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Waqas Dar

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  1. Waqas Dar
    Pakistan captain Sana Mir (L), Australia captain Meg Lanning (R) Pakistan, still seeking their first win of the ICC Women?s World Cup 2017, face an unbeaten Australia at Grace Road, Leicester on Wednesday.
    Six-time champion Australia have won all of their first three matches in the tournament so far. Pakistan, however, are looking to end the losing streak after falling short against South Africa, England and India.
    The Sana Mir-led team impressed in the bowling department against India, with Nashra Sandhu taking an impressive four for 26 and Diana Baig earning praise for her swing bowling.
    But the batting crumbled with Sana Mir (29) and Bibi Nahida (23) the only players to reach double figures, as Pakistan were bowled out for just 74.
    Diana Baig though is looking at the positives ahead of the crunch game with Australia.
    Diana Baig celebrates after dismissing Indian opener/ICC ?We?re trying to prepare for the next matches and we?re positive for the Australia match that we will do something. It?s an amazing feeling to play against Australia, but it?s just a team. I want to play against the next team.

    ?Our fielding and bowling we were 100 per cent but we didn?t click in our batting (against India) but we will bounce back in our next match,? she vowed.
    Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry, who smashed 71 runs in the match against New Zealand, said her team won?t take Pakistan lightly.
    ?Every match is a bit of a challenge. We?ve seen teams knock one another off with it being a bit unexpected.. For us, we would just like to keep building and hopefully improving with each match. That?s really the key.
    Ellyse Perry smashed 71 runs against NZ/ICC ?If those things go well then towards the end of the tournament you should be in a really good place but there?s a bit of cricket to play before then,? she said.
    Squads
    Pakistan: Sana Mir (captain), Asmavia Iqbal, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Ghulam Fatima, Iram Javed, Javeria Wadood, Kainat Imtiaz, Marina Iqbal, Bibi Nahida, Nain Abidi, Nashra Sundhu, Sadia Yousaf, Sidra Nawaz and Waheeda Akhter
    Australia: Meg Lanning (captain), Sarah Aley, Kristen Beams, Nicole Bolton, Alex Blackwell, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Belinda Vakarewa, Elyse Villani and Amanda-Jade Wellington
    Umpires: Sue Redfern and Anil Chaudhary
    Match referee: David Jukes


  2. Waqas Dar
    Representative image: Reuters  Untreated wastewater from cities is used to irrigate 50 per cent more farmland worldwide than previously thought, leaving some 885 million people exposed to the risk of diseases, including diarrhoea and cholera, a study said on Wednesday.
    Crops covering almost 36 million hectares - an area roughly the size of Germany - are irrigated with water from rivers and lakes used by cities within 40km (25 miles) upstream to discharge sewage, according to an international team of researchers.
    About 80 per cent of these crops - 29 million hectares ? are in countries with very limited wastewater treatment, such as China, India, Pakistan, Mexico and Iran, according to the paper published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
    The study was the first to use remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) for its data analysis, improving on earlier estimates based on case studies and guesswork, researchers said.
    480mn gallons of polluted water flowing into Karachi sea daily
    Sea pollution is not only affecting marine life but also causing health problems for the city?s residents
    Untreated wastewater, even when diluted, poses health risks for both farmers and consumers, said Pay Drechsel, one of the authors.
    "In wastewater we have a lot of faecal contaminants from excrement," Drechsel, a scientist at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
    Farm workers can get skin infections from contact with contaminated water, while consumers are at risk of contracting worms, diarrhoea and even cholera from vegetables eaten raw, he said.
    Pollution from human and animal waste affects nearly one in three rivers in Latin America, Asia and Africa, and some 3.4 million people die each year from diseases associated with pathogens in water, according to the United Nations.
    The threat will get worse as the global population grows and informal settlements not supported by proper infrastructure spring up in rapidly expanding cities in developing countries.
    "As long as investment in wastewater treatment lags far behind population growth, large numbers of consumers eating raw produce will face heightened threats to food safety," said the study's lead author Anne Thebo, of the University of California, Berkeley.
    In March UN experts said governments should see treating wastewater not as a costly problem but a valuable resource that could be used to meet growing demand for freshwater, energy and raw materials.
    Wastewater contains nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrates which can be turned into fertiliser while treated sludge can be turned into bio gas.
    Via Thomson Reuters Foundation


  3. Waqas Dar
    A man looks at a stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, April 18, 2016. Photo: Reuters   Asian share markets were subdued for a second session on Wednesday as simmering tensions on the Korean peninsula supported safe-harbors including the yen, bonds and gold.
    A holiday in the United States and a dearth of major data kept activity muted, though minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting due later in the day could provide some impetus.
    Among the few releases in Asia was the Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China which dropped to 51.6 in June, from 52.8 in May.
    MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.1 percent, having shed 0.6 percent on Tuesday when North Korea fired a missile into Japanese waters.
    Japan's Nikkei eased 0.5 percent, but South Korea's main index managed to hold steady.
    E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 were barely changed, while yields on 10-year US Treasury notes dipped 3 basis points to 2.32 percent.
    North Korea said it had conducted a test of a newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile that can carry a large and heavy nuclear warhead.
    South Korean and US troops fired missiles into the waters off South Korea to show their deep strike precision capability.
    US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for global action against Pyongyang's nuclear threat, though it was not entirely clear what new steps could be taken.
    The saber rattling gave the safe-haven yen an early lift, with the dollar slipping 0.27 percent to 112.97 yen. Gold was likewise 0.3 percent firmer at $1,227.31 an ounce.
    Moves were minor with the euro steady at $1.1360 and the dollar index down 0.1 percent at 96.127.
    Not all together
    Investors awaited minutes of the Fed's June meeting to gauge how committed it was to hiking rates gain this year and any detail on plans to wind back its massive balance sheet.
    "In the May minutes, 'a couple' of participants worried that tight labor-market conditions could pose an inflationary risk, while 'several others' saw a downside risk for inflation," said Kevin Harris, a director at Roubini Global Economics.
    "We will look for any shift between those two concerns."
    Markets imply around a 60 percent chance of another rate rise in December and a much shallower path of future increases than most Fed members.
    Indeed, while some other central banks had recently sounded more hawkish, signs were any unwinding of stimulus globally would not be a united affair.
    The chief economist at the European Central Bank noted healthier inflation was "crucially contingent" on policy staying easy, while Sweden's central bank sounded reassuringly cautious even as it acknowledged further rate cuts were now unlikely.
    Australian policy makers showed no inclination to go the hawkish route given subdued inflation and a desire to restrain the local currency.
    In commodity markets, oil was trying to stabilise around $50 a barrel on tentative signs that US crude production might be slowing.
    Brent edged down 6 cents to $49.55, having opened the week with its biggest one-day rally since December, while US crude lost 7 cents to $47.00.


  4. Waqas Dar
    LONDON: Former Pakistan batsman Ramiz Raja has urged the International Cricket Council to set aside a two-month window solely for Test matches in a bid to preserve the longest form of the game.
    While crowds for Tests in countries such as England remain strong, Raja, a member of the influential MCC world cricket committee, fears interest in Asia is "dwindling" thanks partly to the rise of lucrative domestic Twenty20 competitions such as the Indian Premier League.
    "I feel that the ICC has a decent plan in the shape of the World Test Championship," said Raja after a committee meeting at Lord´s on Tuesday.
    "There should be a window for that and everything else should stop for a period of two months so the best players are available to play Test cricket."
    He added: "It´s got to get better. In Asia, for example, because of poor Test match scheduling, the interest is dwindling.
    "When you go back home you are never sure if you are going to have a one-Test series, a two-Test series or whether you are going to have a Test series at all."
    ´Respect´
    Raja said national governing bodies such as the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Pakistan Cricket Board had to play their part as well.
    "You have to acknowledge and respect the status of Test match cricket and it has to come from the cricket boards, in Asia specifically.
    "For example, MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from the BCCI, Shahid Afridi retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from PCB.
    "It is under a lot of stress in Asia but if we have a properly planned Test match championship, that´s the way out of this, otherwise we will be struggling to put aside as much money as is available for the T20 leagues," Raja insisted.
    The MCC World Cricket committee. Photo courtesy: Lords.org Meanwhile the committee, whose members also include such illustrious names as Ricky Ponting, Brendon McCullum, Sourav Ganguly and Kumar Sangakkara, has come down against reducing Tests from five days to four days after it was suggested a shorter game might be more fan-friendly.
    "Last time we met, the committee was split, with some believing we should trial four-day Test matches," said outgoing chairman Mike Brearley, the former England captain.
    "This time, most of us thought, looking at the fact that over half the matches that got results last year got results in the fifth day, that we didn´t want Test cricket to become more boring. So from a cricket point of view, we believe they should stay five days."
    The committee also urged the ICC to move quickly to try to get cricket included for the 2024 Olympics, which will be staged in either Los Angeles or Paris.
    "It is crucial to have cricket in the Olympics because the game will be introduced to many new parts of the world," said Raja.
    "But for that to happen we have to present a unified front from cricket that we want to be included in the Games.
    "Los Angeles would be perfect -- I played cricket there and you´d get massive crowds."
    Brearley added it also be a huge boost to cricket in China as the Chinese government would inject huge funds if they had an Olympic team.


  5. Waqas Dar
    Paris' Mayor Anne Hidalgo awards the Grand Vermeil De La Ville De Paris medal to German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld after Chanel 2017-2018 fall/winter Haute Couture collection show in Paris on July 4, 2017. AFP/Patrick Kovarik  PARIS: They call him the "kaiser", and Karl Lagerfeld came as close as you can come to being crowned king of Paris on Tuesday when the French capital awarded the fashion designer its highest honour.

    The 83-year-old was given the Grand Vermeil medal by Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who called the legendary German-born creator "an immense talent and a wonderful person."
    "Paris loves you ? you are Paris," she told him under a massive 125-foot model of the Eiffel Tower that Lagerfeld built as the centrepiece of his Chanel haute couture show.
    A giant replica of the Eiffel Tower is seen at the Grand Palais before the German designer Karl Lagerfeld Fall/Winter 2017/2018 collection for fashion house Chanel in Paris, France, July 4, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes  "Your genius and talent has made Paris, even more, magic, creative, and beautiful," Hidalgo said of the designer, whose ageless style and acid tongue have endeared him to generations of Parisians.

    "I am a foreigner and we foreigners see Paris and France with another eye," he told a cheering crowd that included American singer Katy Perry and British actresses Tilda Swinton and Cara Delevingne.
    Lagerfeld said that a "new day is dawning in France" after the election of President Emmanuel Macron, its youngest head of state in more than a century.
    Models present creations by German designer Karl Lagerfeld as part of his Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2017/2018 collection for fashion house Chanel in Paris, France, July 4, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes  "Everyone is in love with Paris again, and with France, and wants to be here," said the designer, who has lived and worked in the city since 1952 when he and a young Yves Saint Laurent became firm friends.
    'French is hip again'
    "It's great also that French is again becoming a hip language. I want to say 'Vive la France!' and vive Paris for the Olympics in 2024!" he added, in a reference to the city's bid to stage the Games.
    Lagerfeld's Chanel show under the dome of the Grand Palais ? dominated by his Eiffel Tower ? was a celebration of Paris, with a small army of more than 60 of the world's top models on the runway.
    The designer went strong on Chanel's classic tweed look with subtly inset crystals for his winter coats and suits. Shoulders were much more rounded, and all the models ? bar the final bride ? wore brimmed hats somewhere between a boater and a bowler.
    A model presents a creation by German designer Karl Lagerfeld as part of his Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2017/2018 collection for fashion house Chanel in Paris, France, July 4, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes  As at Dior the day before, Lagerfeld went for more sombre grey hues, mixing them with black, purple, and dark blue tones, lifted by the reflective sheen of tiny inlaid crystals and ankle- and knee-length boots.

    Fellow designer Julien Fournie, who was also showing his haute couture collection Tuesday, described Lagerfeld as one of the "true greats", paying tribute to the longevity of his creative spark.
    "You have to draw and design all the time. You have to produce all the time. Karl has got it so right, unlike this new generation of designers who do three sketches and walk around them for six months and call that genius."

    Models present creations by German designer Karl Lagerfeld as part of his Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2017/2018 collection for fashion house Chanel in Paris, France, July 4, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes    Fournie channelled a 1940s golden age of glamour look in his show, with long sheath evening dresses that brought Lauren Bacall to mind.

    He told AFP that with arms and chests often covered, it was all about suggestion. "You see nothing but every form of a woman's body is celebrated," he told AFP.
    "I make incredible clothes for incredible women," he added, "women who want to decide what the world of tomorrow will be."
    Russian designer Ulyana Sergeenko continued the sober theme with a collection almost entirely in black, lifted here and there by a bit of silvery grey.


  6. Waqas Dar
    Nawaz Sharif and Emomali Rahmon at the 13th ECO Summit in Islamabad on Mar 1, 2017. Photo: File  ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will embark on an official two-day visit to Tajikistan today at the invitation of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.

    The prime minister will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif, Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz and Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir. 
    The delegation also includes officials of the National Highway Authority, a press release issued by the premier's media wing said on Tuesday.
    According to the press release, the visit to Tajikistan is reflective of the premier's vision to strengthen Pakistan's relations with neighbouring and regional countries and further increase regional connectivity.
    At Dushanbe, the leaders of the two countries will discuss bilateral relations, economic cooperation, including trade and investment, energy cooperation and regional connectivity.
    They will also exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest, with particular attention to Pakistan's policy of a peaceful neighbourhood.
    A joint declaration entitled "Road towards strategic partnership for regional solidarity" will be signed during the visit.
    A meeting of Joint Business Council (JBC) will also coincide with the visit of the Prime Minister. The JBC will consider steps to enhance bilateral trade and commercial ties.
    Tajikistan is also hosting a Quadrilateral Summit of CASA-1000 member states, namely; Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. The project aims at developing energy corridor and land connectivity between Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It will also provide electricity produced in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
    Pakistan and Tajikistan enjoy close and cooperative relations, which are underpinned by commonalities of history, culture and faith. These ties are characterised by mutual respect, shared perceptions and common desire to promote peace, stability and development in the region.
    The two countries also share common views on major regional and international issues and cooperate closely in the regional and multilateral forums.
    Pakistan was among the first few countries that recognised the independence of Tajikistan, established diplomatic relations and opened a resident mission in Dushanbe.
    A Trilateral Summit between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan is also scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the visit for discussions on regional topics of mutual interest.


  7. Waqas Dar
    Qatar shows mettle, offers compromise as Gulf states prepare meeting Qatar announced plans for a steep rise in Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) production capacity on Tuesday that suggested it was ready for a protracted dispute with Gulf neighbours, but Doha said it was doing all it could to reach an agreement.
    Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain were due to meet on Wednesday to decide whether to continue sanctions they imposed on Qatar on accusations it was aiding terrorism and courting regional rival Iran. Doha denies the charges and has submitted to mediator Kuwait replies to 13 demands that the gathering will consider.
    "What Qatar has given in goodwill and good initiative for a constructive solution, based on dialogue, we believe should be sufficient (to show) we have carried out our duties from our side," Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told a news conference in Doha.
    "There is a lot of progress that has been made on that front (countering terrorism financing)... but of course there is always room for improvement," he said, describing the sanctions as illegal steps under the pretext of fighting terrorism.
    The three Gulf states and Egypt have severed diplomatic and transport ties with Doha in a dispute that has raised concern across the Middle East and beyond. Western states fear a lengthy dispute, besides threatening political instability, could upset supply chains in a region vital for energy supplies.
    German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told the same Doha news conference he felt Qatar had shown restraint in the row which began on June 5 when the Gulf States severed diplomatic and transport ties.
    "We hope others will respond in a similar spirit.
    Qatar says it is ready to meet any "reasonable" demands.
    But the Gulf state, with a population of just over two million to Saudi Arabia's 31 million, may be reluctant to carry out conditions such as the closure of the al-Jazeera television station and removal of a Turkish military base - matters it considers impinge on Qatari sovereignty.
    Qatar mounted what appeared to be a show of strength on Tuesday when the state-owned Qatar Petroleum [QATPE.UL] announced plans to raise liquefied natural gas capacity by 30 percent. Its immediate effect will be to worsen a glut on the LNG market where Australia, the United States and Russia vie.
    LNG is natural gas liquefied at low temperatures to reduce its volume, thus allowing it to be transported by tanker where pipelines are not feasible.
    Qatar Petroleum chief executive Saad al-Kaabi said the firm would increase gas production from its giant North Field, which it shares with Iran, by 20 percent after new gas development.
    In April, Qatar lifted a self-imposed ban on development of the North Field, the world's biggest natural gas field, and announced a new project to develop its southern section, increasing output in five to seven years.
    That new project will raise Qatar's total LNG production capacity by 30 percent to 100 million tonnes from 77 million tonnes per year in five to seven years, Kaabi said.
    The decision will have international ramifications.
    With such low production costs and LNG facilities closer to buyers in Europe and Asia, the Qatari move means US producers could struggle to sell their LNG competitively and projects still needing finance could struggle to find investors. So far only Cheniere (LNG.A) exports US LNG, but there are project proposals with a total capacity of some 150 million tonnes/year.
    Energy sales have driven Qatar's rapid rise as a regional player, with vast infrastructure projects and widening diplomatic influence as well as a role in the Syrian conflict that is viewed with suspicion by Gulf neighbours.
    The Saudi Ambassador to Sudan Ali Hassan Jaafar, speaking at a news conference, said he hoped the Gulf crisis would end "in the coming hours" with the Qatari response to demands.
    "We wish well for the people of Qatar and we hope that the rulers of Qatar return to their senses," he said. "We want stability in the Gulf region and in the Arab region. ? If these demands are not fulfilled we will defend our security and stability and there will be other measures."
    Iranian question
    The LNG glut has already driven down prices. Asian spot LNG prices LNG-AS have fallen more than 40 percent this year to $5.50 per mmBtu and by 70 percent from peaks in 2014.
    So far, the majority of LNG is supplied via long-term contracts between producers and users which allow little flexibility and in many cases also prevent importers from reselling cargoes. With supplies far outpacing demand, analysts expect more and more LNG to be freely traded.
    Many producers have already started to offer contracts without resale or destination restrictions.
    Kaabi, alluding to suggestions that the Gulf states may ask trading partners to choose between them and Doha, said the company's operations would not be affected by the crisis.
    "Qatar Petroleum will continue working...If some companies decide they don't want to work with QP that's their choice. We will find other foreign companies to work with," he said.
    Analysts said the move to boost production was partly to do with added competition in the LNG market, mainly from Australia, the United States and Russia.
    "It is also to do with Iran now set to increase production on the South Pars field, which means they can up production from their side of the field (North Field) without destabilising the geology of the field," said Oliver Sanderson, gas analyst at Thomson Reuters.
    Some experts say that, while the Gulf States accuse Qatar of cooperating too closely with Iran, their sanctions could push it to closer cooperation with Tehran on gas production and exports from the shared field.
    "Qatar needs the support of Iran now more than any time before. I don't believe it would be possible for Qatar to increase production without the cooperation with Iran, if in the long term the (political) situation stayed same as now," said Reza Mostafavi Tabatabaei, president of London-based ENEXD, a firm involved in oil and gas equipment in the Middle East.
    "Also, major (oil) companies may be asked to choose between working in Qatar or Saudi/UAE and Egypt, otherwise there be sanctions against them. That?s why I don?t think that developing this project by Qatar now will be as easy as before, politically not financially," he added.
    Qatar Petroleum's Kaabi said there is no cooperation with Iran on any project in the North Field, but the countries have a joint committee that meets yearly to discuss development of the field.
    While QP owns a majority stake, energy firms including Total, Mitsui & Co (8031.T) and ConocoPhillips (COP.N) also possess small stakeholdings. RasGas is a 70/30 percent joint venture between QP and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N).
    "Qatar has one of the lowest LNG production costs in the world. It has followed an astute policy of maximising value from market prices around the world," said Ajay Singh, special advisor at Japan Petroleum Exploration Co and former gas executive at Shell.
    "For Qatar, LNG is everything."


  8. Waqas Dar
    [embed_video1 url=http://stream.jeem.tv/vod/e5638f795ee06a27b9fd57e156b16841.mp4/playlist.m3u8?wmsAuthSign=c2VydmVyX3RpbWU9Ny81LzIwMTcgNDoxNjozOSBBTSZoYXNoX3ZhbHVlPTgwZis4ek5XQUhlVDRYZWpDTUlKNUE9PSZ2YWxpZG1pbnV0ZXM9NjAmaWQ9MQ== style=center] ISLAMABAD: Strict security measures are in place around the Federal Judicial Academy where the prime minister?s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, is set to appear today after being summoned by the Panama case Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

    Maryam is expected to appear before the JIT ? formed to probe the Sharif family?s assets in light of the Supreme Court?s April 20 judgment ? at around 11am.
    Islamabad Police have extended the security perimeter around the academy and deployed more than 2,500 personnel on various security duties. Four SPs, 11 DSPs and 13 inspectors will be overseeing the security plan, with Special Branch SP Arsala Saleem deputed specifically for the security of the premier?s daughter.
    Contingents of Rangers and FC have also been deployed around the academy since early Wednesday morning. Similar security measures were put in place on June 15, when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appeared before the JIT.
    We have not done any wrongdoing, no evidence will be found: Hussain Nawaz
    Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's elder son has been summoned the most among Sharif family members
    Maryam will become the sixth member of the Sharif family to be questioned by the JIT, with her father, uncle Shehbaz Sharif, brothers Hussain and Hasan, and husband Muhammad Safdar appearing before her.
    Posters in favour of Maryam have been put up in the vicinity while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz workers from Lahore and Gujranwala are en route to the academy to ?express their support for the daughter of the nation?.
    Traffic police have closed down the main road into Sector H-8 ? where the academy is situated ? from the I-8 Interchange.
    Moreover, National Accountability Bureau Chairman Qamaruz Zaman Chaudhry has also been summoned by the JIT today, and is expected to appear around 2pm.
    The JIT's probe has picked up pace in recent days, as the July 10 deadline to submit its final report nears.
    Sources said on Tuesday that two JIT members, NAB's Irfan Mangi and Military Intelligence's Brigadier Kamran Khurshid, visited Dubai for a day in light of the investigation.
    I will [not] cower down, nor yield to pressure: Maryam
    On Tuesday evening, in a series of messages on Twitter, Maryam said her father has been through testing times in more than 30 years of his political career, acing out his rivals. 
    "Yet as an affectionate and protective father, I saw his eyes filled with concern and apprehensions over his daughter's appearance before JIT," she stated, adding that she reassured her father and told him "I am your daughter, trained by you, will neither cower down, nor yield to pressure and nothing will deter me from taking up the cudgels against transgression and injustice".
    The ?first daughter? also said that she would appear before the investigation team and follow the rule of law like her father has always done.
    No moral grounds for Maryam's summons: Shehbaz
    Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday there are are no moral grounds for Maryam?s summoning.
    "Our culture teaches us to respect women," he said, adding, that "women in the Sharif family were also subjected to mistreatment during the unconstitutional government of [Gen (retd)] Pervez Musharraf".


  9. Waqas Dar
    Photo: Web The Pakistan Meteorological Department on Wednesday said moderate monsoon currents are penetrating upper and eastern parts of the country.
    A seasonal low lies over northeast Balochistan and a shallow westerly wave continues to affect upper parts of the country. The westerly wave is likely to persist during the next 48 hours, the PMD said.
    Rain/thundershowers (isolated heavy falls) with gusty winds are expected at scattered places of Islamabad, upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Malakand, Hazara, Mardan, Peshawar, Kohat divisions), FATA, upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Lahore divisions), Gilgit-Baltistan, and Kashmir. Rain/thundershowers are also expected at a few places in Sahiwal and Bahawalpur divisions.
    Hot and humid weather is expected in most parts of the country, the PMD said.
    Past weather
    The weather remained hot and humid in most parts of the country on Tuesday. However, rain-thundershowers with gusty winds occurred at isolated places in Islamabad, Malakand, Hazara, Bannu, Kohat, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala divisions, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
    Rainfall (mm) in the last 24-hours
    KP: Mirkhani 23, Kalam 13, Kohat 07, Bannu 06, Balakot 05, Pattan 03, Dir 01, Kashmir: Kotli 12, Muzaffarabad 05, Garhi Dupatta 01, Punjab: Kamra 18, Murree, Gujrat 06, Islamabad (Z.P. 05, Saidpur 01), Sialkot (City 04, A/P Trace), Rawalpindi (Shamsabad 01), GB: Chillas 01.
    Yesterday's highest maximum temperatures
    Larkana, Dadu, Moenjo daro 46°C, Sibbi, Bhakkar, Sukkar, Jacobabad 45°C, Sh. Benazirabad, Rohri 44°C.


    Data courtesy: Pakistan Meteorological Department 


  10. Waqas Dar
    The bus that collided with a tractor trolley on Crore Road, Layyah, on its way from Karachi to Pindi on July 5, 2017. GEO  LAYYAH: Eight people died and 23 were injured in a traffic accident here on Crore Road late Tuesday night, Geo News reported.
    The accident occurred when a passenger bus ? en route from Karachi to Pindi ? and a tractor trolley met collision on Crore Road, near the city's adjoining forest, police explained.

    Of the wounded, 15 were transferred to the THQ hospital whereas eight were moved to the DHQ hospital, security officials stated.


  11. Waqas Dar
    French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe leaves the Elysee Palace after a defence meeting in Paris, France, May 18, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer  PARIS: French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe unveiled an ambitious programme of tax cuts and reduced public spending on Tuesday designed to boost investment and end the country's reliance on state borrowing.

    Philippe put spurring entrepreneurship at the heart of his first policy speech to the National Assembly after presidential and parliamentary elections in May and June.
    The government sailed through a vote of confidence held afterwards, with 370 MPs in the lower house backing it and 67 opposed. There were 129 abstentions.
    "Businesses must want to set up and develop on our territory rather than elsewhere," Philippe told the lawmakers, announcing that corporate tax would be cut from 33 percent to 25 percent in the next five years.
    Tackling France's "addiction to public spending" was a priority, he said, warning that the public debt now totalled 2.1 trillion euros ($2.3 trillion), nearly the equivalent of an entire year's economic output.
    "We are dancing on a volcano that is rumbling ever louder," Philippe told the newly elected lower house.
    He announced plans to cut public spending ? currently 56 percent of GDP, one of the EU's highest levels ? by three points and bring the budget deficit in line with an EU limit of 3.0 of GDP this year for the first time in a decade.
    He did not, however, detail the some 4 billion euros in cuts needed to meet the deficit target but said some planned tax cuts would be postponed.
    The leader of the radical left France Unbowed, Jean-Luc Melenchon, accused Macron of pushing a liberal EU-backed line that "is sinking France and strangling Greece."
    "We did not elect Mrs Merkel!" the firebrand Melenchon told the assembly, referring to austerity advocate Chancellor Angela Merkel of EU powerhouse Germany.
    Election pledges
    Almost all of the measures laid out on Tuesday confirmed election promises made by the 39-year-old centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who was elected France's youngest ever president in May after promising to modernise the country.
    The government has already set out one of his boldest reforms: an overhaul of France's rigid labour laws which will give companies more powers to negotiate conditions directly with their employees, skirting industry-wide deals.
    The reforms, which Macron wants to fast-track through parliament using decrees, face stiff resistance from leftist opponents.
    The powerful CGT trade union, which spearheaded weeks of sometimes violent labour protests last year, has already called for protests and strikes in September.
    The government will face little difficulty in passing legislation in the lower house of parliament where Macron's new Republic on the Move (REM) party won more than 300 out of 577 seats in last month's election.
    The upper-house Senate, where rightwing Republicans hold a majority, will be trickier.
    Philippe said Tuesday that the government would also honour other campaign pledges including introducing a new national service for young people, making dental and eye care free on the health system and creating 15,000 new spaces in France's overcrowded jails.
    Other measures include raising the price of cigarettes progressively to 10 euros from their current level of 7 euros to fight smoking-related diseases, the leading cause of preventable deaths in France.
    'Conquering spirit'
    Philippe's announcements came a day after Macron convened a rare sitting of both houses of parliament in Versailles for a novel US-style "state of the nation" address in which he pledged to restore France's "conquering spirit".
    Macron pledged "deep transformations" of France's entrenched political system and economy.
    He said he would slash by a third the number of MPs, telling the around 900 Assembly and Senate members present he would call a referendum if they did not agree to the measure.
    Since taking office Macron has held court twice at the former royal palace in Versailles ? he hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin there for talks in May ? and given only one media interview, drawing accusations of being aloof, monarchical or even "pharaonic".
    He still enjoys positive ratings, however, with slightly more than half of respondents in recent polls expressing a positive view of him.


  12. Waqas Dar
    Confetti falls as Joey Chestnut (C) wins Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest at Coney Island. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly  NEW YORK: Americans celebrated the July Fourth holiday on Tuesday with the reopening of a New Jersey beach closed to everyone but the governor after a government shutdown, a record-setting hot-dog eating contest and fireworks displays across the country.
    Beachgoing, baseball, and fireworks ? Fourth of July traditions ? were embraced throughout the country, along with family cookouts that favoured hot dogs and hamburgers.
    An informal peace-and-love festival in an Oregon forest drew more than 13,000 people, including two men who died of apparently natural causes.
    A 72-year-old man died on Monday and a 20-year-old man collapsed and died on Tuesday, the forest spokeswoman Traci Weaver said. A doctor administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the 20-year-old for 15 to 20 minutes but could not revive him, Weaver said.

    The United States commemorated the Declaration of Independence ? adopted by the 13 American colonies ? on July 4, 1776. The document proclaims unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
    New Jersey and Maine ended partial government shutdowns just in time for the holiday.
    A deal between Governor Chris Christie and legislative leaders allowed New Jersey to reopen parks and beaches, including Island Beach State Park, where the Star-Ledger newspaper on Sunday captured photos of Christie with family and friends.
    The beach was otherwise deserted because of the shutdown, prompting a barrage of Internet satires placing Christie in his beach chair at famous beach scenes from D-Day to the Planet of the Apes.
    An unapologetic Christie told reporters he would rejoin his family in the governor's residence at Island Beach State Park once the budget was signed.
    Major League Baseball (MLB) had a full schedule of 15 games in mostly packed stadiums across the country. Rapid-fire eating contests ? another type of competition ? also took place nationwide, including one for hot dogs in Coney Island, Brooklyn, that was shown live on national television.
    Joey Chestnut won his 10th Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest by downing a record 72 frankfurters in 10 minutes.
    In Washington, Molly Schuyler defended her title by chowing down 21 Z-Burger hamburgers in 10 minutes, Washington's WTOP television reported.
    Professing no leaders and no organisation, the Rainbow Family Gathering marked July Fourth with "care-taking of mother earth, nonviolence and living a compassionate and loving life", according to a blog.

    There were 15 arrests, mostly for driving under the influence, drugs or disorderly conduct, in addition to 108 violations and 432 warnings.

    Visitors were both rowdy and respectful, Weaver said, and the large crowd inevitably degraded the forest with trash, waste and trampling.
    "We're concerned about redband trout that are spawning in the creeks nearby," Weaver said. "Our big concern is what the long-term impact will be."


  13. Waqas Dar
    Image courtesy: Twitter DUBAI: Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Bahraini authorities to release a detained human rights activist it said was at "high risk of torture".
    Ebtisam Al-Saegh had retweeted a post on Monday criticising security forces' treatment of women and blaming the king.
    Amnesty said she was arrested at her home Monday night and taken to a prison in Manama. "We fear that she is at high risk of torture as long as she remains in custody," it added.
    The rights group said Al-Saegh had been "beaten and sexually assaulted by members of the Bahraini National Security Agency" during a previous arrest in May.
    Bahraini authorities have failed to investigate those claims, it said.
    The tiny Gulf kingdom has been rocked by persistent unrest since 2011 when some tried demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.
    Authorities have detained and tried hundreds of protestors and cracked down hard on opposition groups despite appeals by international rights groups.


  14. Waqas Dar
    Activists against the upcoming G20 summit present a Mercedes car with a banner featuring (L-R) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and reading "Do you want this car? Kill dictatorship" in front of the Chancellery in Berlin on July 3, 2017. AFP/John MacDougall  Turkey on Tuesday condemned as incitement to violence an art installation in front of the German Chancellery that portrayed President Tayyip Erdogan as a dictator, a few days before he is due to attend a G20 summit in Germany.
    Turkey's foreign ministry, whose relationship with Berlin has soured in the past year over disagreements on a range of political and security issues, said the matter was made graver by the failure of German police to intervene.
    A Reuters TV video of the installation showed a black car draped with a black-and-white banner printed with pictures of Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
    The banner was emblazoned with the phrase, "Do you want this car? Kill dictatorship."
    Critics in Turkey and overseas accuse Erdogan of increasing authoritarianism, citing a purge of thousands of state officials and many arrests following a failed military coup last July.
    Erdogan says the actions are necessary to ensure stability following the putsch attempt that killed more than 240 people.
    The Foreign Ministry statement said it expected German authorities to act against the display. "The expression on the banner? makes a direct call to violence," it said.
    The Turkish protest came a day after the German government urged Erdogan to respect its request that he not address Turks living in Germany when he attends this week's Hamburg summit of the world's 20 largest economies.
    Erdogan was infuriated by what he called "Nazi-era tactics" when some local German authorities, citing security concerns, barred Turkish politicians from campaigning in Germany ahead of Turkey's April referendum on expanding the president's powers.
    A spokeswoman for the German Foreign Ministry declined to comment.


  15. Waqas Dar
    Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives at his office in Tokyo, Japan, July 3, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged the G20 states in a newspaper article to work together on continuing climate protection policies, such as the 2015 Paris agreement from which the United States is withdrawing.

    The G20 summit, which will be held in Hamburg on Friday and Saturday, comes after a G7 in May that showed deep divisions between the President Donald Trump-led US and other western countries on climate change.
    Trump has said he will pull the United States out of the 2015 Paris deal on tackling climate change.
    In an article for German newspaper Handelsblatt ahead of the G20 summit, which Trump will attend, Abe wrote, "Global warming has already resulted in the earth, which sustains human life, experiencing various crises for a long time."
    Abe said climate change affected people around the world and people living today had to take responsibility for the issue for future generations.
    "That's why we must all take action together quickly," he wrote.


  16. Waqas Dar
    Members of the Afghan robotics girls team ? that was denied entry into the United States for a competition ? work on their robots in Herat province, Afghanistan, July 4, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Shoib  HERAT: Two Afghan girls refused visas to the United States for a robot-building competition said on Tuesday they were mystified by the decision, as the contest's organisers said teams from Iran and Sudan, as well as a de facto Syrian team, had gained visas.
    The unusual story of the Afghan all-girl team of robotics students emerged as the US grapples with the legality of President Donald Trump's order to temporarily ban travel from six Muslim-majority countries.
    Afghanistan itself is not on the list and its team's robot, unlike its creators, has been allowed entry to the US. Asked by Reuters on Tuesday why the girls were banned, a US State Department spokesperson cited regulations prohibiting the agency from discussing individual visa cases.
    So the six team members will watch the ball sorting machine compete in Washington D.C. via video link during the July 16-18 event from their hometown of Herat, in western Afghanistan, according to the FIRST Global contest organisers.
    "We still don't know the reason why we were not granted visas because other countries participating in the competition have been given visas," said 14-year-old Fatemah Qaderyan, part of the team that made two journeys to the US Embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul to apply for their papers.
    "No one knows about the future but? we did our best and we hope that our robot could get a position along [with] other robots from other countries," Qaderyan said.
    Most of the female team members were either infants or not yet born at the time of the US-backed military intervention in Afghanistan in 2001 that toppled the Taliban regime ? whose ultra-hardline interpretation of sharia banned girls from school, women from working outside the home, and all females from leaving home without a male relative.
    More than 15 years later, around 10,000 US and allied international troops remain in Afghanistan to support an elected government in Kabul that constitutionally guarantees women's rights but is increasingly losing ground to a Taliban insurgency that now controls or contests some 40 percent of the territory.
    'Clear insult'
    Qaderyan's teammate from Herat, 17-year-old Lida Azizi, was less forgiving of the US visa decision. "All of the countries can participate in the competitions, but we can't. So it's a clear insult for the people of Afghanistan," Azizi said.
    FIRST Global's president, Joe Sestak, said in a post on the organisation's Facebook page that he was "saddened" by the US decision but the Afghan team would be able to connect with the competition via a live Skype video link.
    "That is how we must now honour our fellow teammates, those brave girls from Afghanistan," he said.
    He added that the teams of 156 countries ? including from Iran and Sudan, which are on Trump?s list of countries whose citizens are banned from entry ? had received their visas.
    "The support of the US State Department (including its embassies) has been simply nothing short of amazing," Sestak said in the post, adding that one other team, from Gambia, had been also denied visas.
    Also approved for visas was "Team Hope," a group of Syrian refugees, he said.
    Syria is among the Muslim-majority countries named in Trump's executive order prohibiting all citizens from entering the US for 90 days. The other countries, apart from Iran, Syria, and Sudan, are Libya, Somalia, and Yemen.
    In a June 26 ruling, the US Supreme Court revived parts of Trump's March 6 executive order that had been blocked by lower courts. The highest court let the ban go forward with a limited scope, saying that it cannot apply to anyone with credible "bona fide relationship" with a US person or entity.


  17. Waqas Dar
    North Korea has test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time, the United States confirmed Tuesday as it warned of an escalating threat from Pyongyang and insisted America would never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea.
    The North's possession of a working ICBM -- something US President Donald Trump had vowed "won't happen" -- represents a milestone for the reclusive communist regime as it pushes ahead with a weapons program it says it needs to ward off invasion.
    Some experts said such a missile could reach Alaska or go even further toward the US mainland. But there was widespread skepticism of the North's claim of the missile being able to "strike any place in the world."
    North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un called the missile "a gift" to "American bastards" on the US Independence Day holiday, the Korean Central News Agency reported.
    Pyongyang's having such a weapon could radically alter the calculus for countries seeking to thwart the military goals of the isolated state.
    North Korea's official news agency announced that the ICBM is capable of carrying a "large, heavy nuclear warhead" that can survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
    It quoted leader Kim, who personally oversaw the test, as having inspected the Hwasong-14 missile and "expressed satisfaction, saying it looked as handsome as a good-looking boy and was well made."
    The North's Academy of Defence Science, which developed the missile, said it reached an altitude of 2,802 kilometres and flew 933 kilometres, calling it the "final gate to rounding off the state nuclear force."
    US confirmation of the launch came in a statement from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
    "The United States strongly condemns North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Testing an ICBM represents a new escalation of the threat to the United States, our allies and partners, the region, and the world," Tillerson said.
    He added: "As we, along with others, have made clear, we will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea."
    The United States requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, which is expected to take place on Wednesday.
    Russia and China issued a joint appeal to ease soaring tensions between the United States and North Korea.
    But that call was shrugged off by Washington and Seoul, which fired ballistic missiles simultaneously in a drill Wednesday simulating an attack on the North's leadership, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, "as a strong message of warning."
    The live-fire training was held at the order of President Moon Jae-In, Yonhap news agency said, who backs engagement with Pyongyang to bring it to the negotiating table.
    "President Moon said North Korea's serious provocation required us to react with more than just a statement and that we need to clearly show our missile defence readiness to North Korea," it cited Seoul's presidential Blue House as saying.
    The missiles deployed in the drill feature "deep strike precision capability," enabling the United States and South Korea "to engage the full array of time critical targets under all weather conditions," the US military said.
    More sanctions?

    China and Russia called for a moratorium on further missile and nuclear tests by Pyongyang after a meeting between leaders Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in Moscow. They also called for a simultaneous suspension of large-scale US-South Korea military exercises.
    "The opposing sides should start negotiations and affirm general principles of their relations including the non-use of force, rejection of aggression and peaceful coexistence," the joint statement said.
    Trump has been pinning his hopes on China -- North Korea's main diplomatic ally -- to solve the crisis, but troubles have escalated since the US leader took office in January.
    There are still doubts whether the North can miniaturise a nuclear weapon to fit a missile nose cone, or if it has mastered the technology needed for it to survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
    But since Kim came to power there have been advances including three nuclear tests and multiple rocket launches.
    Following the launch, Trump asked on Twitter: "Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?"
    The United Nations has imposed multiple sets of sanctions on Pyongyang, which claims that it needs nuclear arms to defend itself against the threat of invasion.
    The European Union said Tuesday that it may consider further sanctions against the North, having last month expanded a blacklist.
    The threat has grown

    US Pacific Command said the test involved a land-based, intermediate range missile that flew for 37 minutes before splashing down in the Sea of Japan.
    Moscow's defence ministry called it medium-range. But Tokyo -- in whose exclusive economic zone it came down -- estimated the maximum altitude to have "greatly exceeded" 2,500 kilometres, prompting arms control specialist Jeffrey Lewis to respond on Twitter: "That's it. It's an ICBM. An ICBM that can hit Anchorage not San Francisco, but still."
    David Wright, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, wrote on the organisation's allthingsnuclear blog that the available figures implied the missile had "a maximum range of roughly 6,700 km on a standard trajectory."
    "That range would not be enough to reach the lower 48 states or the large islands of Hawaii, but would allow it to reach all of Alaska."
    Antoine Bondaz, an analyst at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris, said the launch was a "humiliation" for Trump after his repeated attempts to get China to rein in Pyongyang.
    South Korea's Moon warned the North against crossing "the bridge of no return."
    Washington, South Korea's security guarantor, has more than 28,000 troops in the country. Fears of conflict peaked earlier this year as Trump's administration suggested military action was an option.


  18. Waqas Dar
    Roberto Polo. (Left Photo: Luk Vander Plaetse via Bruzz.com) TOLEDO: Cuban-American multimillionaire Roberto Polo will loan his collection of 7,000 contemporary paintings, sculptures, and photos to Spain for 15 years, the country's biggest cultural deal in over 20 years, officials said Tuesday.
    The collection, which includes works by German artist Max Ernst and US sculptor Martin Kline, will be shown at museums in Toledo and Cuenca in central Spain, the president of the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano Garcia-Page, told a news conference in Toledo.
    After 15 years the loan period may be extended or the works may be donated to Spain, he added.
    Garcia-Page said this was "the most important cultural operation for the country" since the Spanish government in 1993 agreed to buy the prized art collection of the Swiss industrialist Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.
    Officials did not give an estimate for the value of the works that will be loaned but top-selling daily newspaper El Pais said the collection is insured for $50 million (44 million euros).
    "I have always loaned works, and in the end if they have been well taken care of, valued and respected, I have always ended up donating them, but I first want to have proof that they are valued and respected as they should," said Polo, who lives in Brussels where he owns an art gallery that bears his name.
    "I am going to turn 66 in August and in 15 years I will not have many more years left," he added.
    Polo, whose parents moved to Miami from Cuba after the Castro regime seized their assets in 1961, said he wanted to die "with empty hands" and without taking "anything to the grave".
    The regional government of Catilla-La Mancha will refurbish the Santa Fe museum in Toledo, and a public records archive in Cuenca, to display the works but Polo will receive no money for the loan of the works, Garcia-Page said.
    The works will start to be displayed in Toledo from the middle of 2018, and in Cuenca shortly after, a spokesman for the regional government said.


  19. Waqas Dar
    REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz MANAGUA: A fishing boat with 13 people on board has disappeared in the Caribbean off Nicaragua, authorities said Tuesday.
    The Miss Johana Betsy set off on June 29 from the Corn Islands, a Nicaraguan territory, Edward Jackson of the country's fisheries authority was quoted as saying by state media.
    They said the Navy and four fishing boats were preparing to start searching for the vessel.
    In January 2016, 13 Costa Rican tourists died when a passenger's vessel sank off the Corn Islands.
    In July 2016, authorities rescued 61 people from a fishing boat that sank in Nicaraguan waters in the Caribbean.


  20. Waqas Dar
    US actor Adrien Brody will receive the prestigious Leopard Club Award when the Locarno Film Festival kicks off in Switzerland next month, organisers said Tuesday.
    The 44-year-old, best known for his haunting role in the 2002 Oscar-winning Holocaust film "The Pianist", will receive the award on August 4 at the festival on the picturesque shores of Lake Maggiore.
    The prize is awarded to actors "whose work has left a mark on the collective imagination" and has previously gone to stars including Faye Dunaway, Mia Farrow and Andy Garcia.
    "Brody gained a lasting place in the collective imagination of the movie-going public when he played composer Wladyslaw Szpilman in The Pianist," directed by Roman Polanski, festival organisers said.
    The actor, who won an Oscar for that role, "has since demonstrated his status as one of the most versatile of actors, appreciated by filmmakers in Hollywood and beyond," they added.
    Brody started his film career in 1989 in the Francis Ford Coppola-directed segment of "New York Stories".
    He has since worked with many of the world's top directors, including Steven Soderbergh, Oliver Stone, Ken Loach, Spike Lee, Wes Anderson, and Woody Allen.
    The 70th edition of the Locarno Film Festival will run from August 2-12.


  21. Waqas Dar
    LONDON: Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic barely had to break sweat to make winning starts at Wimbledon as their injury-hit opponents retired hurt amid a plague of withdrawals that blighted the first round on Tuesday.
    Federer is chasing a record eighth Wimbledon title and he was already well on top at the start of his 19th All England Club campaign when Alexandr Dolgopolov was forced to quit with an ankle injury.
    The world number three raced into a 6-3, 3-0 in 43 minutes on Centre Court before the Ukrainian limped off.
    Federer, who hit his 10,000th career ace in the eighth game of the first set, will face Dusan Lajovic for a place in the last 32.
    "I felt like there was a bit of a letdown from the crowd. They couldn't believe that it happened again, exactly the same situation," said Federer, who recorded his 85th match win at Wimbledon, passing the mark he shared with Jimmy Connors.
    "The chairman said, 'You and Novak should go and play for another set and a half'. I feel for the crowd. They're there to watch good tennis."
    Having unexpectedly won the Australian Open in January before taking the clay-court season off to rest, Federer, making a record-equalling 70th Grand Slam appearance, is the favourite to take the Wimbledon crown for the first time since 2012.
    "Everybody's got a chance to win Wimbledon and for me it's no different. I already achieved my dream to be back here healthy. Now we'll see how far I can go," Federer said.
    Djokovic, a three-time Wimbledon champion, was leading 6-3, 2-0 when Slovakian world number 47 Martin Klizan retired after just 40 minutes on Centre Court due to a calf problem.
    The 30-year-old Serb will face Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic for a place in the last 32.
    It was the kind of trouble-free first round Djokovic would have been hoping for after the most turbulent period of his career, the 12-time major winner losing in the Australian Open second round and the French Open quarter-finals.
    "He had issues walking on to court. I tried to focus on my game plan, I was serving well and when it mattered I made a break," said Djokovic.
    In total, there have been seven retirements from the men's draw over the first two days, sparking talk that players were taking part, even though they were injured, to collect the £35,000 cheque for first round losers.
    Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic quit after just 15 minutes, trailing 5-0 to Jared Donaldson when he suffered a leg injury.
    "Lots of players fight through Challengers to get to the main draw of a Slam. They have to pay coaches and their teams," Tipsarevic said.
    With defending champion Serena Williams sidelined while she prepares to give birth to her first child, the race to win the women's title is the most wide open in a generation.
    World number one Angelique Kerber, the 2016 Australian and US Open winner, is among the favourites after reaching last year's final, which she lost to Serena.
    The German has failed to maintain that form this season and her poor run culminated in an embarrassing French Open first round loss to Ekaterina Makarova last month.
    Potential star

    But the top seed showed glimpses of her best form as she saw off American qualifier Irina Falconi 6-4, 6-4 in 87 minutes on Centre Court.
    Milos Raonic, last year's Wimbledon runner-up, advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) win against Jan-Lennard Struff.
    Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro, a semi-finalist in 2013, defeated Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 as the 29th seed moved towards a potential third round classic against Djokovic.
    Australia's Bernard Tomic said he had lost his "respect" for tennis following his lacklustre 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 loss to Mischa Zverev.
    "I don't know why but I felt a little bit bored out there, to be completely honest," Tomic said.
    French 22nd seed Richard Gasquet slumped to a 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 loss against Spain's David Ferrer.
    Dominic Thiem, the Austrian eighth seed, blitzed Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, while 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych defeated Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.
    In the women's draw, Karolina Pliskova underlined why she is the bookmakers' favourite to win Wimbledon as the world number three crushed Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 6-4.
    Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, who has never been past the last 16 at Wimbledon, beat Timea Babos 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.


  22. Waqas Dar
    Bangladeshi firefighters take part in a search and rescue operation at a destroyed garment factory in Gazipur on July 4, 2017, after a boiler explosion at the complex on the outskirts of Dhaka. AFP/Munir uz Zaman  DHAKA: Bangladesh on Tuesday called off a search for survivors after an explosion at a garment factory killed at least 13 workers and injured scores, the latest disaster to hit the multi-billion dollar industry.

    Dozens of workers were inside the factory on the outskirts of Dhaka when the boiler exploded on Monday evening, causing a section of the six-storey building to collapse.
    It was unclear what caused the explosion, which occurred during maintenance work on the boiler at a time when most of the factory's 5,000 workers were off for the Eid holidays.
    Authorities called off the nearly 22-hour-long search after rescuers found two more bodies in a toilet next to the destroyed boiler room, bringing the death toll to 13.
    "Our firefighters have completed searching the entire section of the debris," local administrator Mahmud Hasan told AFP.
    The government said it had formed a committee to investigate the explosion, the latest disaster to strike the country's $30-billion garment industry.
    The plant in the Gazipur industrial district is owned by manufacturer Multifabs, which makes clothing for brands including Littlewoods and Aldi according to its website.
    The collapse of the nine-storey Rana Plaza factory complex in April 2013, in which more than 1,100 people were killed, was seen as a wake-up call for the industry, which supplies clothing for major brands all over the world.
    In the wake of the disaster, authorities pledged to improve working conditions at factories but accidents are still commonplace.
    Only a few hundred of the country's 4,500 textile factories have been certified as safe, while, a fire last year at a factory just miles from Rana Plaza claimed 34 lives.
    A survey this year by global charity Action Aid of more than 1,400 Rana Plana survivors found nearly half were still jobless, while roughly 31 percent were too traumatised to work.
    There have also been demands for an increase in the basic monthly wage of $68 for the country's four million garment workers, most of whom are young women.
    One of the injured workers receiving treatment at nearby hospitals blamed the factory authorities for not replacing the boiler despite the fact that it was allegedly "beeping danger signals continuously".
    Worker Harunur Rashid told Bangla daily, Prothom Alo, that the boiler's safety bulb was beeping danger lights but the device's operators assured them there was nothing to worry about.
    "Within ten minutes after we returned to work, the boiler exploded. It's absolutely the authorities' negligence," he said.
    Mesba Faruqui, the operations director of the factory, said the operators were doing maintenance duty as the factory was meant to open on Tuesday after the long Eid holidays.
    "If the accident had happened today, God forbid, there might have been many more casualties," he told AFP.


  23. Waqas Dar
    An unidentified assailant shot dead a police officer with a rifle before committing suicide with the same weapon in a courthouse in Turkey's northwestern province of Bursa on Tuesday, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
    It cited police officials as saying that the attacker arrived at the courthouse in the Gemlik district of Bursa on Tuesday evening and shot the police officer on duty at the entrance.
    The officials ruled out any terrorist connection in the incident.
    Earlier, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on its website that the assailant had also wounded a lawyer and taken a hostage.
    No further details were immediately available.


  24. Waqas Dar
    Muhammad Shahbaz poses for a photo with the cabin crew of Air France flight, July 2, 2017. APP BEIJING: A Pakistani student aboard a flight to Paris, France, on July 2 saved the life of a Chinese passenger and termed it as "the best day of his life".
    Muhammad Shahbaz ? a PhD student studying at China's Shangdong University School of Medicine ? heard a crew member requesting the assistance of a medical professional to treat a Chinese woman who was shivering and in distress, China Daily reported on Tuesday.

    Shahbaz got up and went to a stewardess, who took him to the ailing woman. He told her he was a doctor and that he could speak Chinese.
    The woman was suffering from severe vomiting, stress, and hypothermia, he explained, adding that it was a challenging task to treat her with the plane's limited resources.
    Nevertheless, while Shahbaz attended to the woman, arrangements were made on the ground for an emergency landing if any complications arose. Medical staff, who had an ambulance ready, were in touch throughout the duration of the flight.
    The Pakistani man noted that the woman began feeling better within three hours and, by the last couple of hours during flight, was in good state.
    Medical professionals still examined the woman when the aeroplane landed.
    The cabin crew applauded Shahbaz's efforts, whereas the chief of staff awarded him 10,000 Air France mileage points as a token of gratitude.
    "I am used to seeing this in movies, but it happened in real life. Being the only doctor on the flight, I felt proud of my profession [and] for being able to save a person's life."
    Shahbaz mentioned that he was "proud to be Pakistani" and that medicine "is the best profession on planet earth".
    The woman, 26, who identified herself as Li Xuan the following day, thanked Dr. Shahbaz for his help after she made a full recovery.
    "There is a Chinese saying that 'saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda'. Thank you Dr. Shahbaz for helping me while I was in distress," Xuan said.


  25. Waqas Dar
    Instead of drinking milk or taking supplements to get adequate amounts of calcium, calcium-rich mineral water is an equally good source, researchers say.

    ?The special feature of mineral water as a source of calcium is as a calorie-free alternative to milk and dairy products,? Theresa Greupner of Leibniz University Hannover in Germany told Reuters Health in an email. ?In a world with a steadily growing number of overweight and obese people it is important to reduce the energy intake and to promote alternatives to satisfy the calcium demand apart from high caloric milk and dairy products.?
    Her team's study, funded by the Association of German Mineral Water Bottlers, looked at how well the body absorbed calcium in five different products, each containing 300 mg calcium: three types of calcium-rich mineral water, milk and a calcium supplement.
    Twenty-one men and women participated in the study. There was no difference in how calcium from the five different sources was absorbed, the researchers report in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, online June 19.
    Other minerals in the water did not affect calcium absorption.
    Most mineral waters list mineralisation on the label, and the higher the amount of calcium, the better the water is as a calcium source, Greupner said.
    A person would need to drink two liters of 500 mg/L mineral water per day, or more than three eight-ounce cups of milk, to meet the German standard daily requirement of 1,000 mg calcium. In the U.S., 1,300 mg/day of calcium is recommended for adults.
    It?s well known in Italy that mineral water can be a good source of calcium, Dr. Maria Luisa Brandi of the University of Florence in Italy told Reuters Health in a phone interview.
    Brandi, who wasn?t involved in the current study, and her colleagues showed in a 2004 study that calcium in mineral water was as well absorbed as calcium in milk.
    ?The concept is well established in medicine,? Brandi said. ?We recommend water with high calcium content for osteoporotic patients.?


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