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Waqas Dar

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Blog Entries posted by Waqas Dar

  1. Waqas Dar
    SAN FRANCISCO: The US Homeland Security Department's inspector general said on Friday he was investigating possible abuse of authority in a case that triggered a lawsuit against the department by Twitter Inc.
    Inspector General John Roth described the probe in a letter to Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who had asked for an investigation due to concerns about free speech protections.
    In a lawsuit on April 6, Twitter disclosed that it received a summons in March from the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, an agency within Homeland Security, demanding records about an account on the social media platform identified by the handle @ALT_uscis.
    The account has featured posts critical of President Donald Trump's immigration policies, leading Twitter to complain in its lawsuit that the summons was an unlawful attempt to suppress dissent.
    The agency dropped its demand of Twitter the day after the suit was filed.
    Customs bureau spokesman Mike Friel said on Friday that the bureau requested the inspector general's review and will fully support it.
    The people behind the Twitter account have not disclosed their identities, but the use of "ALT" with a government agency acronym has led many to assume government employees were behind the tweets critical of Trump.
    The lawsuit said the account "claims to be" the work of at least one federal immigration employee. USCIS is the acronym of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, a component of Homeland Security.
    Roth's office is charged with investigating waste, fraud and abuse within Homeland Security. He wrote in his letter that he was looking at whether the summons to Twitter "was improper in any way, including whether CBP abused its authority."
    "DHS OIG is also reviewing potential broader misuse of summons authority at the department," he added.
    Wyden's office posted the letter online. A representative for Roth could not immediately be reached for comment. A Twitter spokeswoman declined to comment.


  2. Waqas Dar
    Google has partnered with Samsung, the world's largest Android smartphone maker, with a special version of Google Play Music.
    The special partnership will also include integrations with Samsung's AI assistant Bixby when it launches, which will work like the Assistant integration on Google Home.
    Samsung has long struggled with what role it plays in the software and services world and has long been dependent on Google for software services, on and off making competing products of its own like Milk and S Health, now Samsung Health (which replicates much of what Google Fit does).
    The partnership is important for Google as Google Play Music will now be the default music player and service on all new Samsung phones and tablets globally.
    Samsung users will also get special Play Music features as part of the partnership.
    Samsung users can upload and stream up to 100,000 of their own songs to Play Music for free, double of what non-Samsung Play users are allowed.

    New Samsung phones and tablets will also come with a free three-month trial of the service, which includes a free trial to YouTube Red.
    Samsung's basic Music player app isn't going away; it'll still be on the company's phones (for now), though Play Music will be the default.
     


  3. Waqas Dar
    LAHORE: The fuel source for Nandipur Power Plant has been shifted to liquefied natural gas (LNG), as of Saturday, in what has been termed a successful transition process.
    The Nandipur Power Plant had been operational since July 2015 and was operating on furnace oil but was not able to produce at capacity. Following conversation to LNG the plant will produce an additional 100MW increasing its capacity to 525MW. 
    In order to shift the plant from furnace oil to LNG, an 88KM pipeline was laid. The conversion, besides increasing output will also reduce operating costs.
    The conversion plans and plans to shift fuel source and increase capacity first came to light in February 2017 when a long-term operation and maintenance agreement for the plant was signed with Northern Power Generation Company Limited (NPGCL) and MS Hydro Electric Power System Engineering Company of China (HEPSEC) for a period of 10 years.
    At present, the Nandipur Power Plant is running on LNG on a testing basis, which will continue till May 1, before it launches the commercial output officially, the sources added.


  4. Waqas Dar
    RAWALPINDI: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Maryam Aurangzeb, on Saturday, congratulated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief on the Prime Minister’s ‘victory’ in the Panama case.
    “The PM and his family have been vindicated of all allegations by the Supreme Court’s decision,” Aurangzeb said.
    The minister said that the government is still engaged in eradicating the corruption started by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
    “The PM is giving Pakistan China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,” Aurangzeb said while addressing members of the press in Islamabad. “The PM is pulling the country out of darkness. He is returning Pakistan its peace.”


  5. Waqas Dar
    Philosopher, humanitarian, and physicist Albert Einstein is the subject of new TV series Genius, which delves into the drama and passion of the man who developed the theory of relativity and helped initiate the US effort to build an atomic bomb.
    Executive producer Ron Howard told reporters at the TV show's launch at the Tribeca Film Festival that he had always been fascinated by Einstein.
    "But I never realised how many twists and turns and, you know, there were in his life, and how much drama there was," Howard said on Thursday.
    The 10-part series for the National Geographic channel shows Einstein's personal struggles and "how complicated, sexy, you know – kind of bohemian – a lot of his relationships were," Howard said.
    Australian Geoffrey Rush plays the older Einstein, with Britain's Emily Watson and American actress Gwendolyn Ellis portraying older and younger versions of his second wife, Elsa.
    "He wasn't just a scientist," Watson said of Einstein, who died in 1955. "He was a philosopher, a humanist. He was an immigrant. He was at the centre of so many political events in the 20th century, or close to the centre of them, and had incredibly complicated relationships in his life."
    Genius is based on Walter Isaacson's 2007 biography of Einstein and premieres on the National Geographic channel on April 25.
    Watch its extended trailer here:
     

     


  6. Waqas Dar
    NEW YORK: Forget about French elections or the flagging Trump trade.
    Corporate America is set to unleash its biggest profit-reporting fest in at least a decade next week, with more than 190 members of the S&P 500 Index delivering quarterly scorecards, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices data.
    The lineup accounts for around 40 percent of the benchmark index's value or more than $7.7 trillion and includes big names like Google's parent Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp, and Exxon Mobil Corp.
    The onslaught could keep US stock investors' focus largely on earnings next week even as the world's attention is likely to be drawn elsewhere.
    "That would be our hope," said Joe Zidle, portfolio strategist at Richard Bernstein Advisors in New York.
    "A lot of people looked at this market and said it was the result of the Trump bump or the Hillary relief rally," while earnings have been rebounding, he said. "The faster earnings growth is underappreciated by investors."
    Many strategists have attributed the 10 percent rally in the S&P 500 Index since Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton in the November 8 US presidential election to optimism Trump would boost the domestic economy through tax cuts and an infrastructure spending binge.
    The gains drove market valuations recently to their highest since 2004, even with little progress in Washington on the fiscal policy front. Meanwhile, other anxiety-provoking events have grabbed headlines, including unsettling relations with North Korea and this weekend's election in France, which has a bearing on the country's membership in the European Union and its currency, the euro.
    Upbeat earnings from Morgan Stanley and other banks so far this reporting period cushioned those geopolitical worries, helping push the S&P 500 Index up 0.9 percent this week, its best such performance in two months. Shares of smaller companies did even better, with S&P's benchmark indexes for small and mid-ca stocks notching their best weeks of 2017, with gains of between 2 percent and 3 percent.
    Expectations for the quarter's profit growth have risen as well, and the first three months of the year now appear set to mark the strongest quarterly earnings growth in more than five years. In the last week alone, expected S&P 500 first-quarter earnings per share growth rose to 11.2 percent from 10.4 percent, a more than 7 percent jump, according to Thomson Reuters data.
    "This week definitely has proven that the Street likes earnings – it's controllable, it's [the] US," said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
    The reason for the slew of reports next week is anyone's guess, Silverblatt said, although recent holidays possibly played a role. Passover, Good Friday and Easter all fell in the previous weeks, which may have prompted some companies that typically report earlier to delay a week.
    Just 76 companies reported this week compared with 134 in the comparable week a year ago, Silverblatt said.
    Next week's rush will represent a 15 percent increase from the 166 S&P constituents that reported in the comparable week last year.
    Thursday will be the busiest day with nearly 70 reports due, including updates after the closing bell from Alphabet, Amazon, Intel Corp, Microsoft, and Starbucks Corp. That could make for a bang in the market on Friday, Silverblatt said, which is also the final trading day of April.


  7. Waqas Dar
    JEDDAH: At least one person was reported dead on Friday morning after a road accident caused a massive oil tanker to catch fire on the Haramain expressway, authorities said.
    The spokesman for General Directorate of Civil Defense in Makkah, Major Naif Al-Sharif confirmed the fatality inside a burnt vehicle, after a 33-ton oil tanker caught fire, due to an accident, on the main highway between the cities of Makkah and Jeddah.

    Photo courtesy: Arab News
    Relevant authorities were contacted at 1 AM and they were able to contain the blaze, avoiding a possible explosion of the tanker, Al-Sharif said. Rescue authorities created safe passages for vehicular traffic around the accident site.
    Read more: Oil tanker catches fire on Super Highway
    Arab News photographer Ahmad Hashad said he saw firemen fighting to contain the inferno engulfing the oil-laden vehicle. Images from the scene showed at least two smaller cars destroyed by the flames.

    Photo courtesy: Arab News
    The Haramain expressway is the main route into Makkah from Jeddah.
    It is the primary route for most pilgrims to the holy city after they land at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport.


  8. Waqas Dar
    Brace yourself as NASA has released stunning image of Earth from in between Saturn’s ring from 870 million miles.
    Excited? We also are!
    A new photo taken by the Cassini spacecraft near Saturn shows Earth as a small speck of light, framed and dwarfed by Saturn's famous rings. 

    IMAGE: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/SSCI
    The blue planet shows up as a tiny spec of light in between Saturn's icy rings. 
    According to NASA, the southern Atlantic Ocean was facing the space probe at the time.
    The Cassini spacecraft is only five days away from performing its "grand finale," or planned conclusion to its 13-year mission. 
    The picture was taken on April 12, according to NASA.
    NASA in its statement said, "Although far too small to be visible in the image, the part of Earth facing Cassini at the time was the southern Atlantic Ocean."
    Astronauts who fly to the International Space Station talk about how they spend their precious free time looking down at our home planet.
    Other spacecraft have also taken photos like this from far-off parts of the solar system. 
    Perhaps the most famous of these photos is the "pale blue dot" image taken by Voyager 1 in 1990. That image shows Earth as a tiny fleck on a beam of sunlight from more than 4 billion miles away. 
     


  9. Waqas Dar
    SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK: President Donald Trump's travel ban on citizens of six Muslim-majority nations faces its second challenge at a US appeals court next month, and this time more Republican states are backing the measure, while one Democratic state attorney general dropped out of the legal fight this week.
    Some legal experts say the states' realignment could signal that the changes made last month to Trump's original executive order have strengthened the government's case.
    Sixteen Democratic state attorneys general and the District of Columbia on Thursday filed a "friend of the court" brief backing Hawaii in its bid to block the March 6 executive order, which two federal judges put on hold before it could be implemented. Hawaii and other states argue the ban violates the US Constitution because it discriminates against Muslims.
    But Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who opposed the original ban that Trump signed on January 27, did not join Thursday's brief, which was filed in the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Shapiro declined to comment.
    On the other side, Texas, which had been alone in its support for the original January order, has gained the support of 14 Republican states urging that the ban go forward in a legal brief filed on April 10. Those states back the government's argument that the president has wide authority to implement immigration policy and that the ban is needed to prevent terrorist attacks.
    Trump's original ban, which the president said was needed for national security to head off attacks by militants, applied to seven Muslim-majority nations and indefinitely banned the entry of all refugees from Syria. It was revised and narrowed after a flurry of legal challenges.
    "The second executive order was much more carefully written than the first. Maybe when various states analysed it they weren't as interested as joining," said Stephen Yale-Loehr an immigration expert at Cornell University Law School. However, he said, "amicus briefs sometimes are filed for political reasons."
    Some judges pay close attention to amicus briefs, while others disregard them.
    The US Department of Justice declined to comment.
    Trump's January order was hastily implemented just days after his inauguration, leading to chaos and protests at airports and more than two dozen lawsuits. A federal judge in Seattle halted the order and the 9th circuit upheld that ruling.
    The White House re-crafted the order to exclude legal permanent residents and removed Iraq from the list of targeted countries. Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen are still included in the new order. The new ban also dropped language giving preference to refugees who are part of a persecuted religious minority in their country of citizenship.
    The changes were meant to chip away at the plaintiffs' "standing" to sue, which requires that anyone bringing a lawsuit show they have been directly harmed by the action they are contesting.
    But as soon as the second order was signed, states and civil rights groups went back to court, saying that it was still discriminatory.
    Federal district judges in Maryland and Hawaii put the second order on hold before it could take effect on March 16. The judge in Hawaii blocked the two central sections of the ban, on travel and refugees, while the Maryland judge only halted the travel portion.
    Most of the focus is now on the Hawaii case, which is being heard by the 9th Circuit on May 15.
    The 4th Circuit appeals court in Virginia is slated to hear arguments in the Maryland case on May 8.
    Not all states have staked out a side in the fight. Pennsylvania now is among 18 states, including Michigan, Ohio, and New Jersey that have not taken sides on the issue, opting not to file any legal briefs.


  10. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: An important session of the Sindh Cabinet, to decide on extending the Rangers' special policing powers in Sindh, will be held on Saturday.
    The session, scheduled for 4 PM, was called by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, sources told Geo News.
    The special policing powers granted to Pakistan Rangers Sindh in Karachi, for a period of three months, expired on Friday, April 14.
    The Sindh government had approved a 90-day extension in Rangers' special powers in Karachi in January. The notification granting powers to the paramilitary force took effect from January 16, 2017.
    Read more: Rangers object to notification issued by Sindh government
    The special policing powers under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 allow Pakistan Rangers Sindh to carry out raids and arrest suspects.
    Rangers have had been granted these powers to scale down terrorism, extortion, kidnappings for ransom, target killings and other crimes in Karachi, which has long been plagued by violence, mafias and criminal gangs.
    However, the 90-day extension in Rangers powers expired Friday, after which the paramilitary force needs authorisation by the provincial administration to continue its operations against terrorists and criminals in the megapolis.
    Read more: Sindh govt’s excuse on Rangers’ powers illogical, says Nisar
    The Home Department of Sindh forwarded a summary of extension to Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah on April 5, which is pending approval.
    Earlier in 2016, the provincial government tried to restrict the Rangers’ powers in Karachi. However, the move was overruled by the centre.


  11. Waqas Dar
    SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc outlined a plan to train operators of self-driving cars in documents submitted to California regulators earlier this month, the latest clues to the company's autonomous vehicle technology aspirations.
    Apple was granted a permit to test self-driving cars on April 14 by the California Department of Motor Vehicles but the company has never said anything about its plan.
    The state released 41 pages of Apple application documents to Reuters that give some clues about the company's highly secret self-driving effort, which it has never openly acknowledged.
    The iPhone maker joins a long list of carmakers, start-ups and technology rivals, including Alphabet's Waymo, that are testing cars on state roads. Apple is looking for new hit products and autonomous car technology is expected to revolutionise the traditional auto industry.
    As part of the application, Apple included a 10-page training plan that appeared to be related to operators taking back manual control of the car during automated driving exercises of the system, which it calls a development platform.
    Apple declined comment beyond the filing.
    The plan includes a document called "Automated System: Development Platform Specific Training Overview" whose objective is "to train safety drivers in various automated driving conditions."
    "Development platform will be controlled electronically (e.g. joystick) and safety drivers must be ready to intervene and take control," the document reads.
    The document highlights different scenarios to be tested, from high speed driving and tight U-turns to lane changes.
    One letter sent from Apple to the state Department of Motor Vehicles noted that Apple's development platform "will have the ability to capture and store relevant data before a collision occurs."
    The document does not include detail on how Apple's self-driving platform actually works or other technical details. It also does not say what kind of sensors are found on Apple's three permitted vehicles, all 2015 Lexus model RX450h.
    The permit does not necessarily mean that Apple itself is building a full car. Apple could instead be designing a self-driving platform that can be integrated into other manufacturer's cars.
     


  12. Waqas Dar
    Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said the prognosis was “fairly negative” after losing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo to injury during Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final win over Anderlecht.

    Top scorer Ibrahimovic’s knee buckled as he landed following an aerial challenge in the Anderlecht box late in normal time and he went down grimacing in pain before hobbling off.
    Rojo succumbed to a knee injury in the first half at Old Trafford and had to be stretchered off, with Daley Blind taking his place.
    “I don’t think they are easy injuries, but I prefer to wait until all the tests are done and then speak. I can’t do that because I am a manager not a doctor,” Mourinho told BT Sport.
    “But the news is fairly negative I think.”
    After receiving treatment from United’s medical staff, Ibrahimovic was able to limp down the tunnel, with Anthony Martial coming on as a replacement.
    Ibrahimovic, 35, has been a sensation since joining on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain last year, scoring 28 goals and inspiring United to victory in the League Cup.
    Rojo’s injury deprives United of another centre-back at a time when Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are already sidelined.
    “It is disappointing. Hopefully it is not too serious because they are two big players for us,” said midfielder Michael Carrick.
    United prevailed 2-1 on the night, and 3-2 on aggregate, courtesy of an extra-time winner by Marcus Rashford.


  13. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: A 27-year-old man, identified as son of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Peshawar Shahab Mazhar, was allegedly strangled by a police guard in Karachi late Friday, officials and relatives said, under circumstances not yet clear.
    Umair Shahab, son of DIG Peshawar Shahab Mazhar, was allegedly strangled by a police guard at his house located in Defence Khayaban e Sehr, said SP Clifton Asad Aijaz. Umair was killed over a monetary dispute, the official added.
    "Umair and the guard, Faqir Muhammad, allegedly had a scuffle before the former was killed," Aijaz said, confirming that the suspect had been taken into custody.
    The deceased's father, DIG Shahab Mazhar, accused the police guard of murdering his son. He denied any monetary dispute between his son and the accused guard.

    Pictured is suspect, Faqir Muhammad, locked up inside police station
    The senior police official, presently stationed in Peshawar, claimed the guard threatened his family and demanded money from them. Shahab added that his wife and two daughters were at home when the incident occurred.
    The arrested guard, Faqir Muhammad, said that he needed Rs2 lac to send back home in his native village. When asked the owners, the guard said, they refused to give money.
    "Meanwhile, Umair came and I had a scuffle with him," he claimed, adding that "Umair tried to kill me, but got himself killed when I resisted".
    The suspect was recruited in Kashmore police in 2002 and had been deployed on security of the DIG's residence since 2016, police said.


  14. Waqas Dar
    Action star Chris Pratt swapped his superhero gear for a formal suit Friday as he was awarded a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame for his contribution to cinema.
    Pratt, 37, found fame as loveable slacker Andy Dwyer on NBC comedy "Parks and Recreation" but has since become one of Hollywood's most sought-after leading men thanks to roles in "Jurassic World" and Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy."
    "I'm a man of faith and I believe that God works in mysterious ways, and gives us signs and gifts in life. And those gifts oftentimes come in the form of people," he said, paying tribute to his mother.
    "Oftentimes we weren't cash-rich but we were never love-poor," he told a crowd on Hollywood Boulevard that included "Guardians" co-stars Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and Michael Rooker.
    The actor thanked filmmaker James Gunn for casting him as Star-Lord in "Guardians" -- a role he said had changed "so many lives," from children in hospital to his real estate agent -- and acknowledged Marvel for "taking a chance on the chubby guy from 'Parks and Rec.'"
    He also paid a lengthy tribute to his wife, the actress Anna Faris, telling her: "Without you, none of this would mean anything."
    Pratt, once a moderately successful TV actor, went to great lengths to build an action hero's physique and was rewarded with his first major lead part in 2014's "Guardians," which went on to gross more than $770 million worldwide.
    The sequel, due out on May 5, is expected to do even bigger business.
    Pratt also starred in 2015 monster movie reboot "Jurassic World," the fourth-highest grossing film of all time, and is due to reprise the role of dinosaur trainer Owen Grady in the sequel, due out in 2018.
    "Five years ago, I said to reporters Chris Pratt is the biggest movie star in the world -- it's just that people don't know it yet. Well now, here today, people know it," said Gunn, 46.
    Faris, with whom Pratt has a four-year-old boy, showed the crowd a unicorn Pratt had drawn her before giving an unconventional speech thanking the many friends and family who had helped shape her husband.
    "I know that if our circumstances were different, and we weren't as fortunate to be standing here and leading our Hollywood life, we would be happy in the woods together," she said.
    Raised in Lake Stevens, Washington, Pratt studied acting at a local community college for half a semester before moving to Hawaii and living in a van.
    He got a job at a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant where he was discovered by Canadian-American actress Rae Dawn Chong, who gave him a role in her directorial debut, the short horror film "Cursed Part III," which was never released.
    His other film credits include "The Magnificent Seven," "Passengers," "Moneyball" and "Zero Dark Thirty."


  15. Waqas Dar
    French artist Abraham Poincheval, who famously spent a week inside a rock and two weeks inside a bear sculpture, has succeeded in hatching chicken eggs after incubating them for some three weeks.
    Poincheval embarked on his latest project in late March of imitating a mother hen by incubating some 10 eggs with his own body heat inside a glass vivarium at Paris' Palais de Tokyo contemporary art museum.
    At the time, he estimated it would take 21-26 days for the eggs to hatch and the first did so on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the museum said on Thursday nine had hatched and the chicks were on their way to a farm.
    For the endeavour, Poincheval sat on a chair, wrapped in an insulating blanket, over a container with the eggs. He could leave his seat for no more than 30 minutes a day for meals.
    Earlier this year, the artist spent a week inside a block of stone, while in 2014, he lived in a hollowed-out bear sculpture for two weeks.


  16. Waqas Dar
    High school athletes with access to a certified athletic trainer are more knowledgeable about concussions and their consequences, but that doesn’t make them more likely to report a concussion, a US study finds.
    “The underreporting of concussions is estimated to be high, and the No. 1 reason athletes do not report a concussion is because they do not want to lose playing time,” lead study author Jessica Wallace of Youngstown State University in Ohio said by email.
    Although experts estimate that athletic trainers are present in 86 percent of US high schools, only about 37 percent of high schools employ one full-time. In high schools with no athletic trainer, athletes are five times more likely to not report concussion symptoms because they didn’t know they had a concussion, Wallace told Reuters Health.
    Sports-related concussions account for about 4 percent to 9 percent of high school injuries and have symptoms such as headaches, confusion, nausea, amnesia and trouble sleeping.
    “This study sheds light on the multiple reasons why student-athletes may not report a concussion, including not thinking the injury was serious enough to require medical attention or not wanting to let the team down,” Wallace said.
    She and her colleagues surveyed 715 student athletes ages 13 to 19, including 438 students who had access to an athletic trainer. Athletes answered 83 questions about their own concussion history, concussion knowledge, responses in specific scenarios, signs and symptoms of a concussion and reasons why an athlete would not report a concussion.
    Overall, 55 percent of high school athletes underreported concussions. Eighty-seven percent of athletes from schools without athletic trainers understood the dangers of concussions, as compared to 94 percent from the schools with athletic trainers.
    Similarly, 61 percent of athletes from schools without athletic trainers understood the signs and symptoms of a concussion, compared to 78 percent from the schools with athletic trainers.
    Overall, in the schools without athletic trainers, 16 percent more athletes thought they could continue playing if they believed they had a concussion and 12 percent more athletes thought they could continue playing with concussion symptoms. This knowledge gap is prominent and should be addressed, the study authors write in a special concussion-themed issue of the Journal of Athletic Training.
    “The athletic trainer serves a vital role in the health and safety of high-school athletes,” Wallace said. “One of the athletic trainer’s responsibilities is to help educate athletes, coaches and parents about concussions that appear to be happening within high schools.”
    At the same time, access to an athletic trainer wasn’t linked to a higher proportion of concussions being reported, the study found.
    In the survey, about 46 percent of the students said they had experienced a potential concussion during play and only 21 percent had reported it to an authority figure at the time. About 19 percent of these incidents were reported in schools without athletic trainers, compared to 25 percent in schools with athletic trainers, a difference too small to rule out the possibility it was due to chance.
    “This multifaceted issue includes many reasons why students may choose not to disclose an injury, including knowledge, intention and attitude,” said Johna Register-Mihalik of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who developed the concussion survey used in the current study but was not part of the study team.One limitation of the study is that the students came from 14 schools in two Michigan metro areas and participated in football, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, gymnastics, soccer or cheerleading, which may limit how broadly the results can be generalized, the authors note.
    The Michigan students received state-mandated concussion education based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HEADS UP program. Wallace and colleagues recommend that this or a similar education program be used to target schools without an athletic trainer in order to talk about the signs, symptoms and dangers of concussion.
    “Improving concussion protocol will extend into other issues with student athletes, such as lack of mental health disclosure and allowing play when athletes are injured or sick,” Register-Mihalik said. “Involving parents, coaches and students can create a safe playing environment.”
     


  17. Waqas Dar
    The Paris stock market fell on Friday after the latest violent attack in the city and as traders awaited a hotly-contested presidential election in France.
    London was weighed down by much weaker than expected British retail sales data, while Frankfurt gained as separate figures showed the eurozone economy grew at its fastest pace in six years in April.
    US stocks finished lower, burdened by caution over the French election.
    In Asia on Friday, Tokyo's Nikkei closed up one percent as exporters were boosted by some weakness for the yen and comments from Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda that he would maintain a loose monetary policy, despite an improvement in the economy.
    Oil prices fell sharply on worries about excessive supplies.
    Paris incident rocks election

    Markets were still feeling the reverberations after a known terror suspect shot dead a French policeman and wounded two others Thursday on Paris's Champs Elysees, in an attack claimed by Daesh days before the first election round on Sunday.
    But while tension in the French capital was felt on trading desks, the market's reaction was far from dramatic, analysts said.
    A four-way split in the presidential race is leaving analysts unable to work out which two candidates are likely to make it into a run-off election two weeks later.
    There was talk that undecided voters could swing towards far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in response to the attack. Fears are that Le Pen would push for France's exit from the European Union if elected.
    But polls suggest that whoever faces her in the second round will win.
    "The sense that Marine Le Pen's success will end at the second round in May dissuaded investors from panicking about any impact the shooting of a policeman in Paris could have on the first round of voting on Sunday," said Jasper Lawler, Senior Market Analyst at LCG.
    Currency markets avoided major swings. Analyst Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management said a victory by centrist Emmanuel Macron would be the most bullish outcome for the euro.
    "Throughout this past week, the euro traded as if Macron was a sure win but this is a big mistake because even the polls show that the market is underestimating the possibility of a strong victory by Le Pen," Lien said.
    "As it is extremely difficult to predict the outcome of the election, the best way to trade the French Presidential election is to wait until the results are known. If the outcome is meaningful enough, which means it creates enough fear or relief, the impact on the euro will last for not only a few minutes but for days."
     


  18. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bernd Hildenbrand has been removed from his post, read a PIA notification issued Friday, however his name continues to remain on the Exit Control List (ECL).
    The German national is on the ECL pending an investigation by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) into corruption and illegal actions by him.
    The FIA is carrying out an investigation against Hildenbrand for leasing aircraft at inflated rates in comparison to prevailing market rates and for selling a PIA Airbus A310 aircraft to a German museum in violation of rules and regulations.
    Earlier on April 6, Hildenbrand had gone on a 15-day leave. He, however, cannot leave the country until his name is removed from the ECL.
    The notification further said that Chief Financial Office (CFO) Nayyar Hayat has been given the charge of acting CEO of the national flag-carrier.


  19. Waqas Dar
    LAHORE: At least one man was killed and nine others wounded in different incidents after rain coupled with gusty winds lashed Lahore on Friday, rescue officials said.
    Several trees were uprooted on Canal Road because of strong winds, according to a spokesperson for Rescue 1122. A 32-year-old man, who had gone out to get medicine, was killed after a tree fell on him in Shahdara area.
    Similarly, power supply was suspended in Shadman area, when a tree fell on a transformer.
    Nine people were injured after a wall of their house collapsed in Shahdara. Eight of them were discharged after being given first aid, the spokesman added.
    However, one man, Umair, was seriously wounded, who was shifted to General Hospital.


  20. Waqas Dar
    KINGSTON: Half-centuries by Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich engineered a West Indies revival in reaching 244 for seven at stumps against Pakistan on the opening day of the first Test at Sabina Park on Friday.
    Coming together immediately after lunch when opener Kieran Powell became Mohammad Amir´s third wicket with the innings in tatters at 71 for five, Chase batted with confidence and fluency for a top score of 63.
    His sixth-wicket partnership with Dowrich was worth 118 runs, the wicketkeeper-batsman enhancing his reputation with a polished 56, the pair making a mockery of the West Indies´ earlier struggles after they were put in to bat.
    On the same ground where an unbeaten hundred in just his second Test match saved the West Indies from defeat against India a year earlier, Chase looked at ease against all bowlers although his penchant for the uncontrolled hook resulted in a couple of narrow escapes.
    Yet it was Yasir Shah who removed both him and Dowrich off successive deliveries in the final session.
    Made to look ordinary by the pair´s positive play through the afternoon, the leg-spinner had the last laugh when he lured Chase into the lofted stroke and Wahab Riaz held an outstanding catch running back from mid-off almost to the boundary rope.
    Dowrich was then completely deceived and bowled by the next delivery.
    At 189 for seven, Pakistan´s hopes of dismissing the West Indies on the opening day were revived, only for captain Jason Holder (30 not out) and specialist spinner Devendra Bishoo (23 not out) to frustrate the visitors with an enterprising unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 55.
    Earlier, Mohammad Abbas had a dream start to his Test career, having Kraigg Brathwaite caught at second slip by Younis Khan without scoring with his second delivery sharing the new ball with Amir.
    It was an important early breakthrough as the opener had made history in their last Test match meeting with unbeaten scores of 142 and 60 that earned the Caribbean side a five-wicket win in Sharjah last November at the end of an otherwise miserable tour of the United Arab Emirates.
    West Indies played two debutants in the middle-order in the pair of Guyanese left-handers Shimron Hetmyer and Vishaul Singh, and Pakistan pressed the advantage even further with Aamir claiming his first wickets for three Test matches.
    Maintaining a nagging accuracy, the left-arm fast bowler bowled both Hetmyer and Shai Hope, scattering the stumps with deliveries that jagged in sharply off a good length.
    Pakistan´s third seamer in their bowling armoury, Riaz, then removed Singh via a fine diving catch by Azhar Ali at backward square-leg to have the home side tottering at that point at 53 for four.
    West Indies opted to omit Jermaine Blackwood from their final eleven to accommodate the debutants in the batting line-up, meaning there was no Jamaican in the home side for a Test match at Sabina Park for the first time since 1997 when, incidentally, the opponents were also Pakistan.
    Notwithstanding his impressive entry to senior international cricket during the limited-over leg of the tour, the visitors resisted the temptation to include the uncapped Shadab Khan in their team as a second spinner in support of Shah, choosing instead to introduce 27-year-old Abbas to Test cricket.
    This is the 50th Test between the two nations and also the 50th Test match to be played at Sabina Park since the very first at the venue in 1930.
     


  21. Waqas Dar
    SAN FRANCISCO: A power outage hit about 90,000 customers on Friday morning in San Francisco, closing shops and snarling traffic in the city's technology and finance center as a large swath of the financial district lost electricity.
    The utility PG&E Corp reported a fire at a San Francisco substation and a series of outages began affecting the city shortly after 9 a.m. (Noon ET). It said on Twitter that it expected power to be restored for most customers by 1 p.m. (4 p.m. ET).
    The power cut did not affect San Francisco International Airport, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said through a spokesperson that the agency had not received any reports indicating that the outage was related to any security or terrorism incident. The spokesperson requested anonymity, citing department policy.
    Office workers spilled onto city streets in the heart of the business district, milling about as traffic piled up while stoplights were out. Elevators stopped in tall buildings and smoke lingered for hours after San Francisco firefighters quickly extinguished the fire at the downtown substation.
    King Lip, chief investment officer at Baker Avenue Asset Management in San Francisco, said his offices had been hit.
    "It's pretty big, seems like half the city has no power," he said. "We were in the middle of a trade."
    Wells Fargo & Co closed 13 bank branches and four office buildings, while the New York Stock Exchange said its ARCA options trading floor in San Francisco was briefly unavailable because of the power outage.
    For more than two hours, trains streamed through the Montgomery Street station as the outage prevented them from stopping until backup generators came on line at about 11:30 a.m., Bay Area Rapid Transit said. Shopkeepers in the financial district sat in darkened stores, bereft of customers.
    At Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in the Nob Hill neighborhood, all non-essential appointments and procedures had been canceled, spokeswoman Blair Holloway said. Two of four campuses of Sutter Health's California Pacific Medical Center were also impacted by the outage, spokesman Dean Fryer said. Elective surgeries were canceled and emergency patients were directed to other hospitals, Fryer said.
    The outage affected central and northern parts of the city, according to the city's Department of Emergency Management.
    At the salad bar chain MIXT downtown, cashiers took credit card payments using old-fashioned paper imprints, as customers lined up to eat in the dim natural light.
    "Old school," commented patron Ben Fackler. "I haven't seen that in forever."


  22. Waqas Dar
    JOHANNESBURG: At least 19 children were killed in a bus crash outside the South African capital Pretoria on Friday, emergency services said, after many were trapped inside the burning vehicle.
    The minibus collided with a truck on a road between the towns of Bronkhorstspruit and Verena, about 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Pretoria.
    Russel Meiring, a spokesman for the ER24 emergency medical service, said the previous toll of 20 children had been adjusted to 19, with the bus driver also among the dead.
    By the time paramedics arrived "the fire services had already extinguished the burning vehicle, which was found lying on its side", he said.
    Many children were trapped inside the bus and most of the fatalities were declared dead at the site of the accident.
    Several other children were injured, with reports that some of them were dragged from the wreckage by people at the scene.
    The children were given "advanced life support interventions before they were transported to various hospitals in the area for further treatment," ER24 said in a statement.
    Department of education spokesman Steve Mabona said some of the bodies of the children were charred beyond recognition.
    The cause of the collision was not immediately known.
    South Africa´s ubiquitous minibus taxis are frequently involved in accidents on the country´s roads.
    "I am saddened. It´s a sad day for education," said Panyaza Lesufi, the regional education minister for Gauteng province, who visited the scene of the crash.
    Earlier the country´s transport minister Joe Maswanganyi had called for greater caution on the roads as he announced that the Easter weekend death toll had increased by 51 percent to 235 compared to same period last year.
    Despite sophisticated road networks, South Africa battles with a high rate of road fatalities blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving, unroadworthy vehicles and failure to use seat belts.


  23. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader and Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique on Friday said that the Supreme Court was not given space to carry on proceedings in a conducive environment on the Panama leaks case.
    Saad Rafique made the above-mentioned statements during Geo News' show 'Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath'.
    “Some of them had a sit-in at Shahra-e-Dastoor,” said Rafique, pointing towards the 2014 protest of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf outside the Parliament House.
    He further said that some politicians also made appearances on TV channels during the proceedings to gave statements.
    “Judges aren’t like us, politicians, they have a sensitive side,” Rafique said.
    It is remarkable how the honourable judges gave a verdict in such a situation, he added. Rafique maintained that the judges faced pressure, calling it a conspiracy.
    “If I am wrong then challenge me,” he said.
    He said that those who didn’t follow the SC proceedings and were critical of it throughout, now demand the resignation. “Why should we resign over that,” said the PML-N leader.
    Rafique said that those who were demanding the resignation hardly constitute one-third of the National Assembly, and the ruling party cannot resign over that.
    The Minister for Railways said that his party had reservations over the dissenting note of the two judges, although the PML-N remained quite in order to maintain decency over the matter.
    The Supreme Court in its verdict on Thursday neither cleared nor gave orders for the premier’s disqualification. The ruling PML-N had declared the verdict a 'victory' for the party and said it would observe 'Thanksgiving' day on Friday.
    The SC, in its historic verdict also ordered the formation of a Joint Investigation team (JIT) to carry out an investigation into how Gulf Steel Mill came into being, its sale and liabilities, how the sale proceeds ended up in Jeddah, Qatar and the UK, and how the Prime Minister's children at their tender age had the means to purchase the flats in the early nineties.
    - Edited by Nida Mujahid Hussain
     


  24. Waqas Dar
    The killing of a policeman by a suspected Muslim militant pushed national security to the top of the French political agenda on Friday, two days before the presidential election, with leading candidates clashing over how to keep citizens safe.
    With the first round of voting in the two-stage election to take place on Sunday, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, an anti-EU politician who wants to ditch the euro, seized on the Paris shooting to push her policies on national security.
    Le Pen - narrowly trailing frontrunner Emmanuel Macron in opinion polls - said she would take steps to beat "Islamist terrorism" if elected, including introducing tougher immigration and border controls.
    Macron, a former economy minister in the government that Le Pen has criticised repeatedly for its security record, said the solutions were not as simple as she suggested. The centrist candidate, a political novice compared with his opponents, said there "no such thing as zero risk" and anyone who said otherwise was irresponsible.
    There are four leading candidates in a race that is still too close to call. Sunday's round of voting will be followed by a second-round runoff on May 7 between the top two candidates.
    Macron is in the lead with 24 percent of the first-round vote, ahead of Le Pen who had fallen back slightly to 21.5 percent, according to an Elabe survey of voter intentions taken before the shooting.
    Conservative Francois Fillon, a former prime minister, and the far left's Jean-Luc Melenchon were snapping at their heels with 20 and 19.5 percent respectively.
    The attack on Thursday night on the Champs Elysees boulevard added a new source of unpredictability to a closely contested election that will decide the management of France's 2.2 trillion euro economy, which vies with Britain for the rank of fifth largest in the world.
    The outcome could also have a bearing on France's place in Europe and the world. Should Le Pen win, it could deal a hammer blow to the European Union, which is still reeling from Britain's decision to leave the bloc.
    All the candidates are seeking to woo the high proportion of people that are undecided about who to vote for - 31 percent according to an Ipsos poll on Friday.
    Fillon also seized on the attack, which was claimed by Daesh, saying the fight against "Islamist totalitarianism" should be the priority of the next president. "It's us or them," he said.
    Financial markets though shrugged off the latest twist in the presidential campaign with French bond yields hitting a three-month low on Friday.
    The Champs Elysees shooting is the latest in a series of attacks by religious militants on France in recent years in which more than 200 people have been killed. A truck ploughed into people in Nice on Bastille Day last year killing more than 80 people while coordinated attacks across Paris including the Bataclan concert hall claimed about 130 lives in November 2015. There have also been attacks on a Jewish school, a satirical weekly and a kosher market.
    US President Donald Trump said on Twitter that the shooting would influence the French election.
    "Another terrorist attack in Paris. The people of France will not take much more of this. Will have a big effect on presidential election!" he said.
    However previous attacks that have taken place soon before elections, including the November 2015 attacks in Paris ahead of regional polls and the shooting in a Jewish school before the 2012 presidentials, did not appear to change the course of those ballots in favor of those espousing tougher national security.
    An assault on a soldier in February at the Paris Louvre museum by a man wielding a machete also had no obvious impact on this year's opinion polls, which have consistently said that voters see unemployment and trustworthiness of politicians as bigger issues.
    Security forces on alert
    A French policeman was shot dead and two others were wounded in Thursday night's attack in central Paris.
    After an emergency meeting of security officials, Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said security forces, including elite units, were on alert to back up the 50,000 police earmarked to ensure citizens' safety during the election.
    "The government is fully mobilised. Nothing must be allowed to impede the fundamental democratic process of our country," Cazeneuve told reporters. "It falls to us not to give in to fear and intimidation and manipulation which would play into the hands of the enemy."
    Controls on immigration and national security are cornerstones of Le Pen's National Front agenda and on Friday she said she would reinstate border checks and expel foreigners who are on watch lists of intelligence services.
    Macron was quick to respond to his rival's comments.
    "I've heard Madame Le Pen saying again recently that with her in charge, certain attacks would have been avoided," he said on RTL Radio. "There's no such thing as zero risk. Anyone who pretends (otherwise) is both irresponsible and deceitful."
    Tight race
    In the Elabe poll, which was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, both Fillon and Melenchon were seen narrowing Macron and Le Pen's lead over them.
    Should Macron and Le Pen make it to the second round, the former economy minister was projected to win the runoff - and thus the presidency - with 65 percent against 35 percent for Le Pen, the survey for BFM TV and L'Express magazine showed.
    Fillon, who has slowly clawed back some ground lost after being hit by a fake jobs scandal, saw his score in the first round rise half a percentage point to 20 percent.
    Melenchon, who would hike taxes on the rich and spend 100 billion euros ($107 billion) of borrowed money on vast housebuilding and renewable energy projects, gained 1.5 points to 19.5 percent as he built further on momentum he has seen after strong performances in television debates.
    If Melenchon makes it to the runoff, he is projected to beat both Le Pen and Fillon by comfortable margins although he is seen losing to Macron 41 percent to 59 percent.
     
     


  25. Waqas Dar
    RAWALPINDI: Reacting to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan’s statement, Director-General Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor on Friday said that comments by a few people regarding the head of premier intelligence agency are baseless, misleading and unwarranted.
    Maj Gen Ghafoor tweeted that the integrity of armed forces is beyond reproach.


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