KARACHI: At least five people were killed and several others injured when an explosion occurred near Karachi’s Burns Road area in the early hours of Wednesday, DNA reported. According to initial reports, a remote-controlled bomb blast took place near Burns road, targeting a convoy of Sindh High Court’s senior judge Justice Maqbool Baqar, who was injured as a result of the explosion.
Call for steps to counter US surveillance
ISLAMABAD: Latest disclosures about surveillance of electronic communications worldwide by the US secret agencies demand that Pakistan should take counter measures to check the online espionage, said Mushahid Hussain Syed, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Defence. Talking to Dawn after his meeting with a delegation of the Pakistan Information Security Association (Pisa) headed by Ammar Jafri on Tuesday, Mr Syed said he was preparing the draft of a private member’s bill to be presented in parliament after consultation with all stakeholders suggesting measures to check online espionage.
KESC got undue benefit of over Rs140 billion, Senate panel told
ISLAMABAD: A Senate sub-committee was informed on Tuesday that agreements with the Karachi Electric Supply Company were amended in violation of rules and as a result the company got undue benefit of over Rs140 billion.A meeting of the sub-committee on water and power, presided over by Shahi Syed of the ANP, was told by officials of the ministries of privatisation, water and power and inter-provincial coordination and cabinet division and the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) that the KESC was violating even the amended agreements by not utilising its full generation capacity and not paying dues to fuel suppliers.
Stocks plummet as Nawaz vows to put Musharraf on trial
KARACHI: Pakistani stocks dipped sharply on Monday as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told parliament of his cabinet’s plans to initiate a high treason case against former military dictator Pervez Musharraf. “Musharraf will have to answer for his guilt before the court,” Sharif told the National Assembly. News of the prospective trial jittered nervous investors concerned about short-term political stability, and sent the Karachi Stock Exchange’s benchmark share index plunging 3 per cent.
FBI working with Pakistan to investigate foreign tourists killing: US
WASHINGTON: Condemning the brutal killing of foreign tourists/mountaineers, the United States of America Monday said that FBI was working with Pakistani officials to investigate the cowardly attack. “The FBI is working with Pakistani authorities to gather more information regarding this incident,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said during a media briefing.
Pervez Musharraf declared accused in Benazir murder case
ISLAMABAD: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has submitted a challan in the anti-terrorism court (ATC) Tuesday, formally declaring former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf as accused in Benazir Bhutto murder case, DNA reported. The anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi headed by Judge Habibur Rehman heard the Benazir Bhutto murder case today during which the FIA submitted the case challan.
Two girls, mother killed over family video
GILGIT: A family video showing two teenage girls enjoying rain in their house led to their murder in Chilas on Sunday night. Their mother was also gunned down allegedly by her stepson and his four friends. Five masked men barged into the house of retired police officer Rehmat Nabi and started firing, killing his wife and daughters, aged 15 and 16. According to police, the crime was motivated by a video clip circulated on mobile phones and showing the girls overjoyed by rain in the lawn of their bungalow.
Talks held with China
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China held extensive talks in Beijing on Monday on modalities to implement the vision of the leadership of the two countries for enhancing and reinforcing strategic ties to a higher level. Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal led the Pakistan delegation at the talks held at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China, says a message received here.
Nursing the babies raises their chances of climbing social ladder: study
PARIS: People breastfed as infants have a 24 percent better chance than their formula-fed counterparts of climbing the social ladder, said a study Tuesday. Conversely, being fed mothers’ milk as a baby also reduced one’s chances of social demotion later in life by as much as 20 percent, said the findings published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.”Our study adds to evidence on the health benefits of breast feeding by showing that there may be lifelong social benefits,” wrote the British research team.
Kerry looks to ease Indian concerns on Afghanistan
NEW DELHI: Secretary of State John Kerry will on Monday try to ease India’s concerns about the impending withdrawal of US troops from war-torn Afghanistan as he embraces a greater role for the regional power. Kerry meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other Indian leaders just days after the United States started a cautious but immediately troubled bid to hold peace talks with Taliban insurgents. In a speech after he arrived Sunday for the three-day visit, Kerry said that the United States was “very realistic” about the difficulties in Afghanistan and acknowledged that a final settlement “may be long in coming”.
