KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves dropped to $9.998 billion in the week ending August 30, from $10.390 billion the previous week, the central bank said. Remittances from Pakistanis abroad rose 5.56 percent to $13.92 billion in the 2012-13 fiscal year, from $13.18 billion during the same period last year. The fiscal year runs from July to June.
Taliban shoot dead female Indian author in Afghanistan: police
KHOST: Suspected Taliban militants shot dead the Indian author Sushmita Banerjee, writer of a popular book about her dramatic escape from the Taliban in the 90s, in eastern Afghan province of Paktika on Wednesday night, police said on Thursday. “We found her bullet riddled body near Madrassa on the outskirts of Sharan city (the provincial capital) this morning,” provincial police chief Dawlat Khan Zadran told AFP, confirming earlier reports from Indian media.
SC orders appointment of NAB chairman in one week
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday gave one week time to the federation to appoint a full-time chairman of the country’s anti-corruption watchdog. The position has been lying vacant since May 28 this year when the apex court sent former National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Admiral (Rtd.) Fasih Bokhari packing. A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Jawad S Khawaja resumed hearing of the case, and maintained that sufficient and proper time had been given to the federation for the key appointment.
An overview of the by-election
By polls are already over and thus the process of general elections comes to an end. The by-election was significant in the sense that it produced some interesting results. Major political parties such as PML N, PTI and JUI (F) all had to face untoward situations as all these parties failed to re-gain some of their seats. The PTI perhaps suffered the most as seats of Peshawar and Mianwali vacated by Imran Khan were lost, primarily because of bad choice of candidates plus some internal cracks.
US inaction would embolden Iran, N.Korea, says Kerry
WASHINGTON: Failure to take military action against Syria would send a dangerous signal to Iran, North Korea and other US foes, Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday. “Iran is hoping you look the other way,” Kerry told lawmakers, as he made the case for Congress to endorse punitive US strikes against the Syrian regime over its suspected use of chemical weapons.
Parliamentary panel formed for CEC appointment
ISLAMABAD: The process for filling the vacant position of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) commenced on Tuesday, with the formation of a12-member parliamentary committee which would make the appointment in case the prime minister and opposition leader in the National Assembly failed to agree on a nominee.
ECP member terms Imran’s allegations lies
ISLAMABAD: A member of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), retired Justice Riaz Kayani, has rejected allegations levelled against him by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan and termed the charges a “set of irreconcilable lies”. Talking to DNA, the ECP member from Punjab said it was astonishing to see a party chief levelling unfounded allegations against him in an explanation submitted to the Supreme Court during contempt proceedings against the latter.
PTI fails to attend meeting on Karachi
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) abstained from the multi-party meeting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired in Karachi on the law and order situation obtaining there. A press statement issued by the party’s central media secretariat in Islamabad quoted Imran Khan as saying: “PTI was unable to participate in the meeting on Karachi’s security chaired by the prime minister because the leadership was not informed directly which would have enabled the party to send proper representation.”
Strikes to degrade Syria’s military capabilities, Congress told
WASHINGTON: The US military chief told a congressional committee on Tuesday that US strikes on Syria would degrade the Syrian government’s overall military capabilities, besides causing other collateral consequences. “Yes,” said Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin E. Dempsey when asked if US military strikes would have other “collateral consequences for the Syrian government, including the degradation of its overall military capabilities”.
Indian envoy raises LoC incident during ‘courtesy call’
ISLAMABAD: In what some foreign policy analysts described as discourteous, the new Indian High Commissioner during a “courtesy call” on Foreign Policy and National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz turned to the sore spot in bilateral relations and curtly told him that the Line of Control incident cast doubt on Pakistan’s sincerity in normalising ties. “Incidents such as the recent one on the LoC raised doubts on Pakistan’s sincerity,” Dr T.C.A. Raghavan was quoted as saying by a Foreign Office statement during the meeting with Mr Aziz, his (Raghavan’s) first since his posting in Islamabad.
