Tag: Plans

LAHORE - The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) will sue Lahore DCO Ahad Cheema for blasphemy, Pakistan Today learnt on Wednesday. The decision was taken in a meeting of the SIC hierarchy in Lahore. A complaint in this regard will be submitted at a proper forum within two to three days. Blasphemy laws will be invoked for the purported desecration of the Holy Prophet's (PBUH) name inscribed on hoardings, billboards and banners of the organisation which were removed on the orders of the DCO

LAHORE - The PCB has been pushing the idea of a Pakistani tournament on the lines of the IPL, PCB's domestic cricket department chief Sultan Rana has said. Rana stated that the setting up of the Pakistani Premier League had been in their plans for the past couple of years. "We first considered the idea a couple of years ago. The documents were complete and we were all set to go, but the attack on the Sri Lankan team meant that we had to shelve all of our plans at that time,"

MILAN - AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi plans to bid for Real Madrid's former world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo if his side win the Serie A title, the Italian prime minister has said. The Portuguese has never indicated a wish to leave the Bernabeu but that has not deterred colourful Berlusconi, often accused by opponents of making outlandish bids for political popularity, from making the pledge on Italian TV late on Monday.
"If we win the scudetto then the next

KARACHI - Pakistan Mercantile Exchange Limited (PMEX), the country's de-mutualised commodity exchange has seen trading volumes continuing to hit historic highs. The exchange now plans to further expand in the commodities listed at the Exchange during the current financial year.
The PMEX management indicates that the new items to be listed on the commodity market by the year's end will include sugar, wheat, maize, basmati rice and currency futures. Currently, trading on the PMEX

TOKYO - Japan's trade ministry ordered nuclear power plant operators to take immediate steps to improve emergency preparedness and will review energy policies to promote renewable sources and ease power shortages as it grapples with a nuclear safety crisis.
The ministry said on Wednesday that nuclear plants would be required by mid-April to deploy back-up mobile power generators and fire trucks able to pump water, while beefing up training programmes and manuals, aiming to avoid

ISLAMABAD - The government plans to draw investment of up to $500 million from overseas Pakistanis through different national saving schemes (NSS) offered by the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS), an official source has revealed.
The proposal under consideration, would allow the Pakistani Diaspora to conduct direct investment online in any of the national saving schemes. The investment could be made in any currency but the principal amount and profit is to be

LOS ANGELES - A charitable group backed by pop star Madonna has scrapped its plan to build a school for impoverished girls in Malawi due to mismanagement. The organisation, Raising Malawi, has ousted its board of directors and replaced its members with a new set of officials that includes Madonna and her manager. "A thoughtful decision has been made to discontinue plans for the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, as it was originally conceived," Michael Berg, co-founder of Raising

LAHORE - Punjab Food Department has finalised the arrangements to procure 3.5 million metric tonnes of wheat worth Rs 85 billion directly from the growers through 380 procurement centres across the province. Punjab Food Secretary Muhammad Irfan has said that the Food department would launch the procurement drive from April 17 to continue it till the target is achieved.
"Nearly 380 procurement centres have been established in wheat growing areas in the province. This number can be

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia plans to begin municipal elections next month, the first political concession from the conservative US ally since protests sweeping the region hit the kingdom, a government website said on Wednesday. The announcement on the website of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs did not say if women would be able to take part or give more details. "The first phase of the elections will start on Saturday, 19/5/1432," it said, a date in the Islamic calendar that is

BERLIN - Germany's cabinet is due to approve on Wednesday sending troops to crew NATO surveillance aircraft over Afghanistan, but will withdraw AWACS staff from the Mediterrranean to avoid military involvement in Libya.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet will endorse the dispatch of up to 300 German AWACS troops to Afghanistan, government sources said, under a policy of easing the burden on NATO while refusing to participate in strikes on Libya. The government has come under

FAISALABAD - The Punjab government has unveiled a plan to carry out digital mapping of 36 districts of the province for the accurate identification of particular areas in each district.
The process will help the government have a precise area-wise study and planning of the infrastructure of urban and rural development in addition to its primary function of identifying, in minute details, the residential and commercial areas of the districts.
These views were expressed by

RAMALLAH - The Palestinian Authority on Sunday "strongly condemned" Israel's approval of hundreds of new West Bank settler homes following the grisly murder of a settler family. The Palestinian Authority "strongly condemns the decision of the Israeli government to speed up and increase the building of settlements," chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP. "It strongly condemns the settler attacks against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and we ask the Quartet to urgently

KARACHI - The federal government is considering new statistical laws to establish Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) and, hence, at restructuring the country's entire national statistical system (NSS). This was stated by the Government of Pakistan Secretary Statistics Division Asif Bajwa, while inaugurating a one-day seminar on "Contributions and Achievements of Official Statistics" here at SBP Learning Resource Centre on Saturday. The federal secretary said that PBS would be

BANGALORE - Yuvraj Singh put in a superb all-round display as India survived some anxious moments to post a five-wicket victory over a fighting Ireland in their World Cup match on Sunday. The part-time spinner bagged a maiden five-wicket haul to restrict Ireland to a modest 207 and then hit an unbeaten 50 to help his side achieve the target with four overs to spare in the day-night match in Bangalore. India were wobbling at 100-4 before Yuvraj and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (34)

KARACHI - International Steels Limited (ISL) plans to raise around Rs 3.0 billion rupees through public offering. This was stated by the Managing Director Towfiq Habib Chinoy at ISL's inauguration ceremony, held on Friday. Earlier, the Rs. 8.7 billion steel mill was inaugurated by Almas Chinoy, wife of the late Amir Chinoy - founder of the International Industries. The inauguration ceremony was also attended by Sumitomo Corporation Senior Managing Director Kazuhisa Togashi, JFE Steel

Elton John, a close friend of the late Princess Diana, on Tuesday admitted he got an invitation to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, despite insisting the opposite seconds earlier. The 63 year-old piano man appeared on a TV show during which he talked about his newborn son and his latest projects. Marilyn Denis asked if he would attend the wedding in London on April 29. "As far as I know, I don't have an invitation," John said.
Denis pressed, saying "we heard you

KARACHI - Pakistan Society, a Karachi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) dealing with healthcare and social services, has planned to take out a long march from Karachi to Garhi Khuda Bakhsh on March 10 for HIV/AIDS patients and other neglected members of the society.
Moreover, the NGO managers have also threatened to commit self-immolation in case their demands are not met or if any breakdown occurs before they reach their destination.
The Pakistan Society president