Tag: Set

KARACHI - Thousands of employees of the Pakistan Railways (PR) might go on a strike to protest the PR's move to stop providing medicines to them. The PR administration has stopped providing medicines to its employees and their families visiting OPDs of its seven major hospitals and over 40 dispensaries all over the country.
Sources said that the PR has gone ahead with this move despite suspending operations of dozens of passenger trains and increasing fares by 30 percent. Through

ISLAMABAD - The volume of messages will double to 10 trillion by 2013, around the world, as Short Message Service (SMS) being used by four billion mobile users, who send five trillion messages in 2009. This was revealed in a report published by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
It is expected that global mobile banking services will be generating 90 billion text messages per annum by 2015, as banks seek to utilise Short Message Service (SMS) as a means of enhancing

GUJRANWALA - Gujranwala Central Jail Superintendent Malik Zia-ud-Din has requested the Punjab IG prisons to sanction a drug treatment centre in the jail for addicted prisoners. In a letter, the superintendent revealed that Gujranwala District and Sessions Judge Kazim Raza Shamsi and Hafizabad DSJ Sheikh Muhammad Yousaf, during their visit to the jail on October 27, 2010, had ordered the establishment of such centre due to the miserable condition of the addicts.
He said Mian Afzal

KARACHI - The government is set to face another corruption scandal involving federal government officials and their relatives in a case involving fraudulently refunding billions of rupees on exports that never happened.
The allegations are carried in a letter sent to top government officials as well as the Prime Minister's House written by a concerned citizen, Muhammad Khalid Usman. He stated that the export companies involved in the case are registered under the name of Atif

KARACHI - The financial cost of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) is expected to record a rise of nine percent in quarterly terms to Rs 3.25 billion in the second quarter FY11, mainly on account of rising trade payables, which witnessed a six percent in the quarter according to the latest financial data.
However, the company is expected to receive Rs 1.0 billion as interest incurred by Independent Power Producers (IPP) on overdue receivables. PSO is due to release its 1st Half of

NEW YORK - Cult hit sit-com 'Arrested Development' is set to come to the big screen with creator Mitch Hurwitz confirming that he is writing the film's script. The sitcom about a formerly wealthy and dysfunctional family, starring Jason Bateman, Portia De Rossi and Michael Cera, stopped airing in 2006 and fans have been hoping for a movie ever since.
"Our fans have been so supportive and we're so grateful, so I kind of hate to answer the question until I can say, 'Yes, we've shot

ISLAMABAD - The government, on Monday, notified reconstruction of the Board of Directors (BoDs) of all power sector distribution companies (DISCOs) and the National Transmission Dispatch Company (NTDC) after two months. New inductees include a few professionals but more people without experience.
An official announcement said that the Prime Minister had approved reconstruction of BoDs of all DISCOs, along with the NTDC. The government has advised CEOs of DISCOs and NTDC to

KHARTOUM - South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to declare its independence in final results of a referendum made public on Monday, opening the door to Africa's newest state and a fresh period of uncertainty for the fractured region.
A total of 98.83 percent of voters from Sudan's oil-producing south chose to secede from the north in last month's referendum, according to a video display of the vote seen by Reuters at the venue of the announcement.
The referendum is the climax of

ISLAMABAD - The federal cabinet would, in principle, give approval for the promulgation of National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) Ordinance 2011 in what appears to be farewell meeting scheduled on Wednesday. The decision was earlier taken in a high-level meeting on 'national security' presided over by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in May last year.
The government took around 10 months to develop consensus among political and religious leadership for developing unanimity

KARACHI - The Sindh government has decided to restructure its current 44 departments into 20 for curtailing the huge expenditures incurred on the large number of provincial ministers. The decision has been made after the federal government recently decided to cut down on the number of ministers.
The ruling PPP has started contacting its coalition parties including the MQM, the ANP, the PML-F and other political forces in this regard and Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has instructed

GENEVA - UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Friday that Egypt would experience the kind of change that has swept Tunisia in the wake of a popular revolt that toppled that country's president last month. "Change is coming to Egypt, as it came to Tunisia, but the violence and bloodshed must stop now," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said as she called for an investigation into street protests in Egypt this week.
"Protestors must be properly protected, including

LAHORE - Lahore and Okara have reached the final of the PBCC National Blind Cricket T20 Cup, which will be played today at the New Campus Cricket Ground, Punjab University. On Thursday, the semifinal games were played in which Lahore beat Gujranwala while Okara moved past Sheikhupura.
In the first semifinal, Lahore defeated Gujranwala by nine wickets. Gujranwala lost all their wickets in 12.1 overs for just 74 runs. Muhammad Akram was the top scorer with 32 runs. Lahore's Shariq

Mallika Sherawat might have lost out on the sequel of 'Murder' to Sri Lankan beauty Jacqueline Fernandes, but this does not mean that she has no reason to cheer! Buzz has it that Mallika is all set to play the female lead in Pooja Bhatt's 'Jism 2'. 'Jism 2' will be written by Shagufta Rafique and be co-produced by Dino Morea and Pooja Bhatt.
Apparently, a few days ago Pooja had a long meeting with Mallika. A source said, "'Jism 2' is going to be bigger and bolder than 'Jism'.

SAN DIEGO - Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas has made one of the most explosive starts ever on the PGA Tour and is on track to eclipse Tiger Woods as the fastest player to earn $2 million in prize money. The 26-year-old stunned the golfing world by winning this month's Bob Hope Classic in only his fifth appearance on the US circuit and he followed that with an ice-cool display at last week's Farmers Insurance Open, where he tied for third.
Many had expected the long-hitting Venezuelan

LAHORE - After thoroughly examining circumstantial evidences and necessary details, the Lahore Police has reached the conclusion that Raymond Davis did not act in self defence and would therefore be charged with double murder. A senior police official investigating the case said on condition of anonymity that circumstantial evidences, witnesses and autopsy report did not support the statement by Davis, making the investigators believe that Davis had not killed the two youths, Faizan

QUETTA - Two NATO supplies containers were set on fire in Khuzdar district on Sunday. According to police three containers were returning Karachi after unloading NATO supplies in Kandahar when some armed attackers opened indiscriminate fire at Wadh area of Khuzdar district, some 360 KM south of Quetta on RCD Highway.
The driver of the first container attempted to speed away but the vehicle turned turtle. However the rest of two containers were halted. The attackers disembarked

KARACHI - The $1.58 billion Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project might be cancelled as the government is not taking any interest in solving various related issues for the past one year, sources have claimed. One such issue that needs to be handled immediately is the re-lending of funds by the Japanese government.
The government of Japan would invest $1.58 billion for reviving the KCR to mitigate the traffic problems in the city. These funds would be directly provided to the