A Pakistani court today reserved its judgement on a petition challenging the unprecedented three-year extension given to army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani by the government.
A two-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court reserved its verdict after hearing arguments by Col (retired) Inamur Rahim, who has challenging the legality of the extension granted to Kayani in 2010.
A French journalist has been held here in the Iraqi capital for taking pictures without prior permission, Xinhua reported Thursday.
“Iraqi police arrested last week a French journalist in Baghdad for taking pictures without getting official permission,” the Baghdad-based Journalistic Freedom Observatory (JFO) said in a statement.
Nadir Dendoun, correspondent of French monthly magazine Le Monde Diplomatique, was held at one of the capital’s prisons, it said. He was arrested while taking pictures in Baghdad’s southern district of Doura.
The India-Pak region is the most dangerous place in the world, a former top US diplomat who served as the Secretary of State under the Regan administration has said.
“The most dangerous place in the world right now, I think, is India-Pakistan,” George Schultz, who served as the Secretary of State from 1982 to 1989 in the Regan Administration, said on Tuesday during his appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank.
US envoy in Pakistan Richard Olson has assured that his country will not repeat mistakes it made in 1989 and will not disengage from the region in 2014-expected withdrawal year for the US and NATO forces from Afghanistan.
The Dawn quoted Olson, as saying that the US recognises the mistakes of the past, and will not disengage from the region. He said that even as the US is working with Pakistan to ensure that 2014 is not a repeat of 1989, they are not myopically focused on December 2014.
The Pakistan Cabinet has approved the multi-billion dollar Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, as well as a deal transferring the management of the Gwadar port from Singapore to China was also given the go-ahead.
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said the Cabinet gave approval to transfer Gwadar port operations from Port of Singapore to Chinese Overseas Port Holdings Limited, adding that the decision was taken to meet the country’s soaring energy requirements, reports The Express Tribune.
After Pakistan team management`s appreciation, ICC too has praised the hospitality and facilities provided by Odisha Cricket Association to Pakistan players, who are staying inside Barabati stadium premises here for the Women`s World Cup to be played here and in Mumbai.
The ICC endorsed the decision of the OCA to allow the Pakistan players to stay at the Club House located inside the stadium premises.
Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has completed his move to AC Milan, signing a four-and-a-half-year contract.
The two clubs agreed a deal on Tuesday afternoon for £20 million that will be spread over five years, while the Italy international is taking a pay cut on his £110,000 per-week to join the Serie A side.
Male Savannah sparrows sing distinctly different songs today than did their ancestors 30 years ago – changes passed along generation to generation, according to a new study of more than three decades’ worth of sparrow recordings by University of Guelph researchers.
Integrative biology professors Ryan Norris and Amy Newman, along with researchers at Bowdoin College and Williams College in the U.S., analyzed the songs of male Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichiensis) recorded over three decades, and found that the songs had changed distinctly from 1980 to 2011.
The New York Times has revealed that over the last four months, it has been repeatedly attacked by Chinese hackers, trying to infiltrate its computer systems and get passwords for its reporters and other employees.
The timing of the attacks coincided with the reporting for a Times investigation, published online on October 25, that found that the relatives of Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, had accumulated a fortune worth several billion dollars through business dealings.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal retained the second place in the women’s singles rankings in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released Thursday.
In the men’s singles, Olympic quarterfinalist Parupalli Kashyap also retained his career-best World No.9 ranking.
Hyderabadi P.V. Sindhu also remained static at a career-best No.16 in the women’s singles rankings.
—-IANS
Singer Roop Kumar Rathod says Shaan exudes a lot of positive energy.
“Shaan is a sweetheart, just like his voice. Both Radhika, his wife, and Shaan have such positive energy… whenever I meet them I feel that,” the 39-year-old singer said at an event here Thursday.
NASA today launched a new communication satellite to stay in touch with its space station astronauts and relay more Hubble telescope images.
An unmanned Atlas V rocket blasted into the starry night sky carrying the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite.
This is the 11th TDRS satellite to be launched by NASA. The space agency uses the orbiting network to communicate with astronauts living on the International Space Station.
The global environmental agenda and the global development agenda were interlinked, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday while stressing that resource efficiency was a necessary condition for sustainable development.
A global growth model, which is inclusive and sustainable, would assist developing countries pursue their objectives, Manmohan Singh said at the inauguration of the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) here.
Many alcohol abusers may refrain from drinking after getting punishment-related threats, but relapse is very common when the threats of punishment fade, particularly when exposed to alcohol-associated environments (contexts).
Rats may behave in the same way, suggests a new study by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The finding is important because a significant amount of addiction research is performed in animals, using models of addiction, before it is translated to work in humans.
India won’t be hasty about normalising ties with Pakistan following the brutal killing of two Indian soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said Thursday.
“(We are) advising everybody don’t be hasty about normalisation. Wait and watch, that is our approach,” Antony told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
There had been reduction in tension along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan following talks between their directors general of military operations (DGMOs), he said.
Moscow was “deeply concerned” over reports of Israeli air strikes on Syrian territory and is seeking confirmation of what could be a serious violation of the UN charter, the Russian foreign ministry said Thursday.
Moscow said it is looking into reports that Israeli fighter jets carried out an air strike on a military research centre near Damascus Wednesday.
If the reports of “unprovoked strikes” hitting a sovereign country’s territory are confirmed, this would constitute a violation of fundamental UN principles, the ministry said.
Yarsagumba, commonly known as the “Himalayan Viagra”, is declining in Nepal, biological conservationists warned.
The Caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis), which is considered as the most expensive medicinal fungus in the world, has witnessed a serious decline in Nepal owing to overharvesting, microbiologists Sudip Dhakal told Xinhua in an interview Thursday.
The Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) will be held on May 10 and the results will be announced on June 2.
According to EAMCET convener N V Ramana Rao, the EAMCET applications would be accepted from February 15 to March 27, without additional fees. The last date for receipt of applications is March 27 and May 7 with a fine of Rs 10,000.
While EAMCET will be held on May 10, the Primary Key would be released on May 12. (INN)
Former DGP and TRS politburo member Pervaram Ramulu has said that it was easy to build 10 cities like Singapore after the division of the State.
Speaking to the media here on Thursday, Pervaram has asked the Seemandhra leaders as to why they were looting others instead of developing their own region.
He said that the Andhra people could construct 10 cities like Singapore in their region after division of the State. Describing the Congress Core Committee as ‘bore committee’, he alleged that ministers were not even participating in it.
TRS has strongly countered the Congress party’s allegations that the TRS Chief K Chandrashekar Rao had demanded the ruling Congress party for Chief Minister post, and said that the allegations were false.
Former minister Dr P Shanker Rao has said that the Centre will announce the process of creation of separate Telangana State in February second week.
Speaking to the media at the CLP office here on Thursday, Shanker Rao has said that it was the last Assembly in the United Andhra Pradesh and there will not be United Andhra Pradesh after February 25.
The demand for gas masks almost tripled in Israel in January amid concerns about the safety of the Syrian chemical weapons stockpile.
The Israel Postal Service, charged with free distribution of non-conventional warfare protection equipment, said the number of Israelis who decided to update their gas masks has almost tripled in the past month, according to the Ynet news portal.
The postal service said the number of daily orders has spiked from an average of 200 a day to 500 a day.
ABC (atomic, biological, and chemical) kits have been distributed in Israel since 1991.
A special CBI court here Thursday extended till February 14, the judicial remand of YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and other accused in connection with the case of alleged disproportionate assets involving him.
Iran started Thursday to celebrate the 34th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Ceremonies started across the country at 9:33 a.m. local time ( 0603 GMT) Thursday, marking the time when Iran”s late Islamic revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran on Jan. 31, 1979, from 14 years of exile in Paris.
Ringing bells, reciting verses and blowing horns across the country marked the beginning of the nationwide ceremonies.
South Asian countries need to cooperate more with each other to make meaningful improvement on shared issues related to climate change and resource scarcity, a report released by a US-based think tank has said.
The report, titled “Ecological Cooperation in South Asia: A Way Forward”, highlights lack of cooperation between South Asian nations which continues to hamper efforts to create meaningful partnerships on environmental problems.