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Waqas Dar

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Blog Entries posted by Waqas Dar

  1. Waqas Dar
    Prime Minister's son Hussain Nawaz at one of his earlier appearances before the JIT ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's elder son, Hussain Nawaz, is expected to appear once more before the Panama case Joint Investigation Team (JIT) today.
    This will be the sixth time the premier's elder son has been summoned by the JIT probing the Sharif family's assets in light of the Supreme Court's April 20 judgment. 
    With the JIT's July 10 deadline approaching, the ongoing week has seen a flurry of activity concerning the high-profile probe, with the prime minister's cousin Tariq Shafi, younger son Hasan Nawaz and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar being summoned in the last two days and the premier's daughter, Maryam Nawaz, expected to appear on Wednesday. 
    On June 9, after his fifth appearance before the JIT, Hussain said, ?Looking at the type of questions asked, I don?t think I will be summoned again by the JIT in near future?.
    In a brief talk with journalists before the session, Hussain said investigations should be based on facts and not allegations. 


  2. Waqas Dar
    HYDERABAD: Two women were found dead in a house here in Bismillah City, Latifabad No 10, late Monday night, CIA in-charge Aslam Langah said.
    Reaching the crime scene, officials of the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) and the forensic team collected evidence that would be useful in their investigative process.
    "The murders don't seem to be linked to the robbery," Langah explained, noting how no valuables were missing from the house where the two women ? who were a mother- and daughter- in-law ? were killed.
    The investigative official added that the house was completely safe and that entry from outside was not possible.
    At the time of the crime, only the two deceased women were at home alongside a 6-month-old baby girl, Langah mentioned, adding that Dildar Qureshi and his son were away.
    Detailing the crime, the security officer stated that both women were killed with a knife, but the bodies were found from different rooms of the house.
    "For now, we are gathering data; we have already taken the fingerprints from around the house," Langah elucidated, adding that both bodies will be undergoing post-mortem.
    However, a case can and will only be filed once the authorities get in touch with the family members, the security official said.


  3. Waqas Dar
    Photo: Web  The Pakistan Meteorological Department on Tuesday said that a seasonal low lies over northeast Balochistan.
    Weak monsoon currents continue to penetrate in northeastern parts of the country and Kashmir on Tuesday.
    A shallow westerly wave is still affecting upper parts of the country and likely to persist over Kashmir and its adjoining areas during the next 48 hours.
    Mainly hot and humid weather is expected in most parts of the country. However, rain-thundershowers with gusty winds are expected at a few places in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Mardan divisions, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Kashmir.
    Past weather
    The weather remained hot and humid in most parts of the country on Monday. However, rain-thundershowers with gusty winds occurred at isolated places in Malakand, Hazara, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Zhob divisions, Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
    Rainfall (mm) in the last 24-hours
    KP: Saidu Sharif 24, Drosh 08, Mirkhani 07, Balakot 06, Punjab: Gujranwala 16, Sialkot A/P 10, Lahore (Punjab Uni 07, A/P 02, PBO 01), Chakwal 07, Mangla 04, Jhelum, Gujrat 01, Kashmir: Garhi Dupatta 04, Balochistan: Zhob 02, GB: Bagrote 01.
    Yesterday's highest maximum temperatures
    Sibbi 46°C, Dadu 45°C, Bhakkar, Dalbandin 44°C


    Data courtesy: Pakistan Meteorological Department


  4. Waqas Dar
    File photo KAMOKE: A petrol shop here on Kasoki Road caught fire late Monday night, claiming the life of a policeman and injuring three others, rescue officials said.

    The fire erupted when oil shipment was being offloaded from a tanker near the shop and flames in an electric motor spun out of control, turning into a blaze, rescue officers explained.
    As the firefighters doused the flames for almost an hour, Assistant Superintendent (ASI) Javed Iqbal ? who was attempting to evacuate people ? passed out due to smoke inhalation. He lost his battle for life on way to the hospital, rescue officers added.
    On the other hand, the wounded ? including owners Zeeshan and Jibran Ibad and employee Waqar ? were shifted to a nearby hospital, rescue officials stated.


  5. Waqas Dar
    A massive asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs millions of years ago created room for frogs to colonise the Earth, said a study Monday that shows how frogs became among the most diverse vertebrates in the world.
    As many as 10 types of frogs are believed to have survived the mass extinction some 66 million years ago, which erased three-quarters of life on Earth, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
    Of these survivors, just three major kinds of frogs went on to diversify and populate the planet. Some 6,700 known frog species exist today.
    Nearly nine in 10 -- 88 percent -- of modern frogs can trace their roots back to these three lineages of hardy ancestors.
    "Frogs have been around for well over 200 million years, but this study shows it wasn't until the extinction of the dinosaurs that we had this burst of frog diversity that resulted in the vast majority of frogs we see today," said study co-author David Blackburn, associate curator of amphibians and reptiles at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
    "This finding was totally unexpected."
    Until now, scientists believed that most modern frog species emerged at a steady pace between 66 million and 150 million years ago.
    But the latest research shows frogs burst onto the scene more like an "explosion," as the tiny amphibians swept into habitats left vacant by other creatures.
    Largest genetic study to date

    For the study, researchers in China and the United States compiled the largest set of frog genetic data ever evaluated.
    Genetic samples were taken from 156 frog species and combined with previously published data on 145 more species.
    Past studies looked at five to 12 genes, while the current one examined variations in 95 genes, offering a much more detailed look at how individual species relate to one another.
    Researchers also studied fossil records to determine when different kinds of frogs likely diverged from one another.
    Researchers found "evidence of not one but three explosions of new frog species, on different continents, and all concentrated in the aftermath of the mass die-off of most dinosaurs and many other species about 66 million years ago," said the report.
    Two of the three surviving lineages -- Microhylidae and Natatanura -- came out of Africa. The third, Hyloidea, spread throughout what became South America.
    "These frogs made it through on luck, perhaps because they were either underground or could stay underground for long periods of time," said co-author David Wake of the University of California.
    "This certainly draws renewed attention to the positive aspects of mass extinctions: They provide ecological opportunity for new things."
    Similar evolutionary events happened with birds, said co-author David Hillis, professor of integrative biology at University of Texas, Austin.
    "We know that the mass extinction event wiped out most of the dinosaurs, except for a few bird species, which then exploded in diversity and became one of the dominant groups of land animals," he said.
    "As we look at more and more groups of life, we see the same pattern, and that turns out to be the case for frogs as well."
    Finding new habitats

    In particular, the demise of dinosaurs and most birds created new niches for frogs in the late Cretaceous Period.
    Some climbed into trees for shelter, leading to the evolution of the now ubiquitous tree frogs.
    "We think there were massive alterations of ecosystems at that time, including widespread destruction of forests," said Blackburn.
    "But frogs are pretty good at eking out a living in microhabitats, and as forests and tropical ecosystems rebounded, they quickly took advantage of those new ecological opportunities."
    Some frogs also adapted by producing young without a tadpole stage -- today the standard for about half of all frog species.
    Modern frogs face a host of threats to their survival, including habitat destruction, human encroachment and climate change.
    "I think the most exciting thing about our study is that we show that frogs are such a strong animal group," said lead author Peng Zhang, a researcher at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.
    "They survived from the mass extinction that completely erased dinosaurs and boomed back quickly."


  6. Waqas Dar
    Getting shingles may increase your risk of a heart attack, stroke or other heart problems by as much as 40 percent, according to Korean researchers.
    But vaccination can help prevent shingles, which is caused by herpes zoster - the same virus that causes chickenpox, study author Dr Sung-Han Kim of Asan Medical Center in Seoul said in an email.
    Individuals should talk with their doctors about preventing shingles ?until further studies elucidate the effect of vaccination on cardiovascular outcomes,? Kim said.
    Kim and his colleagues analysed the medical records of more than 23,000 shingles patients between 2003 and 2013, and compared them with the same number of patients who didn?t get shingles. People who got shingles were more likely to be female and have common heart risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and older age, the study found.
    But they also were less likely to smoke and they drank less alcohol, got more exercise and were in a higher socioeconomic class, according to the report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
    After adjusting for these and other factors that could influence the risk of heart problems and stroke, the researchers found that overall, having shingles was associated with a 41 percent increased risk of any heart-related problem, a 35 percent increased risk of stroke and a 59 percent increased risk of a heart attack.
    The odds of stroke were especially high in people age 40 or younger, whose risk was 3.74 times that of peers without a history of shingles.
    The risks for both stroke and heart attack were also highest in the first year after the onset of shingles and dropped over time.
    Kim stressed that patients and doctors should be aware of the increased risks, although more studies are needed to understand the connection between these conditions.
    Dr Lee Schwamm, vice chair of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, suggested that inflammation plays a role. ?We?ve known for a long time that there is an interplay between inflammation and clotting,? he told Reuters Health in a phone interview.
    When someone gets shingles, the virus may move through the skin and directly attack and inflame blood vessels, as well as certain nerves, Schwamm said. Inflamed blood vessels may cause the blood to clot, setting the stage for a heart attack or stroke. Inflammation of nerves can cause the severe pain, called post-herpetic neuralgia, that often accompanies shingles.
    ?There?s no definitive proof of the relationship between inflammation and clotting, but the evidence is growing and it?s very intriguing,? Schwamm said. ?And it emphasises the value of trying to prevent shingles in the first place by getting vaccinated.?
    Whether treating shingles will reduce the risks is unknown, he added.
    Dr Talia Swartz, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said the findings are consistent with previous studies linking shingles with heart attack and stroke.
    Nevertheless, the study has some limitations, she told Reuters Health. There may have been undocumented differences between patients in the two groups, as well as differences in shingles severity among those who got the disease. In addition, the incidence of shingles in people under age 65 is much higher in the study than in the U.S., and so the findings may not hold true here.
    In the US, shingles rates in people under 40 are expected to fall because so many were vaccinated for chickenpox as children, and rates are low in those who had the chicken pox vaccine, she said by email.
    As for the shingles vaccine, it not only helps prevent the condition in people over 60, it may prevent a recurrence in those who have already had shingles, she added. So even people who have already had shingles should get the vaccine, Swartz said.
    Regarding the heart attack and stroke risks, both Schwamm and Swartz stress that following a healthy lifestyle is the best way to lower risks - keep cholesterol, blood sugar and weight under control, exercise regularly and don?t smoke.


  7. Waqas Dar
    An undated handout picture ? received from the British Metropolitan Police Service in London on July 3, 2017 ? shows Haroon Ali Syed, the British teenage militant who was jailed for a minimum of 16 years for plotting a bomb attack at an Elton John concert in London on the 9/11 anniversary. AFP Photo/Metropolitan Police  A British teenager who planned to attack an Elton John concert in London on the fifteenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks was jailed for life on Monday.

    Haroon Syed, 19, from West London, pleaded guilty to planning a terrorist attack between April and September 2016 and has been ordered to serve at least 16 1/2 years.
    Syed admitted researching potential targets on the internet, including an Elton John concert in Hyde Park and Oxford Street, a busy shopping district.
    "Haroon Syed is clearly a danger to the public who was prepared to carry out indiscriminate attacks against innocent people," said Deb Walsh, deputy head of the Counter Terrorism Division.
    Syed used the internet to try and get weapons to use in a possible attack and used social media to contact people he believed were like-minded supporters of Daesh. In one message he wrote, "So after some damage with machine gun then do itishadi (martyrdom)... that's what im planning to do."
    He applied for loans totalling 8,000 pounds ($10,362.40), which he said were for a motorbike, a wedding and home improvements, but prosecutors allege were to fund the attack. The loan requests were turned down.
    Britain has seen a rise in militant attacks in 2017, including a bombing in May at a concert by the US pop singer Ariana Grande in Manchester that killed 22.


  8. Waqas Dar
    Investigators have uncovered the problems behind the failure of atomic clocks onboard satellites belonging to the beleaguered Galileo satnav system, the European Commission said on Monday.
    For months, the European Space Agency -- which runs the programme -- has been investigating the reasons behind failing clocks onboard some of the 18 navigation satellites it has launched for Galileo, Europe's alternative to America's GPS system.
    Each Galileo satellite has four ultra-accurate atomic timekeepers, two that use rubidium and two hydrogen maser. But a satellite needs just one working clock for the satnav to work -- the rest are spares.
    Three rubidium and six hydrogen maser clocks were not working, with one satellite sporting two failed timekeepers.
    "The main causes of the malfunctions have been identified and measures have been put in place to reduce the possibility of further malfunctions of the satellites already in space," commission spokeswoman Lucia Caudet said.
    ESA found after an investigation that its rubidium clocks had a faulty component that could cause a short circuit, according to European sources.
    The investigation also found that operations involving hydrogen maser clocks need to be controlled and closely monitored, the same sources said.
    The agency has taken measures to correct both sets of problems, the sources added, with the agency set to replace the faulty component in rubidium clocks on satellites not yet in orbit and improve hydrogen maser clocks as well.
    "The supply of the first Galileo services has not and will not be affected by the malfunctioning of the atomic clocks or by other corrective measures," Caudet said, and that the malfunctions have not affected service performance.
    'Most accurate clocks ever'

    The Galileo system went live in December last year, providing initial services with a weak signal, having taken 17 years at more than triple the original budget.
    The civilian-controlled service is seen as strategically important for Europe, which relies on two military-run rivals -- GPS and Russia's GLONASS.
    ESA boasts that Galileo has the most accurate atomic clocks ever used for geolocalisation.
    Similar to traditional clocks relying on the tick of a pendulum, atomic timekeepers also count regular oscillations, in this case switches between energy states of atoms stimulated by heat or light.
    But Galileo has experienced many setbacks, including the placement of two satellites in the wrong orbit.
    In January, ESA director general Jan Woerner announced that the system had suffered a setback with its atomic clocks.
    The EU Commission expects Galileo to be fully operational by 2020.
    ESA signed a contract in late June with a German-British consortium to build eight more satellites for Galileo, which will eventually comprise 30 orbiters.
    Twenty-four will be operational, in three orbital planes, with the rest standing by as spares, in orbit and on the ground.
    Once fully deployed, Galileo aims to pinpoint a location on Earth to within a metre -- compared to several metres for GPS and GLONASS.
    Clients of a paying service will be able to receive even more accurate readings -- down to centimetres. Such accuracy will be very useful in search-and-rescue operations.
    All new cars sold in Europe by 2018 will be fitted with Galileo for navigation and emergency calls.
    Its high-precision clocks will also boost synchronisation of banking and financial transaction, telecommunications and energy smart-grids, making them more efficient.
    It should also boost the safety of driverless cars.


  9. Waqas Dar
    Record producer DJ Khaled arrives at the 2016 American Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, US, November 20, 2016. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok  NEW YORK: DJ Khaled ? long a prominent behind-the-scenes force in hip-hop ? has achieved a second number-one album on weekly US Billboard 200 chart with his latest star-studded work that includes some of pop and R&B's biggest names.
    Rapper Jay Z addresses infidelity, newborn twins in "4:44" album
    Fans were left stunned last year when Beyonce made accusations in Lemonade that Jay Z had cheated on her
    Grateful features cameos from a who's who of top names in music, including Rihanna, Drake, Chance the Rapper, and Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z ? who released his own new album Friday.

    Much of Grateful is full of braggadocio verses, with DJ Khaled and other major names boasting of their success and songs such as "Shining" with Beyonce and Jay-Z and "I'm the One" with Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne, and Quavo.
    Which Bollywood stars turned up to see Justin Bieber perform in Mumbai?
    Sridevi, Alia Bhatt, Raveena Tandon, and Malaika Arora Khan were among the celebrities who went to see Justin Bieber perform
    According to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, it sold 149,000 album units.
    However, "Shining" took on a new meaning as Beyonce sings of "all of this winning", despite her controversial failure to win the latest Grammy for Album of the Year.
    The 41-year-old Miami rapper has been a producer to stars but achieved his first number-one album on his own a year ago with Major Key, with his profile growing thanks to his avid use on Snapchat, the social media platform that specialises in temporary videos.
    Pop superstar Beyonce gives birth to twins: reports
    News that the songstress had given birth, reported by entertainment outlets including People magazine and US Weekly, ignited social media, with the so-called
    Khaled's latest triumph comes after an embarrassment in June as he played a major festival ? Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas ? where his set was marred by sound problems.
    Born Khaled Mohamed Khaled to Palestinian immigrant parents, DJ Khaled is one of the most prominent Muslims in Western music although he rarely discusses his faith in his music.
    Other entries
    Among other highlights on the Billboard chart released late Sunday, late pop icon Prince's classic Purple Rain re-entered at number four after his label put out a remastered version to mark what would have been his 59th birthday.
    'Melodrama' scores Lorde her first chart-topping Billboard album
    The singer is the third consecutive female solo artist to top the Billboard 200 chart
    Other new entries in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart this week include alt-rock group Imagine Dragons' new album Evolve at No. 2 and rockers 311 at No. 6 with Mosaic.
    Last week's chart-topper, Lorde's Melodrama, dropped to No. 13 this week.


  10. Waqas Dar
    File North Korea launched a missile on Tuesday that may have landed in Japan´s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Japan´s NHK public television said, quoting the defence ministry.
    The launch would be the latest in a series by North Korea since the start of the year and comes just after US President Donald Trump spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the issue.


  11. Waqas Dar
    Gavin Smith, 57, a 20th Century Fox distribution executive is shown in this undated photograph released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. REUTERS/Courtesy Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department/Handout/File Photo  LOS ANGELES: A convicted drug dealer was found guilty on Monday of voluntary manslaughter in the death of a Hollywood studio executive who was missing for more than two years before his remains were found buried in the California desert.

    John Lenzie Creech, 44, was convicted by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury after a two-week trial. The jurors had begun deliberating on Friday afternoon.
    Prosecutors said during the trial that Creech attacked and beat Gavin Smith, 57, after finding his estranged wife in a car with the film distribution executive at 20th Century Fox.
    A Los Angeles County public defender who represented Creech at trial, Irene Nunez, could not immediately be reached for comment following the verdict.
    Local KNBC-TV reported that Nunez argued at trial that Smith had died during a violent, "tragic" fight between the two men and that there had been no intent on her client's part to kill.
    Smith ? also known for playing on UCLA's 1975 national championship basketball team under celebrated coach John Wooden ? was reported missing on May 1, 2012, prompting police to issue a missing person bulletin and launch an exhaustive search.
    The film studio issued a statement expressing concern about his disappearance, while family members posted a $20,000 reward, saying the 6-foot-6-inch (1.98-metre) ex-athlete with "movie star" looks should be easy to spot.
    His son Evan Smith ? then a forward for the University of Southern California basketball team ? tweeted messages such as "I will not stop until I find my father."
    Smith's black Mercedes-Benz was found in February 2013 at a storage facility in the Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley.
    In October 2014, hikers stumbled across a skull and other bones belonging to the missing studio executive in a shallow grave in the Angeles National Forest, 64 kilometres east of Los Angeles.
    Creech, who was serving an eight-year prison term for sale of a controlled substance when he was arrested in connection with Smith's death, faces a maximum of 11 years behind bars for his conviction on the voluntary manslaughter charge.
    He was ordered back to court on September 19 for sentencing.


  12. Waqas Dar
    People walk in front of the Facebook logo at the new Facebook Innovation Hub during a preview media tour in Berlin, Germany, February 24, 2016. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON: Facebook Inc is challenging a gag order from a US court that is preventing the company from talking about three government search warrants that it said pose a threat to freedom of speech, according to court documents.

    Facebook said it wants to notify three users about the search warrants seeking their communications and information and also give those users an opportunity to object to the warrants, according to a filing in a Washington, D.C., appeals court seen by Reuters.
    "We believe there are important First Amendment concerns with this case, including the government's refusal to let us notify three people of broad requests for their account information in connection with public events," Facebook said in a statement on Monday.
    The First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees certain rights including freedom of speech.
    William Miller, a spokesman for US prosecutors, declined to comment.
    Facebook decided to challenge the gag order around the three warrants because free speech was at stake and because the events underlying the government's investigation were generally known to the public already, Facebook said in the undated court document.
    The precise nature of the government's investigation is not known. One document in the case said the timing of proceedings coincides with charges against people who protested President Donald Trump's inauguration in January.
    More than 200 people were arrested in Washington the day Trump was sworn in. Masked activists threw rocks at police, and multiple vehicles were set on fire.
    Tech firms comply with thousands of requests for user data annually made by governments around the world, but in extraordinary circumstances, companies such as Microsoft Corp and Twitter Inc have challenged government secrecy orders.
    Facebook recently fought a secrecy order related to a disability fraud investigation, losing in April in New York state's highest court.
    Companies and privacy advocates argue that gag orders rely on outdated laws and are applied too often, sometimes indefinitely, to bar them from notifying customers about government requests for their private online data. Facebook says about half of US requests are accompanied by a non-disclosure order prohibiting it from notifying affected users.
    In April, a local judge in Washington denied Facebook's request to remove the gag order there, according to the document. Facebook is appealing and has preserved the relevant records pending the outcome, the document said.
    "The government can only insulate its actions from public scrutiny in this way in the rarest circumstances, which likely do not apply here," said Andrew Crocker, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates for digital rights.
    Facebook is getting support in court papers from several organisations including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as eight tech companies such as Microsoft and Apple Inc.
    The District of Columbia Court of Appeals, which is the highest court in Washington for local matters, is scheduled to hear the case in September, according to an order obtained by BuzzFeed News, which first reported Facebook's challenge to the gag order on Monday.


  13. Waqas Dar
    The big guns came out to play Tuesday on the Paris haute couture catwalks and showed why they are still top of the fashion tree.
    Christian Dior, Schiaparelli and Iris Van Herpen conjured up some thrilling clothes that married daring and tradition the day after two new American kids on the block made their debuts in the French capital.
    While the US newbies Rodarte and Proenza Schouler make solid Paris debuts, Monday showed why haute couture with its decades of tradition and know-how is such a uniquely Parisian phenomenon.
    Dior, now under the sure hand of Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, set out on an odyssey through 50 shades of grey inspired by pioneering women explorers, channelling the great traveller Freya Stark and aviators like Amy Johnson.
    Stark frequently dressed as a man on her peregrinations around the Middle East after World War I and Chiuri topped her long and enveloping ash-grey wool and tweed suits with trilby hats.
    Pulled tight at the waist with thin crocodile and bamboo effet belts, they were both sober and dramatic, typical touches of Chiuri style.
    After becoming the first woman ever to lead the fabled label last year, the Italian adopted the slogan, "We should all be feminists."
    True to that spirit, she said this collection was a homage to the "restless first female explorers who overcame geographical and psychological frontiers", with a leather one-piece shearling flying suit summoning up the first female pilots.
    Independent women

    "Women explorers were very brave and they dressed themselves like males," Chiuri told AFP, sometimes adding "ethnic local pieces" to their looks, something she mirrored in her autumn winter line.
    "These women were among the first independent women and in some ways I feel myself also (following in their footsteps) coming to Paris from Rome and moving around the world with Dior," she added.
    The designer said she had dipped into the archives of the label's founder Christian Dior, and was particularly struck by his postwar suit designs which raided the male wardrobe.
    Despite their manly roots these highly tailored suits gave their wearers a gamine quality that was magnified in delicate flapper chic of the equally long evening dresses.
    Here typical Dior prettiness carried an added touch of grey steel, women who knew were they were going -- cue the spectacular map cape -- and were no pushovers even as they embraced the ethereal and the romantic.
    The Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence was among the A-listers watching the Dior show.
    Aquatic fantastic

    Dior will this year celebrate it 70th birthday. The revived house of Schiaparelli has an even longer -- albeit interrupted -- history.
    It's resurrection under Bertrand Guyon continued apace with another sleek and hugely sophisticated collection.
    Watch out next winter as its historical surrealist motifs -- the Salvador Dali lobster and Joan Miro-inspired colour schemes -- get a big airing on the red carpet.
    Couture's great innovator Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen pulled out the stops for her tenth anniversary collection, with one of her biggest fans, Bjork, rumoured to be performing at the party afterwards.
    The Icelandic singer will need to go some to match the Danish group Between Music who played the show's soundscape underwater in fish tanks on specially adapted instruments, coming up for air every few moments.
    Their spine-tingling performance would have washed away a lesser designer. But not the Dutch master whose collection might have been billed "Iris Van Herpen's Undersea World".
    This was the aquatic as fantastic, with schools of impossibly fluid semi-transparent knock-you-dead squid and cuttlefish sheaths taking the evening dress into an entirely new dimension.
    The designer -- known for embracing hi-tech techniques -- said she had been inspired by the musicians. "I found out about how these artists had been working for 10 years on developing underwater techniques for both making music and singing" and thought it was too good to miss.


  14. Waqas Dar
    Chinese President Xi Jinping told US counterpart Donald Trump on Monday that Sino-US relations have been hit by "negative factors" in a phone call following days of US actions that have vexed Beijing.
    Trump held separate calls with Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that focused on tensions on the Korean peninsula, but China's foreign ministry said Xi also invoked the thorny issue of Taiwan.
    A series of US moves and China's angry responses have marked a sharp reversal from the friendly tone struck by Trump since his meeting with Xi at the US president's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in April.
    Trump infuriated Beijing last week when he approved a $1.3 billion arms sales to Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing considers a breakaway province awaiting reunification.
    The US administration also imposed sanctions on a Chinese bank accused of laundering North Korean cash, voiced concern about freedom in semi-autonomous Hong Kong and placed the country on a list of the world's worst human trafficking offenders.
    The latest irritant came on Sunday as Beijing lashed out at a "serious political and military provocation" after a US warship sailed close to an island claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.
    It was the second US "freedom of navigation" patrol in the South China Sea since Trump took office in January, an operation meant to assert the right to sail in disputed waters.
    China deployed three warships and two fighter jets to warn the US vessel to "move away", defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in a statement.
    Wu called it an "unawful act" and warned that China will ?strengthen the construction of various defence capabilities, intensify maritime and air patrols and firmly defend its sovereignty and security according to the degree of threats?.
    In the phone call with Trump, Xi acknowledged that Sino-US relations "have achieved important results" since their April meeting, the foreign ministry said.
    But Xi also warned that relations "have been affected by some negative factors" and that he hoped the US president will "properly handle" Taiwan issues in accordance with the "One China" principle.
    The Chinese leader, however, insisted that the two sides should follow the "consensus" reached at Mar-a-Lago and declared that the two presidents agreed to meet at the Group of 20 summit in Germany this week.
    N. Korea a 'growing threat'

    In its readout of the conversation, the White House said Trump raised "the growing threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes".
    "Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a denuclearised Korean Peninsula," the statement said.
    Trump, who berated Beijing over trade during the US election campaign, also "reiterated his determination to seek more balanced trade relations with America's trading partners".
    The US statement did not mention Taiwan or the freedom of navigation operation, but it said the two leaders discussed "a range of other regional and bilateral issues of mutual interest".
    In their own phone call, Trump and Abe discussed their "unity with respect to increasing pressure on the (North Korean) regime to change its dangerous path", the White House said.
    Trump has pressed Xi to use China's diplomatic and economic clout over North Korea to pressure the Stalinist state to abandon its nuclear programme, but the US leader tweeted last month that Beijing's efforts had failed.
    Michael Cole, a Taipei-based academic with the University of Nottingham's China Policy Institute, said Trump appears to have realised, quicker than his predecessors, that Beijing would not help resolve the North Korean issue.
    China may respond by temporarily suspending military-to-military relations, impose its own sanctions on US firms and further pressure Taiwan, he told AFP.
    "The Trump administration has been trying to find its footing since entering the White House," he said, "and what we're going through at the moment are the pangs of a return to continuity."
    But foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a press briefing that both countries were "determined to press ahead with our relationship" despite encountering "some issues".


  15. Waqas Dar
    Rafael Nadal stormed into the Wimbledon second round as the world number two secured his 850th career victory with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 demolition of Australia's John Millman on Monday.
    Fresh from winning his 10th French Open title last month, Nadal marked his 50th match at Wimbledon by crushing Millman in one hour and 46 minutes on Court One.
    The two-time Wimbledon champion is just the seventh player to reach the 850-win mark, joining Roger Federer, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi and Guillermo Villas.
    With 217 Grand Slam match victories, Nadal is now in sixth place on the all-time list at the majors.
    Nadal, seeded to face defending champion Andy Murray in the semi-finals, will play Donald Young for a place in the last 32 as he bids to win Wimbledon for the first time since 2010.
    "I haven't had many matches on grass for the last few years, but I had some positive feelings," Nadal said.
    "For all the players it's so special to play here, especially for me with all the history I have here. It's very emotional to be back.
    "I'm happy with the way I started. I've been playing well since the beginning of the season.
    "The clay-court season was special for me and now I have an opportunity to compete on grass."
    Having won the French Open without dropping a single set, Nadal has made a rare smooth transition to the grass of south-west London.
    The 31-year-old Spaniard, beset by chronic knee problems, has struggled to adapt to the low bounce on grass in the latter stages of his career.
    He hasn't been past the fourth round at Wimbledon since 2011, losing to players ranked outside the top 100 on each of his last four visits.
    But after missing Wimbledon due to a wrist injury last season and opting against playing a grass-court event after Roland Garros, Nadal had the ideal opponent to get up and running.
    Millman, ranked 137th, was playing only his second Tour-level match this year after missing five months with a hip injury.
    He was no match for a rampant Nadal and the 15-time Grand Slam champion blitzed his way to victory with a barrage of his trademark top-spin forehands.


  16. Waqas Dar
    Sri Lanka is to deploy game wardens to stop wild elephants straying onto the pitch when the country hosts Zimbabwe for a series of one-day internationals at the Hambantota stadium. Sri Lanka is to deploy game wardens to stop wild elephants straying onto the pitch when the country hosts Zimbabwe for a series of one-day internationals at the Hambantota stadium.
    Experts will be on hand for all three ODI games at the 35,000-capacity stadium, which is next to an elephant sanctuary, a wildlife official told AFP on Monday.
    The stadium was built in 2009 under former President Mahinda Rajapakse, who was from Hambantota, but has hosted only a handful of matches because of its remote location and high maintenance costs.
    "There had been a few instances when elephants broke through the fence and invaded the pitch at night," said the official, who asked not to be named.
    "A jungle patch starts about 100 metres from the stadium and we are deploying 10 wardens to make sure that fans don't stray into that area and provoke the elephants," he told AFP by telephone from Hambantota.
    He said there was a herd of about 25 elephants roaming the area, 240 kilometres (150 miles) south of Colombo, posing a potential threat to fans.
    It is not the first time wildlife has disrupted games at Hambantota -- swarms of wasps that have taken up residence there have also caused problems.
    The last ODI played at Hambantota was two years ago. Following a recent refurbishment, Sri Lanka Cricket scheduled the final three ODI matches against Zimbabwe at Hambantota.
    The games will decide the series winner after the two sides notched a victory each in the first two games played at Galle.


  17. Waqas Dar
    A taxi driver plowed his car into a group of people outside Boston´s international airport on Monday, injuring 10 people on the eve of the Independence Day holiday in the United States, police said.
    The 56-year-old driver was being interviewed by officers but there was no initial indication that the crash was intentional, Massachusetts state police said.
    The incident happened at 1740 GMT at the cab pool at Logan International Airport. Ten people were taken to hospital with injuries of varying severity, police said.
    "The cause of the crash remains under investigation," state police added.
    US media reported that a taxi driver appeared to have lost control, hitting the gas pedal instead of the break.


  18. Waqas Dar
    Image courtesy: Voice of Europe Twitter account (@V_of_Europe) TOULOUSE: One person was shot dead and six others injured ? two seriously ? when a gunman opened fire in the southern French city of Toulouse late Monday, a local source said.
    Local press reported that a gunman on a scooter opened fire at around 9:00 PM (12:00 AM PST, Tuesday) in the La Reynerie district of Toulouse.
    "No possibilities are ruled out, but there is at this stage no indication of any terrorist element" connected to the incident, the official added.
    The favoured theory is that the shooting was some revenge killing, a source close to the enquiry said.
    Local officials, meanwhile, said extra security had been deployed to the area.


  19. Waqas Dar
    Venus Williams wept at Wimbledon over the "devastation" of a fatal road accident for which she is facing legal action as Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal eased into the second round on Monday.
    World number three Stan Wawrinka was the opening day's biggest casualty, losing to Russian debutant Daniil Medvedev while there were emotional comeback wins for Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka.
    Williams, the 37-year-old five-time champion, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of her maiden appearance at the All England Club.
    But that landmark has been overshadowed by her involvement last month in a road accident near her Florida home which resulted in the death of a 78-year-old man.
    "There are really no words to describe, like, how devastating and -- yeah. I'm completely speechless. It's just..." Williams said in a news conference before breaking down and leaving to compose herself.
    The family of Jerome Barson, who suffered a fractured spine and numerous internal injuries in the smash, said they intend to sue the US star.
    When she was asked how she was coping mentally, Williams added: "I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. That's all I can say about it. That's what I've learned."
    Despite the tragedy at home, Williams remained focused enough on Court One to clinch a 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 victory over Belgium's Elise Mertens in the first round.
    Defending men's champion Murray celebrated the news that he is about to become a father again by reaching the second round.
    The top seed and world number one downed Kazakh lucky loser Alexander Bublik 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, showing little sign of the hip problem which plagued him in the build-up.
    "I have felt OK the last few days and the adrenaline you feel by playing a match numbs any pain you may have," said the British star after seeing off world number 134 Bublik.
    Murray next faces Dustin Brown, the man who knocked out Nadal two years ago.
    German world number 97 Brown came back from a set and a break down to beat Portugal's Joao Sousa 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-4.
    Joy for Kvitova, Azarenka

    World number two and two-time champion Nadal secured his 850th career victory with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 demolition of Australia's John Millman.
    Fresh from winning his 10th French Open title, Nadal goes on to face Donald Young for a place in the last 32.
    "I haven't had many matches on grass for the last few years, but I had some positive feelings," said Nadal, who missed last year's tournament with a wrist injury.
    Swiss fifth seed and French Open runner-up Wawrinka was knocked out by Russia's Daniil Medvedev, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
    World number 49 Medvedev, making his Wimbledon debut, handed 33-year-old Wawrinka a sixth first round loss at the All England Club, although his efforts were hampered by a left knee injury which required an ice pack at the changeovers.
    "I wasn't feeling the way I wanted to feel. But I played against a great player who was confident," said Wawrinka whose pain was eased slightly when girlfriend Donna Vekic won her opening match.
    Medvedev, 21, kissed the Centre Court grass to celebrate his victory, his first at any Slam.
    "A year ago I was ranked 250. If someone told me in one year I would win on Centre Court I would tell you you are joking," said the wirey Russian.
    There was plenty of emotion too for 2011 and 2014 Kvitova as the popular Czech downed Sweden's Johanna Larsson 6-3, 6-4.
    Kvitova was playing just her eighth match since suffering a potentially career-ending hand injury fighting off a knife-wielding burglar at her home in December.
    "I felt the energy from the crowd and it was amazing to be back here at Wimbledon and playing on the beautiful Centre Court," the 27-year-old said.
    Former world number one Azarenka defeated CiCi Bellis of the United States 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 in her first Grand Slam since taking time off after last year's French Open to have her first child Leo in December.
    The two-time Australian Open champion made the semi-finals at the All England Club in 2011 and 2012.
    "I understand that I need to be patient but the competitor in me wants everything quick," admitted Azarenka.
    Nick Kyrgios, who beat Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014, will not get another opportunity to repeat that shock.
    The combustible 20th seeded Australian was 6-3, 6-4 down to France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert when he called it quits after failing to shake off the hip injury which has plagued him in recent weeks.
    Women's second seed Simona Halep, blasted off court in the French Open final by Jelena Ostapenko, downed New Zealand qualifier Marina Erakovic 6-4, 6-1.
    Ostapenko, the 2014 Wimbledon junior champion, saw off Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-0, 1-6, 6-3.


  20. Waqas Dar
    Often beneath even the bitterest rivalries in the world of sports resides a far stronger spirit of mutual love and respect. When archrivals Pakistan and India clash on the cricket pitch, it is no secret all other sporting rivalries in the world take the backseat, but out of these moments emerge some of the most heartwarming instances of the true spirit of the game.
    Although Pakistan have lost all three of their matches so far in the ongoing ICC Women?s Cricket World Cup, including the most recent 95-run defeat to India, young pacer Kainat Imtiaz?s touching story has done wonders to heal the heartbreak to some extent.
    The 25-year-old fast bowler has revealed Indian speedster Jhulan Goswami as her inspiration behind becoming a cricketer. Taking to social media on Monday, Kainat narrated how her childhood dream has come true as she plays the World Cup alongside her idol.
    ?Let me share a story with you all. In 2005 i saw the Indian team for the 1st time as the Asia Cup was held in Pakistan. I was the ball picker during the tournament... I saw @jhulangoswami. The fastest bowler of that time. I was so impressed that I chose cricket as a career. Specifically fast bowling. It?s a proud moment for me as after 12 years today in 2017 I am playing this ODI World Cup with one of my inspirations and getting more inspired??. (sic),? Kainat posted on her Instagram.


    Goswami was the fastest bowler at that time, and part of the Mithali Raj-led squad that won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka in the final. The 34-year-old pacer is a veteran of 158 ODIs in which she has taken 186 wickets ? the highest in women?s cricket history. Kainat, meanwhile, has played only six ODIs and one T20I thus far.
    Earlier during the tournament, Kainat also posted a picture of herself with cricketer and captain-turned-commentator Anjum Chopra, who was also part of the 2005 Asia Cup squad. Chopra is currently commentating in the ongoing World Cup.


    Pakistan restricted India to 169 in Sunday?s game but were bowled out for 74 during the chase. The Sana-Mir led Girls in Green play their next match against Australia on Wednesday.


  21. Waqas Dar
    People buy vegetables from a stall at a market in Karachi, Pakistan, May 17, 2017. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/Files  Pakistan's inflation rate dropped to 3.93 percent year-on-year in June from 5.02 percent a month earlier, the state Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.
    On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, it fell 0.41 percent in June, the bureau said.
    Prices of petrol and tobacco fell in June on a MoM basis, while those of food items, such as damson, lemons, garlic, and mangoes also eased. But the lower prices were offset by a rise in costs of bananas, eggs, and tomatoes.


  22. Waqas Dar
    ISLAMABAD: The Panama Joint Investigation Team (JIT) had refused to provide the questionnaire Qatari Prince Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al-Thani had asked for before recording his statement before the team, the letter written by JIT to the prince has revealed.

    Sources told Geo News that Jasim had requested the JIT to provide a copy of the questionnaire.
    ?We are in receipt of your letter dated 11 June, 2017?. Although the JIT would have appreciated your appearance in Pakistan, we understand your compulsions and prevailing circumstances, owing to which we accept the offer to the Members of JIT to visit you at Doha to investigate the contents of the two letters submitted by you voluntarily in the?Supreme Court?,? reads the letter, dated June 22.
    The letter, a copy of which has been obtained by Geo News, mentions June 29 or 30 as possible dates the team could visit Doha.
    The JIT letter clarifies to the Qatari prince that no questionnaire will be provided and that the proceedings will be recorded for the accuracy of the transcription.
    Qatari prince says will affirm letter to SC in toto if JIT visits Qatar
    Prince Hamad is reportedly very upset over the way his issue was handled in Pakistan
    ?No persons shall accompany/assist the witness during the investigation including lawyers/accountants,? it adds.
    The JIT requests for confirmation of the dates by June 26 so that the team can make travel arrangments accordingly.
    The statements will be recorded and no lawyer, accountant or anyone else would be present with the prince during the recording of the statement, the letter reads.

    Geo News had reported on June 14 that JIT had received a second letter from Qatari Prince.
    Sources had said that the detailed letter informed the JIT that the royal family member has no qualms if investigators visit him in Doha to record his statement.
    Prior to that, the JIT had written twice to the prince to record his statement regarding the prime minister?s family?s business dealings abroad.
    The Sharif family had earlier submitted a letter by the Qatari prince in the Supreme Court aiding the premier?s defence of his money trail during the Panama case hearing.
    Letter from Qatari prince delivered to JIT: sources
    JIT had recently written again to Qatar's royal family asking them for their statement
    Sources in the premier?s inner circle had confirmed the contents and delivery of the letter and said the Qatari prince?s statement will help their case profoundly.


  23. Waqas Dar
    BERLIN: In their campaign program for the German election, Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives have dropped the term "friend" in describing the relationship with the United States.
    Four years ago, the joint program of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), referred to the United States as Germany's "most important friend" outside of Europe.
    The 2013 program also described the "friendship" with Washington as a "cornerstone" of Germany's international relations and talked about strengthening transatlantic economic ties through the removal of trade barriers.
    But the words "friend" and "friendship" are missing from the latest election program - entitled "For a Germany in which we live well and happily" - which Merkel and CSU leader Horst Seehofer presented on Monday ahead of a Sept. 24 election.
    Instead, the United States is described as Germany's "most important partner" outside of Europe. CDU officials were not immediately available to comment on the change in wording.
    The change in wording underscores how relations between Berlin and Washington have deteriorated since US President Donald Trump entered the White House in January.
    During his campaign for the presidency, Trump said that Merkel was "ruining" Germany with migration policies he described as "insane".
    He has repeatedly denounced Germany's trade surplus with the United States, accused Berlin and other European partners of owing "massive amounts of money" to NATO, and unsettled western partners with his decision last month to pull out of the Paris climate accord.
    A survey by the Pew Research Center last week showed that just 35 percent of Germans have a favorable view of the United States, down from 57 percent at the end of President Barack Obama's term.
    Merkel is due to host Trump and other leaders at a G20 summit in Hamburg later this week.
    In place of the 2013 passage about strengthening economic ties, the 2017 program refers to historical US support for Germany after World War Two and in the run-up to German reunification.
    The new CDU/CSU election program also repeats a line that Merkel used in a speech in Munich in late May after a difficult summit of G7 leaders, where Trump resisted pressure from six other nations to stay in the Paris agreement.
    "The times in which we could fully rely on others are, to a certain extent, in the past. We Europeans must take our fate into our own hands more decisively than we have in the past," the program reads.

    While affirming Germany's commitment to the NATO military alliance, the program says that the EU must be in a position to defend itself independently if it wants to survive in the long run.
    It also adds a special section entitled "Germany and France as the Motor of Europe" which vows to "reinvigorate the friendship" between the two countries.
    "We are ready, together with the new French government, to further develop the euro zone step by step, for example through the creation of its own monetary fund," it reads.
    But it also rules out the mutualization of debt in Europe and says that "solidarity" will only be possible if EU countries stick to the rules of the bloc's Growth and Stability Pact.


  24. Waqas Dar
    Tesla Inc's high-volume Model 3 sedan passed all regulatory requirements for production two weeks ahead of schedule, Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted on Sunday night.
    ?(Model 3) Production grows exponentially, so Aug should be 100 cars and Sept above 1,500,? Musk said on Twitter.
    ?Looks like we can reach 20,000 Model 3 cars per month in Dec.? ?Expecting to complete SN1 on Friday,? Musk added.

    SN1 is the first car off assembly line for sale, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to Reuters. Musk said in May Tesla was on track to begin production of the $35,000 Model 3 in July.
    Tesla had said earlier, it expected to produce over 5,000 Model 3s per week by the end of this year and 10,000 vehicles per week ?at some point in 2018?.
    Reuters reported in February that the electric carmaker had shut down production at its California assembly plant for a week for production of the Model 3 sedan, to meet its target of starting production in July.
    Tesla's previous launches for its Model S sedan and Model X sports utility vehicle were hit by production delays and initial quality issues.
    That track record meant some analysts were skeptical about the model's July launch.


  25. Waqas Dar
    World number 12 had a relatively tough first round opponent in Sweden's Johanna Larsson. Two-time champion Petra Kvitova made a victorious return to Wimbledon on Monday after the knife attack that threatened to end her career.
    In December she suffered severe injuries to her left playing hand while fighting off a knife-wielding burglar at her home in a terrifying assault.
    The world number 12 had a relatively tough first round opponent in Sweden's Johanna Larsson, ranked number 53.
    But the Czech number two triumphed 6-3, 6-4 in a match on Centre Court watched by Prince William's wife Kate, the patron of the All England Club and a sympathetic crowd.
    "I felt the energy from the crowd and it was amazing to be back here at Wimbledon and playing on the beautiful Centre Court. It's the favourite court of my career," Kvitova said.
    "It was my motivation to come back and play in Wimbledon. I'm very happy that the dream came true and I was able to play here again.
    "I was a bit tight, I was nervous before and I started really badly with my serve and I need to improve it for sure, and my ground strokes."
    It was only Kvitova's eighth match back after six months out recovering from her knife wounds.
    Kvitova went out in the second round at the French Open in May in her comeback tournament but went on to win Birmingham, one of the Wimbledon warm-up events.
    She was due to play at Eastbourne last week but pulled out with an abdominal injury.
    "I feel no pain, which is good, but of course I missed a few days of practicing," Kvitova said after Monday's win.
    "I hope with matches and practice it will be better and better."
    Larsson, who went into the contest having lost all six of her previous matches at the All England Club, put up more of a fight in the second set but Kvitova broke serve at a crucial time for a 5-4 lead before serving for victory.
    Kvitova, 27, won the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon titles in her only Grand Slam finals appearances.
    The former world number two will play either Madison Brengle of the United States or Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands in the second round on Wednesday.


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