election.
    Baldwin is widely seen as a shoo-in in for best supporting actor in a comedy show, while McCarthy is the favourite for best guest actress, but faces competition from "Star Wars" legend Carrie Fisher, who would be a poignant posthumous recipient.
    Vanessa Bayer, Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig, Lin Manuel Miranda and Tom Hanks were also nominated for supporting or guest appearances on the series.
    "Stranger Things," Netflix's award-winning sci-fi-horror drama set in the 1980s, and FX's "Feud: Bette and Joan," about the famous rivalry between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, scored the next highest tallies with 18 nods.
    'Record-breaking year'

    Another political comedy, HBO's "Veep" -- starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as hapless former president Selina Meyer -- scored 17 nominations for the Emmys, to be handed out on September 17 in Los Angeles.
    "Veep" actress Anna Chlumsky -- who earned a fifth consecutive nomination for supporting actress in a comedy series -- and "Criminal Minds" star Shemar Moore presented the nominations from the Television Academy in Los Angeles.
    Leading the nominations in totals by platform were premium cable network HBO (110), streaming powerhouse Netflix (91) and traditional network NBC (60).
    Industry watchers had predicted a wide open race, with awards juggernaut "Game of Thrones" out of the running -- and that prediction was borne out.
    HBO's fantasy epic about noble families vying for control of the Iron Throne raked in a record-breaking 12 awards last year, but was ineligible this time around since the new season doesn't start until Sunday.
    The outstanding drama category included five first-timers -- "Westworld," Hulu's dystopian sci-fi series "The Handmaid's Tale," NBC's family drama "This Is Us," and two Netflix shows -- "The Crown" and "Stranger Things."
    "The Crown" -- a Golden Globe winning series about Britain's Queen Elizabeth II -- is generally thought to be the favorite for the Emmy, but will face stiff competition from returnees "Better Call Saul" (AMC) and "House of Cards" (Netflix).
    "The wealth spread to newbies reflects the breadth of programming that Emmy voters had to choose from and a clear desire by voters to inject fresh blood into the realm of shows considered Emmy-worthy," said Cynthia Littleton, Variety magazine's managing editor for television.
    Television history

    Some hotly-tipped shows missed out on widely-expected nods, however, including "Homeland" and "Mr. Robot," which were shut out of the best drama category.
    Though its stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys got nominations for their acting, FX spy drama "The Americans" was also denied a spot in the coveted race in its penultimate year.
    The Television Academy's 21,000 members were given two weeks in June to sift through a crowded field of some 8,000 entries from shows aired during the previous 12 months across 113 categories.
    The most star-studded category was best actor in a limited series or TV movie, with the nominations led by Robert De Niro, who anchored HBO's "The Wizard of Lies" as Ponzi scheme fraudster Bernie Madoff.
    Riz Ahmed, Ewan McGregor, Geoffrey Rush and John Turturro were also nominated, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch.
    "House of Cards" star Kevin Spacey, a double Oscar winner who has never won an Emmy, picked up a nomination in the best drama actor category -- his 11th nod overall.
    In the best actress in a comedy category, Louis-Dreyfus will be hotly-tipped for a sixth consecutive Emmy.
    "Game of Thrones" made television history last year, becoming the most decorated fictional show since the awards began nearly seven decades ago with nine awards in technical categories and three top prizes.
    Second round voting for this year's prizes will take place in August while the ceremony itself will be beamed live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, with late night funnyman Stephen Colbert hosting.


  11. Waqas Dar
    US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced what he called the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action, with 120 of the 412 defendants charged with opioid-related crimes US authorities slapped 412 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals with fraud charges Thursday, many for overprescribing opioids that have stoked an expanding national addiction crisis.
    Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the charges amid what he called "the deadliest drug crisis in our history," with close to 60,000 people killed by overdoses last year.
    The charges involve doctors and others accused of operating pill mills that pump heavily addictive opioids like oxycodone into the streets through illegal prescription schemes.
    The charges also target people said to have bilked the government-run Medicaid and Medicare health insurance programs for services that were never delivered, including addict rehabilitation programs, and for prescribing unnecessary drugs to patients in order to overbill the government.
    In all, government losses on false billings in the fraud schemes totalled $1.3 billion, the Justice Department said.
    'Criminal enterprises'

    "Too many trusted medical professionals like doctors, nurses and pharmacists have chosen to violate their oaths and put greed ahead of their patients," Sessions said.
    "Amazingly, some have made their practices into multimillion-dollar criminal enterprises. They seem oblivious to the disastrous consequences of their greed."
    Those charged include 56 medical doctors, six of them part of a Michigan scheme that allegedly prescribed unnecessary opioids to patients and sent $164 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicaid.
    One Houston doctor pumped out 2.5 million doses of hydrocodone and other drugs illegally as addicts and organised gangs lined up at her pain clinic daily to purchase prescriptions.
    And a Palm Beach, Florida rehabilitation facility allegedly charged the government $58 million while never providing the billed services to addicts.
    Instead, the government said, the facility simply recruited addicts to use their names for billings by providing them gift cards, visits to strip clubs and even drugs.
    The barely controlled pumping of hundreds of millions of doses of opioids into US communities during the past decade is blamed for a sharp surge in addiction, with an estimated two million to three million people hooked on prescription painkillers or heroin, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
    Last year, overdose deaths surged at least 19 percent to more than 59,000, according to preliminary estimates.
    States and counties around the country are suing both the manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids for fueling the addiction epidemic by ignoring suspect surges in orders that cannot be justified by local patient populations.
    On Tuesday, the Justice Department fined drug manufacturer Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals $35 million for supplying and not reporting suspiciously massive orders of its highly addictive oxycodone in the 2000s.
    Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Thursday that US doctors and hospitals vastly overprescribe painkillers -- even if most do so legally -- thereby stoking the surge in addiction. He said action is needed to cut back.
    Yellen: addiction hitting economy

    Separately, Janet Yellen, chair of the Federal Reserve, said that widespread addiction, particularly among prime working-age adults, appeared to be behind the persistently high number of dropouts from the labour market, which has left the market relatively tight.
    "Unfortunately, this is likely tied to the opioid crisis," she told a Senate committee.
    "We've even seen an increase in death rates due to deaths of despair, suicides, drugs," something not seen in other economies, she added.
    In Thursday's crackdown, 120 of the 412 were charged with opioid-related crimes, while many of the others had links to the crisis through false billing and other fraudulent practices.
    Since 2007 the government has been cracking down on hospitals, clinics and medical professionals accused of bilking government insurance programs.
    More than 3,500 people have been prosecuted in cases involving in excess of $12.5 billion in losses to Medicaid and other government programs.


  12. Waqas Dar
    Clint Eastwood has cast three young Americans who stopped a terrorist attack on a high-speed train to play themselves in "The 15:17 to Paris," according to US media.
    Anthony Sadler, Oregon National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos and US Air Force Airman First Class Spencer Stone were traveling through Europe when they overpowered a man with an AK-47 on a Paris-bound service carrying more than 500 passengers.
    "Eastwood began a wide-ranging search for the actors who would portray the three Americans. The studio and Eastwood made their choices but at the 11th hour decided to have Sadler, Skarlatos and Stone portray themselves," Variety magazine reported on Tuesday.
    The film follows the course of the friends' lives, from the struggles of childhood through finding their footing to the series of unlikely events leading up to the thwarted attack.
    They leapt into action and stopped heavily armed Ayoub El Khazzani from completing an attack on the train from Brussels on August 21, 2015.
    The three have since been hailed as heroes both in the United States and in France, where they were awarded the Legion of Honor, the country's highest decoration.
    Starring alongside the real-life heroes are Jenna Fischer ("Hall Pass," TV's "The Office") and Judy Greer ("War for the Planet of the Apes") and Ray Corasani, the Hollywood Reporter said.
    Eastwood's last two films -- "Sully" and "American Sniper" -- were also about real-life heroics, but this is the first time he has used real life people to play their characters.
    He directs from a screenplay by Dorothy Blyskal, based on the book "The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Heroes," by Sadler, Skarlatos, Stone and Jeffrey E. Stern.
    Eastwood, 87, is also co-producing the Warner Bros. film.




  13. Waqas Dar
    Theresa May's government published a draft law Thursday to formally end Britain's membership of the European Union, but opposition parties and the leaders of Scotland and Wales threatened to block what they called a "naked power-grab".
    The new bill would repeal the 1972 European Communities Act, convert an estimated 12,000 existing European regulations into British law and end the supremacy of EU legislation.
    "This bill means that we will be able to exit the European Union with maximum certainty, continuity and control," Brexit Secretary David Davis said.
    But ministers are braced for a battle over provisions that give them new powers to amend the EU laws as they are transferred without full parliamentary scrutiny.
    These so-called "Henry VIII" powers will be limited for two years, but opposition parties warn they could be used to force through changes to other legislation.
    The main opposition Labour Party threatened to hold up the bill with amendments in the House of Commons, while the leaders of Scotland and Wales also warned they could not support it.
    First Ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Carwyn Jones said the bill was "a naked power-grab, an attack on the founding principles of devolution and could destabilise our economies".
    May's minority government remains fragile one month after the snap June 8 election in which her Conservative Party lost its majority, forcing it to seek an alliance with Northern Ireland's small ultra-conservative Democratic Unionist Party.
    In a BBC interview marking one year since taking office after the Brexit vote, May admitted she had shed "a little tear" as the election results came in but said she had never considered resigning.
    'Sweeping new powers'

    May began the two-year process of leaving the EU on March 29, setting Britain on an uncharted journey.
    Extricating Britain from four decades of membership is no small task, and the new European Union (Withdrawal) Bill is one of eight Brexit bills the government will introduce.
    May appealed to rivals to work with her, saying she wanted the "biggest possible consensus".
    But Labour's Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer vowed to fight the "sweeping new powers for ministers that are fundamentally undemocratic, unaccountable and unacceptable".
    He also warned the bill lacked protections for employment, equality and environmental rights.
    Officials do not propose to transfer into British law the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights, saying everything in the charter will be covered elsewhere.
    The small pro-European Liberal Democrats also warned of a battle when the bill is debated in the autumn, with leader Tim Farron saying "this will be hell."
    Sturgeon and Jones complained the bill does not provide for the promised transfer of EU powers to their respective devolved governments.
    But May's Scottish minister David Mundell said that eventually Brexit would result in a "power bonanza for the Scottish parliament".
    The first ministers and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn held separate meetings in Brussels on Thursday with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
    The Frenchman insisted he would only negotiate with May's government.
    'Horrendous'

    Formal Brexit negotiations began last month and the two sides have already clashed over the future rights of European citizens living in Britain.
    The new bill set the stage for another row, as briefing notes suggested its powers could be used to remove those rights if no Brexit deal is reached.
    The 3Million, a campaign group representing the estimated number of Europeans living in Britain, said the prospect was "horrendous".
    Ahead of the next round of Brexit talks starting next week, Britain also published three new position papers on Thursday, including one confirming that it would withdraw from the European Atomic Energy Community.
    May's weakened political position has cast doubt on her Brexit strategy, and Barnier had urged Britain on Wednesday to provide more information, warning that the clock was ticking.
    Under the EU's exit procedures, Britain will leave the bloc on March 30, 2019, whether it has negotiated a divorce settlement or not.
    The head of Britain's public spending watchdog had earlier criticised the government's lack of unified leadership on Brexit, saying its plans were "vague".
    National Audit Office chief Amyas Morse said that if ministers failed to properly prepare for new customs arrangements after Brexit, it would be a "horror show".


  14. Waqas Dar
    Masked gunmen burst into a children's party in central Mexico and killed 11 people, authorities and witnesses said Thursday, in the violence-plagued country's latest mass murder.
    Police found the gory scene when they responded to an emergency call received just after midnight in the city of Tizayuca, in the central state of Hidalgo, the state security service said in a statement.
    Neighbours said four gunmen burst into a large white tent where a family was hosting a children's party outside their home and shot dead seven men and four women.
    Four children were found unharmed, public security spokesman David Pichardo told AFP.
    One of the children told authorities that masked men wearing police uniforms had arrived during the party and killed all the adults, according to newspaper Excelsior.
    Authorities had cordoned off the entire neighbourhood Thursday morning, and security was tight. Forensic workers could be seen examining the crime scene.
    Mexico has seen a surge of deadly violence in recent months, extending to areas that were once considered relatively calm. That includes Hidalgo, which sits just north of the capital, Mexico City.
    Murders hit a record high in May, according to the latest official data: 2,186 homicides, an average of 70 a day and the most since the country began keeping track 20 years ago.
    The violence is fueled by powerful, ultra-violent drug cartels.
    Since Mexico deployed the military to fight drug trafficking in 2006, a wave of bloodshed has left more than 200,000 people dead or missing, as rival cartels wage war on each other and the army.
    Recently, hitmen have been wiping out entire families -- including children -- in a sign that the unspoken code of honour that once governed the turf wars and revenge killings of Mexico's cartels is fraying.


  15. Waqas Dar
    Venus Williams became the oldest woman in 23 years to reach a Wimbledon final as she defied her age and a despondent home crowd to inflict a crushing defeat on British hope Johanna Konta on Thursday.
    Eight years after her last Wimbledon final and more than two decades since Martina Navratilova became the last 37-year-old to reach the same stage, Williams produced the sort of attacking performance that led her to five titles in her heyday.
    Her 6-4 6-2 semi-final win over the Briton was a clinical execution and set up a Saturday showdown with Garbine Muguruza, whose own ruthless demolition of Magdalena Rybarikova whetted the appetite for an intriguing final.
    It will be Williams's ninth at Wimbledon and the stage for a potential eighth grand slam crown and having defied the odds to reach this point, few would now bet against her.






  16. Waqas Dar
    QUETTA: Police claimed to have killed three suspected terrorists during an overnight encounter on Thursday near Essa Nagri area of Quetta.

    According to police, they carried out a targeted raid in a house at Eisa Nagri in Quetta on a tip-off.

    As police entered the house to approach the alleged terrorists, they opened fire, while police effectively responded and in retaliation, three terrorists were killed.
    A huge cache of arms and ammunition, including five-kilogram of explosive content, was recovered from the custody of the alleged terrorists who were killed in the shootout, said police.
    A heavy contingent of police was been called to cordon off the area.
    The operation was carried out hours later, after the Superintendent Police (SP) Quaidabad Mubarak Shah and his three security guards were ambushed by unidentified armed men and martyred in Quetta.
    Chief Minister of Balochistan Nawab Sanaullah Khan Zehri lauded the police action and vowed to continue counter-terrorism efforts to eliminate the menace of terrorism from the province.
    Whereas, in another alleged encounter in Lahore, police killed two bandits after receiving a call on Thursday night, deceased were identified as Nasir and Ateeq, said police.


  17. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: At least 22 people have been killed in incidents triggered by heavy downpours across the country over the past two days, Geo News has learnt.

    Intermittent monsoon rains continue in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, eastern Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Heavy rain lashed Faisalabad, Gujrat and Gujranwala, after which several low-lying areas were inundated by stormwater.
    Three of a family including a minor died after wall of their house collapsed in a katchi abadi in Islamabad. Three minors were drowned in a stormwater drain in Mianwali, taking the death toll from rain-related incidents to 22.
    Also in Charsadda, dozens of mud houses were collapsed in the wake of heavy rain, coupled with strong winds.
    Rains claim at least 16 lives across country so far
    Water level at near-full capacity at Tarbela, Mangla dams
    A heavy downpour in Gilgit-Baltistan forced authorities to issue a red alert, warning of major flood. The GB Disaster Management Authority has advised citizens residing in areas close to rivers and streams, or in low-lying vicinities, to remain cautious.
    Traffic remains suspended on Gilgit-Skardu Road following Wednesday's landslides on six different locations.
    In Balochistan, rains continue in Zhob, Moosakhel, Loralai, Kohlu, Barkhan, Koh-e-Suleiman areas, which has triggered flood situation in tributaries originating from Koh-e-Suleiman.
    Flash floods affected the Loralai-DG Khan and Zhob-DI Khan national highway at various locations.
    Sporadic showers continued in Azad Kashmir on Thursday; however the flow of rivers in the valley was said to be at normal. 


  18. Waqas Dar
    PARIS: US President Donald Trump met French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to Paris, where the world leaders had a bilateral meeting after which they addressed a news conference.
    Trump said he and Macron on Thursday discussed strengthening security cooperation, and urged allied forces fighting Daesh to ensure Mosul remained a liberated city.

    "Today we face new threats from rogue regimes like North Korea, Iran and Syria and the governments that finance and support them."
    "We also face grave threats from terrorist organisations," Trump told a press conference.
    "We renew our resolve to stand united against these enemies of humanity and to strip them of their territory, their funding, their networks and ideological support.
    Speaking in Paris after a bilateral meeting with Macron, Trump reiterated that his administration would pursue trade deals that were "reciprocal and fair", adding that discussions on accords with China were underway.
    'Concrete' initiative on Syria

    Macron said on Thursday he and Trump had asked diplomats to draw up in the coming weeks a concrete initiative aimed at preparing the future of Syria.
    "On the Iraq-Syria situation, we have agreed to continue working together, in particular on the building of a roadmap for the post-war period," Macron said in a joint news conference during Trump´s visit to Paris.
    "We have asked our diplomats to work in that direction, so in the next few weeks a concrete initiative can be taken and managed by the P5," Macron said, referring to the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.


  19. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: As many as five target killers, including a serving policeman, affiliated with Muttahida Qaumi Movement (London) were arrested in a raid conducted in the metropolis` area of Korangi on Thursday, claimed Counter Terrorism Department.

    The men are suspected to be involved in May 12 killings and other incidents of violence. 
    SSP CTD Munir Sheikh informed that weapons used for the attacks were recovered in the raid. 
    He said that during the investigation the suspects confessed to killing 19 people including five policemen, further adding that they used to receive directions from the party`s London and South Africa chapter.
    Sheikh said that a serving policeman, Rizwan was also affiliated with the group, he added that as many as six cases have been previously registered against the accused.
    He informed that the department will carry out a thorough check of police personnel recruited during the time when MQM was in power in the province.  


  20. Waqas Dar
    Filmmaker Guy Ritchie hopes to start production of the much-anticipated Aladdin by August ? however, going by the media reports, surprisingly the filmmaker and his team have not yet finalised an actor to play Aladdin.
    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ritchie have delayed shooting after auditioning hundreds failed to produce the perfect person to be the street-smart orphan
    The studio is having a tricky time casting a male lead who can act, sing and capture the magic of the character and are committed to the actor being of Middle-Eastern or Indian descent, report also suggest that Disney was interested in casting Dev Patel or Riz Ahmed but now is looking like the star will most likely be a rookie.
    The production was originally scheduled to start in July, but without a lead principal shooting has now been pushed back to August.
    Film critics and fans both publicly worried that the films casting troubles could lead to the story set in the fictional Middle Eastern city of Agrahbah to get a dose of whitewashing.
    The film already received pushback when it was leaked that Englishman Tom Hardy was to play the evil sorcerer Jafar.


  21. Waqas Dar
    The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in Japan's south has risen to 30, officials said Thursday, while rescue workers continued their efforts to find survivors.
    Heavy seasonal rains last week caused severe flooding that tore up roads and destroyed houses on the southern island of Kyushu, with hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee their homes.
    Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cancelled a visit to Estonia that was originally planned as the last leg of a European tour, flying to the region Wednesday to view the damage and console residents.
    The government of the island's Fukuoka prefecture said it had identified the body of a resident from hardest-hit Asakura city, bringing the death toll from that region alone to 24.
    A week after the disaster began, hundreds of people were still staying in school gymnasiums and public buildings used as makeshift shelters.
    Thousands of police, soldiers and rescue workers are searching for 19 people who remain unaccounted for, according to local officials.


  22. Waqas Dar
    An animated television special featuring Michael Jackson will premiere this year for Halloween in the latest posthumous project by the estate of the late King of Pop.
    The estate said "Michael Jackson's Halloween" will air on CBS in the United States around the October 31 holiday dedicated to the ghoulish and supernatural.
    The estate said in an announcement Tuesday that it was also in talks to broadcast "Michael Jackson's Halloween" abroad.
    Since Jackson's sudden death in 2009, his estate has pursued a range of projects to monetize the legacy of one of pop history's top-selling artists.
    Success has been mixed, with the estate putting up for sale his Neverland ranch in California after early talk of preserving it.
    Two new albums of unreleased material have come out since Jackson's death but one of them, 2010's "Michael," was marred by controversy over whether Jackson would have wanted the unfinished music released or if he was even singing on all the tracks.
    Jackson was an early enthusiast of adapting his music to videos and short films with his "Thriller," a 14-minute extravaganza of Halloween-like characters, becoming a landmark in music history when it was released in 1983.


  23. Waqas Dar
    Pilotless aircraft, flying electric vehicles and bespoke air cabins are the future of flight, Airbus said Thursday.
    Paul Eremenko, the European plane-maker's chief technological officer, painted a picture of skies buzzing with new flight forms at the RISE tech conference held in Hong Kong.
    Airbus is already testing out what it calls a "module" cabin concept - passenger planes being tailored to different demands.
    "You can imagine on a flight to Vegas, you might have a casino module," said Eremenko.
    "Or in a more general sense, you may have a sleeping module and you go and pay 50 bucks an hour to have the ability to sleep in a sound-proof, climate-controlled area," he added.
    Eremenko said Airbus had been working on the project for a year already, including user trials.
    Airbus has also been working on a self-piloted flying car, the Vahana, with testing on a full-size prototype to be done by the end of the year.
    "Our goal really is to open up the third dimension in cities and we believe that the time is right," said Eremenko, describing the growth of mega-cities, increasing congestion and technological developments as factors fuelling the development of electric short-hop flight travel.
    Pilotless flight was also on the cards, he said, playing down safety fears.
    "We believe the first autonomy will come in the domain of urban air mobility where the vehicles are smaller and there are fewer occupants," he said, adding it was easier to fly autonomously than to drive autonomously.
    "That, I have fairly high confidence that we will get to in single-digit years," he said, adding the problem was not a technical one but of social acceptance.
    Artificial intelligence was the main focus of the sprawling RISE conference, which Wednesday included a debate between two lifelike disembodied robot torsos on the future of humanity.


  24. Waqas Dar
    LOS ANGELES: After six seasons of warring families, countless deaths and mounting menace, winter has finally come to Westeros in HBO's hit fantasy series "Game of Thrones", bringing with it an army of the undead and some long pent-up revenge.
    Emmy-winning "Game of Thrones" debuted the first episode of the seventh season at a lavish premiere in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which was lit up with projections of dragons, fire and ice for the occasion.
    The new season sees the show's lead characters with nothing left to lose after they sacrificed families, children, innocence, dignity and even their lives, in the case of the resurrected Jon Snow.
    The stakes are high as they head towards a great war that will determine who will sit on the Iron Throne and rule over the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, while the zombie army of White Walkers advances towards them, threatening mankind's destruction.
    The theme of revenge is set early in the new episode, titled "Dragonstone," as one character warns "if one wolf survives, the sheep are never safe."
    Guests were asked not to reveal any more details of the plot until the episode's Sunday debut on HBO, though spoilers have already started to appear online.
    Actress Sophie Turner said her character Sansa Stark, who evolved from a young captive into a stoical leader, has to grapple with "new-found power."
    "She has no idea how to kind of absorb that and take on that role because she's never worked like that," Turner told Reuters TV on the red carpet.
    "Game of Thrones," based on George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" books, follows the epic story of a multi-generational struggle for control of the Iron Throne.

    It is the most-watched show on cable network HBO, averaging around 25 million viewers last season, which saw the women of Westeros rise up and seize power.
    It left Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) sitting on the Iron Throne in King's Landing, her brother Jamie at her side, both struggling with the deaths of their children.
    Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) was last seen sailing towards King's Landing with Tyrion Lannister, her army and dragons to reclaim her ancestral home. Arya (Maisie Williams) had just killed the man who murdered her family, while Sansa sat alongside Jon Snow as rulers of the North.
    The saga will conclude with its eighth season next year, and a series of spin-offs is being developed.







  25. Waqas Dar
    A sign is pictured on an electric car charging station at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland June 2, 2017. ? Reuters FILE FRANKFURT: Global automotive manufacturers have appealed to the Chinese government to delay and soften proposals for electric and hybrid car quotas, a letter seen by Reuters showed.

    The letter is a joint protest against China's new energy vehicles (NEVs) proposals, which include a goal for hybrid and electric cars to make up at least a fifth of vehicle sales by 2025 with a staggered system of quotas beginning in 2018.
    "The proposed rules' ambitious enforcement date is not possible to meet, and if unchanged would lead to a widespread disruption of the product portfolio of most automakers operating in China. At a minimum, the mandate needs to be delayed a year and include additional flexibilities," the letter said.
    The letter, addressed to China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology, dated June 18, signed by the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC), the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) and the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) called penalties for non-compliance unnecessarily excessive.
    "Because we have common concerns with the proposed NEV rules, we have joined together to offer, with utmost respect, six recommended modifications that address those concerns while still meeting the goals of those rules and other related policies," the letter said.
    Carmakers have requested a delay to implementation of the quotas, asked for the system of credits to become more flexible, and for China to reconsider penalties for not reaching the quotas.
    Foreign manufacturers want more credit given to plug-in hybrid cars, for carmakers to be allowed to "bank" credits accrued from already sold cars as well as to "carry forward" credits into subsequent model years.
    In addition, they are demanding an ability to purchase NEV credits from the Chinese government.
    They said banning carmakers who fail to meet the quotas from importing and producing non-NEV vehicles would be an unprecedented step which would lead to significant disruptions and dislocations within the Chinese and global automotive industries.
    They also called for equal treatment of Chinese and foreign makers of electric cars and batteries when it comes to subsidies, which currently do not apply to imported goods.
    "This preference for domestic automakers over import automakers undermines the environmental goals of the regulation, puts imports at a competitive disadvantage, and risks opening China up to international trade disputes," the letter said.
    The existence of the letter was first reported by Germany's WirtschaftsWoche magazine.


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