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Waqas Dar

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  1. Waqas Dar
    Mithali Raj in action during Women's World Cup/Getty Images LONDON: Indian cricket captain Mithali Raj broke the record for runs in women´s ODIs, taking her total to 6,028 after hitting 69 in the World Cup match against Australia on Wednesday.
    The 34-year-old -- who made her debut back in 1999 and averages a superb 51.52 after 183 ODI appearances for her country -- surpassed retired England legend Charlotte Edwards? total of 5,992.
    "I don´t think Mitahli Raj gets the credit she deserves at times," said Edwards.
    "She is a quality player. The big hitters get the plaudits, but to average over 50 in ODI cricket is an outstanding achievement."
    Raj´s Indian male counterpart Virat Kohli also chipped in with his congratulations.
    "A great moment for Indian Cricket, M_Raj03 becomes the highest run scorer in Women´s ODI Cricket History today. Champions Stuff!" tweeted Kohli.
    Felicitations also poured in from cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
    "Congratulations, @M_Raj03! Becoming the highest run scorer in Women's ODIs is a huge achievement. Also, superb knock today!"









  2. Waqas Dar
    SHANGHAI: Apple has unveiled plans to build a data centre in China to store its local iCloud customers´ personal details, marking the first such move by a foreign technology firm following the imposition of strict new cyber-security laws in the country.
    The US titan said it was partnering with an internet service provider in southwestern Guizhou province on the project, which will "improve the speed and reliability of our products and services while also complying with newly passed regulations."
    It appeared to be referring to the June 1 implementation of a new law that, among other things, requires tech companies to store user data inside the country.
    Some foreign firms have said the law is worryingly vague on key provisions and expressed concern over the potential impact on their business in the world´s second-largest economy.
    The law also further tightens Chinese curbs on web content, banning the publishing of anything that "disturbs economic or social order" or is aimed at overthrowing the government.
    But Apple issued a statement seeking to allay fears that data-security could somehow be monitored or compromised by China´s government or other parties.
    "Apple has strong data privacy and security protections in place and no backdoors will be created into any of our systems," it said in the statement released Wednesday.
    The firm did not give any financial details of the project, but China´s state-run Xinhua news agency said it was part of a $1 billion investment.
    China has hundreds of millions of smartphone users and is a vital market for Apple, whose iPhones are wildly popular in the country.
    Fu Liang, a Beijing-based independent telecom analyst, said more foreign data centres are expected under the cyber-security legislation.
    "The new rule requires this key information to be put in China. The boundary is very clear," Fu said.
    He said the ramifications for Apple and other companies could be higher costs and potentially more restrictions under Chinese law.
    "For (Apple) users, the good thing is their user experience like download speed will improve but the downside is that their access to overseas services and resources will be reduced," Fu added.
    "It will be harder for them to access services that aren´t allowed in China now."
    Computer and data security has become a top international concern following recent cyber attacks including the global ransomware contagion in May that affected government, industrial, academic and other computing systems in more than 150 countries.
    The six-month-old administration of US President Donald Trump has been dogged by allegations that his candidacy benefitted from Russian hacking aimed at discrediting his campaign opponent Hillary Clinton.
    The finger also has been pointed at Moscow for interference in the recent French elections, and Germany´s domestic security watchdog warned last week that the country would likely face Russian cyberattacks heading into September´s general election.


  3. Waqas Dar
    To provide relief to hepatitis patients, Punjab government has launched a programme to deliver medicines to the registered patients at their doorstep. Photo: Think Stock/file LAHORE: To provide relief to hepatitis patients, Punjab government has launched a programme to deliver medicines to the registered patients at their doorstep, according to The News. 
    The programme was inaugurated by Minister for Primary and Secondary Health Khawaja Imran Nazir, who handed over a medicine parcel to a courier company which then delivered it to a female hepatitis patient at Shahdra, Lahore, on Wednesday.
    Speaking to the media, Imran Nazir said that the programme will help deliver medicines to 83,000 registered hepatitis patients across the province.
    Every month a text message will also be sent on patients? mobile phones for monthly check-up in the nearby government hospital, so that their condition is checked and the medicines are adjusted accordingly.
    The minister remarked that this system will end the complaints regarding the theft of costly medicines.
    Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had promised to provide treatment facilities to the poor at their doorstep, said Imran Nazir, adding that soon medicines of AIDS and tuberculosis patients will also be delivered to them.
    Punjab Minister for Specialised Health Care and Medical Education, Khawaja Salman Rafique, said that the process of procurement, supply and distribution of medicines, and other health commodities in public sector hospitals of the province is being made standardised, comprehensive and effective.
    ?We are bringing a robust and transparent supply chain management system which will not only help eliminate the loss incurred due to expiry of medicines but also ensure qualitative and quantitative needs of the end users,? he said while addressing a symposium at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Wednesday.


  4. Waqas Dar
    Australia players celebrate a wicket in the ongoing Women's World Cup/Getty Images  LONDON: England, Australia and South Africa booked their places in the semi-finals of the Women´s World Cup with a game to spare after convincing wins on Wednesday.
    England continued their good form with a 75-run victory over New Zealand, while Australia bounced back from defeat against the hosts to score an eight-wicket win over India and South Africa defeated Sri Lanka, also by eight wickets.
    England and Australia are now both on 10 points with England placed at the top of the points table owing to a better net run-rate. South Africa are third with nine points.
    India and New Zealand are on eight and seven points respectively, with the winner of their last match on Saturday set to take the last semi-final berth.
    Meg Lanning inspired defending champions Australia to victory with an excellent 79 not out with seven fours and one six, and that was after Megan Schutt and Ellyse Perry had taken two wickets each to restrict India to 226-7 from their 50 overs.
    Lanning and Perry then saw Australia home with just under five overs to spare.
    England's Alex Hartley claimed the big wicket of Suzie Bates, England v New Zealand, Women's World Cup/Getty Images  Natalie Sciver scored an excellent 129 from 111 balls as England beat New Zealand by 75 runs in Derby.
    Sciver hit 11 fours on the way to her quick-fire century. Tammy Beaumont hit 93 as England scored 284 from their 50 overs.
    Alex Hartley was the pick of the England bowlers as she took three for 44 as no New Zealand batter scored a half-century.
    Captain Suzie Bates top scored with 44 as New Zealand were bowled out for 209.
    "That knock rates pretty highly for me," said Sciver. "When I went in (at 52 for three) and saw Tammy, we knew we needed a partnership.
    In the other game, South Africa booked their place in the semi-final with a comfortable victory over Sri Lanka as Dane van Niekerk starred with the ball.
    She took her third four-wicket haul as Sri Lanka was bowled out for 101.
    And South Africa made that in just over 23 overs for the loss of just two wickets.
    "I could get used to winning like this," said Van Niekerk. "It shows the hard work the girls have put in and that it is paying off."


  5. Waqas Dar
    Imad Wasim  Pakistan all-rounder Imad Wasim will feature for Durham county in England?s popular domestic cricket competition NatWest T20 Blast this summer.
    Imad, who is the world?s number one ranked T20I bowler, will fly to England to represent Durham Jets in the ongoing T20 Blast, subject to him being granted the visa.
    The 28-year-old told local media that the stint would be a great opportunity and he is waiting for his visa.
    Imad displaced South African spinner Imran Tahir to claim the top spot in ICC T20I bowlers rankings last month.
    Amir, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim promoted in new PCB central contracts
    Umar Akmal was not offered the central contract by the PCB
    On Wednesday, he was promoted to Category B of the Pakistan Cricket Board?s new central contract list, from Category C.
    Fast bowler Mohammad Amir is already representing Essex in the T20 Blast while former captain Shahid Afridi is playing for Hampshire. Pacer Junaid Khan left for UK earlier this week to feature for Lancashire in the T20 competition.


  6. Waqas Dar
    Locals in Indian occupied Kashmir protesting. Photo: AFP SRINAGAR: Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control and the world over will observe Youm-e-Shuhada-e-Kashmir today.
    On July 13, 1931, the troops of Dogra Maharaja had martyred twenty two Kashmiris outside the central jail in Srinagar while court proceedings against Abdul Qadeer were taking place. Qadeer had called upon Kashmiris to defy the Dogra rule, resulting in his imprisonment.

    A complete strike will be observed across the occupied territory as part of a call for a week-long protest which has been directed by the joint Huriryet leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik.
    The main aim of the strike is to strive harder and come back with a renewed promise to achieve the mission of the martyrs till the goal of liberation from Indian bondage is achieved, the Kashmir Media Service reported.
    Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider is expected to chair the main function in connection with the Youm-e-Shuahda-e-Kashmir in Muzaffarabad.
    Three Kashmiri youths were martyred during a crackdown by Indian forces in the Budgam district of occupied Kashmir on Wednesday.
    Internet services are currently suspended in Indian occupied Kashmir. The suspension comes as the Hurriyet leadership reiterated its resolve to continue its online ?Kashmir Awareness Campaign? urging people to put up posts highlighting the Kashmir dispute.


  7. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: A ballot box was discovered in a private car in the city?s Mehmoodabad area on Wednesday, prompting runner-up Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to reiterate claims that the PS-114 by-election was ?rigged?.
    The ballot box in question was purchased from a scrap-seller for Rs 60 three years ago, the owner of the box, a lady, said in a statement to the police.
    The box was used to store household items, she added.
    An MQM spokesperson, in light of the latest development, reiterated the party?s claim that the July 9 by-election on a provincial assembly seat (PS-114) was ?rigged?.
    PPP wins PS-114 Karachi by-polls
    PPP's Saeed Ghani bagged 23,840 votes, followed by MQM-P's Kamran Tessori with 18,106 votes
    The by-election was won by Pakistan Peoples Party?s Saeed Ghani, who bagged 23,840 votes, according to unofficial and unconfirmed results from all 92 polling stations. Ghani was followed by MQM-Pakistan's Kamran Tessori, who secured 18,106 votes.
    The MQM has challenged Saeed Ghani?s victory on the provincial assembly seat (PS-114) in Karachi?s Mehmoodabad area before the Election Commission of Pakistan, asking the ECP to order recounting of the votes of the entire constituency.
    The MQM has also requested the commission to order the National Database and Registration Authority to verify thumb impressions of all votes.


  8. Waqas Dar
    A heavy downpour battered Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujrat, Toba Tek Singh, DI Khan, Muzaffarabad and several other areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan Tuesday.

    Land sliding in Muzaffarbad cut off several roads in the valley whereas storm water entered houses and official buildings. The local administration has warned people residing on the banks of Neelum-Jhelum River.
    In Gujrat, a dyke breach caused flooding near Gullanwala village with a vast tract of land being inundated with rainwater. A minor girl also in storm water drain in Gujrat. Local recovered the girl?s body.
    In DG Khan, several people were injured in roof/wall collapse incidents. An emergency has been declared in public hospitals in the city.
    In Karachi, a woman died and two others were injured when the roof of their house caved in in Korangi No. 2 ½ locality.
    Moreover, as a result of the torrential rains, the water level at Tarbela Dam was recorded at 1,485 feet on July 12; with only 65 feet to go till the dam reaches its full storage capacity. Similarly, at Mangla Dam, the water level was recorded at 1,210 feet, with only 32 feet more to go till the dam reaches its maximum storage level. 


  9. Waqas Dar
    A teeny tiny newborn cub was born to a Sumatran tiger two days ago at the Smithsonian?s National Zoo in Washington, DC, and it has us gushing with love.

    The cub, which ?appears to be nursing, moving and behaving normally?, as per the Zoo, belongs to a critically endangered species of big cats ? presently in the range of 300-400 in number, the International Union for Conservation of Nature?s estimates indicate.
    ?This is such an exciting time for us, not only because we have a cub who appears to be doing great, but also because this animal?s genes are extremely valuable to the North American population,? Craig Saffoe, curator of the Great Cats habitat, stated on the Zoo?s website.
    Saffoe said keepers? efforts for Damai ? the cub?s eight-year-old mother ? to breed have paid off twice now. Their patience, interest, and discussions resulted in ?is this amazing little cub?.

    The Zoo?s staff will not be opening public viewing of the cub for ?several months? so as to allow it for bonding with its mother. The duo is being monitored via a camera.
    The little, adorable cat was conceived in March and is her mother?s second litter, the Zoo said. Its father is Sparky, a 13-year-old Sumatran tiger.
    Scientists at the Smithsonian?s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) scientists work for the protection of tigers and other endangered animals. They also offer courses on tiger biology, animal laws, illegal trade and working independently in local areas.


  10. Waqas Dar
    The oil tanker was travelling from Karachi to Sher Shah Depot, Multan. Photo: Geo News screen grab RAHIM YAR KHAN: An oil tanker overturned on National Highway near Rahim Yar Khan Thursday morning.

    The tanker, transporting around 40,000 litres of fuel, skidded off the road after the driver dozed off while passing by Koochi Muhammad Khan, according to officials.
    The oil tanker was travelling from Karachi to Sher Shah Depot, Multan, the police informed.
    No one was harmed in the incident.
     Rescue team and police set up a perimeter around the crash site and attempted to clear it. Photo: Geo News screen grab  Police, Motorway police and rescue authorities set up a perimeter around the crash site and attempted to clear it.
    The cases of oil tanker overturning have become a cause of concern as more than 200 people were killed after a blaze erupted in an oil tanker, which had overturned near Ahmedpur East area of Bahawalpur on June 25.
    Following the crash, people from a nearby area had gathered around the tanker to pilfer oil.
    On July 9, another oil tanker crashed on Vehari?s Sinchawala road, following which nearby residents reached the site and began taking out fuel.
    Locals pilfer fuel after oil tanker crashes in Vehari
    People have gathered around the tanker and are stealing fuel without caring for their lives
    Geo News footage showed locals using a drain to take out fuel and loading it onto drums. Thousands of litres of diesel were reportedly present inside the tanker


  11. Waqas Dar
    Photo: File Monsoon currents are penetrating upper and central parts of the country and likely to continue during the next 48 hours, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said on Thursday.
    A westerly wave is affecting upper parts of the country and a seasonal low lies over north Balochistan.
    Rain-thunderstorm with isolated heavy falls expected at scattered places in southern Punjab (D.G.Khan, Multan, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal divisions), Quetta, Zhob, Kalat, Sibbi, Nasirabad divisions and Gilgit-Baltistan in the next twenty-four hours. Light rain/drizzle is expected at a few places along the Sindh coast.
    Past weather
    Rain-thunderstorm (with isolated heavy falls) occurred at a number of places in Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Lahore divisions, Islamabad and Kashmir, while at isolated places in Sargodha, Quetta, Zhob, Karachi divisions & Gilgit-Baltistan in the last 24 hours.
    Rainfall (mm) in the last 24-hours
    Punjab: Gujrat 165, Gujranwala 177, Sialkot (A/P 94, City 37), Jhelum 88, Rawalpindi (Shamsabad 78, Chaklala 53), Islamabad (Saidpur 61, Bokra 54, Z.P 48), Mangla 53, Mianwali 47, Faisalabad, Murree 46, Kamra 22, M.B. Din 13, Lahore (city 10, A/P 08), Jhang 04, KP: Dir 29, Kakul 27, Lower Dir 22, Malamjabba 21, Risalpur 19, Saidu Sharif 14, Balakot 06, Pattan 05, Parachinar 03, Kohat 02, Kalam 01, Kashmir: Muzaffarabad 32, Rawalakot 17, Kotli 16, Garhi Dupatta 15, Balochistan: Barkhan 07, Zhob 06, Sindh: Karachi ( A/P, Gulshan e Hadeed 02, Faisal, Masroor 01), GB: Bunji, Bagrote 04, Gilgit 02, Astore 01.
    Yesterday's highest maximum temperatures
    Dalbandin 45°C, Dadu, Nokkundi 43°C, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sibbi 42°C.


    Data courtesy: Pakistan Meteorological Department


  12. Waqas Dar
    Women who regularly chemically straightened their hair or dyed it dark brown or black had an elevated risk of breast cancer, recent research suggests.
    ?I would be concerned about darker hair dye and hair straighteners,? epidemiologist Tamarra James-Todd said after reviewing the report in Carcinogenesis. ?We should really think about using things in moderation and really try to think about being more natural.
    ?Just because something is on the market does not necessarily mean it?s safe for us,? she said in a phone interview. James-Todd, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, was not involved with the new research.
    The study of 4,285 African-American and white women was the first to find a significant increase in breast cancer risk among black women who used dark shades of hair dye and white women who used chemical relaxers.
    Black women who reported using dark hair dye had a 51 percent increased risk of breast cancer compared to black women who did not, while white women who reported using chemical relaxers had a 74 percent increased risk of breast cancer, the study found.
    The risk of breast cancer was even higher for white women who regularly dyed their hair dark shades and also used chemical relaxers, and it more than doubled for white dual users compared to white women who used neither dark dye nor chemical straighteners.
    The association between relaxers and breast cancer in white women surprised lead author Adana Llanos, an epidemiologist at the Rutgers School of Public Health in Piscataway, New Jersey, although she worried enough about the safety of hair relaxers in African-American women like herself to stop using them years ago.
    ?A lot of people have asked me if I?m telling women not to dye their hair or not to use relaxers,? she said in a phone interview. ?I?m not saying that. What I think is really important is we need to be more aware of the types of exposures in the products we use.?
    The study included adult women from New York and New Jersey, surveyed from 2002 through 2008, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, plus women of similar age and race but without a history of cancer.
    Women were asked if they had ever used permanent hair dye at least twice a year for at least a year. They were also asked if they had ever chemically relaxed or straightened their hair for at least a year.
    While the vast majority - 88 percent - of blacks had used chemicals to relax their hair, only 5 percent of whites reported using relaxers.
    For dark hair dye, the numbers flipped, though the differences were not as dramatic. While 58 percent of whites said they regularly dyed their hair dark shades, only 30 percent of blacks did.
    The most striking results showed increased risk in the minority of black women who used dark hair dye and white women who used chemical relaxers.
    Black women who used chemical straighteners and white women who used dark hair dyes were also at higher risk for breast cancer, but that might have been due to chance. James-Todd said that because so many of the black women used chemical relaxers and so many of the white women used dark hair dye, links would have been hard to detect.
    There?s no reason to believe that chemical relaxers and hair dyes would increase the risk for women of one race and not of another, she said. She believes the association stems not from genetics but from cultural norms.
    It could also boil down to products, and women from different cultures might use different straighteners and dyes. But the study did not ask women to specify the products they used.
    The study included the largest population of African-American women thus far examined for breast cancer risk and dark hair dye, according to the research team.
    Previous studies have shown that long-term users of dark dyes have a four-fold increased risk of fatal non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma and fatal multiple myeloma, the authors write. Prior research also has associated dark hair dye use with an increased risk of bladder cancer.
    A 2016 report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that breast cancer rates are generally similar for black and white women, at around 122 new cases for every 100,000 women per year, although black women with the disease are more likely to die from it.


  13. Waqas Dar
    File Oil prices dipped early on Thursday as producer club OPEC said it expected demand for its crude to decline next year as rivals pump more, pointing to a market surplus in 2018 despite efforts to tighten the market.
    Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $47.64 per barrel at 0133 GMT (2.33 a.m. BST), down 10 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close.
    West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $45.37 per barrel, down 12 cents, or 0.3 percent.
    The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said late on Wednesday that the world would need 32.20 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude from its members next year, down 60,000 bpd from this year, as consumers have increasing choice of supplies from outside OPEC.
    Meanwhile, OPEC said its output rose by 393,000 bpd in June to 32.611 million bpd. The gain was led by Nigeria and Libya.
    This came despite a pledge by OPEC to curb output by about 1.2 million bpd between January this year and March 2018, while Russia and other non-OPEC producers say they will hold back half as much.
    Despite the ongoing supply overhang, there are signs of a gradual reduction of the glut.
    In the United States, crude oil inventories last week dropped the most in 10 months.
    Crude inventories USOILC=ECI fell 7.6 million barrels in the week to July 7, to 495.35 million barrels. The decline was the biggest since the week ended Sept. 4.
    While US crude inventories remain far above their five-year average, stocks have fallen 7 percent since record levels from late March.
    "US inventory numbers confirmed that a drawdown (of excess inventories) was in train," ANZ bank said.


  14. Waqas Dar
    Kid Rock inducts rock band Cheap Trick at the 31st annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, US, on April 8, 2016. Eduardo Munoz/File Photo  DETROIT: Recording star Kid Rock ? an outspoken supporter of Republican President Donald Trump ? hinted in his website and social media messages on Wednesday that he intends to run for the US Senate in 2018, promising a "major announcement" to come soon.

    The 46-year-old Michigan native drew attention on Twitter and his Facebook page to a "Kid Rock '18 for US Senate" website. It featured a photo of the goateed singer-songwriter wearing a leather jacket, dark glasses, and white fedora, seated in a plush, star-spangled chair beside a stuffed deer above the tagline, "Are you scared?"
    The site also displays images of a T-shirt, baseball cap, and bumper sticker emblazoned with the campaign logo, "Kid Rock for US Senate" and a box of alternating slogans, including, "In Rock We Trust," "Party to the People," and "You Never Met a Politician Quite Like Me."
    "I have a ton of emails and texts asking me if this website is real? The answer is an absolute YES," he said on his verified Twitter account. "Stay tuned, I will have a major announcement in the near future."
    Reached by email, Kirt Webster ? the musician's spokesman ? referred only to Rock's Facebook page, which bore the same message. His music label, Warner Bros Records, also posted a website offering sales of Kid Rock for US Senate merchandise.
    Born Robert James Ritchie in the Detroit suburb of Romeo, Michigan, he rose to fame in 1998 as his debut album Devil Without a Cause sold some 14 million copies. He gained additional celebrity through his courtship of actress Pamela Anderson and their brief marriage in the 2000s.
    While no mention was made in Wednesday's online postings about Rock's political affiliation or which state he would run in, he presumably would seek to challenge Michigan's Democratic incumbent Senator Debbie Stabenow, who is up for re-election in 2018.
    The Capitol Hill-based newspaper Roll Call reported that Rock's name surfaced as a possible candidate earlier this month during a state Republican Party convention in Michigan, which Trump carried in the 2016 presidential race, though no official decisions were announced.
    Stabenow seemed to shrug off the prospect of a political challenge from Rock, saying in a Twitter post, "I know we both share a love of music. I concede he's better at playing guitar and I'll keep doing what I do best: fighting for Michigan."
    According to Roll Call, Rock endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for president in 2012 and initially supported Ben Carson for the Republican nomination in 2016 but switched to Trump when the former reality-TV star became the party's nominee.
    Afterwards, Rock released a line of pro-Trump merchandise, including a T-shirt that read ?God Guns & Trump?.
    In April, Kid Rock joined fellow rocker and conservative activist Ted Nugent and former Alaska Governor and onetime Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin for a White House visit and dinner with Trump.
    Kid Rock would not be the first showbiz figure to make a leap into politics. Besides Trump, he would follow the likes of singer Sonny Bono, who served as a US congressman from California during the 1990s; pro-wrestler and actor Jesse "The Body" Ventura, elected Minnesota governor in 1998; and comedian Al Franken, now serving his second US Senate term from Minnesota.


  15. Waqas Dar
    A sign marks a building on Novartis' campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, February 28, 2017. Brian Snyder/File Photo  Novartis AG's pioneering new cancer drug won enthusiastic support from a federal advisory panel on Wednesday, paving the way for approval of the first US gene therapy.

    The panel unanimously recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approve tisagenlecleucel, a drug for patients ages 3 to 25 suffering from relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), the most common form of US childhood cancer.
    The drug uses a new technology known as CAR-T ? or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy ? that harnesses the body's own immune cells to recognise and attack malignant cells.
    In a clinical trial, 83 percent of patients ? who had relapsed or failed chemotherapy ? achieved complete or partial remission three months post infusion. After one year, 79 percent of patients were still alive.
    Patients with ALL who fail chemotherapy typically have only a 16-30 percent chance of survival.
    "This is a potentially paradigm-changing type of benefit," said Dr. Brian Rini, a panellist and physician at Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute.
    The FDA is not obliged to follow the recommendations of its advisers but typically does so. The agency is expected to rule on the drug by the end of September.
    The approval of tisagenlecleucel would have significant implications not only for Novartis but for companies developing similar treatments, including Kite Pharma Inc, Juno Therapeutics Inc, and bluebird bio Inc.
    It would also advance a technique scientists have been attempting to perfect for decades and help lift the entire field of cell therapy.
    "This will be a historic approval," said Brad Loncar, chief executive of Loncar Investments, which runs the Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy ETF. "As an investor, I've never seen anything like it. It's an entirely new way of treating cancer."
    The product is made by extracting and isolating a patient's T cells, genetically engineering them to recognise and target cancer cells, and then infusing them back into the patient. Novartis said the entire process will take 22 days by the time it is launched.
    The treatments are given just once and are expected to cost up to $500,000. Loncar said approval of tisagenlecleucel would represent an inflexion point for investors.
    "Any time a new technology crosses the finish line at the FDA, it gets noticed and I think you'll see a rush of investment and see these therapies be improved over time."
    More than half of patients experienced a serious complication known as cytokine release syndrome (CRS), which occurs when the body's immune system goes into overdrive. Doctors were able to manage the condition and the syndrome caused no deaths.
    The FDA expressed concern that the drug could cause new malignancies over the long term. Panellists generally felt that the risk was low and said Novartis's risk mitigation proposals were adequate.
    Novartis is also testing the drug in diffuse large B-cell Lymphoma, the most common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as is Kite.
    Novartis stock closed up 1.5 percent at $83.21 in US trading. The shares finished up 2.2 percent at 80.5 Swiss francs in Zurich before the vote was taken.


  16. Waqas Dar
    German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron say they are ready to change EU treaties if necessary. AFP/John Macdougall  PARIS: When the French and German governments sit down for a joint cabinet meeting on Thursday, the intended message will be clear: the Paris-Berlin engine that has driven EU integration for the last 59 years is back in gear.

    French President Emmanuel Macron was elected in May promising to overhaul the 28-member bloc with a host of initiatives to deepen EU integration in the areas of defence, security and immigration.
    The arrival of Chancellor Angela Merkel and her cabinet in Paris on Thursday is a step towards creating what Macron hopes will be a common roadmap for the club of countries which is preparing for a future without Britain.
    "We aim to make progress during the meeting on the bilateral policy areas we've chosen and broad European topics," an official in the French presidency told reporters this week.
    But the 39-year-old French president's desire for ambitious thinking about the future of Europe will have to wait until after German elections in September, which Merkel's centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is expected to win.
    Macron has proposed creating a finance minister, parliament, and budget for the eurozone, which would require changes to EU treaties.
    Having previously been noticeably cautious about treaty changes, Merkel agreed to consider the issue after a meeting with Macron during his trip to Berlin on May 8, the day after his election.
    "Do we need an economic government (for the eurozone)? I am broadly in favour," Merkel said in a recent interview with Die Zeit weekly, adding: "Do we need a finance minister? Again in principle, I say yes."
    But she warned of "practical questions" which needed answering, and she will be keen to avoid any discussion of the eurozone budget before the German election.
    Macron has said he expects Germany to be a major contributor.
    The French leader is also set to press Merkel for a financial and military contribution to a joint anti-jihadist regional force called the G5 Sahel made up of forces from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger
    It is not the first time the French and German governments have held a joint cabinet meeting ? the last one was in April ? but both sides are keen to capitalise on the momentum generated by Macron's victory.
    Brexit fallout
    The bloc is still grappling with the fallout from Britain's shock vote to exit the EU in a referendum in June 2016, but Brexit, along with perceived threats from the United States under Donald Trump as well as from Russia, has given it a renewed sense of purpose.
    In June, the EU unveiled an unprecedented plan for common defence spending to help Europe stand alone as a global military power.
    After a morning of discussions with Merkel, Macron will also host Trump for talks in the afternoon in a day of diplomacy, before heading to dinner at the Michelin-starred restaurant up on the Eiffel Tower.
    Then on Friday, Trump is slated to be Macron's guest of honour at the July 14 Bastille Day parade in Paris, which will mark 100 years since America entered World War I on France's side.


  17. Waqas Dar
    NASA on Wednesday released a series of stunning images of a raging storm on Jupiter, known as the Great Red Spot, snapped earlier this week as an unmanned probe zipped by.
    The US space agency's Juno spacecraft flew over the storm late Monday, offering humanity's closest look yet at the iconic feature of our solar system's largest planet.
    "For hundreds of years scientists have been observing, wondering and theorising about Jupiter's Great Red Spot," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
    "Now we have the best pictures ever."
    Scientists hope to learn more about what drives the storm, and Bolton said it would take some time to analyse the data captured by Juno's eight instruments as it passed over the tempest a height of 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers).
    The Great Red Spot measured 10,159 miles (16,350 kilometers) wide on April 3 of this year, which is 1.3 times the size of the Earth.
    It has been monitored since 1830 and has possibly existed for more than 350 years.
    Juno launched in 2011 and began orbiting Jupiter last year. Its next flyby is planned for early September.
    "These highly-anticipated images of Jupiter's Great Red Spot are the 'perfect storm' of art and science," said Jim Green, NASA's director of planetary science.
    "We are pleased to share the beauty and excitement of space science with everyone."
    The pictures can be viewed at:

    JunoCam : Processing
    Download raw imagery from JunoCam and upload your processed imagery to the gallery!




  18. Waqas Dar
    File The US Department of Homeland Security said on Wednesday it has lifted a ban on state-owned EgyptAir passengers using laptops on US-bound flights, leaving just two Middle Eastern airlines still under restrictions first imposed in March.
    EgyptAir earlier on Wednesday announced the lifting of the restrictions on its Cairo-to-New York flights in a Twitter post, but noted that they remain in effect for flights to London.
    Saudi Arabian Airlines, also known as Saudia, said in a statement that it expected the ban to be lifted on flights from Jeddah and Riyadh by July 19. Royal Air Maroc believes it could get off the ban for flights out of Casablanca's Mohammed V International Airport by July 19, a senior official of the airline said in a statement.
    A Homeland Security spokesman, David Lapan, said the July 19 date is a "realistic" timetable for a decision on the two airlines.
    The measures were imposed in March on nine airlines, most of which were Middle Eastern carriers, to address the potential threat of hidden explosives in laptops and other devices. The restrictions put an additional burden on airlines already hurting from the Trump administration's travel ban on six majority-Muslim countries.
    On June 28, US Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly unveiled enhanced security measures for all foreign flights arriving in the United States, which officials said were designed to end a limited in-cabin ban on laptops and prevent the ban's expansion to additional airports.
    European and US officials told Reuters that airlines had 21 days from June 28 to put in place increased explosive trace detection screening and 120 days to comply with other security measures, including enhanced screening of airline passengers.




  19. Waqas Dar
    US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia July 12, 2017. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS  JEDDAH: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ended talks with ministers from Saudi Arabia and three Arab allies on Wednesday over how to end the month-long rift with Qatar, but there was no immediate word of any breakthrough.

    Tillerson returned to Kuwait, the mediator between the feuding Gulf countries, without making any statement on his talks in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah. He had signed a US-Qatari accord on terrorism financing on Wednesday, but Qatar's opponents said it fell short of allaying their concerns.
    Any resolution of the impasse must address all the key issues for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt, a senior UAE official said before the talks in Saudi Arabia.
    The four countries imposed sanctions on Qatar on June 5, accusing it of financing extremist groups and allying with the Gulf Arab states' arch-foe, Iran. Doha denies those accusations.
    The four states and Qatar are all US allies.
    Tillerson met the foreign ministers to try to end the worst dispute in decades among the US-allied Gulf Arab states. He also met separately with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss cooperation in combating terrorism and its financing.
    "We're happy to see this continuous cooperation between us and (to) even strengthen it and increase it further without limits?" Mohammed bin Salman said in welcoming Tillerson.
    US officials said Tillerson would travel to Qatar on Thursday to brief the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, on his talks in Jeddah, State Department spokesman R.C. Hammond said.
    UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan told reporters during a visit to Slovakia that Tillerson's visit was unlikely to resolve the row. "I think it will ease tensions, but it's just postponing the problem, which will grow in the future," he said.
    In a joint statement issued after Tillerson and his Qatari counterpart signed their counter-terrorism pact on Tuesday, the four states called the accord inadequate.
    They also reinstated 13 wide-ranging demands they had earlier submitted to Qatar ? the world's biggest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) ? as a condition for removing sanctions.
    The demands include curbing Qatar's relations with Iran, closing the Doha-based Al Jazeera TV channel, shutting a Turkish military base in Qatar, and handing over all designated "terrorists" on its territory.
    Anwar Gargash ? the UAE minister of state for foreign affairs ? sent a formal complaint to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday alleging that Al Jazeera supported terrorism, sectarianism, and anti-Semitism.
    Al Jazeera, which has denied allegations of stoking violence and says it practices free speech, did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
    The Saudi state news agency said Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik ? whose country backs Qatar in the dispute ? discussed bilateral defence ties with his Saudi counterpart, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in a telephone call on Wednesday.
    Not Just Funding of Terrorism
    The crisis transcends the financing of terrorism, said Jean-Marc Rickli ? a risk analyst at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy ? pointing to Gulf fears about the role of Iran, internal instability, and the regional influence of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as competition for regional leadership.
    "Whatever the outcome is, one of the two sides will lose face, and losing face in the Arab world is something important. The consequences for the future will be negative for at least one camp or the other," Rickli said.
    France said its foreign minister would visit the Gulf, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, on July 15-16 as part of its own efforts to overcome the rift.
    In their statement on Tuesday, the four boycotting states said they appreciated US efforts in fighting terrorism. "? (But) such a step is not enough and they will closely monitor the seriousness of Qatar in combating all forms of funding, supporting, and fostering of terrorism," the statement said, according to the UAE state news agency WAM.
    The United States worries the crisis could affect its military and counter-terrorism operations and increase the regional influence of Iran, which has been supporting Qatar by allowing it to use air and sea links through its territory.
    Qatar hosts Udeid Air Base ? the largest US military facility in the Middle East ? from which US-led coalition aircraft stage sorties against Daesh in Syria and Iraq.


  20. Waqas Dar
    Google is not liable for 1.115 billion euros ($1.272 billion) in unpaid taxes claimed by the French state, a French court ruled Wednesday, saying the internet giant's Irish subsidiary is not taxable in France.
    "The French company Google Ireland Limited (GIL) is not taxable in France for the 2005 to 2010 period," the court ruled.
    Google paid just 6.7 million euros in corporate taxes in 2015 in France by booking revenues for its online empire at its European subsidiary in low-tax Ireland, a legal loophole prized by multinationals.
    The group employs 700 people in France but advertising contracts for its search engine or video-sharing website YouTube are signed with its Irish subsidiary.
    The French claim was the latest in a series against the California-based group, which faces mounting legal problems in the EU.
    European action has become increasingly aggressive against US technology giants Amazon, Facebook and Apple as well as Google.
    The EU hit Google with a record 2.4 billion euro fine on June 27 for abusing its dominant position in the search engine business and illegally favouring its own shopping service over rivals.
    In 2016, European competition chief Margrethe Vestager shocked Washington and the world by ordering iPhone manufacturer Apple to repay 13 billion euros in back taxes in Ireland after paying a near-zero rate of tax some years.
    Newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron promised to get tough on US internet giants during his campaign, seeing their low tax rates as a source of resentment about globalisation and unfair on European companies.
    The government's public accounts ministry said later Wednesday that it was weighing an appeal.
    "The administration has two months to appeal these rulings and is already working to this end," it said in a statement.
    Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire had said Sunday: "It is time Europe got a grip and defended its interests, making Google, Amazon and Facebook pay the taxes they owe European taxpayers."
    The French claim was significantly higher than the amount Google agreed to pay Italian and British tax authorities over its tax arrangements with its Irish subsidiary.
    In May, the group agreed to pay 306 million euros to Italian authorities. Last year, it struck a deal with Britain to pay £130 million (170 million euros) for a decade of business, which was criticised at the time by opposition MPs as being too low.
    The French claim was a fraction of the company's annual profits: In April, Alphabet, Google's parent company, declared a 29 percent jump in profit to $5.4 billion in the first quarter of 2017.


  21. Waqas Dar
    Real Sociedad have signed Manchester United winger Adnan Januzaj for a reported fee of 9.8 million pounds ($12.6 million), the Spanish La Liga club said on Wednesday.
    United have installed a buy-back clause in the deal for the 22-year-old Belgian, Spanish media reported.
    Januzaj has agreed a five-year contract with the Basque side and will be presented officially on Thursday after attending his first training session.
    "Thank you to some of the coaches and staff that work at Manchester United to make it a great club," Januzaj said on Instagram.
    "Unfortunately, my time at the club has come to an end and it didn't go the way I wanted it to go, but I will always have love for Manchester United."
    Januzaj broke into the United team in 2013 under manager David Moyes and scored twice in his first start in a Premier League game against Sunderland.
    But he never built on that early success and netted only five goals in 66 appearances for United before being sent on-loan to Borussia Dortmund and Sunderland.




  22. Waqas Dar
    Johanna Konta has history in her sights as the world number seven bids to become the first British woman to reach the Wimbledon final for 40 years when she faces her childhood idol Venus Williams on Thursday.
    Konta displayed nerves of steel in her pulsating 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 quarter-final victory over world number two Simona Halep on Tuesday.
    The 26-year-old is the first British woman to make the Wimbledon semi-finals since Virginia Wade in 1978 and a victory over five-time champion Williams would make her the first Briton into the women's final at the All England Club since Wade won the title in 1977.
    Born in Australia to Hungarian parents, Konta didn't move to the UK until she was 14, but regardless of her heritage she has been adopted as one of their own by the Wimbledon fans.
    Now a resident of the sleepy seaside town of Eastbourne, the historic significance of her Wimbledon run, and the crowd's reaction to it, has been an eye-opener for Konta, who until this fortnight could have walked unrecognised down any street in the country.
    "I've dreamed of success in every slam but I think it makes it more special because it is home," said Konta, who was ranked outside the top 150 only two years ago.
    "I do get that home support, which I don't get anywhere else. In that sense, I guess it makes it that much sweeter.
    "In terms of the home support, I feel very excited and very humbled by it.
    "When you get a massive crowd of people cheering, making that sort of noise in a stadium, you do get goosebumps."
    Having fallen in love with tennis when she was a young girl watching Venus and sister Serena dominate Wimbledon, it is fitting that Konta will have to vanquish her to reach the final.
    "I think what Venus and her sister have given our sport is absolutely tremendous," Konta said.
    "The way they've elevated women's tennis is truly inspiring. So I feel very excited and very humbled to be sharing the court with her again."
    Having won three of their five meetings, Konta, who has never made a Grand Slam final, has no reason to fear the world number 11, but Venus took the spoils the last time they clashed in Rome.
    "She got the better of me the last time we played, so I'm really looking forward to playing her," Konta said.
    Beautiful game

    At an age when all of her contemporaries have long since retired, Venus is still going strong and, in her 20th Wimbledon, she is on the verge of a historic achievement the equal of Konta's potential milestone.
    If the 37-year-old wins on Thursday, she will become the oldest Wimbledon finalist since Martina Navratilova in 1994, while lifting the aptly named Venus Rosewater Dish would make her the oldest All England Club champion in the Open era, breaking her sister Serena's record.
    That would be an especially sweet moment for Venus, who has had to deal with a debilitating autoimmune disease for years, as well as her accidental involvement in a tragic car crash that killed an elderly man in Florida last month.
    In fine form after dismissing a series of opponents almost half her age, including French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the last eight, Venus is hoping to reach her first Wimbledon final since 2009, a year after she won at the All England Club for the most recent of her seven Grand Slam titles.
    Asked why she still puts in the hard hours on the practice court, Venus, who was the Australian Open runner-up earlier this year, said: "I love this game. That's why I put in the effort and the time. It's a beautiful game. It's been so good to me.
    "I still feel quite capable, to be honest, and powerful. So whatever age that is, as long as I feel like that, then I know that I can contend for titles every time."
    In the other semi-final, former French Open champion Garbine Muguruza faces Slovakian world number 87 Magdalena Rybarikova.
    Muguruza has unfinished business at Wimbledon after losing the 2015 final against Serena, while Rybarikova is the tournament's lowest ranked semi-finalist since 2008.


  23. Waqas Dar
    People celebrate after former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, was convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison in Sao Paulo, Brazil July 12, 2017. REUTERS/Rodolfo Buhrer  BRASÍLIA: Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison for graft on Wednesday ? a stark fall from grace for the iconic leftist leader, and the latest twist in a sprawling political corruption probe engulfing Latin America's largest economy.

    Lula, who ruled Brazil from 2003-2010, was convicted and handed a 9.5-year prison term for accepting a bribe of a luxury seaside apartment and $1.1 million.
    But anti-corruption judge Sergio Moro, who handed down the sentence, said the 71-year-old Lula would remain free pending an appeal ? something his lawyers immediately said they would lodge.
    "We are appealing and will prove his innocence," the lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP.
    The conviction nevertheless landed a heavy blow on the prospect of Lula making a political comeback in presidential elections due in October next year.
    The verdict also sent a dramatic message to much of the rest of Brazil's political class that they, too, risked falling afoul of the anti-graft drive.
    Even the current president, Michel Temer, has been charged with taking bribes and several of his ministers have resigned after corruption claims were made.
    The sea change has come about because of Operation "Car Wash," a sweeping anti-corruption probe looking into a giant embezzlement and kickbacks scheme involving state-owned oil group Petrobras, construction firms, and several political parties ? Lula's Workers' Party chief among them.
    Lula denies charges
    But while many Brazilians welcome the long-overdue clean-up of their notoriously dirty political scene, the uncertainty is hobbling their country's struggle to exit from a historic recession.
    The verdict against Lula "all but rules him out of the running for next year's presidential election," said Capital Economics, an economic analysis firm.

    It added that the court's decision was "likely to give a near-term boost to Brazilian markets" as the likelihood of Lula, a former union leader, returning to power and quashing needed economic reforms championed by Temer waned.
    Lula has repeatedly denied taking any bribes during or after his presidency. He has described the investigation against him by Moro as a campaign to prevent his return to power.
    The Workers' Party issued a statement calling Lula's conviction and sentence "an attack on democracy" and Brazil's constitution, accusing the judge of bias.
    The conviction focused on allegations that Lula received the triplex apartment and cash as bribes from one of Brazil's biggest construction companies, OAS.
    The judge ordered that the apartment be confiscated.
    "Between the crimes of corruption and money laundering, there are sufficient grounds for sentences totalling nine years and six months of incarceration," Moro said in his verdict.
    Political fallout
    The sentence by Moro ? whose wide popularity in Brazil for his anti-corruption work has prompted some to see him as a possible presidential candidate ? fed into broader political ructions in Brazil.
    Lula's chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached and booted from office last year, with Temer, her vice president, taking over the reins.
    Two weeks ago, Moro sentenced an influential minister in the Lula and Rousseff governments, Antonio Palocci, to 12 years in prison for corruption.
    Palocci played a central role in the "Car Wash" scheme, most of which unfolded when Lula's Workers' Party was in power from 2003 to 2016.
    Prosecutors said Palocci was a pointsman in the flow of "bribes between the Odebrecht construction group and intermediaries of the Workers' Party," laundering more than $10 million used for party campaign finances.
    Odebrecht, an industrial conglomerate with projects around the world, named Palocci "the Italian" in its list of code names for politicians regularly taking bribes in exchange for lucrative contracts with Petrobras and other favours.
    The apartment bribe matter against Lula was one of five corruption cases stacked against him.
    Others include allegations that Odebrecht gave $3.7 million to Lula so he could buy land to build the Lula Institution highlighting his political legacy, and that he received a kickback in Brazil's purchase of Swedish warplanes. 


  24. Waqas Dar
    Mohammad Aslam wipes the dust off solar panels he recently installed on the roof of his home in Larkana, in Pakistan?s Sindh province, June 28, 2017. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Saleem Shaikh  LARKANA: Mohammad Aslam has finally found a way to give his family relief from extended power cuts. In February this year, he installed a 300-watt solar power generating system on the roof of his house.

    In Pakistan, power outages scheduled by the country's strained public electric utilities frequently hit households, lasting as long as 10 hours a day in towns and cities and up to 16 hours in rural areas.
    The situation is worst during the brutally hot summer months when air conditioners often overload the national grid.
    Buying solar panels to create power at home might seem an obvious way to bridge the gap. But although the panels have been available since 2014 in Aslam's town of Larkana, in the southern province of Sindh, the 35-year-old entrepreneur waited two years before finally installing one.
    The cost wasn't the problem. Instead, he said, he was put off by rumours that solar panels would actually make things worse.
    Unscrupulous local utility officials, he says, told him that the dark-coloured solar panels, built to absorb the sun's rays and convert them to electricity, would increase the ambient heat in the buildings they were attached to, pushing the temperature indoors even higher.
    According to Aslam, the officials even said that the growing use of solar panels was to blame for the more frequent and intense heat waves that Pakistan has experienced ? something scientists say is entirely untrue.
    Climate change and worsening extreme heat are instead driven largely by a huge expansion in the use of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas since the start of the industrial revolution, they say.
    "I discovered it was a fake rumour only after I installed the solar system on the insistence of my friend, a graduate in electrical engineering," Aslam told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.
    His friend assured him that the rumours were just a trick by utility company employees bent on discouraging wide-scale adoption of solar energy adoption in order to safeguard their jobs.
    Tariq Mehmood, general manager of the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), a public power utility, said he was not aware of any IESCO employees spreading rumours.
    "Our power utility has nothing to do with (any rumours) and disowns them. People shouldn't believe them," Mehmood said in a telephone interview.
    ?A great relief'
    Aslam's new solar home system ? two solar panels, four ceiling fans, four energy-saving lights and a rechargeable battery ? cost him $500.
    During the day the system powers the ceiling fans and stores enough electricity in the battery to run the fans and lights for six or seven hours at night if the grid electricity supply goes off. The battery can recharge in sunlight in three hours.
    "We have fans and lights (that) remain on whenever power outages hit us. What makes me [happier] is that my family feels a great relief thanks to it," Aslam said.
    Abdul Karim, a solar panel retailer at the Aabpara electronic market in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, said prospective customers often mention having heard the rumours that solar panels add to heat problems.
    "To prove these rumours wrong, often I have to take them to the rooftop of my shop to show them the solar system that powers my shop," Karim said. "Then many buy solar systems from me."
    As solar home systems become more affordable, many households see them as an alternative to trying to get a new electrical connection via the public power utilities.
    According to Mir Ahmad Shah, executive secretary of the Pakistan Renewable and Alternative Energy Association, public utilities that control power distribution and supply fear that the gradual adoption of solar energy will make people less reliant on the national grid.
    "Employees of the public power utilities are hampering this growing shift to solar energy through rumours, because they fear the growing adoption solar energy systems will lead to overall revenue decline from new connection applications," Shah said.
    Cash for service?
    Retired Pakistan Railways employee Raja Jameel said he was unsuccessful in getting a grid connection two years ago for his new home in Ghouri, a rural locality on Islamabad's outskirts.
    "What (finally) worked in a matter of a few hours to get what I was denied for nearly four months was a $50 bribe to a superintendent of IESCO," Jameel said in an interview.
    He said he believes that in some utility companies, employees responsible for approving new power connections try to dissuade potential solar adopters by spreading false rumours about the panels, largely because they do not want to lose potential bribes for approving new grid connections.
    Jameel plans to build a second storey onto his home to rent out, but he says he will install a 2-kilowatt solar home system to power it, rather than begging for a new power connection from the utility.
    IESCO's Mehmood said that although the utility had periodically received complaints from customers about bribe-taking, it had taken steps to reduce the problem.
    "IESCO management has controlled (bribe-taking) through a strong online public complaint redressal system established a few years ago. Besides, we have made the process of sanctioning and issuing new electricity connection systems more transparent and hassle-free," Mehmood said.
    In an interview outside the Parliament building in Islamabad, Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali did not deny that power distribution companies, including IESCO, have had problems with corruption, but said the government took all complaints regarding such matters seriously.
    "We have a zero tolerance policy regarding bribery in the public power utilities across the country," Ali said.
    The minister added there is a robust complaints mechanism, and that any employees found to have been corrupt are demoted or dismissed.
    ?via Thomson Reuters Foundation


  25. Waqas Dar
    An image depicting the location of the earthquake east of North Korea, created with the help of a map from US Geological Survey's earthquake section (earthquake.usgs.gov).  A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck off North Korea in the Sea of Japan at 7:48 PM UTC (12:48 AM PST on Thursday), the US Geological Survey said.

    The quake was very deep, 560 kilometres below the seabed, and unlikely to cause any damage. Its epicentre was 201 kilometres south-east of the North Korean city of Chongjin.

    In addition, a Pentagon spokesperson talking in the context of this earthquake said initial indications, based on the depth and location, show it was not a consequence of a nuclear test.


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