KP or Pak govt be asked about Madrassa Haqqania funding: US

WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Friday that the question pertaining to funding for Madrassa Haqqania might be taken up either with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) or with the Pakistan government, international media reported.

Answering a question regarding the proposed funding to a Madrassa by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby said, “We are aware of press reports stating that the KP government proposed a $3 million budget allocation to the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary. I would refer you to the KP government or the Government of Pakistan with any questions concerning this funding.”

The KP government had announced to allocate $3 million for Darul Uloom Haqqania led by Maulana Samiul Haq because the seminary, KP government claimed, had acceded to carry out a reform programme announced by the provincial government led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of Imran Khan.

John Kirby, while briefing the newsmen in Washington on Thursday, said the US would carry on cooperation with Pakistan.John Kirby refused to comment on the statement of Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz regarding the US concerns over the Pak-China Economic Corridor (CPEC) and said that there were enormous challenges in the region. “We will continue to work with Pakistan to try to address those challenges,” he said.

 

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KP or Pak govt be asked about Madrassa Haqqania funding: US

WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Friday that the question pertaining to funding for Madrassa Haqqania might be taken up either with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) or with the Pakistan government, international media reported.

Answering a question regarding the proposed funding to a Madrassa by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby said, ?We are aware of press reports stating that the KP government proposed a $3 million budget allocation to the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary. I would refer you to the KP government or the Government of Pakistan with any questions concerning this funding.?

The KP government had announced to allocate $3 million for Darul Uloom Haqqania led by Maulana Samiul Haq because the seminary, KP government claimed, had acceded to carry out a reform programme announced by the provincial government led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of Imran Khan.

John Kirby, while briefing the newsmen in Washington on Thursday, said the US would carry on cooperation with Pakistan.John Kirby refused to comment on the statement of Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz regarding the US concerns over the Pak-China Economic Corridor (CPEC) and said that there were enormous challenges in the region. ?We will continue to work with Pakistan to try to address those challenges,? he said.

 

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Six gunmen killed, 13 hostages rescued in Dhaka operation

DHAKA: Bangladesh security forces ended a siege Saturday after storming a cafe in Dhaka where dozens of diners had been held captive through the night and shot dead six of the hostage-takers.

Police said at least 13 hostages, including three foreigners, had been rescued after commandos took control of the cafe in the upmarket Gulshan quarter but added that there had been an unknown number of casualties.

Two police officers were also killed at the start of the siege as they battled the hostage-takers who were heavily armed with explosives.

The Islamic State organisation claimed responsibility for the attack which follows a series of gruesome killings of religious minorities, foreigners and liberal activists in the mainly Muslim nation.

"The operation is over. The situation is completely under control," army spokesman Colonel Rashidul Hasan told AFP.

Tuhin Mohammad Masud, a commander of the elite Rapid Action Battalion which led the storming operation, said the cafe itself had been cleared but added that some of the hostage-takers might still be at large.

"We have gunned down six of the terrorists" Masud told India´s Times Now television channel.

"The main area that they have been occupying has been cleared... Maybe some of them have escaped into a larger area."

There was no official word on the number of hostages who had been killed or wounded but Masud said that "obviously there have been casualties".

An AFP photographer at the scene said he could hear a massive gunfight as security forces launched the rescue operation more than 10 hours after militants seized the hostages on Friday night.

Eight hostages including a foreigner were rescued in the first few minutes of the operation, a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

TV footage showed ambulances rushing some of those who had been rescued to a military hospital.

Sri Lanka's government said two of its nationals were among the hostages rescued and were safe and unharmed.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Gulshan which is Dhaka´s wealthiest neighbourhood and home to many embassies.

Police said the gunmen burst into the restaurant shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greater) as people were having dinner at around 9:20 pm and set off explosives.

Italy's ambassador Mario Palma told Italian state television seven Italians were among the hostages. Japan said some of its nationals may also have been among the captives.

Some diners managed to escape including an Argentine chef and a Bangladeshi man who took refuge in an adjacent building.

Whole building was shaking

Some managed to speak to relatives by phone, reporting there were up to 40 people trapped inside, around half of them foreigners.

Another had told relatives he feared they would be killed if police tried to storm the restaurant to end the siege.

"He is very nervous," the man's uncle, who had spoken to him by phone, told AFP.

The restaurant´s supervisor Sumon Reza who escaped by jumping from the roof told a local newspaper there were 20 foreigners being held hostage.

"I was in the roof. The whole building was shaking when they set off explosives," he said.

Bangladesh has been reeling from a wave of murders of religious minorities and secular activists by suspected Islamist militants.

But those murders generally only involved a handful of assailants while the latest attack appears to have been on a much bigger scale and the first time that people were held hostage.

Popular with foreigners 

The IS-linked Amaq news agency said the group was behind the attack and that "more than 20 people of different nationalities (were) killed".

It later issued a number of photographs of what it said were scenes from inside the cafe.

The pictures, which were not immediately possible to verify, showed what appeared to be a number of bodies lying in pools of blood.

Heavily armed police and paramilitary guards cordoned off the area around the restaurant after the militants launched their attack and then became involved in a firefight with police.

"Two police officers including the head of Banani police station were killed. It appeared they were hit by bullets and splinters from a grenade," deputy commissioner of Dhaka police Sheikh Nazmul Alam told AFP.

"Up to 20 police officers were injured."

The attack, which comes as Bangladesh observes the Muslim holy month of Ramazan, follows a series of killings targeting religious minorities and foreigners.

Earlier Friday, a Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in western Bangladesh and a Hindu priest was stabbed and critically wounded early Saturday in the southwest of the country.
The government and police blame homegrown militants for the killings, which they say are part of a plot to destabilise the country.
Last month authorities launched a nationwide crackdown on local jihadist groups, arresting more than 11,000 people, under pressure to act on the spate of killings.
But many rights groups allege the arrests were arbitrary or were a way to silence political opponents of the government.

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17 killed in various traffic accidents in Punjab

LAHORE: At least 17 people were killed Friday in separate traffic accidents in different areas of Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan.

As per details, a van was traveling from Khanewal to Lahore when it collided with a truck near Sheikhupura, killing eight passengers on the spot.

The deceased included Taj Mohammad, his wife Haseena, son Aijaz, two daughters Hina and Robina and granddaughters Tayyaba and Fiza.

Out of the eight, seven passengers belonged to the same family while the identity of the eighth victim could not be confirmed.

In the second crash, a family was on its way from Lahore to Multan when the driver lost control of the vehicle which collided with an oncoming trawler near Sahiwal, killing five people on the spot and injuring three.

In another traffic accident, at least four passengers including two children were killed when an over-speeding van fell in a canal near Qadirabad Barrage.

Six people were also injured including two women during the unfortunate incident.

However, rescue workers’ swift action saved the lives of all six.

Pakistan has an appalling record for fatal traffic accidents due to poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

Rescue equipment available to Pakistani emergency services is often basic. When crashes occur far from major towns, rescue efforts can take time and injured passengers have less hope of survival.

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Gunmen attack restaurant in Dhaka´s diplomatic quarter

DHAKA: Gunmen attacked a restaurant popular with foreigners in the diplomatic quarter of the Bangladeshi capital on Friday and the US State department said there was a hostage situation.

Three policemen were wounded by gunfire that erupted as police surrounded the Holey Artisan restaurant in the upscale Gulshan area of Dhaka, a police officer said.

He said there were foreigners inside the restaurant and that police were preparing a plan to enter the premises.

The US State Department said on Twitter that there was a hostage situation in the diplomatic enclave of Dhaka.

Speaking from his house in the area, a witness said he could hear gunfire and that the situation "looked quite bad".

A series of deadly attacks, mostly using machetes rather than guns, have targeted bloggers, atheists and religious minorities in Bangladesh in recent months.

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Pakistan cannot stay quiet if India continues expansion of nuclear arsenal: Sartaj

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's top foreign policy official warned on Friday that the country would continue to resist US pressure to roll back development of short-range "tactical" nuclear weapons in response to India's defence strategy.

"If India keeps expanding its nuclear arsenal and other arsenal, Pakistan cannot stay quiet. It has to achieve adequate deterrence," said Sartaj Aziz, the prime minister's advisor on foreign affairs.

Speaking to foreign news agency Reuters in an interview, Aziz denied that Pakistan's relations with the US were strained following the May 21 US drone strike that killed Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour and Congress's blocking of financing for Pakistan to buy American F-16 fighter jets.

"I don't see the relations are tense at the moment," Aziz said.

"They are moving in the right direction and there are of course differences, but I don't think there is any major crisis in the relationship."

Aziz also defended against criticism from the US that Pakistan has not done enough in the war against terrorism.

The foreign affairs advisor said he would defend Pakistan's record of fighting militants when meeting this weekend with a US congressional delegation headed by Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee.

"I think what we have achieved in these three years is quite remarkable," he told Reuters, citing the ongoing military operation to destroy militant hideouts in North Waziristan near the Afghan border.

"But there are risks involved of how far we can go and in what sequence we should go and in what scale we should go."

Sartaj said the military acted "without distinguishing between 'good and bad' Taliban" but suggested that seeking a large-scale crackdown on all at once would overstretch the armed forces and lead to more terrorist attacks.

"So we have to make sure that we move in a decisive way, but at a measured pace and according to our capacity, and ensuring that the blowback is manageable," he said.

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Naegleria claims year?s first victim in Karachi

KARACHI: Naegleria fowleri, the ‘brain-eating amoeba’, claimed its first victim in the port city on Friday, Health Department sources said.

Suffering from high fever, the victim, identified as 30-year-old Baldia Town resident Zahid Khan, was admitted to a private hospital in critical condition three days ago, sources said.

Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba found in freshwater, claimed 14 lives in Sindh in 2015, most of whom were residents of Karachi.

Doctors and health experts say Naegleria usually enters the brain and attacks the nervous system when infected water is ingested through the nasal cavity while bathing, swimming or making ablution.

The lethal amoeba survives on bacteria in warm waters and can only be decimated through proper chlorination or boiling of water.

 

 

 

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Menace of VIP protocol, back in the spotlight

LAHORE: The menace of VIP culture is present all over Pakistan; over the last decade babies have been born in rickshaws, daughters have died because the hospital doors were closed, all in the name of VIP protocol.

The latest incident that caught the media’s attention took place in Lahore on Friday, when a convoy with tinted windows accompanied by official protocol vehicles rammed into and forcefully stopped Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan’s sister Dr. Uzma Khan’s vehicle.

According to the PTI chairman’s sister, the police squads accompanying the VIP forcefully stopped her car while a second squad car rammed into her vehicle. She claims the policemen then trained their automatic assault rifles upon her and her children.

While Imran Khan’s sister claimed the VIP protocol belonged to Maryam Nawaz Sharif, PMLN quarters and the prime minister’s daughter herself have all denied the allegation.

Maryam Nawaz took to twitter and clarfied that she was infact in Islamabad when the incident untoward incident with Dr. Uzma Khan took place in Lahore. The first daughter added that she only landed in Lahore at 4:30PM.

Feel sorry for Mr. Khan's sister. Was in Isb when I got the news. Arrived in Lhr at 4:30. Liars should have some shame at least in Ramadan.

â€" Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 1, 2016

 

The PTI chairman who is in Karachi also reacted to the incident and demanded to know whgy the common man is being treated like this for the prime minister’s daughter. He asked on whose authority was Maryam Nawaz running the country and treating it like her personal estate.

Meanwhile, PMLN quarters continue to deny the allegations with Talal Chaudhry going as far as likening the allegation to the ‘35-punctures’ allegation the PTI had hurled at the ruling PMLN.

 

 

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Saudi Arabia to give e-bracelets to Hajj pilgrims after stampede last year

RIYADH: Muslim pilgrims joining this year´s hajj in Saudi Arabia will have to wear an electronic safety bracelet, newspapers reported Friday, after more than 2,000 died in a stampede last year.

The high-tech safety measure will help authorities provide care "and identify people", the Arab News and Saudi Gazette reported.

At least 2,297 pilgrims died during the stampede on September 24 during last year´s hajj, according to data from foreign officials, some of whom expressed concerns about difficulty in identifying the victims.

Saudi Arabia issued a death toll of 769.

It was the worst disaster in hajj history.

The bracelets are water resistant, connected to a GPS location system, and store each pilgrim´s personal information including address and medical records, the newspapers said.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the interior minister who also chairs the hajj committee, ordered a probe immediately after the stampede disaster last year but there has been no word on its findings.

The tragedy happened as pilgrims made their way in searing temperatures to the Jamarat, the place where they ritually stone the devil in the city of Mina in western Saudi Arabia.

The hajj and lesser umrah pilgrimages bring millions of Muslims to Saudi Arabia every year.

In another safety measure, more than 800 surveillance cameras have been installed at Mecca´s Grand Mosque, Islam´s holiest site, the Saudi Gazette reported this month.

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Syrian warplane crashes near Damascus

A Syrian warplane crashed northeast of Damascus on Friday and its pilot was captured by rebels in the area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Syrian state media said the crash was caused by a technical fault and a search was under way for the pilot, who had ejected.

Insurgents said the plane had been shot down, but did not say what weaponry was used.

A spokesman for Jaish al-Islam rebels, who control territory on the Syrian capital's eastern and northeastern outskirts, circulated a photo they said showed the captured pilot.

Rebels shot down two warplanes earlier this year. The Syrian government said one of them was downed by an anti-aircraft missile, but rebels said they used anti-aircraft guns.

Any confirmation the rebels now have the missile equipment would be a major upgrade in their arsenal. Anti-aircraft missiles have long demanded by foreign-backed rebels against devastating aerial raids by Syrian and Russian forces.

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Pakistan meets tax revenue target for first time in a decade

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan collected 3,104 billion rupees ($29.7 billion) in taxes in fiscal year 2015/16, the finance ministry said on Friday, the first time it has met its tax revenue target in a decade.

Last year, the government collected 2,588 billion rupees in taxes but missed its target by 9 percent.

Tax collection has been one of the biggest challenges facing successive governments who have promised to rein in tax evaders but faced fierce resistance to change, including from the many politicians and businessmen believed to be among evaders.

The inability to raise tax revenue has constrained government spending, depriving schools and hospitals of funds, exacerbating a power crisis and causing widespread hardship in the nuclear-armed country of 190 million people.

Tax revenue for fiscal year 2015/16 is the highest in the country´s history, according to the finance ministry.

"This represents a 60 percent increase in the last three years, representing an average increase of 20 percent per annum," the finance ministry said in a statement to mark the beginning of the new fiscal year.

"Total tax collection goes to the provinces to spend on education, health and other sectors," it said.

The ministry said foreign exchange reserves had crossed $23 billion, the highest in the country´s history.

The sum includes reserves held by the central bank and commercial banks.

The IMF helped Pakistan stave off a default in 2013 with a $6.7 billion financial assistance programme.

At that time, dwindling foreign exchange reserves covered less than six weeks of imports at $6.25 billion.

The IMF bailout programme ends in September.

Earlier, the Bureau of Statistics announced Pakistan´s annual average inflation rate had fallen to its lowest in 46 years, inching down to 2.86 percent for the 12 months through June.

Interest rates are also at their lowest level in 42 years.

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US military lifts ban on transgender personnel

WASHINGTON: Transgender personnel will no longer be barred from serving openly in the US military, the Pentagon announced Thursday ? a major milestone that immediately drew fire from Republican lawmakers.

Lifting the ban on transgender service members is "the right thing to do, and it's another step in ensuring that we continue to recruit and retain the most qualified people," Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told reporters.

"Good people are the key to the best military in the world."

The move is the latest in a series of Pentagon personnel reforms under Carter, who has repeatedly stressed the need for the military to modernize to draw from as deep a talent pool as possible.

He last year ordered all military roles ? including combat positions ? to be opened to women, and has overseen benefits changes to make the military more family friendly.

As recently as five years ago, the US military still banned gay troops from openly discussing their sexuality under a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

Today, the Army has an openly gay man, Eric Fanning, working as the service's highest civilian leader.

The new transgender policy will be phased in during a one-year period, but the military can no longer discharge or deny reenlistment to troops based solely on their gender identity, effective immediately.

By July 1 next year, the services will begin allowing transgender personnel to sign up, assuming they have met the necessary physical and mental standards to do so, the Pentagon said.

Under the new policy, the Pentagon will cover medical expenses related to being transgender, including gender reassignment surgeries when these are deemed "medically necessary."

Republican scorn

Republican Congressman Mac Thornberry, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, said the move could lead to troops not being ready to deploy for medical reasons.

"This is the latest example of the Pentagon and the president prioritizing politics over policy," Thornberry said.

"Our military readiness ? and hence, our national security ? is dependent on our troops being medically ready and deployable."

Republican Senator Jim Inhofe, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the move was a distraction.

"Our military is facing historic readiness shortfalls, putting our service members' lives at greater risk. Addressing this crisis should be the sole focus of the Obama administration, but instead they continue to be more interested in forcing their social agenda," Inhofe said.

The US military has about 1.3 million service members. According to a RAND study, about 2,500 of these active-duty service members are transgender, as well as about 1,500 out of approximately 825,000 reserve troops.

The new policy allows transgender troops "to continue to serve without living a lie, and provides much-needed clarity to commanders who for years have been stuck in the middle of a confusing policy," Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said.

The military will start paying for transgender-related medical treatment no later than October 1. Officials said the overall costs are negligible.

At least 18 countries already allow transgender personnel to serve openly in their militaries, Carter said, including Britain, Israel and Australia.

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ATC issues non-bailable arrest warrant for MQM chief in Shahid Hamid murder case

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court issued non bailable arrest warrants for Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain in former Managing Director Karachi Electric Supply Corporation Shahid Hamid’s murder case.

The court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for three other MQM leaders Nadeem Nusrat, Athar and Sohail Zaidi.

The court said that the four accused are at large. It is unlikely that another accused Rashid Akhtar will ever be arrested, the court added.

Accused Minhaj Qazi appeared in court today. It expected that he will be indicted for the murder.

Earlier a confession video of Minhaj Qazi, who was the MQM headquarter’s security in charge was leaked to the media.

An MQM worker Saulat Mirza was been hanged to death for the murder last year.

Shahid Hamid, his driver and guard, were gunned down by four men outside his residence in July 1997.

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U.S. opens investigation in Tesla after fatal crash in Autopilot mode

A fatal accident in which the driver of a Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) Model S car operating in Autopilot mode was killed in a collision with a truck has prompted an investigation by federal highway safety regulators, the U.S. government and Tesla disclosed on Thursday.

The investigation of the first known fatality to involve a Model S operating on Autopilot comes as Tesla and other automakers are gearing up to offer systems that allow vehicles to pilot themselves under certain conditions across a wide range of vehicles over the next several years.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is investigating 25,000 Model S sedans that are equipped with the Autopilot system.

The accident, which according to a report from the Florida Highway Patrol killed 40-year-old Joshua Brown on a clear, dry roadway on May 7 in Williston, Florida, will add fuel to a debate within the auto industry and in legal circles over the safety of systems that take partial control of steering and braking from drivers.

The NHTSA said preliminary reports indicate the crash occurred when a tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of the Tesla at an intersection.

Luxury electric car maker Tesla said in a blogpost on Thursday that "neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied."

Tesla shares fell as much as 3 percent, or $6.28, in after-hours trading, on the news of the fatal crash and the investigation. The company emphasized the unusual nature of the crash and said it was the first fatality in more than 130 million miles of use.

Tesla Model S sedans start at about $66,000.

Tesla said in a statement on Thursday that customers are required to give "explicit acknowledgement" that they realize Autopilot is new technology still under development, otherwise the system will remain off.

"When drivers activate Autopilot, the acknowledgment box explains, among other things, that Autopilot 'is an assist feature that requires you to keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times,' and that 'you need to maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle' while using it."

The NHTSA said the crash "calls for an examination of the design and performance of any driving aids in use at the time of the crash." The agency said it has opened a preliminary investigation that is the first step before it could seek to order a recall if it finds the vehicles were unsafe.

Autopilot in Beta Mode

A report by the Florida Highway Patrol reviewed by Reuters states that the Model S operated by Brown went underneath the trailer of a truck that had turned left in front of the car. The Tesla's windshield hit the bottom of the trailer as it passed underneath, and the car kept going, leaving the road, striking a fence, crossing a field, passing through another fence and finally hitting a utility pole about 100 feet south of the road, according to the report.

Tesla said "the high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S."

When Autopilot launched in October, Musk cautioned that the hotly anticipated function was in beta mode, or a test phase of development, with full "hands-off" driving not recommended.

A host of subsequent videos posted by Tesla drivers on YouTube showed near-misses on the road with Autopilot, prompting Musk to say he might curb the function to minimize the possibility of people doing "crazy things."

In January, Tesla updated the Autopilot driving systems in Model S sedans to put new limits on its hands-free operation, which has been both praised for its innovation while criticized for having been launched too early.

The function was restricted on residential roads or roads without a center divider, meaning the car cannot drive faster than the speed limit maximum plus five miles (8 km) per hour.

Tesla said on Thursday that "Autopilot is getting better all the time, but it is not perfect and still requires the driver to remain alert. Nonetheless, when used in conjunction with driver oversight, the data is unequivocal that Autopilot reduces driver workload and results in a statistically significant improvement in safety when compared to purely manual driving."

The Video

The police report identified Brown as being from Canton, Ohio. An obituary available at legacy.com described Brown as the owner of Nexu Innovations in Stow, Ohio, and said that he died in "a tragic motor vehicle accident Saturday, May 7, 2016."

A biography on the Nexu website describes Brown as a former Navy SEAL. Efforts to reach relatives listed in the obituary were not successful. Tesla declined to discuss the identity of the victim.

Tesla's blog post described the customer who died as a "friend to Tesla and the broader EV community, a person who spent his life focused on innovation and the promise of technology and who believed strongly in Tesla?s mission."

Tesla Chairman Elon Musk, in a posting on his Twitter account late on Thursday, wrote: "Our condolences for the tragic loss."

A YouTube account belonging to a Joshua Brown whose personal details, including the company where he worked, match those of the accident victim, includes a video posted on April 5 titled ?Autopilot Saves Model S.? In the video, a bucket truck, the type used by people working on utility poles, cuts off a Model S.

The written description of the 40-second video states, ?The truck tried to get to the exit ramp on the right and never saw my Tesla. I actually wasn't watching that direction and Tessy (the name of my car) was on duty with autopilot engaged. I became aware of the danger when Tessy alerted me with the "immediately take over" warning chime and the car swerving to the right to avoid the side collision."

As of Thursday afternoon, the video had 1.7 million views.

A video posted to YouTube last October by the same user showed scenarios in which autopilot ?might not do so well,? according to the commentary, which added that drivers need to be ?very aware of what the car is doing.?

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Naegleria claims year?s first victim in Karachi

KARACHI: Naegleria fowleri, the ?brain-eating amoeba?, claimed its first victim in the port city on Friday, Health Department sources said.

Suffering from high fever, the victim, identified as 30-year-old Baldia Town resident Zahid Khan, was admitted to a private hospital in critical condition three days ago, sources said.

Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba found in freshwater, claimed 14 lives in Sindh in 2015, most of whom were residents of Karachi.

Doctors and health experts say Naegleria usually enters the brain and attacks the nervous system when infected water is ingested through the nasal cavity while bathing, swimming or making ablution.

The lethal amoeba survives on bacteria in warm waters and can only be decimated through proper chlorination or boiling of water.

 

 

 

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Butt says Amir will return to form just like boxer Ali

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt said Friday his spot-fixing accomplice Mohammad Amir will be in top form on his return to Test cricket, just like boxer Muhammad Ali was after his suspension from boxing.

Pakistan take on England in the first of four Tests at Lord´s from July 14 with the focus on Amir.

He will play his first five-day match at the same venue where he, Butt and Mohammad Asif were caught in a sting operation in 2010.

The trio had arranged deliberate no-balls in return for money during the Lord´s Test against England on Pakistan´s tour, resulting in a five-year cricketing ban and jail terms in the UK.

But Amir´s ban ended in September last year, and he has since returned to the top of Pakistani cricket.

Butt, 31, said Amir will need to focus on his game.

"He has bowled well in limited over matches and can deliver," he told AFP, adding that he did not see any areas where Amir could improve.

"Long lay-offs can hurt in many ways, but it depends on individuals and if they show the same hunger and determination â€" like Ali did in his forced lay-off â€" then one can succeed."

Three-time heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, who passed away last month, was suspended from boxing from 1967 until 1970 after refusing to join the US war in Vietnam.

However, Butt admitted Amir could face a hostile reception in England, saying he will "have to ignore" any enmity.

"People will move on once he does well and doesn´t react."

Amir, regarded as a rising star at the time of his ban, pleaded guilty in a UK court.

That pushed his return to domestic matches six months prior to the lifting of his international ban in September last year.

He has since played 13 limited over matches (two one-day and 11 Twenty20 internationals), during which he appeared to have lost none of his talent.

"There are no doubts that he can be Pakistan´s key bowler against England across formats, just like on the tour of 2010," said Butt.

As for himself, Butt said he also hopes to return to the international stage in the near future.

Earlier this year, he scored 536 runs in the national one-day cup.

"I am working hard and trying to perform in any type of cricket I play because that is the only road to get back into the team," he said.

Former head coach Waqar Younis had demanded Butt to be included in Pakistan´s side for the World Twenty20 in India earlier this year, but selectors rejected his request.

Chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq last month said Butt and Asif will only be considered once they perform in first-class cricket.

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Pakistan cannot stay quiet if India continues expansion of nuclear arsenal: Sartaj

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's top foreign policy official warned on Friday that the country would continue to resist US pressure to roll back development of short-range "tactical" nuclear weapons in response to India's defence strategy.

"If India keeps expanding its nuclear arsenal and other arsenal, Pakistan cannot stay quiet. It has to achieve adequate deterrence," said Sartaj Aziz, the prime minister's advisor on foreign affairs.

Speaking to foreign news agency Reuters in an interview, Aziz denied that Pakistan's relations with the US were strained following the May 21 US drone strike that killed Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour and Congress's blocking of financing for Pakistan to buy American F-16 fighter jets.

"I don't see the relations are tense at the moment," Aziz said.

"They are moving in the right direction and there are of course differences, but I don't think there is any major crisis in the relationship."

Aziz also defended against criticism from the US that Pakistan has not done enough in the war against terrorism.

The foreign affairs advisor said he would defend Pakistan's record of fighting militants when meeting this weekend with a US congressional delegation headed by Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee.

"I think what we have achieved in these three years is quite remarkable," he told Reuters, citing the ongoing military operation to destroy militant hideouts in North Waziristan near the Afghan border.

"But there are risks involved of how far we can go and in what sequence we should go and in what scale we should go."

Sartaj said the military acted "without distinguishing between 'good and bad' Taliban" but suggested that seeking a large-scale crackdown on all at once would overstretch the armed forces and lead to more terrorist attacks.

"So we have to make sure that we move in a decisive way, but at a measured pace and according to our capacity, and ensuring that the blowback is manageable," he said.

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Spielberg takes on daunting challenge to bring 'The BFG' to life

Steven Spielberg has rarely shied away from a challenge, from deadly sharks in "Jaws" to resurrecting dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park," but when it came to creating a giant for "The BFG," his latest film, the veteran director found the prospect "very daunting."

"I don't usually get intimidated by technology," Spielberg told Reuters TV.

"I usually try and be at the forefront of technology, but this time I was in the wake of it. It took me a couple of weeks to get my sea legs to really realize how I could best utilize the medium of motion capture."

"The BFG," a Walt Disney film out in theaters on Friday, tells the story of Sophie, an orphaned girl who encounters the Big Friendly Giant (BFG), played by Oscar-winning British actor Mark Rylance and brought to life using motion-capture animation.

The title character of Walt Disney Co's "The BFG," based on British author Roald Dahl's book of the same name, is no ordinary giant. He doesn't eat children, unlike his fellow giants, and instead collects and creates dreams to spread through the country under the cover of nighttime.

"Every film of a book brings out a certain essential thing of the book," Rylance said. "In film you need experience and plot. So it's very faithful to the book, but it's a different creature than the book."

When Sophie, played by newcomer Ruby Barnhill, sees the BFG one night, he takes her back to his home in the land of giants out of fear that she might give away his secret.

The plucky girl quickly becomes a friend and confidante to help the kind, gentle giant from being bullied by his larger, uncultured brethren.

"The BFG" marks the 30th feature film by the 69-year-old Spielberg, who has won three Oscars over a career spanning five decades that includes "Indiana Jones," "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan." Spielberg will be returning for the fifth installment of "Indiana Jones" with star Harrison Ford, due for release in 2019.

"I get really flattered when people like my films but I can never see the films the way they can," he said. "I am never going to enjoy my own output the way other people can."

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Family history biggest predictor of heart attacks in people with psoriasis

People with psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory disease, are more likely to have heart attacks and strokes when they have a family history of cardiovascular problems, a Danish study suggests.

Psoriasis wasn't associated with higher risk of heart attacks or strokes when people with the skin condition didn't have a family history of cardiovascular disease, the study found.

But when people with mild psoriasis and a family history of major adverse cardiac events like heart attacks and strokes were compared to psoriasis sufferers without such a family history, their risk was 28 percent higher. With severe psoriasis and a family history of heart problems, the risk was 62 percent higher.

"It is generally believed that patients with psoriasis are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease due to the inflammatory nature of psoriasis," said lead study author Dr. Alexander Egeberg of the University of Copenhagen.

"While psoriasis itself may still confer an independent cardiovascular risk compared with the general population, our findings suggest that there may exist a genetic predisposition for cardiovascular disease," Egeberg added by email.

To assess the link between psoriasis and a family history of heart disease, Egeberg and colleagues reviewed Danish data from 1997 to 2011 on more than 2.7 million people, including almost 27,000 individuals with mild psoriasis and about 4,500 with severe psoriasis.

At the start of the study, people were around 27 years old on average.

Approximately two-thirds of those with psoriasis in the study had a family history of cardiovascular disease, which was slightly more common with severe psoriasis than with mild psoriasis.

Without a family history of heart disease, the rate of major adverse cardiac events was 1.3 per 10,000 people per year among those who didn't have psoriasis. That compared with 1.85 cases per 10,000 people per year with mild psoriasis and about 6 per 10,000 with severe psoriasis.

But after researchers adjusted for other factors that might influence the odds of heart attacks and strokes, they no longer found a difference between people with psoriasis and the general population when there was no family history of cardiovascular disease.

There was, however, a significant difference in the risk of heart attacks and strokes when people did have a family history of cardiovascular disease, the researchers report in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

With a family history, the incidence rates of cardiac events were about 18 per 10,000 people per year for the general population, 36 per 10,000 for mild psoriasis and 45 per 10,000 for severe psoriasis.

One limitation of the study is that researchers excluded more than 2.6 million people who had incomplete data on family history in Danish health registry records, which made the study population skew younger, the authors note. This makes it unclear if the findings would apply to people diagnosed with psoriasis later in life, the authors said.

Even so, the findings suggest that doctors should be asking psoriasis patients about their family histories, said Dr. Nehal Mehta, chief of the inflammation and cardiometabolic diseases section at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

"The major take-home message from these findings should be for providers to inquire about a family history of major adverse cardiovascular events since it is also a cardinal risk factor for future major adverse cardiovascular events in non-psoriasis patients," Mehta, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email.

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Sindh-Punjab border security beefed up to aid recovery of CJ SHC's son

 

ISLAMABAD: Police are snap checking vehicles at the Sindh Punjab border after they received a tip off that Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah’s son Owais Ali Shah will be transferred to a different location.

On the federal government’s directives police installed checkpoints at the Sindh-Punjab border on Friday. Police said kidnappers may transfer Owais Ali Shah out of Sindh donned in female clothing.

Checkpoints were installed at Sindh-Punjab border areas; Kot Sabzal and Daud Wala. Vehicles traveling from Sindh to Punjab are being checked.

According to police, three SHOs, 12 female police officers and 40 policemen have been deployed on guard duties. “Every eight hours a new contingent is deployed,” police said.

Security forces are conducting search operations in Karachi every day in a bid to find leads to the kidnapping case.

Rangers on Friday raided Karachi Water Board’s residential colony in Dhabeji and arrested eight suspects belonging to a political party, sources said.

Police arrested a suspected terrorist belonging to a banned organization from Federal Industrial area in Karachi.

The suspects were reportedly also involved in target killing incidents.

An eight member committee which includes two DIGs is investigating the kidnapping of Owais Ali Shah.

 

On June 21, Owais Ali Shah was kidnapped by four men in white Shalwar Kameez, when he went shopping at a store in Karachi’s Clifton area.

This is not the first high profile kidnapping in the country. In August 2011, slain governor Punjab's son Shahbaz Taseer was kidnapped from Lahore by the Taliban. He returned home after four years of torture in captivity in March this year.

Former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's son Ali Haider Gilani was kidnapped from an election rally in Multan in May 2013. He was rescued in an operation in Afghanistan by American forces in May this year.

 

 

 

 

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Russian plane disappears with 11 on board

A Russian plane engaged in extinguishing a forest fire in Serbia lost contact with ground control.

The Russian IL-76 plane did not go on air for radio contact, a Russian news agency reported.

Search for the plane is now underway.

"At 05:34 am, Moscow time, the plane flew to the Bayanderovsky district of the Irkutsk region. At an altitude of 3,000 meters radio contact with it was lost," informed a source that the news agency cited.

Eleven people including the crew and fire fighting experts were on board missing plane.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry?s main department for the Irkutsk region confirmed that an Il-76 plane of the ministry went missing.

 

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Fire in Kuwait villa kills nine Pakistanis

DOHA: A fire which broke out at a villa housing expatriate workers in Kuwait on Thursday killed nine Pakistani residents including children, and injured 23, a Fire Service Directorate spokesman said.

Six people, at least one of whom was a child, suffocated to death after a blaze tore through a house that had been subdivided into multiple residences in Farwaniya, a suburb 15 km (10 miles) south of Kuwait City, and three others died from injuries in hospital, the spokesman said.

The family that hailed from 'Miyan Chunnu' in Pakistan had been residing in Kuwait for the last 15 years.

The Pakistan foreign office has ensured its assistance in getting the bodies back to Pakistan.

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Fire in Kuwait villa kills nine Pakistanis

DOHA: A fire which broke out at a villa housing expatriate workers in Kuwait on Thursday killed nine Pakistani residents including children, and injured 23, a Fire Service Directorate spokesman said.

Six people, at least one of whom was a child, suffocated to death after a blaze tore through a house that had been subdivided into multiple residences in Farwaniya, a suburb 15 km (10 miles) south of Kuwait City, and three others died from injuries in hospital, the spokesman said.

The family that hailed from 'Miyan Chunnu' in Pakistan had been residing in Kuwait for the last 15 years.

The Pakistan foreign office has ensured its assistance in getting the bodies back to Pakistan.

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Organiser of Ankara suicide attack killed: Turkish official

Ankara: An organiser of a deadly suicide attack in Ankara in February that left at least 28 people dead has been killed in counter-terror operations in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey, a Turkish official said on Friday.

"Mehmet Sirin Kaya, a mastermind of the February 17 suicide attack against military personnel in Ankara has been killed in counter-terrorism operations in Lice, Diyarbakir," the official told journalists, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) -- a radical splinter group of the better-known Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) -- claimed the suicide bomb attack in Ankara, saying that it was in response to security operations in the southeast.

Turkey has remained on high alert after a wave of attacks on its soil blamed on not only Kurdish militants but also Daesh (Islamic State) jihadists.

At least 44 people were killed in a triple suicide bombing at Istanbul´s international airport on Tuesday, with the government pointing the finger of blame at Daesh jihadists.

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More Pakistanis than Indians have money stacked in Swiss Bank accounts: report

More Pakistani than Indians have money stacked in Swiss Bank accounts: report

Pakistan has left India behind when it comes to money stacked in offshore Swiss bank accounts.

A recent report by an Indian newspaper Economic Times claims that money kept by Pakistani nationals in Swiss banks has risen by 16 percent, to 1.5 billion francs, exceeding that of Indians.

Data released by Switzerland's central bank SNB (Swiss National Bank) states that the total funds linked to Pakistan in Swiss banks stood at CHF 1,513 million at the end of 2015, up nearly 16 per cent from CHF 1,301 billion a year ago.  The amount included CHF 1477 million owned directly by Pakistani nationals and entities and CHF 36 million through wealth managers.

This is the second year in a row Swiss bank funds owned by Pakistanis have risen. On the other hand funds owned by India have declined for the second consecutive year by 33 percent.

Several other countries saw their funds falling as a global campaign against banking secrecy gained momentum.

Money of US clients in Swiss banks fell to CHF 195 billion in 2015 from CHF 244 billion in 2014. Funds owned by UK clients rose from CHF 321 billion to CHF 345 billion.

These official figures released by SNB do not include funds of clients owned by shell companies. As a result these figures do not detail black money that has created major political debate in both India and Pakistan.

The Panama Papers, 11.5 million leaked documents which reveal how the wealthy and powerful manage to evade taxes by keeping their money stacked in offshore accounts, has created debate globally.

Names of the family of Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif have also been listed in these leaks, leading to a demand from the opposition for his resignation.

*CHF is the symbol for Swiss Francs

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An igloo with a view: Australians go to the polls in Antarctica

SYDNEY: In an igloo overlooking Vincennes Bay, Antarctica, 27 Australians did their democratic duty and cast ballots on Friday, the day before the rest of the nation votes in a general election.

"It's about minus 20 degrees today and not much breeze, so we thought the igloo would be a good place to do it," said Adam McLaughlin, who doubles as an electrician at Australia's Casey Station on the frozen continent as well as being the electoral returning officer for the base.

Voting is compulsory in Australia and, thousands of kilometers away on the mainland, conservative Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and center-left Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten were making their final pitches to skeptical voters on Friday at the end of an unusually long eight-week campaign.

Opinion polls published have the race too close to call.

Not surprisingly, the campaign has not come to Antarctica, where the last contact with the outside world was a resupply visit in April. The next ship is due in October.

"It's pretty good being down here because we do escape that constant bombardment through the media," McLaughlin told Reuters by telephone.

Australia's Antarctic expeditioners do not elect their own member of parliament, their votes counting towards results in their home electorates. McLaughlin's home is Bramston Beach, 6,000 km (3,725 miles) away in tropical North Queensland state.

His home electorate is a gigantic 568,993 sq km (220,080 sq miles) that stretches from the ocean through sugar cane and banana farms to the arid Outback, with mining and grazing interests thrown in for good measure.

"It's about as different from here as you can get, it's one extreme to the other," McLaughlin said.

The votes he collects at Casey Station will be kept under lock and key until polls close on Saturday night. McLaughlin will then count them and telephone the results through with those from other Australian Antarctic bases to election officials in Hobart on the island state of Tasmania, 3,445 km (2,140 miles) to the northeast.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has 41 mobile voting teams to attend to more than 400 remote polling booths in the vast nation.

Norfolk Islanders, thousands of kilometers off Australia's east coast, will be voting in their first federal election, an AEC spokesman said, after a law absorbing the previously self-governing territory into the Australian federation took effect on Friday.

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