Tag: President

JEDDAH - Saudi Arabia on Sunday kept a total blackout on the activities of ousted Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who has fled to the Gulf state. Officials and the media kept a lid on the presence of the deposed leader, who landed early on Saturday in the Red Sea city of Jeddah with six members of his family, according to a Saudi source. In a palace statement later the same day, Saudi Arabia said the move was "out of concern for the exceptional circumstances facing the

LAHORE - Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Asma Jahangir has expressed grief on the death of senior journalist Minhaj Barna, founder president of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists.
In a condolence message for Minhaj, who died in Rawalpindi on Friday, the SCBA president said Minhaj's life was unending struggle, as he believed in journalistic principles and worked without compromising voice of the conscience and professional integrity.
Asma said Minhaj never

ASTANA - The Kazakh parliament is on Friday expected to order a referendum on extending President Nursultan Nazarbayev's rule to 2020, defying US criticism of a move that would scrap two planned presidential polls. A joint session of the upper and lower houses is set to agree the referendum after a petition for the plebiscite gathered an astonishing five million signatures -- one half of the electorate and one third of the population. Supporters of the plan say it will guarantee the

ISLAMABAD - US Vice President Joseph Biden arrives in Islamabad today (Wednesday) on a day-long visit to convey to the Pakistani leadership the Obama administration's deep concern over political and economic crises in Pakistan and Washington's demand for immediate corrective measures on both fronts.
Stringent security arrangements have been made to avert any untoward incident during Biden's visit. American security agencies will lead the security right from Biden's landing at the

LAHORE - Former National skippers have congratulated Pakistan Football Federation President Faisal Saleh Hayat on becoming first Pakistani ever to have been elected to the prestigious AFC Executive Committee during the 24th Asian Football Confederation Congress at Doha on Thursday.
Faisal is also the only Pakistani who visited the football World Cup as member of FIFA/ World Cup Disciplinary Committee last year. He is also the chairman of Asian Football Confederation Disciplinary

LAHORE - The Lahore Bar Association's (LBA) election board has announced the final list of candidates contesting the annual election. According to the list, Abdul Latif Hanjra, MR Awan, Shahzad Hassan Sheikh and Zia-ud-Din Ansari are candidates for the seat of president.
Abdul Rehman Gondal, Ali Nawaz Butt, Arif Mahmood Chaudhry Azfar Kamal Kharal, Chaudhry Liaqat Ali Pannu, Fida Hussain Mata and Malik Sultan Ahmad are candidates for two seats of vice president. Mian Hafeez and

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesday strongly condemned the assassination of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, canceling all their engagements and announcing a three-day mourning.
The president directed Interior Minister Rehman Malik to personally supervise the investigation and submit a report at the earliest, while Gilani announced a three-day mourning and ordered the national flag to remain at half mast for three days.
The

BRASILIA - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff began her first full day in office on Sunday after pledging to build on the policies of her hugely popular predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The 63-year-old divorced grandmother, who was Lula's former cabinet chief, assumed the presidency Saturday in a carefully staged ceremony under at times rainy skies. Her Sunday's agenda includes meetings with Prince Felipe of Asturias, the heir to the Spanish throne, Uruguayan President Jose

KARACHI - President Asif Ali Zardari signed the 19th Amendment Bill on Saturday making it a part of the 1973 constitution. Parliament had passed the bill and it was sent to the president for his consent.
The bill was prepared and moved to both houses on the Supreme Court's recommendations. The signing ceremony, held at the Bilawal House, was attended by Senate Chairman Farooq Naik, National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms

BRASILIA - Brazil's hugely popular President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva steps down Saturday in a lavish ceremony ushering in his successor and protegee, Dilma Rousseff. Her ascension will give Latin America's biggest economy its first-ever female president.
It is certain to be an emotional farewell for Lula, a one-time shoeshine boy and factory metalworker who proved it was possible in his country to go from poverty to the ultimate position of power. He was constitutionally barred

KARACHI - President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday gave his formal assent to the 19th Amendment Bill, making it a part of the constitution, the state-run news channel reported.
The signing ceremony was attended by Senate Chairman Farooq H Naek, National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms Chairman Senator Raza Rabbani, Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad and Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, the PTV News reported.
After signing the

KARACHI - President Asif Ali Zardari would sign the 19th Constitutional Amendment passed by the both houses of the parliament today (Saturday).
The president's spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, told a private TV channel on Friday that the president would sign the amendment in the presence of the National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairman. Responding to a question, he said that reservations expressed by the MQM are being addressed. To another question, he said that the

ISLAMABAD: Vice President (Academics) International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) Dr Mumtaz Ahmad has been appointed the president of the university, said a press statement issued on Thursday.
Mumtaz was associated with the International Relations department of the Hampton University, USA for a long time and is one leading professors of politics, literature and islamic studies, it added.
The notification of Ahmad's appointment was issued by Rector IIUI Professor

KARACHI - Provincial conservator Hussain Bux Bhaagat was transferred from Karachi to Sukkur and the law that asks for a fee of Rs 5000 for possessing a falcon was amended when President Asif Zardari's Arab friend, carrying two falcons, was stopped at the Karachi airport and asked for documents and fee slips, sources told Pakistan Today.
Arif al Zarooni, emissary of Lieutenant General Sheikh Ahmed and the brother of Dubai's ruler Sheikh Rashid al Maktoum was stopped at the Jinnah

NAUDERO - President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Mobile Banking named after Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is being started in Pakistan for the first time. The Mobile Banking will help promote E-banking, he further said.
Addressing a ceremony to inaugurate Benazir Bhutto Mobile Banking here on Sunday, a day prior to the third death anniversary of the martyred leader, the President said that the value of one card of Benazir Mobile Banking is equivalent to Rs 3,000.
The

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Balochistan is working without a head after Lashkari Raisani resigned on November 15 from the post of provincial president under the pretext that the central leadership was neglecting the workers and their efforts for the party.
"The workers are disappointed by the leadership," he said. Raisani had already been sacked by President Asif Zardari before he presented his resignation, a source inside PPP said, adding that a committee had

PANAMA CITY - Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli tried to bully the US Drug Enforcement Administration to turn its wiretapping program on political rivals, a State Department cable released by WikiLeaks said.
Martinelli, a supermarket tycoon elected last year, sent a "cryptic" message to the US ambassador in Panama which said, "I need help with tapping phones," according to the cable from August 2009 published by Spanish newspaper El Pais.
"He made reference to