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Waqas Dar

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Blog Entries posted by Waqas Dar

  1. Waqas Dar
    Photo: File Pakistan Railways, on Thursday, issued the schedule of five special trains that will be run between different cities to accommodate passengers on Eid-ul Fitr.
    The first Eid train will leave Karachi for Peshawar on June 23, while the second one will depart from Quetta for Rawalpindi the same day.
    The third train will leave Karachi on June 24 for Lahore, while the fourth will depart from Rawalpindi for Multan on June 25.
    The fifth special train will leave Multan for Rawalpindi on June 28.
    Additional coaches will also be added to the routine trains to accommodate the Eid passengers.
    Pakistan Railways has started online booking for these special trains as well.


  2. Waqas Dar
    oga instructor Meridith Lana teaching her students during a "Goat Yoga" class organised by Lavenderwood Farm in Thousand Oaks, California. PHOTO: AFP LOS ANGELES: Adonna Ebrahimi is stretched out on her yoga mat, struggling to maintain a cobra pose -- and her composure -- as a couple of baby goats do a balancing act on her back.
    Welcome to "Goat Yoga," the latest fitness craze sweeping the United States, where young and old are lining up for the popular classes that leave participants not only saying "namaste" but also in stitches.
    The new workouts taking place on farms across the country involve Nigerian Dwarf goats -- miniature goats of West African origin -- roaming about as yogis practice their exercise routines.
    "At first, it was a bit scary because I didn´t know the goats were going to jump on my back," Ebrahimi, 53, said on a recent afternoon after completing her first "Goat Yoga" class outside Los Angeles.
    "But then they were there and you felt the warmth of the animal and you´re on the straw, in the sun, with the trees and the blue skies around you, and it just felt so calming and peaceful."
    Some 20 people and 15 goats -- 11 kids and four moms -- took part in the class that was organised outdoors in a pen covered with straw.
    As yoga instructor Meridith Lana encouraged participants to "exhale," "pull your navel to your spine" or "watch your posture," the sound of bleating reverberated in the background, the nimble animals skipping about, jumping on people´s backs, munching on their hair or a beard and licking their faces.
    A few also answered the call of nature.
    Priceless therapy
    "They´re adorable and they´re friendly," said Lana after the class. "They do eat your hair, they do leave you presents on your mat but it´s all in fun.
    "The therapy you get here is priceless."
    Danette McReynolds, whose family owns the goats, said she decided to host the classes to raise money for her 16-year-old daughter and a friend who are planning to showcase the animals at a farm show in Wisconsin this summer.
    "We didn´t know how it was going to go but it´s taken off, we´re booked solid," she said.
    "People love it. They decompress, they cuddle the goats and relax."
    Lana said interacting with the goats is an experience similar to playing with a pet, which has clinically been proven to relieve stress and improve well-being.
    "The happiness the goats bring is great," she said. "All animals are therapeutic but there is something about these goats that is just incredible.
    "You can be in a child´s pose position and the next thing you know, you don´t want to get up because there is a goat on your back.
    "If there´s anything these goats allow you to be it?s conscious."
    Several of her students said while the goats did admittedly get in the way of the yoga stretches and poses, they were a welcome distraction that had everyone giggling and vowing to come back for more.
    "It was a pure release of tension, a pure release of frustration," said Judy Waters, who attended a class with her husband and several other friends, one of whom was celebrating her birthday.
    "You can´t really be upset when you´re around a bunch of baby goats climbing around and being silly."
    There was also one added bonus, she said.
    "I didn´t think about the administration in Washington once during this entire hour," Waters chuckled. "I would love to do this every week if I could."


  3. Waqas Dar
    Virat Kohli at a practice session on match eve, Bangladesh v India, Champions Trophy, 2nd semi-final, Edgbaston, June 14, 2017 - AFP  BIRMINGHAM: India captain Virat Kohli is adamant the title-holders will not be taking Bangladesh for granted in a Champions Trophy semi-final at Edgbaston on Thursday.

    After a surprise group defeat by Sri Lanka in a tournament featuring the world's top eight one-day international sides, India responded to the pressure of a 'must-win' clash against South Africa with a commanding eight-wicket victory over the top-ranked Proteas at the Oval last weekend -- a match where Kohli's unbeaten 76 helped him regain first place in the ODI batting rankings.
    India thrashed Bangladesh by 240 runs in a warm-up match at the Oval last month, a fixture where the Tigers collapsed to 84 all out.
    Now India are returning to an Edgbaston ground where they launched their title-defence with a 124-run hammering of arch-rivals Pakistan.
    Kohli, speaking before a revitalised Pakistan clinched their place in the final with a shock eight-wicket win over England in Cardiff on Wednesday, warned: "There are no guarantees in this sport.
    "As we've seen, a lot of teams have surprised the opposition and we're certainly not taking anything for granted."
    The star batsman added: "Going into a big game like this, we´re going to treat it as how we treated the last game. Our mindset does not differ."
    Bangladesh sealed their place in the last four with an impressive five-wicket victory over New Zealand in Cardiff.
    They were looking at an embarrassing defeat when they slumped to 33 for four but Shakib Al Hasan (114) and Mahmudullah (102 not out) turned the match around with a brilliant new Bangladesh record stand of 224.
    'Passion'
    Kohli said this proved the days when Bangladesh were ´easy beats´ had long gone.
    "They are a very dangerous side on their day and everyone realises that," he said. "Bangladesh have taken huge strides.
    "They have cricketers who are skilled, who are committed to play for Bangladesh and play with a lot of passion.
    "They´re really keen to win a lot of games at this level and that shows in their attitude
    "Even the other day I thought they were outstanding in the way they applied themselves and chased (New Zealand´s) total down.
    "They showed a lot of composure and patience, and that is always a sign of a side that is mature now, that knows how to win matches from difficult situations."
    Bangladesh have suffered their fair share of heartache against India.
    They lost to them in a World Cup quarter-final two years ago and India were also the opponents when Bangladesh, needing two runs to win off three balls, somehow lost three wickets instead as they were beaten in Bangalore to be eliminated from last year´s World Twenty20.
    Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza was the skipper for both these defeats but he insisted his side carried no scars ahead of their first appearance in a major semi-final.
    "People count only winning, that´s for sure, but I think if you look at both matches, I think we played at our best," said the veteran paceman.
    "Yes, India played also at their best, that´s why they won. But still, I believe we have a lot more to do in that level.
    "We are playing overseas, and we are (having) success. That´s more important for us, that our cricket is going to improve."
    Mortaza added: "Obviously we have been disappointed, especially in India T20 World Cup we couldn´t go through. It happens sometimes in cricket, but we forget it."
    Bangladesh may have a fanatical following, but Mortaza insisted all the pressure was on their opponents given how supporters in cricket-crazy India would expect Kohli´s men to tame the Tigers.
    "We're playing the first time in our life in a semi-final, so that is a fact, but also if it´s pressure, I think India have got more pressure than us because the huge population is there, and people love cricket in India a lot," he said.


  4. Waqas Dar
    Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks during a news conference at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul, Turkey, March 11, 2017. Photo: Reuters   Turkey sent its foreign minister to Qatar on Wednesday as part of a drive to repair Qatar's rift with fellow Gulf Arab states.
    Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have broken off ties and imposed sanctions on Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and courting regional rival Iran - allegations Doha denies.
    Qatar signs $12 billion deal to buy F-15 jets from US
    The sale will increase security cooperation and inter-operability between US and Qatar: Pentagon
    "We do not want any differences between our brothers in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries, and it is not enough to say that there is a problem without trying to resolve it," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the Qatari news agency QNA on arrival.
    "Turkey seeks to resolve the unprecedented crisis between brotherly countries in the GCC."
    President Tayyip Erdogan has cultivated close ties to Qatar, setting up a military base there, while preserving relations with Saudi Arabia.
    Cavusoglu was due to meet Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and Qatar's state run pan-Arab news channel Al Jazeera said his next stop would be Kuwait, which has also been seeking to mediate in the dispute.
    Turkey and Qatar have both provided support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt - a broad movement whose goals are anathema not only to Egypt's ex-military president, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, but also to the Gulf's dynastic rulers.
    Conservative Gulf neighbours have long viewed Qatar's foreign policy with suspicion, especially its refusal to shun Iran, and resented Al Jazeera for its readiness to air unwelcome or dissenting views from across the region.
    Quick results
    Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters in Cairo that the conditions set for Qatar were necessary for the national security of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE, the Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.
    "This move will bring concrete, quick and decisive results," he said.
    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, trying to ease fears, told reporters in Berlin he does not expect a military conflict.
    French President Emmanuel Macron, visiting Morocco, called for de-escalation of tensions in the Gulf crisis. He said he would hold talks with leaders of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar.
    Qatar has a population of 2.7 million people and vast gas wealth. The sanctions have disrupted imports of food and other materials and travel, and they have caused some foreign banks to scale back business.
    Before the diplomatic and commercial embargo, Qatar imported 80 percent of its food from bigger Gulf Arab neighbours. It has been talking to Iran and Turkey to obtain food and water.
    Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, speaking after talks in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday, said the sanctions did not amount to a blockade since Qatar's airports and ports remained open, and offered to send food and medical supplies to Qatar if needed.
    Qatar said the Saudi offer confirmed that the closure of transport links "is a siege, not a boycott."At Qatar's Hamad port on Wednesday, workers were busy unloading containers of food and building materials, while another ship carrying livestock, including chickens and sheep from Australia, was at the quayside.
    "There is a service from India ... which used to come via Jebel Ali port (in the United Arab Emirates) but is now redirected," said a port official who declined to be named.
    "The first vessel on that service is to arrive Friday and will run once a week."
    The effects of the dispute are rippling out beyond the region.
    Qatar said it had withdrawn troops from the frontier between the east African states of Djibouti and Eritrea, where it has been acting as mediator in a border dispute. It gave no reason, but Djibouti had earlier downgraded its diplomatic ties with Qatar.


  5. Waqas Dar
    A view of the Balochistan Assembly. Photo: Assembly QUETTA: The Balochistan government will present its budget for fiscal year 2017-18 with a total outlay of Rs321.67 billion today.

    Officials in the provincial finance department said that Rs80 billion has been proposed to be allocated for development while Rs38 billion each will be set aside for education and law and order departments.
    The health department will receive an amount of Rs35 billion in the provincial budget.
    Balochistan govt presents Rs289bn provincial budget
    Rs28.93bn allocated to education, Rs17.36bn to health
    The province will have revenues of Rs24.1 billion under the oil and gas surcharge in the upcoming fiscal year while the remaining funds will come from the federal divisible pool.
    An amount of Rs76 billion has also been proposed under the newly created Chief Minister Divisional Development Programme.
    Moreover, some 6,000 new vacancies will be created in various provincial departments during the next fiscal year. 
    The government has also proposed a 10% increase in the salaries of government employees as well as pensions of former employees.
    Last year, the government presented a budget of Rs282.77 billion. 


  6. Waqas Dar
    With Chief Executive Travis Kalanick taking a leave of absence from Uber Technologies Inc, the vacant job of chief operating officer takes on a lot more importance as the company frames the position as the key to solving its woes.
    Kalanick, under fire for crass behavior and fostering a culture of sexism and rule-breaking, in early March announced he was searching for a COO to help run the ride-services company. But in the months since, Uber has suffered a string of controversies and embarrassing setbacks and the job has remained unfilled - part of a leadership vacuum that extends through the company and up to the board of directors.
    In a report released Tuesday, former U. Attorney General Eric Holder and his law firm, Covington & Burling, recommended sweeping management changes at Uber in the wake of sexual harassment allegations and other scandals.
    The report advocates for a COO who "will act as a full partner" and run "day-to-day operations." It also calls on the board of directors to take steps to limit the CEO's responsibilities and provide "clear lines of demarcation between" the COO and the CEO.
    "The way the COO job is written in the recommendations makes it a really powerful and important job," said Bradley Tusk, an Uber investor, and adviser.
    Executive recruiters and tech investors agreed that the job might look more appealing now than it did before Tuesday's report. Still, it remains unclear if the company can attract a top-notch leader while Kalanick retains both the CEO title and, along with two allies, voting control of the company.
    Kalanick said on Tuesday he was stepping aside at Uber because he needed time to grieve his recently deceased mother and work on his leadership shortcomings, according to a staff email seen by Reuters. He also said his leave "may be shorter or longer than we might expect."
    Such ambiguity will affect Uber's efforts to rebuild its executive ranks, startup experts say.
    "The lack of clarity around Travis' position hangs over everything," said Bill Aulet, managing director of the entrepreneurship center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "You're dealing with the most important thing, which is, who is your boss?"
    VACANCIES AT THE TOP
    In the meantime, 14 people who report to Kalanick are charged with running the company until the CEO returns or a COO is hired. The company also is without a chief financial officer, general counsel and a head of engineering, among other open positions.
    "We have a strong leadership team including veterans who helped make the business what it is today and new talent who are helping to drive the changes we're committed to making," Uber said in a statement.
    Uber is struggling to recruit new employees and has many who are eager to leave. Ed Zschau, founder of Inductus Associates, an executive search firm for startups, said his firm has "people from Uber in the search process" for a new job, including senior-level employees.
    "If the board can be recomposed a bit and get the company back on track, who the COO is will be an important signal as to whether people will want to work there," Zschau said.
    Concerns about a lack of leadership extend to the board of directors.
    Holder's recommendations, including prohibiting romantic relationships between bosses and their subordinates and drinking on the job, suggest the Uber board failed to ensure the company had even the most basic checks and balances, say experts.
    "The Holder report could have been written by a law student who took an introductory corporate governance course," said Erik Gordon, a technology and entrepreneurship expert at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. "The board shares responsibility for the wreck."
    Uber retained Holder's firm in February after a female former employee publicly accused the company of brazen sexual harassment. A wake of scandals followed, including a criminal investigation of the company's use of technology to evade regulators, a lawsuit alleging stolen self-driving car technology and a string of allegations relating to a toxic culture.
    On Tuesday, David Bonderman, a founder of private equity firm TPG Capital, an Uber investor, resigned from the board after making a sexist comment about women talking too much at the Uber staff meeting convened to discuss the Holder report.
    The resignation leaves Uber's board with seven voting members and four vacant seats.
    Unlike the boards of most big companies, Uber's directors have little executive experience. In addition to Kalanick, the board includes co-founder and Chairman Garrett Camp, early employee Ryan Graves, venture capitalist Bill Gurley, Saudi investor Yasir al-Rumayyan and media impresaria Arianna Huffington. Wan Ling Martello, an executive vice president at Nestle, was added to the board this week as an independent director.
    The Holder recommendations call for a restructured board, but the recommendation to install an independent board chair was left up to the board only to consider.




  7. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: Two members of banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi managed to easily escape Karachi?s Central Jail late Wednesday.
    The two convicts, Sheikh Muhammad Arif Firon and Ahmed Khan Arif Manako, were presented in the jail?s judicial complex for a hearing when they managed to escape the prison.
    12 police personnel including the jail superintendent and deputy jail superintendent were arrested at the behest of Minister for Law & Prisons, Sindh.
    The two were arrested by the Counter Terrorism Department in 2013.
    A case was registered in New Town police station against the 12 police personnel arrested in the case.
    A rehearsal for security arrangements was conducted in Central Jail between Sunday and Monday. 


  8. Waqas Dar
    An F-15 jet in Afghanistan in January, 2009. Photo: Reuters  Qatar's Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday the country signed a deal to buy F-15 fighter jets from the United States for $12 billion.
    The deal was completed despite the Gulf country being criticised recently by US President Donald Trump for supporting terrorism.
    US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and representatives from Qatar were set to meet Wednesday to seal the agreement, a source familiar with the deal told Reuters. Bloomberg News reported the deal was for 36 jets.
    The sale will increase security cooperation and inter-operability between the US and Qatar, the Pentagon said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
    Defense Secretary Mattis and Qatari Minister of State for Defense Affairs Khalid al-Attiyah also discussed the current state of operations against the Daesh and the importance of de-escalating tensions so all partners in the gulf region can focus on next steps in meeting common goals, the Pentagon added.
    In November, the United States approved possible sale of up to 72 F-15QA aircraft to Qatar for $21.1 billion. Boeing Co is the prime contractor on the fighter jet sale to the Middle East nation.
    Boeing declined to comment.
    Trump on Friday accused Qatar of being a "high-level" sponsor of terrorism, potentially hindering the US Department of State's efforts to ease heightening tensions and a blockade of the Gulf nation by Arab states and others.


  9. Waqas Dar
    [embed_video1 url=http://stream.jeem.tv/vod/16bbb551f65fd7d9db18fa98077ce86b.mp4/playlist.m3u8?wmsAuthSign=c2VydmVyX3RpbWU9Ni8xNS8yMDE3IDQ6MzQ6MzkgQU0maGFzaF92YWx1ZT1oZWpJYmtta1FoaVBmT3RIY3JCaTF3PT0mdmFsaWRtaW51dGVzPTYwJmlkPTE= style=center]
    ISLAMABAD: Extraordinary security arrangements have been put in place in and around the Federal Judicial Academy where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be questioned by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the premier?s family?s global money trail today.

    The Islamabad Police, along with Rangers and other law enforcement personnel, have drawn up a special security and traffic plan for the premier?s visit.
    A total of 2,668 security personnel, including 400 from the FC and 180 from the Punjab Rangers, have been deployed for the event. A security cordon has been put in place around the building, with special entry for the media only.
    The Islamabad Traffic Police has also issued a special traffic plan, so citizens going in and out of Sector H-8 are not inconvenienced.
    Sources said the security staff of Prime Minister (PM) House has completed the security sweep of the academy ? declared the secretariat of the JIT ? as well as the investigation room.
    A bullet-proof dais has also been erected in front of the academy, where the premier is expected to address the media.
    Sources also said that the PM House security staff, as well as the premier?s personal staff, will not be permitted to accompany the prime minister into the building. 
    The prime minister is slated to appear before the investigation team at 11am. The JIT has asked the premier to bring "all relevant records, documents and material" with him.

    Thursday?s appearance: PM asks party workers to stay away from JIT secretariat
    In message to supporters, Nawaz Sharif asks them to remember him their prayers
    Earlier this week, the premier received a summons from the JIT over its high-profile probe in light of the Supreme Court?s April 20 verdict.
    Following the summons, the premier asked all his supporters and party workers to refrain from gathering at the academy during his appearance. 
    The probe so far
    The Supreme Court began investigating Sharif late last year after the main political parties failed to agree on a committee to probe the Panama Papers leaks, and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan threatened mass protests and to ?shut down Islamabad?.
    In its April 20 judgment, the five-member Supreme Court bench ruled that there was insufficient evidence to remove Sharif from office on the back of the Panama Papers leaks, but it ordered further investigations under a JIT.
    The JIT team is headed by Federal Investigation Agency Additional Director Wajid Zia, and includes members from Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, State Bank of Pakistan and the National Accountability Bureau. 
    Other summons
    Previously, the PM?s elder son, Hussain, and younger son, Hassan, have appeared before the JIT five and two times, respectively.
    The PM?s brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has also been summoned for questioning on June 17. Similarly, the PM's son-in-law, MNA Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar, has been summoned on June 24. 
    Moreover, former interior minister Senator Rehman Malik is also expected to appear before the JIT on June 23. 


  10. Waqas Dar
    The Facebook logo is displayed on the company's website in Bordeaux, France, February 1, 2017. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/File Photo  Facebook said on Wednesday it would soon allow its US users to raise and donate money using its "Safety Check" feature, to make it easier for people affected by natural disasters and violent attacks to receive help.
    "Safety Check," launched in 2014, allows Facebook users to notify friends that they are safe. The feature was used for the first time in the United States last year after a gunman massacred 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
    The fundraising tool in "Safety Check" will roll out in the coming weeks in the United States, Facebook said in a blog post.
    The social network, which has about 1.94 billion users worldwide, activated "Safety Check" for users in London on Wednesday following a fire in a housing block that killed at least six people and injured more than seventy.
    It also made the tool available earlier this month following deadly attacks on London Bridge.
    Facebook also said its "Community Help" feature, which helps people affected by disasters find each other locally to provide and receive assistance, would soon expand to include desktop users.


  11. Waqas Dar
    A continental air is prevailing over most parts of the country on Thursday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department said.
    However, a shallow westerly wave is still affecting Kashmir and its adjoining areas.
    Hot and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country in the next 24-hours, while very hot weather is expected in upper Sindh, south Punjab, and Sibbi division.
    However, rain and thunderstorm are expected at few places in Hazara, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha, D.G. Khan, Multan divisions, Islamabad, Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
    Past weather:
    The weather remained hot and dry in most parts of the country. However, rain and thunderstorm with gusty winds occurred at isolated places in Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, D.G Khan, Sahiwal divisions & Kashmir.
    Rainfall (mm):
    Punjab: T.T. Singh 16, D.G Khan 07, Sahiwal, Chakwal 03, Noorpur Thal 02, Kashmir: Rawalakot 01.
    Yesterday's highest minimum temperatures:
    Sibbi 48°C, Nokkundi, Dalbandin, Larkana, Dadu, Noorpur Thal 47°C, Bhakkar Jacobabad, Sh. Benazirabad 46°C.


  12. Waqas Dar
    EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier arrives at the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, March 9, 2017. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir  BRUSSELS: EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has warned London not to waste time, as Brussels waits for embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May to name a date for talks.
    In an interview with a group of European newspapers, Barnier lamented that it was already three months since May had formally triggered the two-year process of Britain leaving the European Union (EU).
    "My preoccupation is that time is passing, it is passing quicker than anyone believes because the subjects we have to deal with are extraordinarily complex? I can't negotiate with myself," Barnier was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.
    "It will take us several months to draw out the conditions of an orderly withdrawal? so let's not waste time," he said.
    Formal negotiations between Barnier and British Brexit minister David Davis had been due to start next week but that timetable has been thrown into doubt by May's catastrophic loss of a majority in last Thursday's election.
    She is now seeking an alliance with a hardline unionist party in Northern Ireland to cling on to power.
    Barnier held "talks about talks" with May's Brexit advisor Olly Robbins and British EU Ambassador Tim Barrow in Brussels on Monday but they failed to agree on a date for the negotiations to begin, an EU official said.
    "I need a British delegation and a head of delegation who are stable, responsible and have a mandate," Barnier was quoted as saying by French daily Le Monde.
    Barnier has said he wants to wrap up a Brexit deal by October 2018 so it has time to get through national parliaments and the European Parliament in time for Britain's departure from the bloc at the end of March 2019.
    His comments echo those of EU President Donald Tusk who said on Friday that there was "no time to lose" to avoid Britain crashing out without a deal on future relations.


  13. Waqas Dar
    PARIS: At least 12 people were killed Wednesday when a massive fire tore through a West London apartment block.

    The death toll, which police warned was likely to rise, already surpassed that of a residential tower blaze in Camberwell, south London in July 2009, when three children and three adults perished.
    Following are other major apartment building fires around the world this century.
    Dhaka, Bangladesh | Death toll: 120
    June 3, 2010: About 120 people died in a massive fire that hit a densely populated historic neighbourhood in Dhaka. Six large buildings were gutted by the flames, triggered by cooking for a wedding feast, a government probe finds.
    "The feast was being cooked on makeshift stoves right next to a chemical warehouse, which heated up the extremely flammable chemicals," an official report said. More than 40 members of the wedding party were among the dead.

    Shanghai, China | Death toll: 58
    November 15, 2010: A huge fire in a 28-storey apartment building in the Shanghai district of Jingan killed 58 people. The tower was being renovated at the time, and some panicked residents sought refuge on scaffolding surrounding the structure, or desperately attempted to jump to safety.
    Nanchong, China | Death toll: 19
    March 1, 2002: Nineteen people died and 25 were injured when a nine-storey building was set ablaze in Nanchong, southwestern China. The fire started in a wholesale food market that occupies the first three stories, before spreading to upper floors where about 200 residents lived.
    Beijing, China | Death toll: 18
    April 25, 2011: Eighteen people died and around 20 were injured after an electric tricycle caught fire next to a four-storey building in Beijing that was built without a permit.
    The victims were all migrant workers, the Xinhua news agency said.
    L'Haÿ-les-Roses, France | Death toll: 18
    September 4, 2005: Smoke from a fire in the entrance to an 18-storey block of council flats in L'Haÿ-les-Roses, south-east of Paris, killed 18 people and sent 28 to the hospital.

    Four girls were convicted of setting fire to mailboxes in the building following a fight and were sentenced to prison terms.
    Paris, France | Death toll: 17
    August 26, 2005: A fire in a rundown building in Paris killed 17 people, including 14 children, and injured around 30 others. The location was run by a charity organisation and housed poor African families. Whoever set the fire, which officials said was the result of arson, was never caught.


  14. Waqas Dar
    Russia on Wednesday launched an unmanned Progress cargo ship carrying supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
    "The Soyuz-2.1A booster rocket with the Progress MS-06 cargo ship launched successfully from Baikonur cosmodrome at 12:20 Moscow time (0920 GMT)," Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement on its website.
    The cargo ship, carrying more than two tonnes of essential supplies including fuel, air and equipment and parcels for astronauts, is due to dock with the ISS on Friday at 1142 GMT.
    The last successful launch of a Progress ship was in February, coming after a similar craft crashed back to Earth in December last year.
    A commission appointed to investigate the malfunction concluded in January that it was caused by the break-up of the Soyuz third-stage rocket engine, either due to "foreign materials" getting inside or an "assembly fault".


  15. Waqas Dar
    Smoke billows as firefighters tackle a serious fire in a tower block at Latimer Road in West London, Britain June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall  London Mayor Sadiq Khan said questions will need to be answered over the safety of tower blocks after several people were killed on Wednesday when a fire engulfed a 24-storey building.

    Some residents said they had been advised they should stay in their flats in the event of a fire, while the block's residents association had previously warned it was worried about the risk of a serious fire.
    "These questions are really important questions that need to be answered," Khan told BBC Radio.
    "Across London, we have many, many tower blocks and what we can't have is a situation where people's safety is put at risk because of bad advice being given or if it is the case, as has been alleged, of tower blocks not being properly serviced or maintained."
    Khan also posted a statement on his social media accounts.


  16. Waqas Dar
    ?Smart? search programs can ease the process of systematically reviewing new medical research, a key step in getting the best practices from laboratories to doctors' offices, US researchers say.
    The Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) says clinical practice guidelines should be based on a systematic review of the evidence, lead author Dr Paul Shekelle from RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California, told Reuters Health by email.
    ?We know that clinical practice guidelines go out of date over time, as new evidence accumulates. An impediment to the regular updating of clinical practice guidelines is the time and resources needed to update the systematic review,? he said.
    Typically, researchers and their assistants perform computer searches to identify anywhere from a few to thousands of new research studies, then they determine which ones are relevant and assemble the information into updated guidelines and recommendations.
    Shekelle and colleagues thought machines could do more of the job and do it faster, so they compared machine-learning methods with the standard search methods for identifying new information.
    They tested the idea on three health conditions: gout, low bone density and osteoarthritis of the knee. The smart search program ?learned? which key terms to look for by analysing words from studies that were included in prior reviews on each topic.
    In all three cases, computers - provided only with the titles and summaries of articles included in previous reviews - reduced the number of articles researchers had to screen further by 67 to 83 percent, according to the results in Annals of Internal Medicine.
    The machine-learning method missed only two articles that humans would have identified, for an overall accuracy of 96 percent. And neither of these articles would have changed the ultimate evidence reviews, Shekelle?s team concludes.
    ?Machine learning methods are very promising as a way to reduce the amount of time and effort for the literature search, which in turn should make it easier to update the systematic review, which in turn can facilitate keeping clinical practice guidelines up to date,? Shekelle said.
    The approach would ?shorten the time from completion of research studies to adoption of effective treatments in clinical practice,? said Dr Alfonso Iorio from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, who coauthored an editorial accompanying the report.
    ?Also, it will allow more efficient update of doctors about what works and what does not, saving lives and dollars,? he said by email.
    Iorio thinks this method would have the greatest impact in the fields of cardiology, diabetes, respiratory disease and cancer. ?But any field would benefit,? he said.
    ?In the near future, artificial intelligence will also be used to match to individual need with the best available health care intervention - one necessary step to get this is proper classification on existing and newly generated knowledge,? Iorio said.
    ?The critical step is training properly the computer systems - we need to ensure research dollars are provided to ensure this training is done by serious and independent researchers and controlled by public institutions.?


  17. Waqas Dar
    A sudden change in the colour of the Bosphorus Strait that divides the continents of Europe and Asia in Turkey's largest city Istanbul has surprised residents, with scientists putting it down to a surge in a species of plankton across the Black Sea.
    The sudden transformation of the usually blue waters of the Bosphorus to a milky turquoise since the weekend had alarmed some residents.
    Some took to social media to express fears that there had been a pollution spill while others even suggested it could be linked to an earthquake that rocked the Aegean region on Monday afternoon.
    But scientists said there was no mystery behind the colour change, which was accompanied by a sharper smell.
    Ahmet Cemal Saydam, professor of environmental science at Hacettepe University, told the Dogan news agency that the cause was a surge in numbers of the micro-organism Emiliania huxleyi, also known as Ehux.
    "This has nothing to do with pollution," he said, adding it was particularly good for the numbers of anchovies, a popular supper in Istanbul.
    "Across the Black Sea there is an explosion of Emiliania huxleyi. This is a blessing for the Black Sea," he said.
    One of the most successful life-forms on the planet, Emiliania huxleyi is a single-celled organism visible only under a microscope. Its astonishing adaptability enables it to thrive in waters from the equator to the sub-Arctic.
    The changing colour across the Black Sea was also captured in an image taken from NASA's Terra satellite.
    NASA said the milky colouration is "likely due to the growth of a particular phytoplankton called a coccolithophore". Emiliania huxleyi is a species of coccolithophore.
    "This particular organism is plated with white calcium carbonate and, when present in large numbers, tend to turn the water a milky sheen," NASA said.




  18. Waqas Dar
    Boxing legend Floyd Mayweather and mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor -- the kingpins of their respective sports -- announced Wednesday they would fight on August 26 in Las Vegas.
    The 40-year-old Mayweather announced the fight on his Instagram account with a graphic saying "IT'S OFFICIAL!!!" showing pictures of both fighters and listing Las Vegas as the location. McGregor sent out a tweet stating "THE FIGHT IS ON." He also included photos of the pair.
    MMA promoter Dana White said the bout would take place at the T-Mobile Arena and it would be a boxing match at 154-pounds with 10 ounce gloves.
    "We have been in negotiations for a while," White told American sports broadcaster ESPN. "The negotiations went smooth. Floyd Mayweather surrounds himself with smart people and we got the deal done."
    McGregor is the top pay-per-view draw in UFC while Mayweather had been the moneyspinner in some of boxing's biggest bouts, including matchups with Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao and US star Oscar De La Hoya. Mayweather earned $250 million for his fight against Pacquiao.
    Neither Mayweather or McGregor have competed this year. Mayweather retired from pro boxing in 2015 after defeating Andre Berto, while McGregor (21-3) defeated Eddie Alvarez in November 2016.
    White said the key to finalising the fight was luring Mayweather out of his 23-month retirement.
    "Everybody is happy with this deal," White said. "Nobody is bummed out."
    The boxing format heavily favours the undefeated Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs) who many consider to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
    McGregor, a 28-year-old Irishman, will be entering unknown territory as he has not stepped in a boxing ring since he was a teenager.
    - Unknown territory -
    Despite having little or no boxing experience, White insists his MMA client McGregor is confident of victory. McGregor is UFC's only simultaneous two-division champion.
    "He is absolutely, 100 percent positive he will win this fight. When two men step into the ring anything can happen," White said of southpaw McGregor.
    There will, of course, be no titles on the line, but it is an opportunity for both to cash in financially.
    The fight is expected to be a pay-for-view blockbuster, as organisers are hoping it can challenge the 4.6 million pay-per-view buys for Mayweather-Pacquiao.
    Not everyone will be excited to see a Mayweather-McGregor exhibition match, especially considering that McGregor is a 25-1 underdog.
    Boxing champion turned promoter De La Hoya said a fight between the two would be an embarrassment for the sport of boxing.
    But the trash-talking Irishman has a dedicated fan base and knows how to sell tickets.
    In his last fight, McGregor won the lightweight title from Alvarez in November 2015 in UFC's first Madison Square Garden card.
    At one time promoters were looking at a September 16 date for Mayweather-McGregor but it is now taken by a Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin middleweight world championship fight at T-Mobile Arena.
    McGregor received a California boxing license last year but is still waiting for his Nevada boxing license application to be approved.


  19. Waqas Dar
    Greece faced pressure Wednesday to accept a bailout deal with no new debt relief so that it can meet huge repayments and avert a fresh crisis this summer.
    After months of bickering, Greece's eurozone creditors and the International Monetary Fund are on the verge of breaking a deadlock when they meet in Luxembourg on Thursday.
    "On Thursday, we will manage to achieve that," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, the eurozone's most influential official, told Bloomberg news agency.
    But Athens insisted it would veto the deal, furious that the disbursement of the latest tranche of its 86-billion euro bailout agreed in 2015 could come without long-hoped-for firm debt relief commitments.
    "We are far from finding a solution at the Eurogroup on Thursday, given that Germany has not made any step," a Greek government source told AFP.
    Bitter disagreement between Germany and the IMF has held up the payout of a fresh tranche for Athens to meet seven billion euros of debt repayments due in July.
    Berlin, Greece's harshest critic, has long resisted any fresh commitment to debt relief for Athens, saying it must trim its budget and reform.
    The IMF -- whose chief Christine Lagarde will be at the meeting with the 19 eurozone finance ministers -- has long insisted that debt relief be part of a deal.
    But in a major breakthrough, the Washington-based IMF this month agreed to join Greece's massive bailout while putting off the debt question until a later date.
    The IMF compromise is a setback for Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has pushed through waves of tough reforms on a promise that Greeks would win debt relief as a reward.
    Greece nearly crashed out of the euro in 2015 after a furious fight over the bailout deal, and says its fragile recovery has suffered from the most recent delay.
    Difficult, complicated
    To soften the blow on debt relief, France has asked its eurozone partners to offer Athens a commitment to debt relief linked to Greece's economic growth.
    "We are really doing our best to find an agreement," said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire after talks on Monday with his Greek counterpart Euclid Tsakalotos.
    "It's difficult. It's complicated," he said before talks with Tsipras.
    Tsipras has urged his eurozone creditors to accept the French compromise.
    Thursday's meeting was "essential" for the "future of Europe, democratic Europe and for a Europe of growth", Tsipras said in an emotional editorial published in French daily Le Monde on Wednesday.
    Without an accord, Tsipras said he will take up the issue with EU leaders at a summit in Brussels next week, a situation that the eurozone ministers will do everything to avoid.
    The IMF's compromise is a controversial one, with critics accusing the Washington-based fund of caving in to Berlin.
    The IMF had insisted repeatedly that Greece's debt is not sustainable and the country would require significant debt relief from Europe before the fund could approve a new loan programme.


  20. Waqas Dar
    A writer has charged that rock legend Bob Dylan lifted sections of his Nobel Prize lecture from SparkNotes, the free online study guide aimed at students.
    Dylan, the surprise winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, last week delivered a long-awaited lecture that was a requirement to receive the eight million kroner ($923,000) prize from the Swedish Academy.
    Author Andrea Pitzer, examining his lecture for the news site Slate, said she found striking similarities between Dylan's quotations from Herman Melville's classic novel "Moby-Dick" and the SparkNotes version.
    Dylan, for example, quotes Melville as calling the elusive whale Moby "the embodiment of evil." But Pitzer pointed that the phrase does not appear in the novel itself, although it appears in the SparkNotes synopsis.
    At least 20 references in Dylan's lecture about "Moby-Dick" bear some similarity to the SparkNotes version, she wrote.
    Pitzer noted that Dylan has long been unabashed about adapting musical and lyrical passages into his songs.
    "Dylan remains so reliant on appropriation that tracing his sourcing has become a cottage industry," she wrote.
    Lifting from earlier works is much more commonplace in music than in literature, where accusations of plagiarism are a major dent on reputation.
    The Swedish Academy stunned observers by choosing "rock poet" Dylan for literature's top prize.
    Dylan -- whose representatives did not reply to the Slate article -- took more than two weeks before acknowledging the prize and skipped the ceremony in December, citing pre-existing commitments.
    But Dylan, famously taciturn when he is not singing, finally explored his connections with literature in his Nobel lecture in which he also cited as influences Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey" and World War I novel "All Quiet on the Western Front."
    Sara Danius, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, had described the lecture as "extraordinary and, as some might expect, eloquent."


  21. Waqas Dar
    Police investigate a shooting scene after a gunman opened fire on Republican members of Congress during a baseball practice near Washington in Alexandria, Virginia, US, June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts  ALEXANDRIA, VA.: A man who had posted angry messages against President Donald Trump and other Republicans on social media opened fire on Republican lawmakers practising for a charity baseball game on Wednesday, wounding a senior US House member and three other people.

    The gunman, a 66-year-old Illinois man, fired repeatedly at the men playing on a baseball field in suburban Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington, D.C.
    He was wounded in a gunfight with Capitol Hill police who were at the scene, and police said he later died.
    Steve Scalise, the No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives, was shot in the hip. He was tended to by fellow lawmakers, including Brad Wenstrup, a congressman who is a physician, before being transported to a hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.
    Also wounded were one current congressional aide and one former aide who now works as a lobbyist, officials said. One Capitol Hill police officer suffered a gunshot wound and another officer twisted an ankle, an official said.
    While police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was too early to determine whether it was a deliberate political attack, the shooting intensified concerns about the sharp divide and bitter rhetoric in US politics.
    It also quickly revived the debate about gun rights in America. Virginia's Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe, urged gun control measures. "This is not what today is about, but there are too many guns on the street," McAuliffe said at a news conference near the scene of the shooting.
    Scalise has been a strong opponent of gun control measures.
    The gunman was identified by a senior US official as James Hodgkinson from the St. Louis suburb of Belleville, Illinois. He had worked as a home inspector.
    Hodgkinson had raged against Trump on social media and was a member of anti-Republican groups on Facebook including, "The Road to Hell Is Paved With Republicans," "Terminate The Republican Party," and "Donald Trump is not my President," a search of his Facebook profile showed.
    As businessman Trump rose to become the Republican Party nominee in the 2016 presidential election, his brash style and outspoken views on immigration and other policies led to mass protests, including on the weekend of his inauguration in January.
    Representative Tim Ryan, who early on Wednesday was practising for the ballgame with fellow Democrats, told reporters that Washington politicians needed to cool their rhetoric.
    "We've got to get back to...where things aren't so personal and we're so judgmental of each other. It's got to stop. A member of the US Congress got shot because they didn't like (his) political views," Ryan said.

    Calls for unity
    Trump announced the gunman's death and called Scalise, a 51-year-old Louisiana congressman, a good friend. "He's a patriot and he's a fighter. He will recover from this assault," Trump said.
    Trump also called for unity. "We are strongest when we are unified and when we work together for the common good," he said.

    In a show of bipartisanship, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said on the floor of the House, "An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us." The House's top Democrat Nancy Pelosi echoed Ryan's message.
    The shooting happened shortly after 7 AM, while lawmakers were practising their hitting and fielding a day before the annual charity congressional baseball game pitting Republicans against Democrats.
    There were 20 House members and two senators present, and the shooting lasted about 10 minutes, said Representative Joe Barton, the Republican team's manager.
    The charity game will go ahead as scheduled at Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team.
    Two lawmakers who were at the scene, Representatives Ron DeSantis and Jeff Duncan, indicated there might have been a political motive in the attack.
    Duncan said that as he left the field, the man who would later open fire approached him in the parking lot. "He asked me who was practising this morning, Republicans or Democrats, and I said, 'That's the Republicans practising'," Duncan told reporters. DeSantis gave a similar account.
    Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who sought the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, said he had been told that Hodgkinson had served as a volunteer with his campaign.
    "Let me be as clear as I can be: violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms," Sanders said.
    Ryan, the House speaker, is reviewing rules on how rank-and-file lawmakers can increase their personal security, including questions about paying for additional protection through member accounts and campaign funds, according to several lawmakers.

    "Members get threats on a regular basis and have trouble determining which are real," House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer told reporters.
    Representative James Clyburn, a Democrat, rejected the idea that the shooting was motivated by partisan politics. "I'm not a Republican and I've had all kinds of threats against me and my family. It's got nothing to do with partisan politics."
    'Heroism' of police
    The shooting took place at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in the Del Ray neighbourhood of Alexandria, across the Potomac River from Washington.
    Representative Mo Brooks told CNN that during batting practice, he heard a "bam" and then a quick succession of shots and saw the gunman shooting through the holes in a chain link fence.
    When Scalise was shot, he went down on the infield between the first and second base, then dragged himself into the grassy outfield as the incident unfolded, leaving a trail of blood, Brooks said.
    Two Capitol police officers who were there to provide security for the lawmakers engaged the gunman with pistols, Brooks said.
    "But for the Capitol police and the heroism they showed, it could very well have been a large-scale massacre. All we would have had would have been baseball bats versus a rifle. Those aren't good odds," Brooks said.
    Brooks estimated 50 to 100 shots were fired.
    Wednesday's attack was the first shooting of a member of Congress since January 2011, when Democratic Representative Gabby Giffords was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt at a gathering of constituents in Tucson, Arizona. She survived, but six people were killed. Giffords resigned from Congress and became an activist for gun restrictions.


  22. Waqas Dar
    They pollute the roads and chug along at a snail's pace, but to their Pakistani owners, the rickety trucks are moving pieces of art, commanding attention with garish portraits of flowers, Islamic art, and snow-capped Himalayan peaks.
    South Asian "truck art" has become a global phenomenon, inspiring gallery exhibitions abroad and prompting stores in posh London neighbourhoods to sell flamboyant miniature pieces.
    Yet, closer to home, some people sneer and refuse to call it "art".

    For the drivers, the designs that turn decades-old vehicles into moving murals are often about local pride. Picking the right colour or animal portrait is tougher than the countless hours spent on the road.
    Truck driver Haji Ali Bahadur, who hails from the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, said green and yellow have been his colours of choice during 40 years behind the wheel.
    "We, the drivers of Khyber, Mohmand, and other tribal regions like flowers on the edge of the vehicles," he said. "The people of Swat, South Waziristan, and Kashmir region like portraits of mountains and different wild animals."


    geo_embedgallery
    Truck art has become one of Pakistan's best-known cultural exports and offshoot toy and furniture industries have been spawned closer to home.


    With Pakistan's economy picking up speed and new roads opening up trade routes to China, truck art may soon find new admirers abroad.
    Top image: Drivers rest on beds at a truck stop outside Faisalabad, Pakistan, May 3, 2017. REUTERS/Caren Firouz


  23. Waqas Dar
    Roger Federer insisted he was not shocked by his defeat to 39-year-old Tommy Haas at the Stuttgart grass court tournament on Wednesday in his first match after almost three months out of action.
    Haas, a former world number two but now down at 302, won 2-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 for just his fourth victory in 17 meetings against his close friend.
    Federer, building up for an assault on an eighth Wimbledon title, hadn't played since March, skipping the entire clay court season.
    It was just the second defeat of 2017 for the 35-year-old, who claimed the Australian Open for his 18th major in January.
    "I'm not so shocked to have lost. I knew I could lose against Tommy," said Federer.
    "He was so good at the end and if I am happy for anybody, then it's for Tommy."
    With a combined age of 74, it was the oldest match on the tour since 1982 as Haas, on a farewell to the sport in 2017, made his first quarter-final since Rome in 2014.
    Federer also held match point in his only other defeat this year to Russia's Evgeny Donskoy in Dubai.
    "It's always special to play a close friend like Roger on grass, always lots of emotion," said Haas, who has undergone nine surgeries in his career to mend a number of ailments.
    "I saved a match point in the second set so was able to play more freely after that. I even shocked myself."
    Haas is the oldest player to beat a top five opponent since Jimmy Connors, at 39 years and five months old, defeated Michael Stich in Memphis in 1992.
    He is also the lowest-ranked player to beat Federer since number 407 Bjorn Phau at Washington in 1999.
    Federer, who fired 23 aces in the contest, had match point at 8-7 in the second set tie-breaker but hit a backhand long.
    The German took his opportunity and converted his fourth set point when Federer double faulted for the first time in the match.
    Haas controlled the decider, breaking for 3-1 before going on to take the victory on a second match point.
    He will next face compatriot Mischa Zverev who beat qualifier and fellow German Yannick Hanfmann 7-6 (7/1), 6-2 in 83 minutes.
    Philipp Kohlschreiber, the runner-up last year, advanced by beating Steve Johnson of the United States 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 7-6 (10/8) in two hours and 39 minutes.
    The 33-year-old Kohlschreiber, who lost to Austria's Dominic Thiem in the 2016 final, has won five of his seven career titles in Germany.


  24. Waqas Dar
    MOGADISHU: Gunmen were holding at least 20 people hostage in a restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Thursday, police said, after a suicide bomber rammed a car next door and militants stormed inside in an attack claimed by Al Shabaab militants.
    Police cordoned off the whole district surrounding Mogadishu's Pizza House, which is adjacent to the Posh Hotel where the suicide bomber attacked first, witnesses said. Posh Hotel is the only venue with a discotheque in the capital.
    "The fighters are still inside Pizza House and they hold inside over 20 people. We do not know how many of those are dead or alive," Ibrahim Hussein, a police major, told Reuters.
    Earlier on Wednesday, police said nine people, mostly women who were hotel staff, had died in the attack.
    Security officials said the suicide attacker had rammed the explosive-laden car into the hotel's entrance before gunmen stormed the restaurant.
    "A suspected car bomb is also parked in front of Pizza House. This and snipers have made it difficult for the security forces to head inside,? said Hussein.
    Other officials said victims inside the hotel had been safely evacuated but that there were likely to be more than nine casualties.
    Al Shabaab claimed responsibility. The group has carried out a campaign of suicide bombings in its bid to topple the Somali government.
    Since losing large swathes of territory to African Union peacekeepers supporting the government, the group has frequently launched raids and deadly attacks in Mogadishu and other regions controlled by the federal government.
    The Horn of Africa country has been racked by armed conflict since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Siad Barre and then turned on each other.


  25. Waqas Dar
    Captain (R) Safdar, son-in-law of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. ? Geo News file ISLAMABAD: The joint investigation team (JIT), constituted by the Supreme Court to probe businesses and financial dealings of the Sharif family, has summoned Captain (R) Safdar, son-in-law of PM Nawaz Sharif, to appear before it, sources confided to Geo News Wednesday.

    Sources said Captain (R) Safdar has been summoned by the investigation team on June 24. They added that the premier's son-in-law will appear before the investigators.
    The investigation team has already summoned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is slated to appear before the investigation team at 11am on Thursday, June 15.
    Panama Papers: PM Nawaz to appear before JIT on Thursday
    This is the first time in Pakistan that a sitting prime minister would appear before any investigative agency
    The premier's brother, Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif, is also scheduled to appear before the probe panel on June 17.

    Sons of the prime minister, Hussain and Hassan Nawaz, have so far made multiple appearances before the JIT. Hussain has been questioned five times by the investigation team while Hassan has twice appeared before it.

    PM Sharif has denied any wrongdoing over his family allegedly using offshore companies to buy luxury flats in a posh London neighbourhood, and has said his family wealth was acquired legally.
    JIT summons Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday
    Punjab CM asked to bring documents related to Hudaibya Paper Mills
    In April, the Supreme Court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to remove Sharif from office on the back of the Panama Papers leaks, but it ordered further investigations under a JIT.
    The JIT comprises members from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).


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