All rounder Shahid Afridi will front a drug prevention campaign that aims at keeping youth off drugs in six districts of Pakistan”s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region where experts have reported drastic increase in use of drugs. According to the Daily Times, over the next three months, local-language drug prevention messages will be placed on billboards at strategic locations, while similar messages are broadcast over FM radio and local TV.
Fast bowler Sohail Tanvir has claimed Pakistan”s rookie fast bowlers especially Junaid Khan should be given proper support and time to settle into international cricket following their dismal performance during their 3-0 series Test defeat against South Africa. Tanvir said during an interview with PakPassion.com that country”s quicks are all new and in the learning process, adding that it cost Pakistan a lot when Junaid Khan became unfit as he was the perfect bowler for the African conditions.
All rounder Shoaib Malik has claimed Pakistan has the ability to bounce back from their Test humiliation against South Africa in their upcoming one-day series. Malik said that cricket is an unpredictable game and once a team encounters a bad patch it becomes difficult to come out of it, however, the former captain is confident Pakistan will come back all guns blazing, the Express Tribune reports.
The Finance Bill 2013-14 proposes liberalisation of the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) that was launched in FY 2012-13.
The first time investors will now be allowed to invest in mutual funds as well as listed shares. This investment can be done not in one year alone, but in three successive years.
Presenting the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha today, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that the income limit is also being proposed to be raised from Rs.10 lakh to Rs.12 lakh. (ANI)
Sharing the concerns of the Members of the Parliament for the welfare of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday announced that the Union Budget has sub plans for them.
Chidambaram, who reiterated that the funds allocated to the sub plans cannot be diverted and must be spent for the purpose of the sub plans, made an allocation of Rs. 41, 561 crore to the scheduled castes sub plan and Rs. 24,598 crore to the tribal sub plan. Similarly, sufficient allocations have been made to programmes relating to women and children.
The ruling Congress party Thursday won nine seats and was leading in 19 others as officials counted votes in Meghalaya.
Veteran Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) leader Hoping Stone Lyngdoh retained his Nongstoin seat for the eighth consecutive term.
Election officials said his party colleague Ardent M. Basaiawmoit retained Nongkrem seat. HSPDP candidates were leading in the three other constituencies.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday appreciated the union budget and said the finance minister had done a “commendable” job.
“The finance minister has done a commendable job in containing the deficit while simultaneously addressing the growth imperatives,” Manmohan Singh said.
“We need to create 10 million jobs a year for the duration of the 12th Plan which can be achieved only if we reach eight percent GDP growth level,” he said.
—IANS
In a bid to mobilise revenue, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Thursday raised the excise duty on cigarettes, cigars, sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and mobile phones.
Presenting the union budget 2013-14 to the lower house of the parliament, Chidambaram said cutting expenses was important to rein in fiscal deficit but it was equally important to augment resource generation.
“Where should a finance minister look to generate resources, than cigarettes?” he asked while proposing to increase the excise duty on cigarettes to 18 percent.
Home minister Sabitha Indira Reddy called on chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday and apprised him of the latest law and order situation and the breakthrough in the probe in Dilsukhnagar blast case.
According to highly places sources home minister apprised chief minister of the latest breakthrough in probe and the details of evidences collected. She told that several evidences have been received during interrogation with suspicious persons and investigative teams of the police hope that they will soon nab the culprits.
The government Thursday announced the setting up of a special Nirbhaya fund for women’s safety with a corpus of Rs.1,000 crore (Rs.10 billion).
“Recent incidents have cast a shadow on women’s safety. It is our collective responsibility to ensure dignity and safety of women. They deserve our support,” Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said while presenting the budget for 2013-14.
“I announce the setting up of the Nirbhaya Fund of Rs.1,000 crore. I request the ministry of women and child development to plan the structure, scope and application of this fund,” he said.
General Secretary State Telugu Desam Minority Cell and former Chairman Urdu Academy Mohammed Raheemullah Khan Niazi told that Minority Welfare Department institutions have been transformed into abandoned institutions.
He told that since 2004 Congress government has not taken any practical measures for the development and prosperity of minorities particularly Muslims. Every year whatever minority budget is sanctioned the same is not completely released.
Children who missed meals can not only have problem concentrating in school, they may also have a higher risk of experiencing pain and depression in adulthood, a new University of Nebraska-Lincoln study has suggested.
Depression and chronic pain are experienced by 44 percent of working-aged adults and the study shows a correlation between childhood conditions and pain and depression in adulthood.
High vitamin D levels in pregnant women may trigger food allergies in their babies after birth, says a new research.
The study conducted by Kristin Weibe’s team from Helmholtz used samples from the LINA cohort that the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Germany, established together with the St. Georg municipal clinic between 2006 and 2008.
The long-term study included 622 mothers and their 629 children.
Director Rupesh Paul, who is currently busy with his debut film “Kamasutra 3D”, will make a 4D sequel that will star a Hollywood actress.
Paul told IANS: “As per the script, the film will conclude in such a way that it will leave a germ for the sequel. It has a very strong subject and scope for a sequel.”
Paul, who is making “Kamasutra 3D” with Sherlyn Chopra in the lead, has no plans to repeat her in the sequel.
High vitamin D levels in expectant mothers appear to raise the risk of children developing a food allergy after birth, a new study has found.
The survey carried out by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research and the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg in Germany has concluded that pregnant women should avoid taking vitamin D supplements.
Sonam Kapoor, whose first film ‘Saawariya’ was loosely based on Fyodor Dostoevsky` short story `White Nights`, has bought the film rights of one of Anuja Chauhan`s novels for the sheer love of its female characters.
Kapoor, who describes herself as someone “who lives to eat and read in that order”, says the book has characters that exit in reality and that`s what prompted her to buy the film rights.
Scientists have developed a flexible lithium-ion battery that can stretch up to 300 per cent of its original size and still function.
Northwestern University’s Yonggang Huang and the University of Illinois’ John A Rogers have demonstrated the battery that continues to work – powering a commercial light-emitting diode (LED) – even when stretched, folded, twisted and mounted on a human elbow.
It’s yet another bid to draw attention to a dying and polluted river that not just sustains life in the Braj region but is also a heritage treasure and a religious symbol for millions of Indians.
At least “100,000 bhakts (religious devotees)” will turn out for a 10-day march to Delhi that begins from here Friday to demand that the river Yamuna be cleaned up.
The outer reaches of a ‘supermassive’ black hole, more than two million miles across, or eight times the earth-moon distance, is spinning at nearly the speed of light.
The gigantic object is at the centre of the spiral galaxy NGC 1365. Astronomers measured its jaw-dropping spin rate using new data from the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, and the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-ray satellites.
The US Senate confirmed Obama’s former chief of staff Jack Lew as the country’s 76th Treasury Secretary.
Lew, 57, who also held the position of Director of the Office of Management and Budget, replaces Timothy Geithner as the Treasury Secretary.
The US senate voted 71-26 with the support from 20 republicans.
“At this critical time for our economy and our country, there is no one more qualified for this position than Jack,” Obama said in a statement on Wednesday.
Addressing the threats due to IEDs to American forces, the US has asked Pakistan to do more to stop the flow of calcium ammonium nitrate into Afghanistan.
Calcium ammonium nitrate: which is precursor of impoverished explosive devices (IEDs), is said to be responsible for the largest number of American casualties in Afghanistan.
Ibn Shaddad al-Fahri (r.a.) reported that the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) said:
“This world, in comparison with the world to come, is the same as if one of you were to put his finger in the ocean. Consider how much you would have when you pulled it out.”
[Muslim]
Abu Hazim az Zahid (r.al) was asked:
“What is your wealth?”
He said:
“Two kinds of wealth dispel all fear of poverty; trust in Allah and not being attached to what people have.”
He was asked:
“Don’t you fear poverty?”
He said:
Pakistan’s ambassador to the US Sherry Rehman may be on her way out, said a Pakistani daily.
“…there are reports that being a political appointee Sherry Rehman may be going out. Her tenure may end with the dissolution of the current government,” said an editorial in the News International Thursday.
“She is not a career diplomat and where she goes next is the subject of much speculation but there is general agreement that she has represented Pakistan well in Washington.”
Police have ordered the arrest of eight government doctors for negligence during the 2008 floods in Bihar, police said Thursday.
Araria Superintendent of Police S.W. Lande said he passed the orders after stumbling upon first information reports (FIRs) filed against them.
“Police will arrest the doctors and departmental proceedings will be initiated against the investigating (police) officers for lapses,” Lande said.
The cases were lodged under the Bihar Essential Services Maintenance Act (BESMA) after the doctors were found absent from work during the 2008 devastating floods.
Prince Harry, who recently gave a nod to Princess Diana’s fundraising work during his own charity mission to Africa, has said that he hopes that his mother is proud of him.
The 28-year-old royal has launched a project to help disadvantaged children in South Africa.
Harry mentioned Diana, Princess of Wales, as he gave a speech at a gala dinner for his Sentebale charity and hopes to raise 2.5 million dollars to build the Mamohato Centre, which will provide psychological care and offer mentoring to children suffering from HIV/Aids, Sky News reported.