LAHORE: Pakistani Police on Saturday busted a gang using a female member to lure youngsters through Facebook and telephone calls and then kidnapping them for ransom, police said. The gang, which included a lawyer, his wife, the son of a policeman and four others, was active in the industrial town of Gujranwala in central Punjab province and was traced by tracking phone calls. “This gang of friends was using their female member to trap youngsters on Facebook and through phone calls,” Shoaib Khurram, a senior police official, told AFP.
Asia-Pac financial market uncertainty could derail recovery
PETALING JAYA: The volatility in financial markets could still derail the recovery in Asia-Pacific in spite of the region’s resilience so far to global economic weakness, according to Standard & Poor’s (S&P). Its economist Vincent Conti said in a report that a key result of its analysis was that changes in global financial risk appetite mattered more to the regional investment outcomes than changes in real external demand for most of Asia-Pacific. “Our results suggest that despite the expected improvement in global growth prospects, the current bout of global risk aversion may temper investment growth in Asia-Pacific,” he said.
Singapore adapts to intensifying regional competition for tourists
BANGKOK: Singapore has been shifting its tourism strategy to deal effectively with intense competition in the region, especially from Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan. Ashlynn Loo, Singapore Tourism Board area director for Thailand and Myanmar, said the launch of low-cost carriers in the region allowed people to travel easily. “We are really an open country. We do not see any huge impact from the AEC, but higher competition in the region, especially in tourism sector, from major cities in the region,” Loo said, referring to the Asean Economic Community coming into full effect in 2015. She added that international tourists these days were looking for attractions they could not find at home. “We want to make sure we can cater to that market.”
Grenade attack wounds seven in Quetta
QUETTA: Seven people were wounded Thursday in a blast on Sariab Road in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. According to television reports, unknown suspects threw hand grenades near the Balochistan Constabulary Lines area and managed to escape. The injured, which included one security personnel and six pedestrians, were taken by rescue workers to the Civil Hospital where, according to the doctors, they were all said to be out of danger. Security forces cordoned off the area after the attack and initiated investigation into the incident.
‘Afghan DPs to be sent home by Dec 2015’
ISLAMABAD: The government informed the National Assembly on Wednesday that it planned to complete repatriation of Afghan refugees by December 2015. In reply to a supplementary question, Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions retired Lt Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch said the new deadline to send the refugees back home was fixed at December 2015. However, he was quick to add that since the repatriation was on a voluntary basis, it could not be said with certainty whether or not the process would be completed by the new deadline. He said the country was bearing the burden of 1.63 million Afghan refugees, 1.4m among them unregistered.
No gas for Punjab industries in winter`
ISLAMABAD: The government is likely to stop gas supply to CNG stations, industries and fertiliser and captive power plants (CPP) in Punjab for more than two months in the winter and also reduce the supply to these sectors in Sindh. A proposal for gas load management was finalised here on Wednesday at a meeting presided over by the Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Formal approval of the revised plan will be given by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet at its next meeting.
Bangladesh top court orders senior Jamaat leader to hang
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Tuesday sentenced a senior Islamist leader to death for mass murder, toughening the sentence originally handed down by the country’s war crimes tribunal and sparking fresh violence. Abdul Quader Molla, 65, the fourth-highest leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, had been given a life sentence in February by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal. The tribunal has since January convicted six Islamists of crimes related to the 1971 war, in which pro-independence fighters battled Pakistani forces which were helped by local Islamist leaders.
Australia wins ODI series against England
SOUTHAMPTON: Australia finished its troubled tour to England on a high by clinching the limited-overs series with a 49-run victory in the fifth and deciding match at The Rose Bowl on Monday. Shane Watson set up the win with a brutal 107-ball 143, containing 12 fours and six sixes, to help the Australians to 298 all out in the day-night match. England was always up against it after slumping to 68-4 in its reply, and a 92-run stand between Ravi Bopara (62) and Jos Buttler (42) for the sixth wicket only delayed the inevitable.
Zawahiri urges restraint in first ”guidelines for jihad”
LONDON: Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has issued his first specific “guidelines for jihad”, urging restraint in attacking other Muslim sects and non-Muslims and in starting conflicts in countries where jihadis might find a safe base to promote their ideas. The document, published by the SITE monitoring service, provides a rare look at al Qaeda’s strategy 12 years after the Sept 11 attacks on the United States and the nature of its global ambitions from North Africa to the Caucasus to Kashmir. While al Qaeda’s military aim remained to weaken the United States and Israel, Zawahri stressed the importance of “dawa”, or missionary work, to spread its ideas.
UN fears ‘deteriorating’ human rights in Afghanistan
KABUL: The UN human rights chief on Tuesday expressed fears that progress made in Afghanistan since the fall of the hardline Taliban regime in 2001 was draining away as Nato-led troops withdraw. Navi Pillay said on a visit to Kabul that she had heard growing evidence of a sharp reversal in human rights, especially for women, despite more than a decade of international intervention and billions of dollars of aid.“I do have serious concerns that the human rights situation in the country is deteriorating,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights told reporters.
