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ISLAMABAD - Former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf told his aides in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in recent meetings that he faced no threat from his arrest warrants in Benazir Bhutto assassination case because the British government would never repatriate him to Pakistan.
"Some friends of Musharraf in the All-Pakistan Muslim League (APML)'s marathon meetings held in UAE on March 16 and 17 advised him not to return to the UK for the time being because the Pakistan High

NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said no government members were involved in vote-buying to win a confidence vote in 2008 and doubted the veracity of the claims, defying resignation calls over the issue.
The scandal over cash for votes is unlikely to immediately endanger Singh's government, but it increases the pressure on Singh already battling allegations of graft in cases ranging from grant of telecom licenses to apartments for war widows.
The

MUMBAI - After years of Bollywood award functions dominated by glamorous movie stars, fans in India are now using Twitter to honour deserving performances snubbed by the more mainstream events.
A rant on Twitter about an apparent bias in Indian film awards led to the launch of the Tweeple Film Awards, with more than 1,500 Twitter users voting to choose the jury alone.
"Film awards are commercialised, pander to stars and are given out depending on which star is attending the

ISLAMABAD - Rejecting the impression that the Pakistan Muslim League-Q was coming forward to become part of the PPP-led coalition government, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Tuesday said that there was complete consensus within the party over not joining the government.
"The PML-Q has no intention to join any government.... We will form our own government after winning the next election," he told reporters at the PML House. He said dialogue did not mean a deal, as "we believe in

ISLAMABAD - Governance of the country showed a downward trend as the parliament's hold over civil and military institutions, respect for civil rights of the people and the law and order situation appeared to have weakened over the last two and half years, says a PILDAT report titled 'Mid-Term Assessment of the Quality of Democracy in Pakistan.'
The report also highlighted the achievements of the government and said that restoration of judiciary, 18th Amendment and devolution, NFC

LAHORE - In yet another emotional statement, the Punjabi Language Movement (PLM) said that the PPP will be doomed in Punjab and Sindh if it ever raised the slogan of a Seraiki province, in the next elections. They went to the extent of saying that Seraiki did not exist in Punjab, and that the province belonged to Punjab only.
These views were expressed by PLM convener Nazeer Ahmed Kahut during a meeting. Kahut said that the teaching of Punjabi should be regularized in all

KARACHI - While the federal and provincial governments play ping-pong over jurisdictions, almost a year after the 18th Amendment, which denotes education between the ages of six and 16 a right rather than a privilege, received presidential assent, no notifications have been issued to cancel fees for government schools. "Why should we be made to pay if education is a right," Haleem, whose children, seven-year-old Saba and eight-year-old Wahab, attend a government school in Malir, said.

BANGALORE - Australia captain Ricky Ponting insisted he was unconcerned by his wicketless spinners after the defending champions toiled to beat Kenya and reach the World Cup quarter-finals. Australia won by 60 runs, but Kenya batted out their full 50 overs in a painstaking encounter to reach 264 for six in reply to 324 for six. It was the Africans' highest total of the tournament, comfortably suprassing the 198 they made in their five-wicket defeat to Canada.
While Kenya's

LAHORE - Federal Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan has said that the federal government would not withdraw its executive powers conferred under the constitution to anyone.
Addressing PPP workers at the residence of Azizur Rehman Chan on Saturday, he said executive powers granted under the constitution could not be transferred to anyone else in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and those denying this were liable to the violation of the

CHITTAGONG - England captain Andrew Strauss insists his team can still win the World Cup despite a roller-coaster ride that has left them facing elimination. England's loss to Bangladesh on Friday, when the ninth-wicket pair of Mohammad Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam put on 58 runs to snatch an improbable win, was symbolic of their tournament so far.
The inconsistent England have lost to non-Test nation Ireland and now Bangladesh, secured a thrilling tie against India and won

BRUSSELS - The NATO allies Friday agreed new rules under which they can withdraw their troops from Afghanistan as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates slammed 'too much talk about leaving'. The alliance Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced the deal looking ahead to a 2014 deadline to pass control to the Afghan security forces after Gates warned that early withdrawal would jeopardise the war effort just as the Taliban had lost the upper hand. "Frankly, there is too much talk

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Thursday said it was working with the US to ensure that the diplomatic row with Washington over suspected CIA contractor Raymond Davis, arrested in January for killing two Pakistanis in Lahore, did not impact bilateral relations.
In response to a volley of questions on the Davis' issue at her weekly press briefing, Foreign Office spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua said, "The matter of Davis is sub-judice and it will be a little early for me to say anything in

LAHORE - Shahbaz Bhatti's murder was 'deplorable' but they will not allow paving way for amendment in the blasphemy laws, under the cover of this incident, Jamiat Ulema Pakistan (JUP) Secretary General Qari Zawar Bahadar said on Thursday in a press conference at the Lahore Press Club. He said that JUP has decided to hold Tahafz-e-Namoos-i-Risalat Conference at Minar-i-Pakistan on 27th of this month. He said if the 'rulers' tried to amend the blasphemy laws or release Raymond Davis,

LAHORE - Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa said on Wednesday that the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) would neither destabilise the provincial government nor strive to topple it. While visiting the ailing Arshad Ghurki, brother of Khaild Ghurki, at National Hospital in Defence, the governor said that he would not deviate from the constitutional limits. Arshad Ghurki had a heart attack at the funeral of Khalid Ghurki and was under treatment.
Khosa said that PPP was following

ISLAMABAD - Explaining the intentions behind the statement of Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif regarding national conference, PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday said the PML-N did not invite the military to control the country and neither did it try to sabotage democracy. Addressing a news conference at the PML-N secretariat, Ahsan said the PML-N never tried to grab power through unconstitutional means like NRO, as it believed in public power.
"We believe in democracy

ISLAMABAD - The Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) can not be abolished and the FATA reforms package announced by President Asif Ali Zardari included only "certain suitable and agreed" reforms in FATA, President's spokesman Farhatullah Babar said on Wednesday. "There was no mention of completely abolishing the FCR in the president's package for FATA reforms, as the political parties and parliamentarians from FATA had not agreed to do away with the FCR completely," Babar said while

LAHORE - Around 3,034 pharmacy students vying for placement in hospitals as pharmacists are disturbed at the inclusion of a written test in the new selection method introduced by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). The PPSC has introduced the written test criterion for the first time, while in the past, students only had to go through interviews. Students opposing the test said that PPSC did not mention the condition of a written test in its advertisement. Besides, it did not