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Waqas Dar

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Blog Entries posted by Waqas Dar

  1. Waqas Dar
    WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has called for a probe into how the inquiry report of Dawn Leaks was leaked before the government released it.
    Ishaq Dar during a news conference in Washington emphasised that recommendations made by the inquiry committee would be implemented.
    The finance minister denied that the inquiry committee had recommended the removal from office of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi.
    "From what I understand and the contents I have seen or read, it is not Tariq Fatemi's resignation. It is perhaps about Fatemi's change of portfolio," he said.
    "Change of portfolio is very common. If I go back and PM decides to change [my portfolio], this is administrative. There are no new complications in this," he said.
    He said that if Fatemi's portfolio is changed, it would merely be an administrative decision.
    The English-language daily, Dawn, had published a story on October 6, in which journalist Cyril Almeida had written about an alleged civil-military rift during the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting over the issue of tackling jihadi outfits.
    No role of Finance Ministry in Panama JIT
    Ishaq Dar clarified that the Finance Ministry would have no role in the Panama Leaks Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which will carry out a probe into funds used by the prime minister's children to buy properties in London through offshore businesses.
    Federal Budget
    Speaking about the budget, Dar said relief would be given to common people.
    The Pakistani finance minister also told the media about the growing informational technology sector in Pakistan, saying the broadband network was being spread across the country. "Five auctions have been held regarding 3G and 4G."
    Moreover, Dar added, there are over 3,000 companies registered in the IT sector.
    Dar meets US national security adviser
    Moreover, Dar met United States National Security Adviser H R McMaster in Washington. He spoke to Geo News about the meeting, saying he told the latter the soil of Pakistan should not be used against other countries.

    The Pakistani finance minister said he told McMaster it was not in Pakistan's interests to end its ties with the US.
    Dar added he told McMaster that Operation Zarb-e-Azb was made successful with the sacrifices of the Pakistan Army.
    He has left for Pakistan after completing his visit to the US.


  2. Waqas Dar
    WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has that his ministry has no role in the Panama Leaks Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which will carry out a probe into funds used by the prime minister's children to buy properties in London through offshore businesses.
    Speaking during a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, Dar said that the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the State Bank (SBP), representatives of have also been made part of the JIT by the Supreme Court, are independent and empowered to carry out the investigation.
    Dar said that the recommendations made by the inquiry committee formed to probe Dawn Leaks will be implemented.
    But the finance minister denied that the inquiry committee had recommended the removal from office of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi.
    "From what I understand and the contents I have seen or read, it is not Tariq Fatemi's resignation. It is perhaps about Fatemi's change of portfolio," he said.
    "Change of portfolio is very common. If I go back and PM decides to change [my portfolio], this is administrative. There are no new complications in this," he said.
    He said that if Fatemi's portfolio is changed, it would merely be an administrative decision.
    He, however, stressed an inquiry should be carried out into how the committee's report had been leaked before the government released it.
    Speaking about the budget, Dar said relief would be given to common people.
    The Pakistani finance minister also told the media about the growing informational technology sector in Pakistan, saying broadband network was being spread across the country. "Five auctions have been held regarding 3G and 4G."
    Moreover, Dar added, there are over 3,000 companies registered in the IT sector.
    Dar meets US national security adviser
    Moreover, Dar met United States National Security Adviser H R McMaster in Washington. He spoke to Geo News about the meeting, saying he told the latter the soil of Pakistan should not be used against other countries.

    The Pakistani finance minister said he told McMaster it was not in Pakistan's interests to end its ties with the US.
    Dar added he told McMaster that Operation Zarb-e-Azb was made successful with the sacrifices of the Pakistan Army.
    He has left for Pakistan after completing his visit to the US.


  3. Waqas Dar
    WASHINGTON: Request has not been made to remove Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, said Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar during a news conference in Washington.   
    "Talks are under way to change his portfolio," Dar said. "This is what I have understood from the reports I have read." 
    He spoke to the media about the Joint Investigation Team formed to further probe the Panamagate scandal in Pakistan, saying the finance ministry did not have any role to play in the formation of the JIT.About the budget, Dar said relief would be given to common people.  
    About the budget, Dar said relief would be given to common people. 
    The Pakistani finance minister also told the media about the growing informational technology sector in Pakistan, saying broadband network was being spread across the country. "Five auctions have been held regarding 3G and 4G." Moreover, Dar added, there are over 3,000 companies registered in the IT sector.
    Dar meets US national security adviser
    Moreover, Dar met United States National Security Adviser H R McMaster in Washington. He spoke to Geo News about the meeting, saying he told the latter the soil of Pakistan should not be used against other countries.

    The Pakistani finance minister said he told McMaster it was not in Pakistan's interests to end its ties with the US.
    Dar added he told McMaster that Operation Zarb-e-Azb was made successful with the sacrifices of the Pakistan Army.
    He has left for Pakistan after completing his visit to the US.


  4. Waqas Dar
    Looking for some really cool selfie app? We have got something for you!
    Faceapp is a must download app that can entirely change your look with the press of a button.
    By using FaceApp, you can create some hilarious photos of yourself, your friends and your family by changing their gender, increasing their smile or aging/de-aging them.
    Exciting? Isn't it?

    FaceApp actually uses innovative technology to reverse your frown and make you look a little more cheerful. The result is a more natural smile, with eyes gaped wide and teeth glistening white. 
    FaceApp is the brainchild of Yaroslav Goncharov, CEO of the Russian app development company Wireless Lab. Goncharov previously worked as an executive for the Russian internet giant Yandex, which specializes in a range of services including email, maps and web search.
    FaceApp is capable of adding two different kinds of smiles to your photo, aging you or making you look younger, or swapping your gender. There's also a filter called "Flash," which seems to lighten and smooth skin.

    Well, that's not it. The app has often added strange colors to people's skin when making them look younger, and changing a woman's face into a man's often yielded some truly horrifying results. 
    You’ll be able to find FaceApp on both Android and iOS - you can download it directly from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store now.
     


  5. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: Additional Director General (ADG) Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Wajid Zia is expected to head the Joint Investigation Team ordered by the Supreme Court in the Panama case after two FIA ADGs went on a leave Wednesday.
    According to sources, FIA ADG Captain (retired) Ahmed Lateef and ADG Doctor Shafeeq cited medical reasons to take leave from office.
    Zia is the only ADG in the department after his counterparts took leave from office.
    The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a Joint Investigation Team to conduct a probe into funds used by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's children to buy properties in London through offshore businesses.
    Citing the 'indifference' and 'unwillingness' of the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau in its verdict on the Panama leaks case, a five-member Supreme Court bench said there were still questions "which go to the heart of the matter and need to be answered".
    Read more: Panama case: Who will be part of JIT and when will it begin its investigation?
    "A thorough investigation in this behalf is required," said Justice Asif Saeed Khosa as he read out the court's decision ordering a JIT to submit its report in 60 days.
    According to the verdict, the six-member team will comprise of the following officers:
    FIA officer
    A senior Officer of the Federal Investigation Agency, who will not be below the rank of Additional Director General. Having firsthand experience of investigation of white collar crime, the FIA officer will head the investigation team.
    NAB representative
    Despite expressing their lack of trust in the National Accountability Bureau chairman to investigate the matter, a representative of NAB will also be part of the six-member JIT.
    SECP officer
    A nominee of the Security & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). Having investigative and enforcement powers, the SECP is responsible for regulation and supervision of the corporate sector, capital market, insurance companies, and non-banking finance companies.
    Here, the SECP will play his part in the investigation team as he would be familiar with issues of money laundering and white collar crimes.
    State Bank of Pakistan nominee
    As the probe involves a lot of financial transactions, an official of the country's central bank will also be on the investigation team.
    ISI officer
    The Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, will also be represented by on the team by a seasoned officer nominated by ISI Director-General Lt-Gen Naveed Mukhtar.
    MI officer
    The Military Intelligence will also be part of the team, with a seasoned officer nominated by its director-general.
     


  6. Waqas Dar
    Marketing is always a game of opportunity and brands are seen getting involved in a race to grab the latest headline or development to make use of it.
    After ‘zaalima’ turned many heads – and various tea and beverage brands responded in kind, Shan Foods has unveiled its latest ad, showing their take on the burgeoning Sino-Pak friendship that has seen its fair share of ups and downs.
    When a Chinese couple moves into town, they find settling in and making friends a daunting task. “It’s not easy; we don’t even eat the same food,” the despondent wife tells her husband over a bowl of ramen noodles.
    And then it hits her.
    She hurries to the supermarket – on way checking recipes of Pakistani food – and buys a pack of Shan Foods’ biryani masala. Putting great effort in cooking it, she manages to cook a steaming hot pot of biryani, swings the dupatta over her head, and rings the neighbours’ bell nervously.
    It turns out to be a hit! After all, who can say no to a piping hot, full-of-masala pot of biryani?
    Considering the progression of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and advancements at the Gwadar port, it’s no surprise that a marketing agency used it to their gain.
    Social media, without ado, responded to the new TVC. Here’s what people have to say:
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Check out the TVC here:
     

     


  7. Waqas Dar
    Trade tensions spiked between Washington and Ottawa Tuesday as President Donald Trump accused Canada of being "very rough" on its southern neighbour and threatened to retaliate against new restrictions on US dairy products.
    Trump also touted his administration's surprise decision late Monday to rekindle an old trade conflict with America's second-largest trading partner by slapping new tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber.
    "People don't realise, Canada has been very rough on the United States. Everyone thinks of Canada of being nice but they've outsmarted our politicians for many years," Trump told a group of farmers at the White House.
    He said Canada was hurting American dairy farmers near the border, from Wisconsin to New York, by blocking dairy exports "and we're not going to put up with it."
    Trump's aggressive comments echoed a tweet he sent earlier in the day, just hours after the Commerce Department announced it was imposing tariffs of up to 24 percent on Canadian softwood lumber, which it says is improperly subsidised.
    Addressing reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the twin disputes underline the problems with the North American Free Trade Agreement linking the United States with Canada and Mexico, which Trump has vowed to renegotiate.
    "If NAFTA were functioning properly, you wouldn't be having these kinds of very prickly and unfortunate events back to back," Ross said. "They are generally a good neighbour. That doesn't mean they don't have to play by the rules."
    Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to the unexpected burst of tough rhetoric by vowing his government would be "very firm in defending Canada's interests."
    But Trudeau also said his officials "will work constructively together" with the United States to find a solution.
    Dairy dilemma

    Canada's dairy sector is protected by tariffs on imports and controls on domestic production as a way to support prices for the country's farmers.
    The latest row was triggered when Canada extended those policies to apply to ultrafiltered milk, a product used in cheese production and at the center of a thriving US export business.
    The US Dairy Export Council said the extension "blatantly blocks American dairy exports," urging Trump to "take immediate action" to protect the business of dozens of US farmers.
    While no other immediate retaliation was planned against Ottawa, Ross said Washington was looking into measures to "correct" what it says is an effective block on a new class of US dairy exports.
    "The problem with dairy isn't that they're dumping dairy products in the US. The problem is worse. They are prohibiting US dairy producers from selling their products in Canada," Ross said.
    The softwood lumber dispute between Washington and Ottawa has also seen many twists and turns for nearly 35 years, with US producers accusing their Canadian counterparts of exporting lumber at subsidised prices, harming American businesses.
    In the long-standing dispute, the Commerce Department announced late Monday that after talks with Ottawa failed to yield an agreement, it would impose duties of between three and 24 percent on softwood lumber, used for flooring, siding and other building products.
    Ross justified the duties by saying Canadian firms "charge a subsidised low price when the products hit the US border."
    The US Commerce Department said it will conduct a thorough investigation and confirm its position on the lumber tariffs by September 27. If confirmed, the tariffs would then have to be approved by the US International Trade Commission.
    Protectionist

    Officials in Canada rejected the claims and called the duties "unfair and punitive."
    "The accusations are baseless and unfounded," Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said in a statement. "We remain confident that a negotiated settlement is not only possible but in the best interests of both countries."
    Softwood lumber imports from Canada last year totaled $5.66 billion, and were regulated under a bilateral agreement reached in 2006, which expired in 2015.
    Producers north of the border reacted furiously to the ruling.
    "These duties are unwarranted, and this determination is completely without merit," said Susan Yurkovich, president of the British Columbia Lumber Trade Council.
    "The allegations made by the US lumber lobby are the same arguments they made in prior rounds of litigation, all of which were rejected and overturned by independent NAFTA panels," she said, denouncing a "protectionist" attempt to "create artificial supply constraints on lumber and drive prices up."


  8. Waqas Dar
    Uber said Tuesday it wants to launch a system of flying cars to move people around cities, with a goal of putting demonstration projects in place by 2020.
    The ridesharing giant announced a series of partnerships to manufacture "vertical takeoff and landing" (VTOL) vehicles and put networks in place, a system dubbed Uber Elevate.
    The partner cities working with Uber are Dubai and the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolis in Texas.
    "The goal of these partnerships is to develop a new on-demand VTOL network to enable customers in the future to push a button and get a high-speed flight in and around cities," Uber said in a statement.
    The announcement came at a summit held in the Dallas area with partners in the project.
    "What started as a simple question 'why can't I push a button and get a ride?' has turned, for Uber, into a passionate pursuit of the pinnacle of urban mobility -- the reduction of congestion and pollution from transportation, giving people their time back, freeing up real estate dedicated to parking and providing access to mobility in all corners of a city," said Uber chief product officer Jeff Holden.
    "Urban aviation is a natural next step for Uber in this pursuit, which is why we are working to make push a button, get a flight a reality."
    Uber's goal is to have the first demonstration network in place in Dubai for the 2020 World Expo in that city, and another pilot in Dallas the same year ahead of "full-scale operations" in the Texas region by 2023.
    The announcement came a day after Silicon Valley "flying car" startup Kitty Hawk, reportedly backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, released a video of its airborne prototype and announced plans for deliveries of a "personal flying machine" this year.
    Manufacturing plans

    Uber's plans appear more ambitious, and include partnerships with US-based Bell Helicopter, Brazilian manufacturer Embraer and Slovenia's Pipistrel to produce flying machines for short distance urban operations.
    "Uber's Elevate network is an exciting opportunity for Bell Helicopter to help transform how cities move people and products in the future," Bell president and chief executive Mitch Snyder said in a statement.
    Embraer CEO Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva praised the "unique opportunity to complement the air transport knowledge of a visionary and revolutionary ground transport company."
    The Uber plan also includes partnerships for "vertiports" for the flyers to take off and land, along with changing stations for the transporters, which are expected to be mainly electric-powered.
    Uber's agreement with Dubai Roads and Transport Authority calls for a joint study into pricing models, people movement and determining where routes should be created in the city.
    "The partnership will result in everything from hover and forward flight tests to actual flight operations in the Dubai area," according to a joint statement.
    Uber has grown into the world's largest venture-backed startup, with a valuation estimated at some $68 billion despite ongoing obstacles with regulators and taxi operators.
    In addition to ridesharing in some 80 countries, Uber is also testing self-driving cars in three US metro areas.
    Uber's growth so far has not been dented by a series of embarrassing disclosures about a culture of sexism, cut-throat workplace tactics and covert use of law enforcement-evading software.


  9. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: The PML-N leader and daughter of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday labelled the PTI chief Imran Khan as a 'liar'.
    In a tweet, Maryam responded to PTI Chairman Imran Khan's accusation and termed her as a 'liar' over his claim that the Prime Minister had offered him Rs10 billion to hold silence over the Panama case.
    Earlier, the PTI chief had claimed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had offered him Rs10 billion as hush money.


  10. Waqas Dar
    US actor Will Smith -- one of the most bankable stars in the world -- is to sit on the jury of the Cannes film festival next month, its organisers said Tuesday.
    The former hip-hop star, 48, who made his name in the teen television series "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", has been nominated twice for an Oscar.
    He will decide the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, with a nine-member jury that also includes fellow Hollywood star Jessica Chastain and the Chinese "X-Men" actress Fan Bingbing.
    Having missed out twice on an Oscar despite being one of the favourites in 2001 for his portrayal of the boxer Muhammad Ali in "Ali", the Cannes call is another remarkable twist in the story of a rapper who had become one of Hollywood's key players.
    With such big stars on Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's jury, it risks rivalling the main competition for glamour, where Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Isabelle Huppert top the bill.
    Other big names on the jury include the Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, best known for "La Grande Bellezza" and his hit television series starring Jude Law, "The Young Pope".
    German film-maker Maren Ade, who many critics felt should have won the top prize last year for her comedy "Toni Erdmann", was also tapped alongside cult Korean director Park Chan-wook.
    Seducer Farrell

    Almodovar, who won the festival's best director prize in 1999 for "All About My Mother" and best screenplay seven years later for "Volver", was named jury president in January.
    Festival boss Thierry Fremaux revealed that Chastain would serve on the official competition jury during an interview with French radio earlier this month.
    French actor-director Agnes Jaoui and Lebanese-born composer Gabriel Yared, who won an Oscar for his score of the "The English Patient," complete the jury line-up.
    They will have to decide between 18 films in competition that include Sofia Coppola's American Civil War thriller "The Beguiled", where Colin Farrell plays a soldier who seduces all the women around him, including Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning.
    Joaquin Phoenix returns in "You Were Never Really Here" as a war veteran who tries to save women from ***-trafficking, while Jake Gyllenhaal makes his Cannes debut in the Netflix-backed creature feature "Okja" from South Korea's Bong Joon-ho.
    The Cannes film festival -- which is celebrating its 70th year -- is regarded as the most prestigious in the world.
    Fremaux said that for such a big anniversary he wanted "to include people who were part of the history of the festival, who had been discovered by it, and who wanted to be with us."
    He said Chastain in particular had been "literally discovered by the festival in (Terrence Malick's 2011 film) 'The Tree of Life'."
    The festival runs from May 17 to 28.
     
     


  11. Waqas Dar
    French presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday rejected accusations he was resting on his laurels after winning the first round of the election, insisting "nothing's won yet" in the race against the far right's Marine Le Pen.
    The 39-year-old centrist said his victory in Sunday's first round of voting was proof that pollsters -- who had long placed him second to Le Pen in the opening round -- "get it wrong".
    "Nothing's won yet," Macron said during a visit to a hospital near Paris.
    "I will continue to fight for two weeks... I will defend the progressive camp to the end," the ex-banker bidding to become France's youngest-ever president said.
    Earlier, President Francois Hollande appeared to admonish his former economy minister for not taking the fight to Le Pen over the past two days.
    Le Pen, 48, was first out of the blocks after the first round, visiting Paris' main wholesale food market and giving a TV interview in which she accused the pro-EU Macron of representing "runaway globalisation" and lacking love for his country.
    "We need to be extremely serious and mobilised, and not to think it's a done deal, because a vote is earned, it's fought for," said Hollande, who on Monday had urged voters to back Macron and called Le Pen a "risk" for France.
    After winning Sunday's contest with 24.1 percent to Le Pen's 21.3 percent, Macron gave an exuberant victory speech followed by a high-profile celebration at a famous Paris bistrot, drawing fire from some.
    Socialist Party boss Jean-Christophe Cambadelis told French radio: "He was smug. He wrongly thought that it was a done deal. It's not a done deal."
    Le Pen herself joined the bashing, saying "all French people saw that he had the feeling he'd already won. It's not very respectful of democracy, of the voters".
    Macron defended the bistrot gathering in a France 2 television interview on Tuesday evening.
    "I have no regrets. I take full responsibility," he said firmly, adding his guests were mostly campaigners who deserved a night out after a year of tireless work.
    Turbo-charged

    Since securing her berth in the runoff, Le Pen has turbo-charged her campaign with a string of appearances and statements, leaving her opponent on the back foot.
    At the crack of dawn on Tuesday she was at the sprawling Rungis food market outside Paris, taking aim at what she said was Macron's desire for "total deregulation, total opening up, total free trade".
    In contrast, her opponent has huddled in strategy meetings over June legislative elections that will determine the shape of a future Macron government.
    Polls suggest that Macron will trounce Le Pen in the runoff with a margin of some 20 points.
    But after the political shocks of Britain's vote to leave the European Union and Donald Trump's unlikely ascent to the White House, analysts say a late surge by Le Pen is still possible.
    Le Pen says she is the only candidate for change in a deeply divided country burdened by high unemployment and inequality.
    Le Pen said Monday she was quitting temporarily as head of her National Front (FN) party in order to concentrate on the campaign.
    The move was seen as largely symbolic but one that would loosen her association with the FN, the party founded by Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie, notorious for anti-Semitic and xenophobic remarks.
    On Tuesday, Le Pen gained an indirect boost from a conservative activist group called Manif pour Tous ("Protest for Everyone") that in 2013 staged mass rallies against same-*** marriage, a cornerstone law pushed through by Hollande.
    In a statement that made no reference to Le Pen, Manif pour Tous leader Ludovine de la Rochere urged supporters to say "no" to Macron, an "openly anti-family candidate."
    Homage to slain policeman

    Earlier Tuesday, the rival candidates attended a sombre ceremony honouring a policeman killed on the Champs-Elysees last week.
    Macron and Le Pen stood grim-faced among hundreds of mourners as Xavier Jugele's gay partner delivered a moving eulogy to the 37-year-old officer, whose shooting was claimed by the Islamic State group.
    Macron and Le Pen differ starkly on how to protect France, still reeling from a string of jihadist attacks since 2015 that has claimed more than 230 lives.
    Le Pen has called for France to take back control of its borders from the European Union and deport all foreigners on a terror watchlist, accusing Macron of being soft on terrorism.


  12. Waqas Dar
    HAVANA: The gigantic black and white portraits of children started appearing on walls around a suburban neighborhood of Havana two years ago, the work of Cuban artist Maisel Lopez.
    The sober, finely painted portraits contrast with Cuba's dilapidated buildings and pot-holed streets, colorful vintage cars and peeling pink, apricot and turquoise paint on eclectic architecture.
    With nearly 30 murals completed, Lopez said he is only getting started on his "Colossi" series, a striking endeavor in the Communist-run country where street art is rare.
    "I want to keep expanding further afield," said Lopez, 31, who started painting the walls of homes and shops in his home district of Playa and is now completing his first mural in neighboring Marianao.
    A chubby girl with wispy blond hair wistfully rests her chin on her hands, while a black boy with angular features peers at passersby with a slight air of defiance.
    The murals are unusual in a country where public spaces are tightly controlled and posters and murals mainly have political themes or depict figures like Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
    Only one other artist in Havana, Yulier Rodriguez, has an equally recognizable assortment of street art. His figures are alien, the murals colorful. Lopez's subjects are realistic and monochrome.
    Lopez said in an interview last week that political art led him to paint murals. He helped with several celebrating the Bolivarian revolution during a cultural mission in 2009 to Cuba's socialist ally Venezuela.
    "A mural is constantly in interaction with the public," said Lopez, whose work is inspired by Cuban independence hero Jose Marti, who said "children are the hope of the world".
    "That's why I paint the children big, to mark their importance," he said.
    Unlike many street artists, including Rodriguez, Lopez seeks permits to paint on walls. While initially hard to get, he gained trust as he developed the series, he said.
    Each colossus is several meters tall and takes Lopez four days to a week to paint. Each depicts a child living in the vicinity. He does not charge to paint them.
    Instead, he earns a living teaching art classes and selling canvas portraits that can fetch up to $1500.
    Locals have declared themselves fans and guardians of his work, looking after it as people stop to take photographs.
    "It's really striking and gives life to the street," said Vivian Herrera, 47, who runs a bakery next to one of the murals. "It's like the girl is really there, with her big, open eyes."


  13. Waqas Dar
    LONDON: More than a third of Europeans and Americans would be happy to go without cash and rely on electronic forms of payment if they could, and at least 20 percent already pretty much do so, a study showed on Wednesday.
    The study, which was conducted in 13 European countries, the United States and Australia, also found that in many places where cash is most used, people are among the keenest to ditch it.
    Overall, 34 percent of respondents in Europe and 38 percent in the United States said they would be willing to go cash-free, according to the survey conducted by Ipsos for the ING bank website eZonomics.
    Twenty-one percent and 34 percent in Europe and the United States, respectively, said they already rarely use cash.
    The trend was also clear. More than half of the European respondents said they had used less cash in the past 12 months than previously and 78 percent said they expected to use it even less over the coming 12 months.
    Payment systems such as contactless cards and mobile-phone digital wallets have become so prevalent the issue has become political in some countries.
    Cash-loving Germans, for example, have been concerned that a move by the European Central Bank to phase out the 500 euro (£426) note by the end of next year is the start of a slippery slope.
    Germany is one of the countries that uses cash the most. The ING survey showed only 10 percent of Germans saying they rarely use cash, compared, for example, with 33 percent and 35 percent, respectively, in neighbours Poland and France.
    The survey also showed that, in general, countries where cash is much in use were most likely to want to go cashless.
    Only 19 percent of Italians said they rarely used cash but 41 percent said they would be willing to go cash. There was a similar trend in Turkey, Romania, the Czech Republic, Spain and even Germany.


  14. Waqas Dar
    WASHINGTON: Automakers on Tuesday urged the state of California to further ease its proposed regulations for autonomous vehicles, saying the state did not respond to their earlier objections by making enough revisions to its planned set of rules for self-driving cars.
    At a public hearing in Sacramento monitored via webcast, automakers urged California to drop some additional proposed regulations and leave much of the oversight to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But safety and consumer advocates urged the state to adopt strict oversight, and an official from San Francisco said cities should have more local control.
    A number of automakers have said they plan to begin deploying self-driving vehicles, some in commercial fleets, by 2020-2021.
    Paul Scullion, a manager at the Association of Global Automakers, said California's proposed regulations go "too far."
    The group opposes California's plan to require a permit to deploy autonomous vehicles, which must meet performance and design criteria. "We do not think requiring a permit to deploy is the right approach," Scullion said.
    Global Automakers said it opposes California's proposal that it could withdraw permits to deploy vehicles even if they met federal requirements.
    Ron Medford, director of safety at Alphabet Inc's self-driving unit Waymo, urged California to quickly issue final rules "to provide manufacturers with the certainty that they need."
    Brian Soublet, deputy director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, said the agency will review written comments before unveiling final rules.
    Andre Welch, a Ford Motor Co official, asked the state to lift the proposed prohibition on testing self-driving vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds, such as multi-passenger shuttles.
    Existing California regulations require self-driving test vehicles to have conventional manual controls such as steering wheels and pedals, as well as a backup driver. California moved to change the rules as many states said they would allow testing of vehicles without conventional controls.
    In March, California's Department of Motor Vehicles revised proposed rules to allow testing by the end of the year of autonomous vehicles without human backup drivers.
    After objections from automakers, the proposal was revised to drop requirements that local communities approve testing and that companies generate a year of testing data before being allowed to deploy vehicles on public roads.
    Among those who called for strict oversight of self-driving cars were Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety. "We do not trust the auto manufacturers or the tech industry to protect the public in the absence of federal motors vehicle safety standards," said the group's president Rosemary Shahan.
    The group Consumer Watchdog called for stricter state rules, noting that there were not yet any federal standards for self-driving cars. In written comments, the group said relying on federal standards would amount to a "meaningless house of cards."
    In February, US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said she was reviewing self-driving vehicle guidance issued by the Obama administration. Those guidelines call on automakers to voluntarily submit details of self-driving vehicle systems to regulators in a 15-point "safety assessment."
    California has proposed requiring companies submit a copy of a voluntary assessment submitted to NHTSA. David Strickland, a lawyer representing a group of self-driving advocates including Google, Ford and Uber opposed California's proposal, saying it effectively makes the assessment mandatory.
    Tom Maguire, an official at San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, said in some cases the proposed rules "rely too heavily on manufacturers' self certification of their safety technology." The agency believes cities should have the authority to deny deployment and determine when and how testing occurs.
    General Motors Co official Paul Hemmersbaugh said California should drop plans to include separate privacy rules for driverless cars. The company said California's proposed liability rules could make automakers liable regardless of fault for any crash. He said that would be "unduly punitive" and could have a "chilling effect on testing and deployment of self-driving cars."


  15. Waqas Dar
    MADRID: Villarreal kept their slim hopes of Champions League football next season alive as Roberto Soriano's late winner shocked Atletico Madrid 1-0 at the Vicente Calderon on Tuesday.
    A battle between the two best defences in La Liga was unsurprisingly settled by a single goal when the Italian turned home Cedric Bakambu's cross eight minutes from time.
    Victory hauls Villarreal to within five points of fourth-placed Sevilla, who have a game in hand, and eight of Atletico in third.
    Atletico enjoyed the vast majority of the play and chances, but were undone by a brilliant performance by Andres Fernandez in the Villarreal goal.
    "Many times we have won this way and today it was our turn to lose," said Atletico boss Diego Simeone.
    "We played well and went looking for the goal the whole game but the ball didn't want to go in."
    Fernandez made a stunning double save early on as Angel Correa wriggled free inside the area to fire goalwards before Saul Niguez's powerful header was turned to safety.
    The Villarreal stopper also denied the on-form Antoine Griezmann and Nico Gaitan before the break.
    Gaitan then had Atletico's best chance of the game early in the second-half. However, he failed to reward boss Diego Simeone for a rare start as again he was denied by Fernandez's outstretched hand.
    Villarreal had offered almost nothing as an attacking threat for the first hour but the introduction of Soriano and Bakambu from the bench posed a threat on the counter-attack in the final quarter.
    Soriano should have done better with a huge chance that was blocked by Diego Godin 12 minutes from time.
    However, he made amends just four minutes later by turning home Bakambu's cross to inflict just Atletico's second league defeat since the sides last met back in December.
    And Atletico were also dealt a blow a week ahead of the first leg of their Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid as Belgian winger Yannick Carrasco had to be replaced just 15 minutes after coming on as a substitute with a collarbone injury.
    At the bottom of the table, Tony Adams remains without a point in three matches in charge at Granada after Sandro Ramirez's double earned Andalusian rivals Malaga a 2-0 win at Nuevo Los Carmenes.
    Defeat means Granada could now be relegated as early as Saturday should they fail to win at Real Sociedad and Leganes beat Las Palmas on Wednesday.
    Adams's men remain seven points adrift of safety and have yet to even score since he replaced the sacked Lucas Alcaraz earlier this month.
    Former Barcelona winger Ramirez produced the few true moments of quality with a rasping drive from outside the area two minutes into the second-half before sealing the victory in stoppage time with his fifth goal in as many games.
    Sporting Gijon also failed to give their chances of survival a boost as they were held 1-1 at home to Espanyol to remain three points adrift of safety.


  16. Waqas Dar
    LONDON: Buoyant Chelsea extended their Premier League lead and calmed nerves at Stamford Bridge with a 4-2 win over Southampton on Tuesday that moved them seven points clear of their nearest pursuers Tottenham Hotspur.
    Goals from Eden Hazard, captain Gary Cahill and two from a buzzing Diego Costa ensured Chelsea stayed on course for the double after they beat Tottenham by the same score in their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Saturday.
    The victory pushed Chelsea on to 78 points after 33 games and exerted more pressure on second-placed Spurs, who must win a potentially awkward London derby at Crystal Palace on Wednesday to restore the gap to four points.
    "We had a really important psychological test and our answer was good," manager Antonio Conte said. "We have reached the final of the FA Cup but the other competition is totally open. But we fight until the end."
    Conte juggled his team again on Tuesday starting with Costa and Hazard, who came off the bench at Wembley, and his tactics were rewarded.
    It took them less than five minutes to open a lead when Costa controlled a pass from Cesc Fabregas, surged forward and cut the ball back for the advancing Hazard, who angled his shot into the bottom corner of Fraser Forster's net.
    Claude Puel's Southampton worked their way back into the game, keeping tidy possession in midfield and making surging runs with Sofiane Boufal, Ryan Bertrand and Manolo Gabbiadini looking dangerous.
    Their industry paid off in the 24th minute when former Chelsea midfielder Oriel Romeu forced home from close range after Gabbiadini's shot clipped the leg of keeper Thibaut Courtois and fell into his path.
    Chelsea's lead in the Premier League has been chipped away in recent weeks by a resurgent Tottenham, but Saturday's fiery Cup win had clearly boosted Conte's side.
    They grabbed the lead again just before halftime when a Fabregas corner was cleared only as far as N'Golo Kante 30 metres out. The France midfielder curled the ball back into the area for captain Gary Cahill to head home.
    Costa, who has been misfiring of late, took his chance in the 53rd minute and powered in a header -- his 50th Premier League goal -- after a corner and one-two between Fabregas and Hazard.
    He added a well-worked second for good measure in the 89th after a one-two with Hazard.
    Southampton scored a stoppage-time consolation through another former Chelsea player Ryan Bertrand.
    Conte delighted fans by bringing on club captain John Terry, who announced his end-of-season departure from Chelsea last week after more than 18 years as a senior player, for the last five minutes of the game.
    The former Juventus and Italy coach has used 36-year-old former England captain Terry sparingly since arriving at Stamford Bridge last July.
    Conte, already a favourite at the ground where two seasons ago Jose Mourinho held sway, is aiming to emulate Chelsea predecessor and compatriot Carlo Ancelotti by winning the double in his first year in charge.


  17. Waqas Dar
    Music sales rose robustly for a second straight year to show growth not seen in two decades thanks to the rapid adoption of streaming, the global industry body said Tuesday.
    Despite sliding CD sales and downloads, revenue from recorded music around the world grew 5.9 percent in 2016 to total $15.7 billion, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said.
    The growth tops the previous year's 3.2 percent increase and marks the fastest rate since the group started to keep global statistics in 1997 -- when the recorded music industry first suffered a jolt with the dawn of the internet age.
    Streaming revenue jumped 60 percent in 2016. Spotify led the way but the report said the market was buoyed by rising consumer choice among on-demand platforms including Apple Music, Tidal and Deezer.
    Music executives cautioned that the market remained fragile and that the industry will need to keep adapting, with streaming only in its infancy.
    "Remember, we're only two years into our recovery after a decade and a half of decline," Stu Bergen, CEO for international and global commercial services at Warner Music Group, told reporters on a conference call.
    "We must remain alert, resourceful and ambitious. We're no longer running up a down escalator, but that doesn't mean we can relax," he said.
    Frances Moore, CEO of the industry federation, said it was critical to work toward sustainable growth in part by keeping up investment in artists, who ultimately carry the music industry's fortunes.
    She also renewed calls for a global overhaul in regulations that allow internet companies to skirt most responsibility for users' uploads -- which, music executives charge, leads to unfairly low revenue from omnipresent video site YouTube.
    Boom felt around the world

    Music sales expanded in almost all major markets but growth was especially strong in emerging economies with the help of local streaming players and cheaper smartphones.
    Revenue soared 20 percent in China, 24 percent in Mexico and 26 percent in India. Latin America grew more than any region at 12 percent, even though sales slipped slightly in its most populous country Brazil.
    The industry body saw the potential for major growth ahead in China, which despite its billion-plus population and rising middle class remains only the 12th largest music market in the world.
    Globally, downloading revenue from sites such as iTunes tumbled more than 20 percent. Physical sales slipped 7.6 percent although CDs remain a major force in the key markets of Japan and Germany.
    Michael Nash, executive vice president for digital strategy at the world's largest music group Universal, said the balance among formats was complex, with downloads clearly slipping in the face of streaming but vinyl winning a growing market among collectors.
    "The digital transition is not a journey with a beginning, middle and end -- physical to download to streaming," he said.
    "It is an ongoing transformation driven by a rate of technological change that shows no signs of decelerating," he said.
    The report found that Canadian hip-hop superstar Drake was the most popular global artist of 2016 on the back of infectious singles such as the streaming sensation "One Dance."
    Rock legend David Bowie, who died last year, came in second, while Beyonce's conceptual "Lemonade" was the top-selling album worldwide.


  18. Waqas Dar
    Venezuela's opposition vowed no letup Tuesday in its bid to remove leftist President Nicolas Maduro from power, even as more protesters were shot dead in an increasingly violent political crisis.
    Maduro's center-right rivals said they would go ahead with new street protests Wednesday, despite a wave of unrest that has seen 26 people killed this month in clashes involving protesters and security forces.
    In the latest unrest, prosecutors said a 23-year-old man died from being shot in the head with a shotgun in overnight protests in northwestern Lara state. They did not immediately say who was believed to have been responsible.
    Maduro's own attorney general meanwhile fueled opposition criticism that the authorities are repressing protests.
    Luisa Ortega, who has emerged as a rare public critic within Maduro's camp, said demonstrators were being arrested and tried without due process.
    She cited one example where the arrest sheet for a group of people hauled in by the national guard in the northeastern state of Nueva Esparta gave no details on their alleged crimes.
    "What were they doing? What behaviour led to their arrest?" she said at a news conference.
    "We cannot charge them with a crime when there isn't the slightest information to do so... I am obligated to guarantee due process."
    Ortega said nearly 1,300 people had been arrested in this month's protests.
    The death toll has now reached 26, including four "adolescents," she said. More than 400 people have been injured.
    Return to streets

    The opposition blames Maduro for shortages of food, medicine and other essentials in the oil-rich country.
    Maduro says the crisis stems from a US-backed capitalist conspiracy.
    He has resisted more than a year of efforts to force him from office, though he said over the weekend that he was willing to hold regional elections that have been postponed indefinitely.
    With few options left to get rid of him before the end of his term in 2019, the opposition is urging all-out street rallies to push for elections.
    "Let us not surrender. If we manage to keep up this pressure we will achieve change," said senior opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara.
    "On Wednesday we will return to the streets" for a march in central Caracas to pressure state institutions loyal to Maduro, he said.
    Fratricidal conflict

    Falling prices for Venezuela's crucial oil exports have slashed its revenues, leading to critical shortages and looting.
    The courts and electoral authorities have fended off efforts to remove Maduro since an opposition majority took over the National Assembly in January 2016.
    But moves by the Supreme Court to seize power from the assembly and ban senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles from politics galvanized the opposition and drew international condemnation.
    The latest criticism came from renowned Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, head of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
    In his first comments on the crisis in his home country, the 36-year-old phenom warned Venezuela risked a "fratricidal conflict."
    "Immediate solutions are needed... opening the doors to the most healthy and exemplary democratic game," he said in a video posted on Twitter.
    The Organization of American States meanwhile called an extraordinary meeting on the Venezuelan crisis for Wednesday.
    Gunshots at demos

    Three people were killed on Monday in the latest day of nationwide protests.
    Government officials said some of Monday's victims were Maduro supporters.
    But state ombudsman Tarek William Saab said that "gunshots rained" against a "peaceful concentration" of government supporters in the western city of Merida.
    The opposition has in turn accused Maduro of letting state forces and gangs of armed thugs attack demonstrators.
    "These acts of resistance which force the dictator against the wall have very serious cost: deaths and prisoners," Guevara said.
    The government accuses the opposition of fomenting unrest.
    "How many more deaths will it take for the opposition extremists to abandon violence as a way of doing politics?" asked Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez.


  19. Waqas Dar
    Pregnant women should get their blood pressure checked at each prenatal visit to screen for preeclampsia, a potentially fatal complication that can damage the kidneys, liver, eyes and brain, new US guidelines say.
    While many doctors already monitor blood pressure throughout pregnancy, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) updated its guidelines for the first time since 1996 to stress that screening at every visit can help doctors catch and treat preeclampsia before it escalates from a mild problem to a life-threatening one.
    “Preeclampsia is one of the most serious health problems affecting pregnant women,” task force member Dr. Maureen Phipps, a women’s health researcher at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, said by email.
    “Because this condition is common and critical, the Task Force offers two separate recommendations to help women lower the risk associated with preeclampsia - screening for preeclampsia is recommended for all pregnant women, and women at high risk of developing the condition can take low-dose aspirin to help prevent it,” Phipps added by email.
    The screening recommendations, published on Tuesday in JAMA, apply to women without a history of preeclampsia or high blood pressure. Separate guidelines advise low-dose aspirin after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy for women with a history of elevated blood pressure.
    Preeclampsia can progress quickly, and typically develops after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Blood pressure screening earlier in pregnancy can show normal results for women who go on to develop preeclampsia.
    In addition to elevated blood pressure, women with preeclampsia may also have excess amounts of protein in their urine, as well as swelling in the feet, legs and hands.
    Women may suffer from stroke, seizures, organ failure and in rare cases, death. For babies, complications include slower growth inside the uterus, low birth weight and death.
    Risks for preeclampsia include a history of obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, as well as a mother or sister who has experienced the condition.
    Because the risks of preeclampsia increase with age, women may be able to lower their chances of developing this complication by having babies sooner, said Dr. Dana Gossett, an obstetrics and gynecology researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, and co-author of an accompanying editorial in JAMA.
    “Beyond that, it is also important to ensure that all health problems are well managed prior to pregnancy,” Gossett said by email. “High blood pressure should be under good control, other diseases like kidney disease or lupus should be well controlled, and women should try to be close to their ideal body weight prior to conception.”Checking blood pressure at every prenatal visit can help prevent complications for mothers and babies alike, said Dr. Martha Gulati, chief of cardiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix and author of a separate editorial in JAMA Cardiology.
    “This is something that should be provided to every woman as part of preventive care,” Gulati said by email. “We will save lives and prevent complications and death in pregnant women with this simple, cost-effective” test that doesn’t take much time.
     


  20. Waqas Dar
    NEW DELHI: The BCCI on Tuesday had crossed the April 25 deadline for announcing their Champions Trophy squad, becoming the only team that failed to do so, from among eight countries.
    On officially the last day of squad list submission, Pakistan announced their team, making them the seventh team to submit their squad to the governing body of world cricket.
    However, the ICC constitution allows countries to name their squads post the deadline under certain circumstances.
    Defending champions India and BCCI, as of now, BCCI are not considering any extreme move of pulling out, not naming the squad is being seen as a pressure tactic.
    The BCCI has not officially sought an extension, as of late evening. Which can be perceived as defiance, considering the dispute between BCCI and ICC over reduction in share revenue, when BCCI threatened to pull out of the event.
    According to a top BCCI official, naming the India squad is a mere formality as the selectors know who are the certainties. With at least 14 of the 15 members of the Indian team more or less known, the Indian officials are in no tearing hurry.
    "Tell me one thing, if we name the squad, say for example on May 5, will ICC bar us from participation. We have a settled squad and naming it is a mere formality," he added.
    The ICC Champions Trophy will go on from 1st June till June 18.
     


  21. Waqas Dar
    Fossils accidentally discovered in South Africa are probably the oldest fungi ever found by a margin of 1.2 billion years, rewriting the evolutionary story of these organisms which are neither flora nor fauna, researchers said Monday.
    If verified as both fungal and multicellular, the 2.4 billion-year-old microscopic creatures -- whose slender filaments are bundled together like brooms -- could also be the earliest known specimens of the branch of life to which humans belong, they reported in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
    Up to now, the first fossil trace of eukaryotes -- the "superkingdom" that includes plants, animals and fungi, but not bacteria -- dates to only 1.9 billion years ago.
    Earth itself is about 4.6 billion years old.
    The ancient fungus-like life forms, found in fossilised gas bubbles 800 metres (2,600 feet) underground in South Africa's Northern Cape Province, are remarkable not just for their age but their origin, the researchers said.
    It has long been assumed that fungi first emerged on land, but the newly-found organisms lived and thrived under an ancient ocean seabed, tucked in the crevices of volcanic rock.
    Nobody was looking for them, explained co-author Birger Rasmussen, a geology professor at Curtin University in Bentley, Australia who was examining lava samples from the Ongeluk Formation to determine their age.
    It screamed 'life'

    "My attention was drawn to a series of petrified gas bubbles, and when I increased the magnification of the microscope, I was startled," he recalled.
    The bubbles were "filled with hundreds of exquisitely preserved filaments that just screamed 'life'," he wrote by email.
    The plot thickened when Rasmussen realised that the surrounding lava was not 2.2 billion years old, as previously thought, but 2.4 billion years old.
    That extra 200 million years was significant because it straddles a critical threshold in Earth's geological history called the Great Oxidation Event -- a rapid and massive outpouring of oxygen into the atmosphere.
    The new dating meant that not only had these fungus-like creatures lived in a dark and cavernous world devoid of light, but they also lacked oxygen.
    "This would have tremendous implications for the lifestyle of the early ancestors of eukaryotes and fungi," Rasmussen added.
    For many years, fungi were grouped with, or mistaken for plants. Not until 1969 were they officially granted their own "kingdom", alongside animals and plants, though their distinct characteristics had been recognised long before that.
    Yeast, mildew and molds are all fungi, as are many forms of large, mushroom-looking organisms that grow in moist forest environments and absorb nutrients from dead or living organic matter.
    Looking in the wrong place
    Unlike plants, fungi do not photosynthesise, and their cell walls are devoid of cellulose.
    The creatures unveiled in the new study existed in what is called the deep biosphere, beneath land and sea.
    "The deep biosphere -- which hosts a significant part of Earth's biomass -- is very poorly known, and its history even more so," said lead author Stefan Bengtson, a palaeobiologist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History.
    Earlier research has turned up evidence that gas bubbles in lava below the bottom of the sea provided living space for fungi as far back as 50 million years.
    "What we have now found is that such a habitat existed already more than two billion years ago -- at a time when fungi were not thought to have yet existed," Bengtson told AFP.
    Fungi in this environment most probably live in symbiosis with microbes, using chemically stored energy for their metabolism, added co-author Magnus Ivarsson, an expert on these hidden worlds.
    "They may not even have needed free oxygen."
    Scientists not involved in the study said its was potentially paradigm shifting, but must be bolstered by further research.
    The discovery "challenges current thinking about when and where eukaryotes evolved," Nicola McLoughlin, a professor at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, commented, also in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
    It "raises the question of whether we have been looking in the wrong place for the earliest eukaryotes and fossil fungi in particular."


  22. Waqas Dar
    When the Panama verdict was announced, images of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif celebrating with his family were splattered across the media with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz distributing sweets among its followers.
    Five days after the verdict, reports have emerged that Nawaz Sharif seems to be ‘unhappy’ with the team of lawyers who represented his family in the Panama Leaks case, it was pointed out in Geo News show Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath on Tuesday.
    Speaking on the issue, Geo News special correspondent Zahid Gishkori remarked that Nawaz Sharif had to evaluate why the verdict was not completely in his favour.
    Reports suggest that PM Nawaz Sharif was disappointed with his legal team, and hasn’t even talked to them or engaged in any legal consultancy since the verdict was announced, remarked the correspondent.
    Read more: Detailed Supreme Court verdict on Panama Papers case
    Sources revealed that the senior lawyer, representing the Sharif family, had given them wrong advice. The Sharif family had provided the legal team with all the necessary documents yet two of the lawyers did not present them in front of the court.
    Moreover, PM Nawaz Sharif is also said to be upset over the manner the legal team presented the Qatari letter in the court, said Gishkori.
    He added, the Sharif family has all the required documents and will present them in front of Joint-Investigation Team, according to the source.
    Senior Advocate of Supreme Court of Pakistan Salman Akram Raja, who represented Nawaz Sharif’s sons, has also not made any statement since the verdict was announced, it was pointed out in the show.  
    On January 4, PM and his children had submitted documents in SC notifying another change of counsel in the Panamagate case. According to the documents, Advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan, would represent the PM instead of Salman Aslam Butt.
    Hassan and Hussain Nawaz were to be represented by Salman Akram Raja, while Shahid Hamid will represent Maryam Nawaz.


  23. Waqas Dar
    KINGSTON: Pakistan won by seven wickets in the first test against West Indies on Tuesday. The three-match series is now 1-0 in the favour of tourists. 
    Yasir Shah completed a six-wicket haul to spearhead a second innings rout of the West Indies and put Pakistan on the verge of a comfortable victory on the final day of the first Test on Tuesday.
    With this win Pakistan has also completed its Silver Jubilee of Test wins under Misbah ul Haq's captaincy.
    Trailing on the first innings by 121 runs and resuming at the overnight position of 93 for four, the home side were dismissed for 152 after less than two hours´ play at Sabina Park in Jamaica.
    Needing just 32 runs for a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series, the tourists lost both openers and will resume after lunch at 13 for two with Babar Azam and Younis Khan at the crease.
    Having taken the first four wickets late on the fourth evening, leg-spinner Shah was kept waiting for more success at the start of play on the fifth day as the visitors´ faster bowlers continued the demolition job by taking the next four wickets.
    However, Shah, who bowled unchanged from one end throughout the morning´s play, was not to be denied another five-wicket innings haul. He wrapped up the innings with the wickets of tailenders Alzarri Joseph and Shannon Gabriel in the space of four deliveries in his 22nd over, finishing with the excellent innings figures of six for 63 and a match haul of eight for 154.
    Shah was expected to pose an immediate threat at the start of Tuesday´s play but it was Mohammad Amir who initiated the final tumble of wickets, inducing an error of judgement from Vishaul Singh, who was bowled offering no shot to the left-arm fast bowler.
    Mohammad Abbas replaced Amir and almost immediately struck two critical blows. Nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo, who had defied the Pakistanis for over an hour, flashed at a wide delivery to be well caught by Younis Khan at second slip for 18. 
    Shane Dowrich was then trapped palpably LBW two balls later and at 129 for seven the die was effectively cast.
    Jason Holder joined Roston Chase and the pair hinted briefly at a repetition of the resistance they showed a year earlier when the West Indies batted through the last day at the same venue to ensure a draw in the second Test of a four-match series against India.
    History was not to be repeated, though, as Wahab Riaz replaced Abbas and accounted for the West Indies captain via a catch behind as Holder essayed a loose drive, providing the opportunity for Shah to finish off the innings in the next over.
    Any expectation of Pakistan knocking off the required runs swiftly were ended by the dismissals of Ahmed Shehzad and Azhar Ali in successive overs. 
    Shehzad edged a catch to wicketkeeper Dowrich off Gabriel while Ali played on to Joseph, leaving the task to be completed by the veteran Younis and heir apparent Azam on the resumption.

     


  24. Waqas Dar
    KINGSTON: Yasir Shah completed a six-wicket haul to spearhead a second innings rout of the West Indies and put Pakistan on the verge of a comfortable victory on the final day of the first Test on Tuesday.
    Trailing on the first innings by 121 runs and resuming at the overnight position of 93 for four, the home side were dismissed for 152 after less than two hours´ play at Sabina Park in Jamaica.
    Needing just 32 runs for a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series, the tourists lost both openers and will resume after lunch at 13 for two with Babar Azam and Younis Khan at the crease.
    Having taken the first four wickets late on the fourth evening, leg-spinner Shah was kept waiting for more success at the start of play on the fifth day as the visitors´ faster bowlers continued the demolition job by taking the next four wickets.
    However, Shah, who bowled unchanged from one end throughout the morning´s play, was not to be denied another five-wicket innings haul. He wrapped up the innings with the wickets of tailenders Alzarri Joseph and Shannon Gabriel in the space of four deliveries in his 22nd over, finishing with the excellent innings figures of six for 63 and a match haul of eight for 154.
    Shah was expected to pose an immediate threat at the start of Tuesday´s play but it was Mohammad Amir who initiated the final tumble of wickets, inducing an error of judgement from Vishaul Singh, who was bowled offering no shot to the left-arm fast bowler.
    Mohammad Abbas replaced Amir and almost immediately struck two critical blows. Nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo, who had defied the Pakistanis for over an hour, flashed at a wide delivery to be well caught by Younis Khan at second slip for 18. 
    Shane Dowrich was then trapped palpably LBW two balls later and at 129 for seven the die was effectively cast.
    Jason Holder joined Roston Chase and the pair hinted briefly at a repetition of the resistance they showed a year earlier when the West Indies batted through the last day at the same venue to ensure a draw in the second Test of a four-match series against India.
    History was not to be repeated, though, as Wahab Riaz replaced Abbas and accounted for the West Indies captain via a catch behind as Holder essayed a loose drive, providing the opportunity for Shah to finish off the innings in the next over.
    Any expectation of Pakistan knocking off the required runs swiftly were ended by the dismissals of Ahmed Shehzad and Azhar Ali in successive overs. 
    Shehzad edged a catch to wicketkeeper Dowrich off Gabriel while Ali played on to Joseph, leaving the task to be completed by the veteran Younis and heir apparent Azam on the resumption.

     


  25. Waqas Dar
    WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday met with US Treasury Secretary Mr. Steven Mnuchin and briefed him about the economic development since 2013, according to an Embassy press release.
    The finance minister informed the treasury secretary that the country for the first time in its history has completed an IMF Program which has put the economy on solid footing, according to the press statement.
    Dar stated that following the recovery period, the country’s economy is ready for a sustained and inclusive growth.
    The statement mentioned that the finance minister stated that as a result of the prudent economic policies, the fiscal deficit has come down from 8.2% in 2013 to 4.5% in 2016.
    The foreign exchange reserves have gone up to over $21 billion which is over four months of import bill, said Dar.
    The finance minister informed that Pakistan is now eligible for IBRD loans which are providing much-needed fiscal space for development projects.
    While responding to a question by treasury secretary about efforts to curb terrorism, Dar said that the Government of Pakistan is firmly committed to eliminating terrorism of all sorts.
    Not only that, the minister also shared the details of Operation Zarb-e-Azab with Steven Mnuchin and said that the government is spending a huge sum of money not only on the operational side but also to rehabilitate internally displaced persons.
    The finance minister said that the government is enforcing legal controls to prevent misuse of banking channels to avoid flow of funds to terrorist organisations, stated the press release.
    Mnuchin lauded the recent turnaround witnessed by the Pakistan’s economy and measures taken by the government to control terrorist financing.
    He also said that both the countries need to work together to curb this menace. 
    Dar stated that Pakistan not only aspires to have better cooperation with the new US administration, not only in economic terms but in other areas too.


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