Islamabad, October 08: The United Arab Emirates and Pakistan discussed bilateral relations and cooperation here Saturday.
UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Eissa Abdullah Al Basha Al Naimi and Pakistani Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar, during their meeting, also discussed cooperation in the areas of energy and environment.
Jeddah, October 08: Over 34,000 Haj pilgrims from India have arrived here for the annual pilgrimage.
According to a statement issued from the Consulate General of India, a total of 34,702 pilgrims have arrived from India, of them 1,823 pilgrims are in Makkah and 32,879 in Madina.
At least 4,401 pilgrims have moved from Makkah to Madina.
As of Saturday, four pilgrims have expired out of which three came through Haj Committee of India and one through a private tour operator.
Kabul, October 08: At least 25 insurgents were killed during a foiled militant attack near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, Xinhua reported Saturday.
According to an ISAF, it was the largest coordinated insurgent attack since 2009 against NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) bases, which was foiled Friday night in Afghanistan.
‘At least 25 insurgents were confirmed killed during the attacks’ near the border with Pakistan, an ISAF release issued late Friday night stated.
Islamabad, October 08: The Punjab government in Pakistan will spread public awareness on dengue through social networking site Facebook.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif formally launched the Facebook page at Lahore university Friday for dengue-eradication.
Named as Shahbaz Sharif Anti-dengue Community, the Facebook page will mobilise people, especially students, in the campaign against dengue virus.
The Facebook page contains directions regarding preventive measures against dengue and the steps being taken by the Punjab government against this menace.
Kabul, October 08: At least four Taliban insurgents, including a group commander, were killed after Afghan police backed by NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) carried out a raid in Kunduz province Saturday.
The raid was launched in the province’s capital Kunduz, 250 km north of Kabul, Xinhua reported.
Beijing, October 08: Chinese authorities have detained over 17,000 suspects during the first 45 days of launching a nationwide crackdown on illegal food production, gambling, drug trafficking and other offences.
The suspects were detained as over 36,000 cases were investigated, Xinhua reported.
The campaign was launched Aug 22 to eliminate illegal food producers and vendors, factories producing counterfeit goods and markets built for the disposal of stolen goods, pornography, gambling and drug trafficking.
Islamabad, October 08: The Balochistan government in Pakistan seeks to introduce stringent measures to tighten security in the province.
The government felt the need to propose such measures following a series of terrorist attacks which killed scores of people in Quetta city in recent weeks, the Daily Times reported.
The measures include monitoring of sale and purchase of property, renting out of houses, a campaign against vehicles with tinted glasses plying on Quetta roads, continuation of ban on pillion riding and regulation of registration of illegal and smuggled vehicles.
Islamabad, October 08: A terrorist attack was foiled in this Pakistani capital city Saturday after heavy arsenal, including two suicide vests, were recovered from a vehicle by police, the Dawn daily reported.
While searching a suspected vehicle in Islamabad’s Chatta Bakhtawar area, police recovered weapons including the suicide vests, hand grenades and rockets.
Police have arrested a suspect in this regard and an investigation is under way.
–IANS
Islamabad, October 08: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has sought a ban on all political organisations in Pakistan that have militant wings.
Sharif said it is parliament’s duty to ban such organisations after the Supreme Court, in its judgment on the law and order situation in Karachi, asked political parties to expel criminals from their ranks, the newspaper Dawn reported Saturday.
Sharif expressed optimism that in the forthcoming elections the masses would reject political parties that harboured militants because these were working against the country’s interest.
–IANS
Los Angeles, October 08: AT&T sold more than 200,000 of Apple Inc’s latest iPhone in the first 12 hours and said it had seen “extraordinary demand” for a gadget unveiled a day before the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
The iPhone 4S was unveiled on Tuesday and immediately underwhelmed fans who had hoped for a revolutionary design after a wait of more than 15 months.
But Wall Street analysts are betting that hardware updates and software enhancements, including a well-reviewed voice-recognition software system, will pull in buyers.
Washington, October 08: Astronomers have created a detailed map of the Moon combining observations in visible and ultraviolet wavelengths that shows a treasure trove of areas rich in titanium ores.
Not only is titanium a valuable element, it is key to helping scientists unravel the mysteries of the Moon’s interior.
“Looking up at the Moon, its surface appears painted with shades of grey, at least to the human eye. But with the right instruments, the Moon can appear colourful,” said Mark Robinson, of Arizona State University.
Washington, October 08: Newly released images taken by ESA’s Mars Express show an unusual accumulation of young craters in the large outflow channel called Ares Vallis, while older craters have been reduced to ghostly outlines by the scouring effects of ancient water.
In the distant past, probably over 3.8 billion years ago, large volumes of water must have rushed through the Ares Vallis with considerable force.
The prominent Oraibi crater lies in the channel and is about 32 km across. It is filled with sediments, and its southern rim has been eroded by water.
Pune, October 08: Carrying a palanquin of famous saint Dnyaneshwar with a message of water conservation, about a dozen boats have sailed off to Indrayani on a unique river expedition to the pilgrim town of Pandharpur.
Christened “Jal Dindi” by its pioneer Vishwas Yeole, the start of the expedition on Friday marked the tenth year of this environmental awareness drive modelled on the famous pilgrimage on foot undertaken every year by Warkari sect devotees of Lord Vitthal to Pandharpur.
Panama City, October 08: Global climate change negotiators Friday concluded their last round of discussions before next month’s U.N. convention in Durban, South Africa with faint hope of extending the Kyoto Protocol beyond next year.
But while negotiators see no chance for a sweeping deal to control greenhouse gas emissions, they say that the talks could yet lay the groundwork for a binding climate deal that could include the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters, China and the United States.
Los Angeles, October 08: The family of Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc, who was credited with changing computing and American culture before he died of pancreatic cancer on Wednesday, is working on building a website on which people will be able to share their memories of Jobs.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Jobs’ family announced the formation of the site, which is expected to launch soon, in a statement issued on Wednesday night after he died.
Washington, October 08: Scientists claim to have succeeded in overcoming a major obstacle to a promising technology that simultaneously reduces atmospheric carbon dioxide and produces fuel.
A team at the University of Illinois, led by Paul Kenis, in fact, claims to have produced a catalyst that improves artificial photosynthesis — the process of converting carbon dioxide gas into useful carbon-based chemicals, most notably fuel or other compounds usually derived from petroleum.
Chandigarh, October 08: Before he comes later this month, Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai sent a recorded message that was Friday played out during the golden jubilee celebrations of his alma mater, the Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA).
Unable to make it for the three-day golden jubilee celebrations of the CCA from Oct 7-9 due to his political commitments back home, Bhattarai has promised to be here later this month when he comes on his first official visit to India as prime minister.
London, October 08: Colombian singer Shakira has joined US President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
Others on the panel include community activist Adrian Pedroza and Arizona’s School District Superintendent Kent P. Scribner.
The president praised the singer and her fellow committee members for agreeing to advise the government on ways to improve educational opportunities and performance among Hispanics.
New Delhi, October 08: Noble Laureate Amartya Sen, who heads the interim governing board of Nalanda University, has blamed excessive bureaucratic control and difficulty in getting the money as key reasons for delaying setting up of the multi-nation project.
“One of the reasons why universities face difficulty is over bureaucratic control. We have certain amount of problems even here (at Nalanda),” said Sen, professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University.
“But we believe that we should be moving to a stage… and things will work quickly,” he said at function here.
New Delhi, October 08: Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit on Thursday said Singapore is keen to ink an agreement on setting up an international standard Skill Development Institute here, based on the Institute of Technical Education and Studies there.
Diskhit, accompanied by a seven-member delegation, was on a three-day visit Oct 3-5 to Singapore where she separately held meetings with Singapore’s former prime minister Goh Chok Tung and education minister Heng Swee Keat.
London, October 08: Video-sharing website YouTube has signed a deal with studios including Warner Bros and Universal, which would allow people in the UK to watch full length films for the first time for just 2.49 pounds per movie.
According to the new deal around 1,000 films are available on the site that is owned by internet search firm Google.
Among the available titles are Reservoir Dogs, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the Daily Mail reports.
Melbourne, October 08: The Sun’s UV rays are even more damaging than once thought, UK researchers say.
The Sun emits two kinds of UV rays that reach the Earth’s surface: UVA and UVB.
It has long been thought that these rays don’t damage the deeper layers of the skin as much as they damage the top layers.
But new research from King’s College London has found that while it’s the case for UVB rays, it isn’t for UVA.
Washington, October 08: The U.S. government’s unmanned Predator and Reaper drones are continuing to fly remote missions overseas despite a computer virus that has infected the plane’s U.S.-based cockpits, according to one source familiar with the infection.
Government officials are still investigating whether the virus is benign, and how it managed to infect the heavily protected computer systems at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, where U.S. pilots remotely fly the planes on their missions over Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
London, October 08: A colony of rare short-snouted sea horses has been spotted in the Thames river, the UK’s Environment Agency said.
The sea horses, which grows up to six inches long, is more commonly found in the waters of the Mediterranean and Canary Islands.
The sightings in the Thames during a routine fisheries survey at Greenwich suggest there may be permanent populations in Britain and that the sea horses, which mate for life after elaborate courtship rituals, may be breeding in the Thames, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ reported.
Rare sea horses found in the river Thames
London, October 08: Social networking giant Facebook has refused to remove a controversial page that has been heavily criticized for making jokes about rape.
The group page, called “You know she’s playing hard to get when your chasing her down an alleyway”, has 194,370 likes on Facebook.
But victim support groups have called the page “disgusting,” and said that it trivialises and jokes about rape.