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Waqas Dar

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  1. Waqas Dar
    [embed_video1 url=http://stream.jeem.tv/vod/5cad42b47c33263f5bf86727c0c6e620.mp4/playlist.m3u8?wmsAuthSign=c2VydmVyX3RpbWU9Ni8yMC8yMDE3IDg6MTU6MjIgQU0maGFzaF92YWx1ZT1UYnFIN0lqUkh2azFsMmM5eGpmY2lRPT0mdmFsaWRtaW51dGVzPTYwJmlkPTE= style=center] KARACHI: The descent of the Pakistan Stock Exchange continued on Tuesday with the benchmark KSE 100-index shedding 1,600 points.

    The index stood at 45,085 points by midday. It has been declining continuously by a few hundred points for the last week.
    Economic analyst Mohammad Sohail explained that the political uncertainty prevailing in the country with regards to the work of the Panama case Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the Sharif family?s assets has had a negative impact on the stock market.
    Pakistan Stock Exchange falls 1,800 points after JIT summons PM
    Rs 9 billion worth of 219 million shares exchanged hands during the trading session
    He added that the market has gone down a cumulative 15% in the past month. 
    Earlier on June 12, the market dipped 1,800 points as news hit of the prime minister's summoning by the JIT. 


  2. Waqas Dar
    [embed_video1 url=http://stream.jeem.tv/vod/8123502c50cbad3e84d3ed731ec02532.mp4/playlist.m3u8?wmsAuthSign=c2VydmVyX3RpbWU9Ni8yMC8yMDE3IDc6MTU6NTEgQU0maGFzaF92YWx1ZT05TlRGaXNHMDRhd2lYbXNFRGdCV0hBPT0mdmFsaWRtaW51dGVzPTYwJmlkPTE= style=center]
    RAWALPINDI: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday declared Member Punjab Assembly Shaukat Bhatti ineligible after the commission confirmed that his graduation degree was counterfeit.

    A five-member bench led by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Sardar Raza Khan announced the verdict on the case against the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz MPA.
    Pakistan Peoples Party's Asad Kiyani had submitted the disqualification petition against Bhatti.
    Bhatti was elected as a Punjab Assembly Member from PP-4 constituency of Rawalpindi, which falls in Gujar Khan tehsil.
    Bhatti had won the constituency in the 2013 general elections after receiving over 60,000 votes. His main rival, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Sajid Mehmood, received almost 37,000 votes.
    The by-election on a constituency where a seat falls vacant for any reason is held within 60 days of the issuance of a disqualification notification.



  3. Waqas Dar
    While Anil Kapoor and Sridevi have been one of the best on-screen couples in the past, their movie my India also broke many records in the Bollywood.
    The duo was not only famous for their on-screen chemistry but also allegedly had an affair in the past. 
    Anil Kapoor and Sridevi did not share the screen together after Sridevi married Anil Kapoor's elder brother Boney Kapoor.
    But according to Indian media sources, after almost two decades, the duo is all set to share the screen together again for the sequel of Mr. India.
    As per the source close to the sequel?s production, ?The idea is to take the story forward, but not just for the heck of it. We wanted a solid plot, and we have got it.?

    The source also revealed that Sridevi and Anil Kapoor wouldn?t be the only important actors working in the sequel.
    The film will be helmed by a new director and will also feature two fresh faces in the lead roles
    Shekhar Kapoor directed the original Mr. India and the film had one of its iconic character Mogambo, played by Amrish Puri.





  4. Waqas Dar
    Since 2003, almost 22,000 civilians and nearly 7,000 Pakistani security forces have been killed as a result of militancy, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal. Photo: Reuters  President Donald Trump's administration appears ready to harden its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan, US officials tell Reuters.
    Potential Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding US drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan's status as a major non-NATO ally, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
    Some US officials, however, are skeptical of the prospects for success, arguing that years of previous US efforts to curb Pakistan's support for militant groups have failed, and that already strengthening US ties to India, Pakistan's arch-enemy, undermine chances of a breakthrough with Islamabad.
    US officials say they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties, once the administration finishes a regional review of the strategy guiding the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.
    Precise actions have yet to be decided.
    The White House and Pentagon declined to comment on the review before its completion. Pakistan's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
    "The United States and Pakistan continue to partner on a range of national security issues," Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.
    But the discussions alone suggest a shift toward a more assertive approach to address safe havens in Pakistan that have been blamed for in part helping turn Afghanistan's war into an intractable conflict.
    Experts on America's longest war argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents a place to plot deadly strikes in Afghanistan and regroup after ground offensives.
    Although long mindful of Pakistan, the Trump administration in recent weeks has put more emphasis on the relationship with Islamabad in discussions as it hammers out a the regional strategy to be presented to Trump by mid-July, nearly six months after he took office, one official said.
    "We've never really fully articulated what our strategy towards Pakistan is. The strategy will more clearly say what we want from Pakistan specifically," the US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
    Other US officials warn of divisions within the government about the right approach and question whether any mix of carrots and sticks can get Islamabad to change its behaviour. At the end of the day, Washington needs a partner, even if an imperfect one, in nuclear-armed Pakistan, they say.
    NATO soldiers after a suicide car attack at a NATO vehicle in Kabul in 2015. Photo: Reuters  The United States is again poised to deploy thousands more troops in Afghanistan, an acknowledgment that US-backed forces are not winning and Taliban militants are resurgent.
    Without more pressure on militants within Pakistan who target Afghanistan, experts say additional US troop deployments will fail to meet their ultimate objective: to pressure the Taliban to eventually negotiate peace.
    "I believe there will be a much harder US line on Pakistan going forward than there has been in the past," Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan ambassador to the United States, told Reuters, without citing specific measures under review.
    Kabul has long been critical of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan.
    Pakistan fiercely denies allowing any militants safe haven on its territory. It bristles at US claims that its spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, has ties to Haqqani network militants blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan.
    "What Pakistan says is that we are already doing a lot and that our plate is already full," a senior Pakistani government source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
    The source doubted the Trump administration would press too hard, saying: "They don?t want to push Pakistan to abandon their war against terrorism."
    A policeman stands at the site of a suicide attack on Lahore's Mall Road in 2017. Photo: AFP Pakistani officials point towards the toll militancy has taken on the country. Since 2003, almost 22,000 civilians and nearly 7,000 Pakistani security forces have been killed as a result of militancy, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks violence.
    Experts say Pakistan's policy towards Afghanistan is also driven in part by fears that India will gain influence in Afghanistan.
    Is Pakistan an ally?
    Nuclear-armed Pakistan won the status as a major non-NATO ally in 2004 from the George Bush administration, in what was at the time seen in part as recognition of its importance in the US battle against al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.

    The status is mainly symbolic, allowing limited benefits such as giving Pakistan faster access to surplus US military hardware.
    Some US officials and experts on the region scoff at the title.
    "Pakistan is not an ally. It?s not North Korea or Iran. But it?s not an ally," said Bruce Riedel, a Pakistan expert at the Brookings Institution.
    But yanking the title would be seen by Pakistan as a major blow.
    "The Pakistanis would take that very seriously because it would be a slap at their honour," said a former US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
    Lisa Curtis, senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, co-authored a report with Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's former ambassador to Washington, in which they recommended the Trump administration warn Pakistan the status could be revoked in six months.
    "Thinking of Pakistan as an ally will continue to create problems for the next administration as it did for the last one," said the February report.
    It was unclear how seriously the Trump administration was considering the proposal.
    The growing danger to Afghanistan from suspected Pakistan-based militants was underscored by a devastating May 31 truck bomb that killed more than 80 people and wounded 460 in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.
    Afghanistan's main intelligence agency said the attack - one of the deadliest in memory in Kabul - had been carried out by the Haqqani network with assistance from Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies.
    Washington believes the strikes appeared to be the work of the Haqqani network, US officials told Reuters.
    US frustration over the Haqqani's presence in Pakistan has been building for years. The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation in 2012. US Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top US military officer, told Congress in 2011 that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of the ISI.
    The potential US pivot to a more assertive approach would be sharply different than the approach taken at the start of the Obama administration, when US officials sought to court Pakistani leaders, including then army chief General Ashfaq Kayani.
    Admiral Mullen and General Kayani at a NATO conference in 2011. Photo: Reuters David Sedney, who served as Obama's deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia from 2009 to 2013, said the attempt to turn Islamabad into a strategic partner was a "disaster."
    "It didn't affect Pakistan's behaviour one bit. In fact, I would argue it made Pakistan's behaviour worse," Sedney said.
    More drones, cash cut-off
    Pakistan has received more than $33 billion in US assistance since 2002, including more than $14 billion in so-called Coalition Support Funds (CSF), a US Defense Department programme to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-insurgency operations.

    It is an important form of foreign currency for the nuclear-armed country and one that is getting particularly close scrutiny during the Trump administration review.
    Last year, the Pentagon decided not to pay Pakistan $300 million in CSF funding after then-US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter declined to sign authorisation that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network.
    US officials said the Trump administration was discussing withholding at least some assistance to Pakistan.
    Curtis' report also singled out the aid as a target.
    But US aid cuts could cede even more influence to China, which already has committed nearly $60 billion in investments in Pakistan.
    A US Air Force MQ-1 Predator drone. Photo: Reuters  Another option under review is broadening a drone campaign to penetrate deeper into Pakistan to target Haqqani fighters and other militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, US officials and a Pakistan expert said.
    "Now the Americans (will be) saying, you aren't taking out our enemies, so therefore we are taking them out ourselves," the Pakistan expert, who declined to be identified, said.
    Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Bajwa last week criticised "unilateral actions" such as drone strikes as "counterproductive and against (the) spirit of ongoing cooperation and intelligence sharing being diligently undertaken by Pakistan".


  5. Waqas Dar
    Qatar will not negotiate with its neighbours to resolve the Gulf dispute unless they first lift the trade and travel boycott they imposed two weeks ago, its foreign minister said but added Doha still believed a solution was possible.
    The United Arab Emirates, which along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain imposed the measures to isolate Qatar, said the sanctions could last for years unless Doha accepted demands that the Arab powers plan to reveal in coming days.
    Qatar has denied accusations by its neighbours that it funds terrorism, foments regional instability or has cosied up to their enemy Iran. The dispute has opened a rift among some of the main US allies in the Middle East, with President Donald Trump backing tough measures against Qatar even as his State Department and Defense Department have sought to remain neutral.
    On Monday Qatar held war games with Turkish troops, showing off one of its few remaining strong alliances after two weeks of unprecedented isolation.
    Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said Doha was ready to "engage and address" the concerns of other Gulf Arab states in what he described as a proper dialogue with pre-determined principles but reiterated that sanctions must be lifted first.
    "Until now we didn't see any progress about lifting the blockade, which is the condition for anything to move forward," Sheikh Mohammed said. The countries that imposed the sanctions have denied that they amount to a blockade.
    Sheikh Mohammed said he planned to travel to Washington next week to discuss the economic effect of the "blockade" and its effects on the global fight against terrorism.
    "We have a very strong partnership with the US We are partners together in the global coalition of countering terrorism. We have been talking to them since the crisis started," he said.
    UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said earlier on Monday said that those seeking to isolate Qatar had no intention of backing down unless their demands were met.
    "Qatar will realise that this is a new state of affairs and isolation can last years," Gargash told reporters in Paris.
    "If they want to be isolated because of their perverted view of what their political role is, then let them be isolated. They are still in a phase of denial and anger," he said, adding that a list of grievances for Qatar to address would be completed in the coming days.
    Qatar has relished support from Turkey during the dispute. Its state-funded pan-Arab Al Jazeera news channel showed footage of a column of armoured personnel carriers flying the Turkish flag inside the Tariq bin Ziyad military base in Doha.
    It reported that additional Turkish troops had arrived in Qatar on Sunday for the exercises, although military sources in the region told Reuters the operation actually involved Turkish troops who were already present rather than new arrivals.
    The dispute is a major test for the United States, close allies with both sides and which houses the headquarters of its air power in the Middle East at an air base in Qatar.
    Washington has sent mixed signals despite Trump's firm personal backing for the sanctions. Trump called Qatar a "funder of terrorism at a very high level," but five days later the Pentagon approved selling Qatar $12 billion of warplanes.
    The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday that military operations against Islamic State from Qatar were continuing while acknowledging some friction.
    "But what I said last week remains true, in that we have continued to be able to operate, even through that friction," Marine General Joseph Dunford told reporters in Washington.
    Baseless propaganda 
    Qatar, the world's richest country per capita, has used its wealth over the past decade to exert influence abroad, backing factions in civil wars and revolts across the Middle East. It has said it is now being punished for straying from its neighbours' backing for authoritarian hereditary and military rulers.
    "It is unfortunate that our neighbours have chosen to invest their time and resources in a baseless propaganda campaign," Sheikh Saif Bin Ahmed al-Thani, director of Qatar's Government Communications Office, said in a statement on Monday, calling the terrorism accusations a "publicity stunt."
    The Qatar Financial Centre, which administers special rules for foreign-owned companies operating in Qatar, said on Monday it has no plans to take any action against Saudi Arabian, Emirati or Bahraini firms in response to their governments' sanctions against Doha. "It remains business as usual, and we intend to keep it that way," its chief executive Yousef al-Jaida said.
    Jaida said Qatar's government was also prepared to support local banks if foreign institutions withdraw deposits from them because of the economic boycott.
    Turkey is one of the few powerful countries in the region willing to openly show its support for Qatar. Two days after the sanctions were imposed, its parliament fast-tracked legislation to allow more troops to be deployed to Qatar, where about 90 Turkish soldiers are stationed under a 2014 agreement.
    Turkey has said it would deploy 3,000 ground troops at the base, primarily to serve as a venue for joint exercises.
    Qatar has only 300,000 citizens enjoying the wealth produced by the world's largest exports of liquefied natural gas. The rest of its 2.7 million people are foreign migrant workers, mostly manual labourers employed on vast construction projects that have crowned the tiny desert peninsula with skyscrapers as well as stadiums for the 2022 soccer world cup.
    The sanctions have disrupted its main routes to import goods by land from Saudi Arabia and by sea from big container ships docked in the United Arab Emirates. But it so far has avoided economic collapse by quickly finding alternative routes, and it said its vast financial reserves would meet any challenges.
    Qatar has said the sanctions have also brought personal hardship for its citizens who live in neighbouring countries or have relatives there. The countries that imposed the sanctions gave Qataris two weeks to leave, which expired on Monday.
    Thousands of Qataris have been unable to board flights to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and cut off from relatives in those countries.
    The Qatari government communications director, Sheikh Saif, said Saudi, Emirati, and Bahraini families had been "forcibly recalled" on Monday by their governments despite being invited by Qatar to stay.


  6. Waqas Dar
    geo_embedgallery LOS ANGELES: It's early morning, just after breakfast, and six-year-old Cayley is wide awake, eagerly anticipating her daily dose of cannabis.

    The black labrador, tail wagging, laps up the liquid tincture owner Brett Hartmann squirts into her mouth, a remedy he uses morning and evening to help alleviate Cayley's anxiety.
    "Ever since I started her on CBD (cannabidiol -- a marijuana extract), her separation anxiety has disappeared," says Hartmann, 30, of his pet, a service dog he acquired while in college because he had epilepsy.
    Hartmann, who lives near Los Angeles, said he turned to medical marijuana for Cayley after he no longer needed her to accompany him everywhere, having himself overcome his epilepsy with the help of the drug.
    "I just allowed her to retire and... I don't think she handled the transition too well," Hartmann, who also has his ageing dachshund on cannabis, said. "But CBD has really helped."
    With the multi-billion dollar medical and recreational marijuana industry for humans blossoming in the United States, so is a new customer base -- animals.
    "We are seeing about 20 percent growth every single month," said Alison Ettel, founder of Treat Well, a company in California that specialises in non-psychoactive medical cannabis products for animals and humans.
    Treating thousands of animals 
    She said owners of animals -- from dogs, cats, lizards, turtles, alpacas, horses to farm animals -- are increasingly turning to cannabis to help treat ailments ranging from cancer and heart murmurs to arthritis and ear infections.
    And the feedback, Ettel says, is more than encouraging.
    "We probably get at least one to five cancer patients a day and the results we're seeing are just blowing my mind," she said, claiming the drug can help improve life expectancy.
    When she started in the business about a decade ago, Ettel said she would treat about 20 animals a year, mostly dogs.
    Today, with medical marijuana legalised in 29 states -- plus the District of Columbia -- the number of four-legged patients has skyrocketed.
    "Now we are treating thousands of animals," she said.
    But despite the rush to cash in on the booming industry, cannabis remains illegal on the federal level and marijuana laws on the state level don't apply to pets.
    That has translated into pet owners having to get a marijuana card for themselves in order to purchase cannabis for their pups, as veterinarians are barred from prescribing marijuana.
    The legal grey area and the lack of substantial studies on the effect of cannabis for pets also means that owners and dispensaries have had to tread carefully on dosages.
    "We start very very low and very very slow to try and find the appropriate dose," said Melinda Hayes, founder of Sweet Leaf Shoppe, a medical cannabis delivery service.
    "The last thing you want to do is for your dog or pet to be uncomfortable."
    Does it really work? 
    Proponents say the advantage of cannabis for ailing pets as opposed to painkillers or other traditional drugs is that when properly used, it has no known serious side effects.
    "Other medicines can take a toll on an animal's kidney, liver and other organs," Hayes said.
    Another advantage, she added, was the lower cost of medical cannabis compared to some medication.
    Veterinarians are cautioning against viewing cannabis as a miracle drug.
    "There are no studies on dogs or cats, much less guinea pigs or other species, so I don't know what the potential benefits could be, if any," said Ken Pawlowski, a veterinarian and head of the California Veterinary Medical Association.
    While a pet may feel better after ingesting medical marijuana, he warned that did not mean its illness was gone.
    "Is the underlying disease actually being treated or is it getting worse?" Pawlowski said. "The dog can feel better because it's high and actual known therapy that could help could be overlooked."
    But pet owners like Hartmann are undeterred while acknowledging that people need to be better educated on how to use the drug.
    "We have so many success stories," said Hartmann, who works as a cannabis consultant. "For the longest time, I was anti-cannabis and was not a proponent of it until I started using it for my epilepsy. It helped me restore my body and it totally makes sense to use it for my dogs."
    "I have people who roll their eyes all the time and I say 'You're just going to have to see it to believe it.'"


  7. Waqas Dar
    geo_embedgallery Afghan women are redrawing the media landscape in the deeply conservative country with the launch of a new magazine and a television channel, risking the anger of extremists by giving their gender a glamorous voice.

    The teams behind the two privately-run projects have bold ambitions to use their mass media platforms to change attitudes and inform Afghans of their rights.
    But they know full well the dangers of such trailblazing ventures in a war-torn nation where many still believe that a woman does not belong outside the home.
    "(The) lack of participation of women in life has made this country very violent," said Sandjar Sohail, head of the Hasht press group behind the launch of "Gelara" magazine.
    "I am sure we'll get some reaction, some complaints. We are expecting that," he conceded.
    The glossy monthly run by a team of women in their 20s proclaims itself proudly as "Afghanistan's first fashion magazine". It is also a 100 percent Afghan project.
    Gelara -- "the apple of the eyes" in Farsi, a colloquialism for something beautiful and precious -- contains culture and celebrities but aims for pedagogy.
    Beauty, cooking, health, literature: the magazine succumbs to feminine tropes, but also dives into issues such as family law reform, which has stalled in the Afghan parliament since 2008.
    "This family law is so unfair for women... once they get married they have no rights. You have to push for women's rights," insists the editor-in-chief, 24-year-old Fatana Hassanazada, who heads a team of 14 young women.
    'It's always risky' 
    Gelara's first cover featured singer Mozhdah Jamalzadah, who posed bareheaded, her bold gaze staring directly into the camera.
    In an interview, the artist discusses criticism she has received for wearing costumes judged too tight. Afghan pop star and women's rights activist Aryana Saeed underwent a similar deluge after a recent concert in Paris.
    "Yes it's risky. It's always risky" in Afghanistan to fight conservatism and extremism, said Sohail, who also runs the country's most popular newspaper, 8-Subh (8-Hours).
    "This is a life and death conflict," he explained, adding they have no choice but to fight. "If not, the conservatives will bring us back, to a primitive life."
    Gelara, which sells for 100 afghanis ($1.30) in the street, is provocative -- but only to a point. Though some heads remain unveiled, women's bare legs and arms are rarely pictured.
    Zan TV, or "Women's TV", will also aim to challenge traditional expectations of the female role in Afghanistan, when it begins broadcasting in the near future.
    AFP visited its studios in a vast house in Kabul last month: there is a candy pink one for news; another is blue, the traditional interior for talk shows; while political broadcasts are conducted from a red sofa against a green background -- echoing the Afghan flag.
    Women are already on the air in Afghanistan and regularly present the news. But at Zan TV they will have power.
    Mehria Afzal, 25, the head of the political service, expects to be "the voice of Afghan women".
    "In the provinces, girls are exchanged like animals. It is forbidden, but they do not know their rights," she asserts.
    Giving women the (remote) control 
    "This is the first time that we have launched a television project dealing with the issues of Afghan women, covering all subjects, allowing women to express themselves whether it is politics or religion," says Malalai Zikria, the channel's editorial advisor.
    "Every woman or girl who has something to say will be welcome," she promises. Rape, harassment, contraception -- all will be discussed, even the very sensitive question of virginity, she says.
    But the presenters will wear their headscarfs, she says, underscoring the caution with which they are attempting to move forward. "We are in an Islamic country, we must respect the laws. We can be veiled and fight for his rights."
    "We need to be cautious and calculating (in) the steps we take not to hurt or confront the culture or tradition of Afghanistan," said Hamid Samar, founder and director of Zan TV, who focuses on the urban audience.
    Digital technology provides coverage throughout the country for the channel, which employs 70 people -- an all-woman editorial staff, aged between 22 and 30, and a camera woman.
    The technical staff of 16 people is all male, said Samar, explaining that there is a lack of women trained in such areas.
    But he hopes that will change, adding that the company policy is still that "all the staff should be women".
    He also wants to reach a male audience, but to make a difference as they do so. "Hopefully husbands and wives will watch us together, but the women will actually (have) control of the remote control."


  8. Waqas Dar
    Portugal fire: Over 60 people were injured, five critically, including one child and four firefighters. Photo: AFP  POBRAIS: When the fire roared into the village of Pobrais, in central Portugal, Miguel Manuel?s mother called him in a panic.

    He rushed to help her, braving the danger of driving through flames, but it was too late by the time he arrived.
    Manuel was the first person to reach the road where 47 people died Saturday, burned alive in their cars. The blaze has killed a total of 63.
    The 23-year-old found his mother?s body just 500 metres (yards) from the family home.
    At least 62 killed in forest fire still raging in Portugal
    Nearly 600 firefighters and 160 vehicles were dispatched late Saturday to tackle the blaze
    Two days later, in heat that hit 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit), he, his father and a neighbour set about burying animals that had succumbed to the flames, including a cat and goats.
    The village has around 50 houses, stretching along a narrow, steep road that spills into a valley now covered in ashes and blackened trees.
    Manuel told AFP that he was in the coastal city of Figueira da Foz, around a hundred kilometres (62 miles) away, when she called.
    He hastily made his way to Pobrais, using an alternate route and even driving through flames in a desperate attempt to save his mother.
    ?Everything burned?
    "Everything burned, even my work," said the young man, who works in the wood industry.
    Next to him, his father Jose Manuel is unable to talk about the tragedy. The farmer, 57, could only say that that his wife, who earned a living as a cleaner, had left the village in a car with her cousin who also died on the fateful national route 236 that links Figueiro dos Vinhos to Castanheira de Pera.
    His neighbour, Vitor Neves, was married to the 38-year-old cousin. At the time of her death, Neves was fighting the same fire, 35 kilometres away.
    He, too, tried to reach the village but also arrived too late.
    Pobrais lost 12 villagers in the fire. Eleven people died on the main road, trapped by flames coming from all directions as they tried to flee.
    Neves said he believes the disaster could have been avoided.
    "The village exit should have been blocked. If people had stayed in their houses, they would have survived," he said.
    Neighbours across the street did survive, taking refuge in a water tank set up in front of their door.
    Maria do Ceu Ferreira, her retired husband and two daughters in their 30s saw the fire sweep over their heads.
    "Without the water tank, we would be dead," said the 56-year-old woman, who had no voice after screaming during those tense moments.
    She has no idea how long it lasted.
    "It felt like an hour, but I don?t really know, we completely lost all notion of time."
    She said she somehow felt that those who left the village were putting their lives in danger.
    "When we saw people heading for the road, we begged them to stay with us in the water tank but they were blinded by panic," she said.
    Among the people who stayed in the village, a man in his 50s burned to death in his home.
    The house at the lower end of the village and closest to the forest was reduced to ashes, along with the rest of the surrounding valley and hills.
    "I have been a fireman for 26 years and I have never seen anything like it," said Antonio Coutinho, who works with Vitor Neves with the forest fire fighting crews.
    "No one could have imagined the fire would move so fast. It engulfed the entire valley in a matter of minutes."


  9. Waqas Dar
    People gather to attend a vigil outside Finsbury Park Mosque, close to the scene of a van attack in Finsbury Park, north London. Photo: AFP  LONDON: Londoners bearing flowers and messages of solidarity gathered Monday at the spot where a man ploughed a van into Muslims leaving prayers at a mosque, the fourth terror strike in Britain in four months.

    Eleven people were injured in the attack, which took place early Monday near Finsbury Park mosque, north London, raising fears of retaliation against Muslims after recent assaults by extremists.
    One elderly man, who had collapsed just before the incident, was pronounced dead at the scene, but it is not yet known whether his death was directly linked to the van assault.
    Among the roughly 100 people at the vigil, some carried signs reading "United Against All Terror".
    "One of the things that all these terrorists share is a perverse ideology that wants to fuel division and divide our communities. We?re not going to let them," said Mayor Sadiq Khan, speaking after prayers at the Muslim Welfare House on Monday evening.
    Flowers were left at the scene where hours earlier the 47-year-old van driver was pinned down by locals and shielded from violence by an imam, before being detained by police.
    The driver was later arrested on suspicion of "the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder", the police said.
    The suspect was identified by British media as Darren Osborne, a father of four who lived in the Welsh capital Cardiff.
    As police searched a property, five residents speaking to journalists from the Press Association news agency identified images of the arrested man as their neighbour, Osborne.
    Security Minister Ben Wallace told BBC radio that the suspect was "not known to us".
    Stepped-up police presence
    London police chief Cressida Dick said the incident was "quite clearly an attack on Muslims" and promised a stepped-up police presence near mosques as the holy month of Ramadan draws to a close.
    Witness Abdiqadir Warra told AFP the van "drove at people" and that some of the victims were carried for several metres along the road.
    "He was shouting: ?I want to kill all Muslims?," another witness, Khalid Amin, told BBC television.
    The Finsbury Park Mosque said the van "deliberately mowed down Muslim men and women leaving late evening prayers" at the mosque and the nearby Muslim Welfare House shortly after midnight.
    Eleven people were hurt, all Muslims, with nine requiring hospital treatment. Two were in a very serious condition, police said.
    One Algerian man was among those injured, the north African country said.
    Locals pinned down the driver and the imam of the Muslim Welfare House stepped in to stop him receiving a mob beating.
    France and Germany quickly condemned the attack.
    US President Donald Trump?s daughter Ivanka expressed solidarity with the worshippers in a tweet but her father has so far not commented.
    Community in shock
    Prime Minister Theresa May, who was heavily criticised for failing to meet survivors of a devastating fire in a London tower block last week, visited Finsbury Park Mosque where she met local faith leaders.
    May condemned the assault as "sickening", saying Britain?s determination to fight "terrorism, extremism and hatred... must be the same, whoever is responsible".
    The use of a vehicle to mow down pedestrians drew horrifying parallels with this month?s London Bridge attack.
    In that incident, three men slammed a van into pedestrians before embarking on a stabbing spree -- an attack claimed by Daesh.
    In March London was hit with another car and knife rampage, that one near parliament. It was also claimed by Daesh.
    This time the attacker deliberately targeted Muslims, according to the police.
    After the London Bridge attack, the mayor?s office reported a 40-percent increase in racist incidents in the capital and a five-fold increase in anti-Muslim incidents.
    Mohammed Kozbar, chairman of the Finsbury Park Mosque, described the attack as "cowardly".
    "Our community is in shock," he said, urging people attending prayers to remain vigilant.
    ?Extraordinary city?
    It was the third major incident in the capital this month, after the London Bridge attack and last week?s devastating fire in the Grenfell Tower block, in which 79 people are thought to have died.
    "This is an extraordinary city of extraordinary people," May said outside Downing Street after chairing an emergency government meeting.
    "Diverse, welcoming, vibrant, compassionate, confident and determined never to give in to hate."
    Last month, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a pop concert in Britain?s third city of Manchester, killing 22 people, many of them children.
    The Finsbury Park Mosque was once a notorious hub for radical extremists but has changed markedly in recent years under new management.
    Its former imam, Abu Hamza, was jailed for life in New York on terrorism charges in 2015.
    Despite the change in leadership and the focus on bolstering inter-faith relations, the mosque reported it had received a string of threatening emails and letters in the wake of the Paris attacks.


  10. Waqas Dar
    Jared Kushner welcomes technology company leaders to a summit of the American Technology Council at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, June 19, 2017. Photo: Reuters   WASHINGTON: Top White House aide ? and presidential son-in-law ? Jared Kushner is among the most powerful men in America, but few have heard him speak, until now.
    His voice is common enough to those working in and around the White House, but Kushner on Monday gave rare public remarks.
    In mid-to-high pitch, with long vowels and smooth consonants, the 36-year-old husband of Ivanka Trump for around seven minutes read prepared remarks on technological innovation.
    "Together we have set ambitious goals and empowered interagency teams to tackle our objectives. It´s working and it´s very exciting," he said.
    Since joining the administration, Kushner has been mocked by satirists for his monastic quiet.
    The Trump impersonator on comedy show Saturday Night Live affectionately described him "a little Jewish Amelie," after the close-lipped and impish star of the eponymous French film.
    In the first days of his administration, Trump appeared to believe there was no challenge too confounding, no conflict too intractable for his son-in-law to tackle.
    He has been tasked with resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, America´s opioid epidemic and injecting the nation´s bureaucracy with entrepreneurial spirit.
    Kushner is often seen standing beside Trump in the Oval Office or climbing the steps of Marine One but rarely heard beyond the corridors of power in Washington.
    Hardline conservatives in the White House have long seen Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner ? also a real estate developer ? as "New York progressives" trying to bend the volatile president to their way of thinking.
    Spokesman Sean Spicer on Monday announced that Kushner would soon go to the Middle East on the latest peace drive, meeting leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmud Abbas.


  11. Waqas Dar
    Accenture Plc and Microsoft Corp are teaming up to build a digital ID network using blockchain technology, as part of a United Nations-supported project to provide legal identification to 1.1 billion people worldwide with no official documents.
    The companies unveiled a prototype of the network on Monday at the UN headquarters in New York during the second summit of ID2020, a public-private consortium promoting the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goal of providing legal identity for everyone on the planet.
    The project aims to help individuals such as refugees prove who they are in order to gain access to basic services such as education and healthcare.
    Blockchain, first developed as a public ledger of all transactions in the digital currency bitcoin, is increasingly being used to securely track data in other fields.
    "Without an identity you can't access education, financial services, healthcare, you name it. You are disenfranchised and marginalized from society," David Treat, a managing director in Accenture's financial services practice, said in an interview.
    "Having a digital identity is a basic human right."
    The new platform will connect existing record-keeping systems of commercial and public entities through blockchain, allowing users to access to their personal information wherever they are.
    For example, refugees who have fled their country leaving behind birth or education paper certificates would still be able to provide proof of those credentials through the system.
    One of the main advantages of blockchain is that it allows systems of different organizations to communicate with each other, Yorke Rhodes, global business strategist at Microsoft, said in an interview.
    The prototype was built on top of an existing Accenture platform, which powers the biometric identity management system used by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
    Accenture and Microsoft, which worked on the prototype with managed service provider Avanade Inc, are inviting other companies to join their project.
    PricewaterhouseCoopers and Cisco Systems Inc are among the organizations involved in ID2020.
    "What ID2020 is truly focused on is bringing together an alliance of stakeholders to ensure the technology that is being developed is responsive to the needs of individuals," Dakota Gruener, executive director at ID2020, said in an interview.
    "Technology is only one piece of this."


  12. Waqas Dar
    Julian Assange. Photo: AFP LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday abandoned plans to make a "special announcement" five years after moving into London?s Ecuadorian embassy, claiming he had a meeting set with UK officials.

    "On the advice of Mr. Assange?s legal counsel, today?s planned announcement by Mr. Assange from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy has been deferred.
    "This follows the agreement of an imminent meeting with British authorities," WikiLeaks said in a statement.
    Assange?s planned appearance at the embassy balcony was due to mark five years since he took refuge in the Ecuadorian territory within London, in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faced allegations of rape.
    Sweden dropped its investigation into Assange last month, deciding it was no longer proportional to keep the probe open while there was little chance of the 45-year-old surrendering himself to the authorities.
    Assange declared "victory" following the announcement, although he declined to say whether he would step out onto British soil where he could be arrested for earlier skipping bail.
    On Monday, WikiLeaks said Assange?s legal team "remain optimistic" of finding a solution "which respects the British legal process and restores Mr. Assange?s freedom and dignity".
    The British government denied it had any plans to meet with Assange, despite the claim made by WikiLeaks.
    "There are no upcoming meetings scheduled between the Home Office and Julian Assange?s legal team," a home office spokesman told AFP.
    Assange said he opted to move into the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid being extradited to the US where he fears prosecution over WikiLeaks publishing leaked government documents.
    US justice authorities have never confirmed that they have Assange under investigation or are seeking his extradition.
    But US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said last month that "we will seek to put some people in jail", when asked if arresting Assange was a "priority" for Washington.


  13. Waqas Dar
    Now that Bill Cosby's first *** assault trial has ended in deadlock, the difficulty of seating an unbiased jury for the famed entertainer's retrial may have ratcheted higher, thanks to blanket media coverage of the sensational case, legal experts say.
    Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill has kept secret the names of the 12 jurors who spent 52 hours in an unsuccessful effort to decide whether Cosby, now 79, drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand at his home in a Philadelphia suburb in 2004.
    O'Neill may have a concern that naming them publicly could lead to another spate of stories on what led to the jury room logjam, further affecting potential jurors' thoughts on the case.
    "It's one thing if they preview the evidence," said Wesley Oliver, a law professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. "If the jury's analysis of the evidence has been previewed, that's much more of a tainting issue."
    The judge will consider whether to release the jurors' names at a hearing on Tuesday.
    Concerns about the case's visibility had already prompted O'Neill to import jurors for the first trial from Pittsburgh, around 300 miles (480 km) from the courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.
    Prosecutors, who intend to retry Cosby, filed a motion on Monday urging O'Neill to refrain from identifying the jurors, arguing that widespread coverage of their deliberations could influence jurors for the retrial.
    But David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor, said he doubted such coverage would make much of a difference given the countless stories already published.
    "You have at least to ask the question, would it really have more influence than what's already out there?" he said.
    Even so, Oliver cautioned that the emergence of a particular narrative - that Constand's testimony was not believable, or that only one or two holdouts refused to convict Cosby - could affect potential jurors' view of the case.
    Also on Monday came the first public comments from a Cosby juror - one of six alternates who heard the evidence but did not deliberate - who said he was "sick" to hear a mistrial declared.
    Mike McCloskey told a Pittsburgh radio station that he had served as an alternate and would have voted to convict Cosby.
    Juror names are normally a matter of public record and judges must justify the decision to seal them, legal experts said.
    In some cases, such as terrorism or mob trials, anonymity is aimed at ensuring jurors' safety.
    It has become increasingly common for judges to keep juror names secret during high-profile trials, though not after the case has ended, said Paula Hannaford-Agor, who studies juries for the nonprofit National Center for State Courts.
    "Once the risk to the integrity of the trial has dissipated, there is no legitimate reason for maintaining the anonymity of the jurors," she said.
    Some jurors in highly visible cases have endured post-trial harassment. After Casey Anthony was acquitted of suffocating her 2-year-old daughter in 2011, one juror quit her job and moved due to death threats she received, Hannaford-Agor said.


  14. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: A 72-inch pipeline was ruptured on Tuesday following a power breakdown at Dhabeji Pumping Station ? the most important water supply source for the city.
    According to Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB) officials, a power failure at the Dhabeji pumping station caused a buildup of back pressure in the pipeline; unable to take the increased pressure the 72-inch pipeline burst.

    As a result, 150 million gallons of water will not be supplied to the city in the next forty-eight hours, according to a statement issued by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KSWB).
    ?Two kilometres of land was submerged in water after the pipeline burst,? a KWSB spokesperson said.
    Heavy equipment for repairing the damaged line was promptly transported to the pumping station on the instructions of KWSB?s Managing Director Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi.
    ?The repair work can take up to 48 hours,? the KWSB spokesperson said. ?Till the pipeline is repaired, we are using alternate pipelines to supply water.?  


  15. Waqas Dar
    LAHORE: Two foreigners, including one woman, were taken into custody during a raid conducted by Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) here on Wazirabad Road late Monday night, Geo News reported.
    The ANF also recovered contraband, comprising 3.6 kilogrammes of hashish and 300 grammes of heroin, from the two arrestees. The agency said the Nigerian woman and man were reportedly transporting the drugs to Sialkot.
    Karachi raid
    Four suspects were detained during a search operation carried out in Karachi's Jamshed Quarters area, Geo News reported.
    According to SSP East, weapons, contraband, and a motorcycle were recovered from the arrestees.
    Fire in Gadani
    The labourers' quarters in the Gadani ship-breaking yard near Hub caught fire late last night, police said, adding that over a dozen quarters were affected by the blaze.
    The fire brigade officials had reportedly doused the flames, police stated. It also said that there were no casualties in the fire incident.


  16. Waqas Dar
    Photo: Online JHANG: Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday visited the Haveli Bahadur Shah Gas power plant and announced that 1230 megawatts electricity will be generated from the plant.
    The Punjab CM expressed his satisfaction over the efforts of the team and the progress of the construction work.
    He said the power plant will start trial production from tonight, adding that the plant will be able to produce 750 megawatts power in a week.
    ?The project will prove to be significant in the efforts to end load shedding in the country,? Sharif said. 


  17. Waqas Dar
    US President Donald Trump participates in an American Technology Council roundtable, accompanied by Tim Cook, CEO of Apple (L) and Satya Nadella CEO of Microsoft Corporation at the White House in Washington, US, June 19, 2017. Photo: Reuters   President Donald Trump met on Monday with the heads of 18 US technology companies including Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), seeking their help to make the government's computing systems more efficient.
    The White House wants to update government information technology systems, cut costs, eliminate waste and improve service. Trump on Monday cited estimates that the government could save up to $1 trillion over 10 years through such measures.
    "Our goal is to lead a sweeping transformation of the federal government?s technology that will deliver dramatically better services for citizens," Trump said. "Government needs to catch up with the technology revolution."
    The executives are part of the so-called American Technology Council that Trump formed in May to support efforts to modernise the US government.
    ?The US should have the most modern government in the world. Today it doesn?t,? Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said
    Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said he wanted the Trump administration to make use of commercially available technologies, worker retraining, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
    Before meeting with Trump, the CEOs met in 10 small group sessions with Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, along with the presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ohio State University.
    Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, said the administration wanted to "unleash the creativity of the private sector to provide citizen services in a way that has never happened before."
    He said the administration was scrapping unneeded regulations for government computing systems, such as a rule on preventing Y2K issues. Most of the government's 6,100 data centres can be consolidated and moved to a cloud-based storage system.
    The White House is seeking to shrink government, reduce the federal workforce and eliminate regulations.
    Trump in March signed an order to overhaul the federal government and tapped Kushner to lead a White House Office of American Innovation to leverage business ideas and potentially privatise some government functions.
    Many of the tech executives are eager to get White House help in dealing with regulatory and other policy issues such as visas for highly skilled workers.
    Others attending include Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Chairman John Doerr and the CEOs of Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N), Intel Corp (INTC.O), Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O), Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) and Adobe Systems Inc (ADBE.O). Facebook (FB.O) CEO Mark Zuckerberg was invited but could not attend because of a conflict, the company said.
    A 2016 US Government Accountability Office report estimated the US government spent more than $80 billion in IT annually, excluding classified operations. In 2015, the US government made at least 7,000 separate IT investments and some agencies were using systems that had components at least 50 years old. "This structure is unsustainable," Kushner said.
    The CEOs and White House also planned to discuss Trump's review announced in April of the US visa program for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the country. Cook plans to raise immigration, a person briefed on the matter said Sunday.
    The council also seeks to boost the security of US government IT systems and wants to learn from private-sector practices. In 2015, hackers exposed the personal information of 22 million people from US government databases.
    The White House thinks it can learn from credit card companies about significantly reducing fraud. A 2016 government audit found that in Medicaid alone there was $29 billion in fraud in a single year.
    Following Trump's June 1 decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords, Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk and Walt Disney (DIS.N) CEO Robert Iger stepped down from White House advisory panels. White House officials said the dispute had little impact and that they had to turn away tech leaders from Monday's event because of lack of space.


  18. Waqas Dar
    Emergency crews attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians near a mosque in the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of North London, Britain, June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall  WASHINGTON: The US government and Ivanka Trump on Monday expressed sympathy with worshippers attacked while leaving a London mosque ? while the president himself remained silent.
    State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert issued an official condemnation of the deadly assault but Donald Trump ? often quick to comment on Twitter after extremist violence ? kept his counsel.
    "The United States strongly condemns last night's attack that appears to have targeted Muslim worshippers in London," Nauert said.
    "We extend our sympathies to the families and community of the victims and our hopes for the quick recovery of those wounded."
    Trump's daughter and adviser Ivanka also reacted to the attack.
    "Sending love and prayers to the victims in #FinsburyPark London. We must stand united against hatred and extremism in all it's ugly forms," she tweeted.
    President Trump has taken to Twitter during previous terror attacks to make the case for tighter restrictions on travel from predominantly Muslim countries.
    He has also yet to offer public comment on the deaths of seven US sailors, killed during a collision between their navy destroyer and a Philippine-flagged cargo ship.
    In London, a van ploughed into a crowd near a mosque early on Monday, leaving one person dead and injuring 10 others in the second terror attack this month in the city.
    Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the "sickening" incident, reaffirming Britain's determination to fight "terrorism, extremism and hatred."


  19. Waqas Dar
    Carrie Fisher poses for cameras as she arrives at the European Premiere of 'Star Wars, The Force Awakens' in Leicester Square, London, December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Paul Hackett/File Photo  Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher had traces of cocaine, heroin, and party drug MDMA, also known as ecstasy, in her system when she died suddenly in December, according to a full autopsy report released on Monday.
    The autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner could not ascertain what effect the cocaine and other drugs may have had on her system.
    Coroner's officials ruled on Friday that the death of the Star Wars actress was due to sleep apnea and other causes.
    Fisher died at age 60 on December 27, four days after she went into cardiac arrest on a flight from London to Los Angeles.
    Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds remembered at public memorial service
    Mother-daughter duo died in December just a day apart
    She had a long history of cocaine addiction in the 1980s and she also suffered from bipolar disorder. Although Fisher had spoken openly about her battle with addiction, it was not known that she had ongoing issues with drugs.
    Fisher had likely taken the cocaine some 72 hours before she was admitted to the hospital in Los Angeles, according to Monday's autopsy and toxicology report.
    "The significance of the cocaine (regarding the cause of death) cannot be established at this time," the report said. "We cannot establish the significance of the multiple substances that were detected in Ms. Fisher's blood and tissue with regard to the cause of death."Ms. Fisher's blood and tissue with regard to the cause of death."
    The officials said they could not pinpoint the time of exposure to the small amount of heroin found in Fisher's system, along with the MDMA and other opiates.
    But they said the drugs can suppress breathing and respiration and that Fisher had a history of sleep apnea.
    After undergoing treatment in the mid-1980s for cocaine addiction, Fisher wrote the bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, about a drug-abusing actress forced to move in with her mother. The book was later adapted into a film starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine.
    Iconic Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher dies aged 60
    ?She was loved by the world and she will be missed profoundly,? Fisher's daughter says
    She reprised her star-making role as Princess Leia in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when her character become an astute military general.
    Her daughter, Billie Lourd, said in a statement to People magazine on Friday that her mother "battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life. She ultimately died of it. She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases."
    Lourd said she thought Fisher would "want her death to encourage people to be open about their struggles. Seek help, fight for government funding for mental health programs."


  20. Waqas Dar
    Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who has been detained in North Korea since early January, attends a news conference in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo February 29, 2016. REUTERS/Kyodo/File Photo  An American university student who had been held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months died at a Cincinnati hospital on Monday, just days after he was released from captivity in a coma, his parent said.

    Otto Warmbier, 22, who was arrested in North Korea while visiting as a tourist, had been described by doctors caring for him last week as having extensive brain damage that left him in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness".
    "Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family said in a statement after Warmbier's death at 2:20 PM EDT (6:20 PM GMT).
    His family has said that Warmbier lapsed into a coma in March 2016, shortly after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in North Korea.
    Physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he died, said last Thursday that Warmbier showed no sign of understanding language or awareness of his surroundings, and had made no "purposeful movements or behaviours," though he was breathing on his own.
    There was no immediate word from Warmbier's family on the cause of his death.
    The circumstances of his detention in North Korea and what medical treatment he may have received there remained a mystery, but relatives have said his condition suggested that he had been physically abused by his captors.
    The University of Virginia student and Ohio native was arrested, according to North Korean media, for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan.
    North Korea released Warmbier last week and said he was being freed "on humanitarian grounds."
    The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not available for comment on Monday.
    US President Donald Trump issued a statement offering condolences to the Warmbier family and denouncing "the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."
    The president drew criticism in May when he said he would be "honoured" to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
    "If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honoured to do it," Trump said in the interview. "If it's under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that."
    The student's father, Fred Warmbier, said last week that his son had been "brutalised and terrorised by the Pyongyang government and that the family disbelieved North Korea's story that his son had fallen into a coma after contracting botulism and being given a sleeping pill.
    Doctors who examined Otto Warmbier after his release said there was no sign of botulism in his system.
    Warmbier was freed after Joseph Yun ? the US State Department's special envoy on North Korea ? travelled to Pyongyang and demanded the student's release on humanitarian grounds, capping a flurry of secret diplomatic contacts, a US official said last week.

    Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year. Pyongyang has also vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the US mainland.
    Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States holds North Korea accountable for Warmbier's "unjust imprisonment" and demanded the release of three other US citizens still held by Pyongyang ? Korean-Americans Tony Kim, Kim Dong Chul, and Kim Hak Song.
    Jonathan Bae, whose father, Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae spent two years in North Korean captivity before his release in 2014, expressed sadness at Warmbier's death.
    "My heart goes out to the family. I will pray for them and hope they find peace," Jonathan Bae said.
    Young Pioneer Tours, the group with which Warmbier travelled to North Korea, will no longer be organising tours for US citizens to the isolated country, Troy Collings, a company director, said in a statement.


  21. Waqas Dar
    Photo: File Moist currents from the Arabian Sea are penetrating into upper and central parts of the country on Tuesday.
    A westerly wave is affecting most upper and central parts of the country and likely to persist till Thursday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department forecasted.
    Rain and dust-thundershower (with isolated heavy falls) with gusty winds are expected in the next twenty-four hours at scattered places in KP, FATA, Islamabad, upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad divisions) and Kashmir, while at isolated places in south Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Zhob Division.
    Light rain and drizzle are expected at a few places along Sindh coast.
    Hot and humid weather is likely to persist in most parts of the country.
    Past weather
    Rain and dust-thundershower with gusty winds occurred at scattered places in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore divisions while at isolated places in Malakand, Hazara, D.G. Khan, Multan, Bahawalpur divisions, Barkhan, and Kashmir.
    Rainfall in the last 24 hours (mm)
    Punjab: Islamabad (Saidpur 72, Zero point 22, Bokra 07), Murree 37, Sialkot (City 39, AP 20), Mangla 24, Gujrat 22, Rawalpindi (Shamsabad 16, Chaklala 10), Jhelum 14, Gujranwala 13, M.B.Din 04, Lahore 03, Kasur 02, Balochistan: Barkhan 29, KP: Dir 13, Malamjabba, Kakul 02, Kashmir: Kotli 02, Muzaffarabad 01.
    Today's highest maximum temperatures
    Nokkundi 47°C, Dalbandin 46°C, Bhakkar, Dadu, Jacobabad, Sibbi, Shaheed Benazirabad 45°C.


    Data courtesy: Pakistan Meteorological Department 


  22. Waqas Dar
    Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, of Sterling, Virginia, charged with the murder of a 17-year-old American Muslim girl is shown in this Fairfax County Police Department photo released in Fairfax, Virginia, US, June 19, 2017. Courtesy Fairfax County Police Dept./Handout via REUTERS  WASHINGTON: A teenage Muslim girl killed by a bat-wielding motorist near a Virginia mosque was an apparent victim of "road rage" and her death is not being investigated as a hate crime, police said on Monday.
    Nabra Hassanen, 17, was attacked early on Sunday in Sterling, Virginia, about 50 kilometres west of Washington, after attending late-night prayers for the holy month of Ramazan, when many Muslims fast from dawn until sunset.
    Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, of Sterling, has been arrested and charged with murder in the incident that began with a road dispute with a boy on a bicycle who was among a group of teenagers that included Hassanen, Fairfax County police spokeswoman Julie Parker said.
    "It appears that the suspect became so enraged over this traffic argument that it escalated into deadly violence," she told a news conference.
    Parker said there was no indication the attack near the All Dulles Area Muslim Society mosque was motivated by race or religion. Police said there was no sign that Martinez used racial slurs during the attack.
    Sharon Bulova, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, expressed solidarity with the Muslim centre and said a prayer vigil would be held on Wednesday at a high school.
    "With regard to this case, I am confident justice will be served," she said at the news conference.
    The attack took place about 3:40 AM as up to 15 teenagers, who had attended prayer services at the mosque, were returning from a fast-food restaurant, Parker said.
    Some of the teenagers were on the road and Martinez began arguing with the boy on a bicycle as he was driving in his car, Parker said.
    Martinez chased the youths into a parking lot, emerged from his car with a baseball bat, and struck Hassanen, she said.
    He loaded Hassanen into his car and dumped her in a pond in neighbouring Loudoun County, Parker said. A search team recovered the body on Sunday, and an autopsy showed she had suffered blunt force trauma to the upper body, she added.
    The Washington Post reported that Hassanen and her friends were dressed in abayas, the robe-like dress worn by some Muslim women, prompting fears the victim was targeted because she was Muslim.
    Police arrested Martinez about 90 minutes after the assault and a judge ordered that he remain jailed without bail, officials said. He has been assigned a public defender.


  23. Waqas Dar
    Astronomers on Monday added 219 candidates to the growing list of planets beyond the solar system, 10 of which may be about the same size and temperature as Earth, boosting the chances for life.
    Scientists found the planet candidates in a final batch of NASA's Kepler Space Telescope observations of 200,000 sample stars in the constellation Cygnus.
    The candidates include 10 newly discovered rocky worlds that are properly distanced from their parent stars for water, if it exists, to pool on their surfaces. Scientists believe liquid water is a key ingredient for life.
    ?An important question for us is, ?Are we alone?'" Kepler program scientist Mario Perez said in a conference call with reporters. ?Maybe Kepler today is telling us indirectly ... that we are not alone.?
    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched the Kepler telescope in 2009 to learn if Earth-like planets are common or rare. With the final analysis of Kepler data in hand, scientists said they will now work on answering that question, a key step in assessing the chance that life exists beyond Earth.
    During a four-year mission, Kepler found 2,335 confirmed planets and another 1,699 candidates, bringing its tally to 4,034. That number includes about 50 worlds that may be about the same size and temperature as Earth.
    Including other telescope surveys, scientists have confirmed the existence of nearly 3,500 planets beyond the solar system.
    Kepler?s data also provided a new way to assess whether a planet has a solid surface, like Earth, or is made mostly of gas, like Neptune. The distinction will help scientists home in on potential Earth-like planets and better the odds for finding life.
    The Kepler team found that planets which are about 1.75 times the size of Earth and smaller tend to be rocky, while those two- to 3.5 times the size of Earth become gas-shrouded worlds like Neptune.
    ?It?s like finding what we thought was a single species of animal is really two different things,? said Benjamin Fulton, a graduate student in astronomy who analysed the Kepler data.
    So far, these planets, which scientists refer to as ?super-Earths? and ?mini-Neptunes,? have not been found in Earth?s solar system, though scientists are on the hunt for a potential ninth planet far beyond Pluto.
    ?It is interesting that we don?t have what appears to be the most common type of planet in the galaxy,? Fulton said.


  24. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: Players of Pakistan cricket team returned home, in the wee hours of Tuesday, to a grand welcome, after winning the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
    A young Pakistan team stunned the world and created history on Sunday, thrashing an in-form and star-studded Indian side by 180 runs in the Champions Trophy finale at The Oval.
    Players begin to return separately to their hometowns after unavailability of tickets barred them from boarding a flight together.

    Four Cricketers have arrived in Lahore, Two will land in Karachi, while two others in Islamabad.
    Faheem Ashraf, Babar Azam Ahmad Shahzad along with player of the tournament Hasan Ali land at Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore.



    Captain Sarfraz Ali and Rumman Raees to arrive back home in Karachi.
    While Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim will be arriving at the Benazir International Airport in Islamabad around 7:30 AM.







  25. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples? Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday expressed complete satisfaction on the performance of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and his entire team while lambasting PTI over its performance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
    Speaking to the media after inaugurating a fly-over in Malir the PPP chairman lauded the progress in Sindh including Karachi under his party?s government. He highlighted that sanitation work was improving and multiple roads were being built.
    Bilawal Bhutto Zardari added that if progress continued at the same pace, his party would surely secure its share in Karachi in the next elections.
    Taking a swipe at the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Bilawal said that they are complaining that they have been held accountable during his mother Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto?s tenure and during the rule of Pervez Musharraf.
    The PPP leader said that every time the PML-N was held accountable during PPP rule they colluded with the establishment to remove the PPP government. He asked what accountability the PML-N leadership faced during the Musharraf years, highlighting that they had signed a document and fled the country.
    Training his sights on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Bilawal Bhutto said he met with the young doctors who informed him that PTI is destroying the health services setup in the province.
    Taking a jab at the PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who is quite active and has a massive following on social media, Bilawal said the change Khan had promised is limited only to Twitter. 


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