Umeedain News

Heavy fog engulfs Lahore and its surrounding areas

2010-01-02T20:50:00.002-08:00

In various areas of Punjab, routine of life was disrupted due to heavy fog. Flight operations at Lahore Airport were cancelled and Motorway was closed for motorists due to fog; where as one person got killed and many others injured in a car accident near Hafizabad.
Everyday routine of life was severely affected by heavy fog in Lahore and its surrounding areas. According to the meteorologist department, the percentage of moisture in the air was 81% at 6 pm last evening. Flights arriving from Dubai and Singapore were diverted to Karachi due to intense fog; whereas all domestic flights were also cancelled. The trains were also delayed while the traffic was also disturbed on main highways. The Motorway officials closed Lahore, Faisalabad and Sheikhupura interchanges to avoid any accident due to zero visibility in the dense fog. A person got killed and 9 others were injured due to a traffic pile-up near Kot Sarwar interchange. The meteorologist department claims that fog will continue for the next two to three days and light rain is also expected in North-Eastern part of Punjab, after which intensity of cold will increase.

Palestinians and Israelis mark anniversary of war on Gaza

2010-01-02T20:50:00.001-08:00

Hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis marked the one year anniversary to the Israeli-led offensive on the Gaza Strip by marching, chanting slogans, waving flags and lighting candles.
In the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, hundreds of Israelis and Arab Israelis marched through the city of Tel Aviv denouncing the Israeli-imposed siege on the Gaza Strip by marching through the city, holding banners in Hebrew, Arabic and English denouncing the offensive and the imposed siege. Arab-Israeli members of the Israeli Parliament were seen taking part in the demonstration. December 27th was the official anniversary of the 22-day Israeli-led offensive on the Gaza Strip. According to Israel, the operation's aim was halting cross-border rocket fire into its cities by Palestinian militants. In the West Bank city of Nablus, dozens were seen holding a candle-light vigil commemorating the one year anniversary to the Gaza offensive. Demonstrations chanted slogans and held signs. Israeli human rights organisation said that in September 1,387 Palestinians were killed in the war.

Blackwater case dismissal ‘unacceptable’: Iraq

2010-01-02T20:49:00.001-08:00

Iraqi legal officials on Saturday denounced the decision of a US federal court ruling that threw out all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of gunning down Iraqi civilians in 2007.
The ruling was "unjust and unacceptable" Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement, adding that Iraq had started to take steps to sue the private security company, now known as Xe Services.
He also called for the verdict to be appealed. He gave no details on how or where Iraq would take legal action. Dhiyaa al-Saedi, head of the Iraqi Bar Association, demanded that the Iraqi authorities expel private security companies from Iraq because these companies breached Iraqi law.
"As a result of these bloody practices that the (security company) had practiced in Iraq, the Iraqi Bar association is calling for an end to the presence of these companies, despite the fact that most of these companies are seeking to change their names and addresses. The security companies exceeded their limits and started to interfere in political affairs, in addition to committing criminal acts against innocent Iraqis, without reasons," he said.

Electricity shortfall increases up to 4000MW

2010-01-02T20:47:00.000-08:00

Shortfall of electricity has been increased up to 4000 megawatts as ten of the power generation units of Tarbela Power House have been shut down due to which loadshedding period has been increased. While due to technical fault in Jamshoro Power House, power supply to Guddu and Lahore Power Houses has been suspended.
According to PEPCO sources, power generation has been dropped down to 600MW due to rainless season and shortage of water in River Indus. On the other hand, 660MW electricity supply to Lahore Power Houses has been suspended due to closure of two power unites of Jamshoro Power House.

Gold plummets by Rs 150 per tola

2010-01-02T20:46:00.000-08:00

Decrease in gold prices was recorded in local market and international markets on Saturday as gold lowered by Rs 150 per tola.
Gold prices fell to Rs 35,200 per tola, down Rs 150 whereas price of 10 grams lowered to Rs 30,100, down Rs 129 in the local markets including Karachi.
In international markets, gold price closed at $1099 per ounce with a decrease of $4 per ounce.

26 Pak cricketers available for IPL auction

2010-01-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

At least 26 Pakistani cricketers have made themselves available for the third tournament of Indian Premier League's auction to be held on January 17 in former off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and Rawalpindi express Shoaib Akhtar are also included.
None of the players have contacted the IPL through the PCB they have done this directly themselves.
Muhammad Aamer, Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shahzad, Saeed Ajmal, Umer Akmal, Fawad Alam and Yasir Arfat also want to play IPL. Muhammad Asif, Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Muhammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Faisal Iqbal and Asim Iqbal have get them registered for auction.
Danish Kanairia, Muhammad Khalil, Abdur Rauf, Khaled Lateef, Azhar Mehmood, Shoaib Mali, Khurram Manzoor, Rana Naveedul Hassan, Imran Nazir, Abdur Razzaq and Muhammad Sami would also be included in the auction.

All educational institutions closed due to security threats

2009-10-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

After the two suicide bomb attacks at Islamic University Islamabad, all educational institutions of NWFP, Baluchistan, Sindh and Azad Kashmir have been closed till Sunday; where as in Punjab these institutions have been closed down for an indefinite period of time. While talking to Dunya News, Chief Secretary Sindh Fazal ur Rehman told that after the reports received from Federal Government and sensitive institutions, government and private educational institutions of 23 districts will remain closed till Sunday. All government and private universities of the province will also be closed and the ongoing examinations have been postponed; however Malakand University will remain open. Similarly all educational institutions in NWFP will also be closed till Sunday. According to the Provincial Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah all government and private educational institutions of the province have been closed, which will re-open once the security situation is improved. In Baluchistan and Azad Kashmir all universities, government and private schools and colleges will remain close till Sunday.

FM to give his viewpoint on Kerry-Lugar Bill in parliament

2009-10-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

The Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi says he will present his viewpoint on Kerry-Lugar Bill in the parliament and then the parliament will decide about the bill’s fate after debating on it, Dunya News Friday reported. Talking to the media after the US visit Qureshi maintained that the parliament was a sovereign institute which could debate on anything. “We are bound to abide by the parliament’s decisions,” Qureshi added. The FM observed that he would give his statement in the parliament on the military’s reservations on the bill. He termed his US visit successful.

Toshiba Puts Cell Chip In TVs

2009-10-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

What does the future of TV look like? If you believe Toshiba, it will be a 55-inch, flat-screen, liquid-crystal-display TV. It will come with a 3-terabyte hard disk drive. And it will run on the ultrafast Cell multimedia chip, which was co-developed by Toshiba, Sony and IBM. The chip also powers Sony’s PlayStation 3 video game console and IBM’s high-end computer servers. This is Toshiba’s first product with the Cell chip. It will allow the TV to show up to eight channels at the same time and record up to 26 hours of video. The set also has an Internet browser, and its speakers, which run along the bottom of the screen, are comparable to those of a high-end stereo systems

Match fixing allegations: Jamshed Dasti revert opinion

2009-10-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

Pakistan Cricket Team has returned home after losing Champions Trophy semi-final and is welcomed by match fixing allegations. Interestingly, this time the allegations came from not the cricket fans but from Senate’s Standing Committee for Sports Chairman Jamshed Ahmed Dasti. Ironically, he overturned his opinion after mere six hours. Talking exclusively to Dunya News, Jamshed Dasti said,”I don’t know if match fixing took place or not but as Chairman of Senate’s Standing Committee for Sports I believe it’s my responsibility to free sports from possible corruption and figure out what are the causes of team’s defeat. The whole nation is questioning and even writing to us”. Pakistan had already beaten India and if the team had won its match against Australia, it could have defeated India again in the final, he added. Earlier, Jamshed Dasti had said that Ijaz Butt had been failing whereas the match against New Zealand was fixed and it was a joke with the nation. On the other hand, national cricket team’s coach Intikhab Alam has termed match fixing rumors as Indian media’s propaganda. Talking exclusively to Dunya News, he expressed satisfaction over green shirts’ performance. Expressing grief over match fixing allegations Intikhab Alam said,” the sad thing is that our own people are leveling baseless allegations”.

President Obama vows U.S. will not yield in pursuit of al Qaeda

2009-10-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama vowed the United States would keep relentless pressure on al Qaeda and ensure extremist networks, which he called a "principal" threat, do not find safe havens overseas. "We know that al Qaeda and its extremist allies threaten us from different corners of the globe, from Pakistan but also from East Africa and Southeast Asia; from Europe and the Gulf," Obama said in a visit to the National Counterterrorism Center. "And that's why we're applying focused and relentless pressure on al Qaeda," he said, citing intelligence-sharing, disruption of terrorism financing, and attacks on al Qaeda's leadership. Obama spoke in an operations center called "the bat cave," as his administration works on a new Afghanistan strategy that is partly aimed at defeating Taliban extremists and al Qaeda. He said U.S. counterterrorism efforts were making progress in defeating al Qaeda and other extremist networks.

NA to debate on Kerry-Lugar Bill today

2009-10-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

A threadbare discussion on the Kerry-Lugar Bill will be held on Wednesday in the National Assembly as the House has accepted the adjournment motion moved by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on the issue. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan says that the Bill will also be debated in the Senate. The adjournment motion that would be debated for two hours on Wednesday was moved by members from PML-N Sardar Mehtab, Malik Shakir Awan and Raja Asad. PML-N Leader Sheikh Aftab argued that the matter was important and two hours debate was not enough, adding that it should be debated for two days. On the occasion of Private Member’s Day, six bills were forwarded to the respective committees; two bills are related to constitutional amendments. On the Call Attention Notice about power tariff raise by 6 percent, Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf maintained that the raise was necessary to overcome WAPDA’s deficit, adding that the increase would not affect agriculture sector. Talking to media after the session, Babar Awan maintained that the Kerry-Lugar Bill would be moved in the Senate for debate after National Assembly.

Sugar to be sold at Rs 45 per kg in Punjab: Shahbaz

2009-08-21T21:56:00.000-07:00

Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif said that Federal Minister Manzoor Wattoo had taken steps on sugar without any consultation but sugar would be sold at Rs 45 per kg in Punjab. Addressing a seminar in Lahore, the chief minister said that the Punjab government would solve the issue of sugar crisis as it had recovered 0.25 million ton sugar from the hoarders. Still the Punjab government was thinking the new sugar price that Manzoor Wattoo announced the price without any consultation. He said that his government would have some flaws but he would try to resolve them.

Gold price rises in local markets

2009-08-21T21:51:00.000-07:00

Increase in gold prices was recorded in local markets while decrease in gold price was recorded in Hong Kong today. Gold prices on Friday surged to Rs 29,300 per 12 grams, up by Rs 50 whereas price of 10 grams rose to Rs 25, 114, up Rs 43 in the local market. In Hong Kong, gold price decreased by $2 per ounce to $944.

Swat Operation to continue till government writ restores: Zardari

2009-08-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

President Asif Ali Zadrai says that war on terror is a war of Pakistan’s survival. President has reached China on his fourth tour to the country since he took oath as president. He said that operation against terrorists would continue till the government’s writ was fully restored. He supported the Chinese Government polices in Sinkiang. President Zardari maintained that China was a big economic and military power which was playing important role in ending the global economic crisis. He said that Pakistan backed Chinese policies in Sinkiang and it was pleasant that life and law and order situation had returned to normalcy in Urumchi. He said that China was a close friend and neighbor of Pakistan that supported Pakistan at every critical moment. He said that operation in Pakistan against militants was underway, adding that no leniency would be shown towards militants. He said that administrative and social structure was being re-constructed in Swat. He said that restoration of economic activities in Swat and Malakand had begun. He said that war on terror was a war of Pakistan’s survival which it had to win by all means.