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Around 8:30 a.m. AKST, a massive earthquake shook the city of Anchorage, Alaska. The National Weather Service initially issued a tsunami warning for nearby coastal waters, but at 10:00 a.m. AKST, the warning was canceled. Gov. Bill Walker has issued a disaster declaration in Alaska in response to Friday’s earthquake, which was approved by President Donald Trump. CANCELLATION: M7.0 005mi N Anchorage, Alaska 0829AKST Nov 30: No tsunami observed #NTWC — NWS Tsunami Alerts (@NWS_NTWC) November 30, 2018 The Anchorage School District has canceled classes and its buildings will be examined for potential damage and gas leaks, according to the Associated Press (AP). Anchorage Municipal Manager Bill Falsey said that over two dozen mainline water breaks have occurred in the city, leaving some residences flooded, according to the AP. Evacuations have taken place throughout the city as stores, buildings and homes have been impacted. Employees working in the air traffic tower at the Ancho...

Lady Health Workers on Saturday staged protest outside Supreme Court ‎‎(SC) Lahore registry, demanding to increase their salaries. ‎ According to details, the protesters demanded the concerned authorities to make them permanent ‎and urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar to take notice of the issue. ‎They chanted slogans against the district government and said that they are being paid very low for their services.‎ The workers also warned of continuing the protest if their demands are not met. ‎  

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday has termed the ‎remarks of Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat regarding turning Pakistan into a secular state as illogical.‎ Talking to media in Multan, the foreign minister rejected General Rawat’s statement, saying that the ‎ideology of Pakistan cannot be changed at any cost. Opening of Kartarpur corridor may improve ‎Pakistan and India relations, he added.‎ On Friday, Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said that Pakistan ‎has to develop as a ‎secular state if it wants to enjoy good ties with India.‎ Responding to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement regarding peace and dialogue between the two ‎‎countries, General Rawat said that its Pakistan’s turn to show practical action against terrorism.‎ While ignoring worst behavior with the Kashmiris and minorities in India, the army chief asked Pakistan ‎to take steps ‎for secularism. ‎

Tremendous progress has been made in efforts to wipe out polio around the world. Before a global eradication program began 30 years ago, about 350,000 children became paralyzed from polio each year. The figure dropped to 28 in 2018. Nevertheless, Helen Rees, chair of the World Health Organization’s emergency committee, said Friday that polio remained an international threat. She said every available health strategy must be used to prevent the wild polio virus from spreading across borders. "The fear is that we might well see a resurgence, that we could see exportation again and a reversal of all of the work and all of the country global efforts that have gone into trying to eradicate polio,” Rees said. “And we certainly cannot allow that to happen." Polio remains endemic in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. Rees said that over the last few months, there has been a worrying exportation of the wild polio virus to and from Pakistan and Afghanistan. “We have got widespread...

Russian authorities said Friday that Vladimir Putin will have a brief meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump during the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. "There is no scheduled pull-aside," was the only response from a White House official when queried about a Kremlin spokesman saying there would be an "impromptu" meeting on the G-20 sidelines. The U.S. comment, however, leaves open the possibility there could, indeed, be an unscheduled encounter. On Thursday, Trump said he was canceling his scheduled meeting with the Russian leader following Russia's seizure of three Ukrainian vessels and their crews in the Black Sea region. "Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting in Argentina," Trump tweeted Thursday on Air Force One on his way to Buenos Aires. The announced cancellation also came hours...

More than a dozen FBI agents searched for six hours the house of a contractor who had given Congress and the DOJ documents about the Clinton Foundation and the Uranium One scandal, implicating then-FBI director Robert Mueller. Sixteen agents showed up at the Maryland home of Dennis Nathan Cain on November 19, the Daily Caller reported this week, citing Cain’s attorney Michael Socarras. They demanded to see the documents Cain had already turned over to the Department of Justice inspector-general and the House and Senate intelligence committee. “I cannot believe the Bureau informed the federal magistrate who approved the search warrant that they wanted to search the home of an FBI whistleblower to seize the information that he confidentially disclosed to the IG and Congress,” said Socarras. He also objected to the fact that the FBI at no point reached out to him, even though Cain provided the agents with his contact information, calling that “serious misconduct.” Many are missing w...

The group of Sakhalin fishermen did not expect to find the Lovecraftian monster in their nets as they took to the sea for smaller fry on Saturday. The enormous fish, considered a delicacy in some cultures, proved to be a dead weight as it didn't make it to the shore fresh. Russian fishermen pulled a 1,100 kg ocean sunfish which got stuck in their net in the waters near Iturup island, according to Sakhalin info. Also known as moonfish and mola, the bizarre-looking creature is the heaviest bony fish on Earth. “There has been no such specimen that I can remember; there is the dolphinfish, also known for its size and reaching 1.5 meters, but I have never seen a sunfish weighing more than a ton here before,” said fisherman Artur Balkarov. By the time the fascinating behemoth was brought ashore three days later, it had begun rotting. The fishermen had no choice but take it to a dumping site where locals bring their fishing waste for wild animals, including bears. While trade in moo...

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan on Friday said she will respond to all allegations levelled against her in the Supreme Court. A day earlier, the Supreme Court while hearing a suo motu case on foreign properties owned by Pakistani nationals, directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to present property and tax amnesty details of Aleema Khan. Aleema Khan, who is currently on a tour of Japan to raise funds for NUML University, while addressing an event in Tokyo said, “I am being asked tough questions because I am in the headlines these days.” “I am answerable to God and when the court summons me I will respond to their questions as well,” she added. The premier’s sister further said that she’s “not a public office holder but a private citizen” and “will reply where she has to”. “I am being asked where I got the money from [to purchase property]. I inherited this money from my maternal and paternal grandfathers as well as my parents and even earned myself,” she cont...

George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, a man born of patrician pedigree, but with a sense of honor, duty and service to his country that played out over the last 60 years of the 20th century, died Friday at age 94. In a life on the world stage and at the highest levels of the American political scene, Bush lost and won elections before becoming the American leader in 1989, and then, with a declining U.S. economy and unemployment rising, was turned out of office after four years in the White House, losing his re-election bid in 1992. He marked the start of his presidency with a sweeping inaugural declaration that “a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man’s heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree.” His pronouncement soon proved prophetic, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union...

At least 23 civilians, including women and children, were killed by a US air strike in southern Afghanistan earlier this week, according to a UN investigation, as ordinary Afghans continue to bear the brunt of the 17-year conflict. “Initial findings indicate that the vast majority of the victims were women and children,” the UN mission in Afghanistan said in a report received by AFP, adding that at least three people were also injured in the attack. The strike occurred during a firefight between Afghan special forces working with US advisers and Taliban insurgents on Tuesday in restive Helmand province. Nato said air support was requested by security forces on the ground as the militants deployed heavy weapons and retreated into a nearby compound. Provincial authorities had earlier said several members of a single family appeared to be killed in the strike, with one official saying “at least 18 civilians were killed”, which could not be confirmed. Meanwhile, Nato has said it was...

The PPP has called on Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar to take notice of what it calls a "media trial" of the party's top leadership, allegedly at the behest of investigators probing a money laundering case. PPP-Parliamentarians President Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and several of their business associates are currently being probed as part of a 2015 case regarding fake accounts and fictitious transactions — which were initially found to have totalled Rs35 billion — conducted through 29 ‘benami’ accounts in Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and UBL. While forming a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the 'fake' accounts case, the Supreme Court had barred the probe team and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from issuing press releases or providing information about the investigation to the media. "Honourable SC in its order ... had clearly directed that to ensure transparent and effective inquiry, no member of the JIT or FIA will divulge any i...

In an act of bravado, two girl students thrashed two young men catcalling at them at a busy market of Peshawar forcing them to flee. In an undated video clip that went viral on social media on Friday, the two girl students wearing hijab could be seen angrily slapping across the faces of two young men as a crowd gathers at the scene. Surprisingly, none of the onlookers in the crowd came forward to help the girls. The owner of a shop in the market told media, the men had been teasing and catcalling the girls for the past few days. “Today, when the men tried to intercept the women, they reacted angrily, snatched the keys of the motorcycle they were riding and started slapping them right in the middle of the market,” he added. As onlookers gathered at the scene of the brawl, the men denied they eve teased or catcalled at the women, further angering the girls. While the crowd looked on, one woman grabbed one harasser and hit him repeatedly. However, he managed to break himself free a...

German authorities are continuing to search offices of Deutsche Bank as part of an investigation into suspicion that some employees helped set up offshore companies that were used to launder hundreds of millions of euros. The Frankfurt prosecutors' office told the dpa news agency on Friday that additional materials were being secured in the second day of the raids. On Thursday, about 170 police officers, prosecutors and others searched through the bank's headquarters in Frankfurt and buildings in nearby areas, seizing electronic and paper records. Prosecutors say information from analysis of documents leaked from tax havens in recent years, including the 2016 "Panama Papers", prompted their investigation. Two employees, aged 50 and 46, are currently under investigation for allegedly failing to report suspicious transactions but prosecutors say the investigation could broaden. In a statement issued on Thursday, Deutsche Bank confirmed the search and said "t...

As marrying a US national is making headlines these days, in a new ‘love story’ a Pakistani visually impaired cricketer has tied the knot with an American blind girl in Bahawalpur. It all began after Brittney Montgomery, the American national, befriended Mujeebur Rehman on the popular social media platform – Facebook. She travelled to Pakistan on Wednesday and married to Mujeeb on Thursday in the city of Punjab. The groom is partially blind while his bride is completely blind. Brittney embraced Islam two years ago after becoming the Facebook friend of the visually impaired sportsman. According to Pakistan Blind Council’s spokesperson, the Bahawalpur born cricketer is a fast bowler and has played key roles in several victories for the Bahawalpur Blind Cricket Team. “This time instead of winning a cricket match, Mujeeb won the heart of an American girl,” he added.

Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbsi on Friday said that the policies of his party should be implemented if the PTI government was serious in resolving issues facing the country. Addressing a press conference along with other PML-N leaders in Islamabad on Friday, he said that the prime minister didn’t say a single word about tax evaders, adding that those who don’t pay taxes have weaken the system. Criticising the government, Abbasi said that they regret PM Imran couldn’t even hire a peon in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), adding that he should decide if the anti-graft watchdog was under his control or not. “The value of rupee has depreciated to the lowest level in history,” the former premier said and added the reforms introduced by former minister Miftah Ismail are the only way to stop money laundering and theft. Taking a jibe at PM Imran’s speech, Abbasi asked the government reveal the country where US$11 billion a...

In occupied Kashmir, the Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Syed Ali Gilani, has said that Kashmir is the bone of contention between Pakistan and India since the creation of the two countries in 1947. Syed Ali Gilani in a statement issued in Srinagar termed as realistic the Pakistan Prime Minister, Imran Khan’s assertion that Kashmir is the main dispute between Pakistan and India. “Kashmir is in fact the bone of contention between two nuclear neighbors. It is the undoubtedly historic fact that the sore in the shape of Kashmir continues to bleed right from the birth of both sovereign countries,” he said. The APHC Chairman said the statement of India’s Ministry of External Affairs that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of India is a brazen lie. He said that India had been arrogantly parroting this lie for the last 71 years, but it had not changed the contours and dimensions of this long pending dispute. “There are ample proofs and concrete indications tha...

Humankind is decimating plant and animal species, with alarming consequences for the planet. From the UN biodiversity conference in Egypt, Cristiana Pasca explains why preserving biodiversity is key to our survival. Biodiversity is the cornerstone of our existence — a fact many of us seem to forget in our daily lives. And biodiversity is not just about orangutans and elephants, but also the smallest living organisms in this world. A recent World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report pointed to how wildlife populations have declined 60 percent globally since 1970. UN experts have warned that if we don't rapidly change our ways, we may be the next species to go extinct. Cristiana Pasca, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), talked to DW about all these issues from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where the 14th annual conference of the parties (COP14) of the Convention on Biological Diversity is taking place (November 17 to 29). She explained that when we prot...

Three pieces of moon rock brought to Earth decades ago have sold at auction, nearly doubling their price. The tiny lumps, collected by a Soviet moon mission, are the only known material of their kind in private hands. Sotheby's auction house in New York said the tiny pieces of moon rock had fetched $855,000 (€750,535) at auction on Thursday, being sold to an undisclosed private US buyer. The lunar fragments had been offered for sale by an unidentified US collector who bought them in 1993 for $442,500. The auction house had said ahead of the sale that the rocks — which range in size from 0.079 x 0.079 inches (2mm x 2mm) — could sell for as much as $1 million. The samples had originally belonged to Nina Ivanovna Koroleva, widow of the former Soviet space program director Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. They were given to her as a gift from the Soviet Union in recognition of her husband's contributions to the program. The pieces were gathered in September 1970 by the unmanned Lun...

Depression can take a massive toll not only on the sufferers, but also on their loved ones. A study by the German Depression Foundation found the illness caused relationship breakdowns for almost half of those affected. The German Depression Foundation has published its 2018 Depression Barometer, offering an insight into how widespread the mental disorder is in Germany, and the impact it can have on personal relationships. The foundation interviewed 5,000 people between ages 18 and 69 for the study. Eighty-four percent of respondents stated that depression caused them to completely withdraw from social life, 72 percent experienced feeling disconnected from people in general, and 45 percent broke up with their romantic partner. "The high number of separations shows what a profound illness depression is," German Depression Foundation chairman Ulrich Hegerl said. Read more: Over the moon and down in the dumps Around 5.3 million people in Germany suffer from depression ea...

CNN has sacked political commentator Marc Lamont Hill after he gave a pro-Palestinian speech at the UN, where he called for justice for Palestinians and said there needs to be “a free Palestine from the river to the sea.” A CNN spokesperson told Mediaite that “Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under contract with CNN.” The media outlet did not give a reason for the ouster, nor did it explicitly confirm Hill’s exit was a result of what he said at the UN. Speaking at the pro-Palestine meeting at the UN on Wednesday, Hill urged the international community to boycott Israel, and called for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea.” The comments sparked an immediate backlash from those who believed “from the river to the sea” is a phrase used by Hamas and other anti-Israel groups, and implies the replacement of Israel by a Palestine stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. “We have an opportunity to not just offer solidarity in words but to commit to political action,...

The forces of the Yemeni army and Popular Committees, in a retaliatory attack against the Saudi-led coalition, fired a domestically made missile at the Riyadh-backed militants in the West Coast region, local reports said. The Yemeni forces hit the positions of the Saudi mercenaries with a “Badr P-1” ballistic missile, inflicting heavy casualties on them, the Arabic-language al-Masirah TV reported. The attack came after the Saudi fighter jets bombarded a residential house in al-Karamah, a village in the Yemeni province of Hudaydah, injuring 8 civilians, three of whom are in critical conditions. The local TV also reported on Friday that a new offensive by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s al-Mina District, killed one civilian and injured five others, including two women and a child. Yemen’s defenseless people have been under massive attacks by the coalition for more than three-and-a-half years but Riyadh has reached none of its objectives in Yemen so far. Since March 2015, Saudi ...

Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday his government was taking steps to ensure that a shortage of dollars would not exist in the future. Addressing a ceremony to announce the launch of a car manufacturing plant by JW Forland, the prime minister spoke on the dollar reaching an all-time high of  Rs142  in the interbank. The prime minister said he had been receiving calls since morning about the hike in the dollar price. “I want to tell everyone not to worry about the dollar hike. There is an adjustment taking place. We are taking steps which will ensure that there won't be a shortage of dollars in Pakistan.” The prime minister highlighted that Pakistan’s biggest problem was the current account deficit which stood at almost $18.5 billion. “The government is tasked with overcoming the deficit. When there is pressure on the dollar, the exchange rate increases.” Prime Minister Khan stressed there was a need for a change in mindset, emphasising that his government had made ...

A South Korean train has crossed into the North to officially launch a historic joint project to reconnect railroad tracks between the two nations. Footage of the landmark event Friday showed a red, white and blue train -- displaying a banner reading "Iron Horse is now running toward the era of peace and prosperity" -- depart from South Korea's Dorasan station. "This signals the start of co-prosperity of the North and the South by reconnecting railways," said South Korean Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee. He said relinking the railway will facilitate expansion of South Korea's "economic territory" to Eurasia by land because the division of the Korean Peninsula has left his country geopolitically cut off from the continent for decades. Reconnection of the railway systems was among the agreements signed earlier this year during a crucial meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the South's President Moon Jae-in. According to loca...

Syria has shot down "hostile targets" following an Israeli attack south of the capital Damascus and foiled its goals despite the "intensity of the aggression," state media said on Friday. A military source did not specify the targets but dismissed earlier reports that an Israeli war plane had been downed. Syrian air defenses responded to the attack aimed at the town of Kiswah, south of the capital Damascus Thursday night, destroying at least five missiles. They "were able to foil its goals despite the intensity of the aggression," state media said. Israeli media claimed that Iranian military advisers as well as fighters from Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah were the main target in the attack. Israel claims that Iran’s presence in Syria as part of an advisory mission requested by Damascus poses a threat to the regime’s security. Using this pretext, Tel Aviv has struck alleged positions of Iranian and Iran-backed forces across Syria over the cour...

Inspector General Police Balochistan Mohsin Hassan Butt has said that law and order situation has considerably been improved in the province. He was addressing passing out parade of 88th batch of newly recruits at Police Training Centre in Quetta on Friday. The IG added that police and other law enforcement agencies are confronting against terrorism in province and the police force is on the forefront in the war on terror.

The United States space agency NASA has announced that nine commercial American companies in a partnership to develop lunar robotic landers in the coming decade. NASA would buy space on commercial robotic landers to deliver payloads to the lunar surface, missions that could start as early as next year. Those companies are eligible for competing for NASA's contracts valued at 2.6 billion U.S. dollars, according to NASA. "The relatively small and inexpensive payloads delivered via the CLPS program would be followed by more traditional medium- and large-class missions," said NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. CLPS stands for Commercial Lunar Payload Services. It is an experimental part of the agency's plan for Americans to orbit the Moon starting in 2023, and land astronauts on the surface no later than the late 2020s. "These early commercial delivery missions will also help inform new space systems we build to send humans to the Moon in the next decade,...

Frontier Corps Balochistan has set up a free medical camp in Qamardin, Zhob district on Friday. During the camp, physicians and medical experts examined more than one thousand poor patients and distributed free medicines among them.

Finance Minister Asad Umar on Friday announced a reduction of Rs2 per litre in the prices of petrol and diesel. During a press conference in Islamabad, he told that sales tax on diesel was 27.5 percent and 15 percent on petrol in the last month of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government. When our government came, the prices went down at the end of August, he added. “The prices of oil increased in international market after recommendation. In October the price reached to 84 dollars in October,” he asserted. We reduced the levy of petrol from 8 to 6.51, said Umar “In November, the price of oil is as per 60 dollars,” he said.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed hope that the international community will help calm tensions between Russia and Ukraine over a ship standoff near Crimea. Guterres urged Russia on Thursday to respect “the territorial integrity of Ukraine” and “avoid the worst” after Russia seized Ukrainian naval ships and their crews in a dispute over maritime access. The UN chief says he hopes the situation can be contained without escalation and is calling for international efforts for “meaningful dialogue". Guterres spoke in Buenos Aires ahead of a Group of 20 summit where the standoff is likely to be a subject of discussion. United States President Donald Trump called off a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 over the ship seizure. Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko announced in a tweet on Friday that the country has barred Russian men between 16 and 60 from travelling to the country. The restrictions on Russian travelle...

Netflix on Friday cancelled Marvel series ‘Daredevil’ leaving fans across the globe furious. The streaming service cancelled the Marvel series just over a month after the third season was released. "Marvel’s Daredevil will not return for a fourth season on Netflix," the streaming service said in a statement to Deadline. "We are tremendously proud of the show’s last and final season and although it’s painful for the fans, we feel it best to close this chapter on a high note,” it added. "We’re thankful to our partners at Marvel, showrunner Erik Oleson, the show’s writers, stellar crew and incredible cast including Charlie Cox as Daredevil himself, and we’re grateful to the fans who have supported the show over the years." Reacting to the news, Daredevil’s account tweeted: “Justice never stops.” Deborah Ann Woll, who played Karen Page, in the Netflix series tweeted, "I’m so sad that we won’t be continuing this story. Mostly I’ll miss seeing the friend...

Londoners Chelsea and Arsenal both enjoyed high-scoring Europa League wins on Thursday as Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers were left with work to do on the final matchday to qualify for the next stage. Unai Emery selected a youthful Arsenal to play in the Ukraine and they romped past Vorskla Poltava 3-0, guaranteeing top spot in Group E in a match switched to freezing Kiev after security concerns in the east of the country. Teenagers Emile Smith Rowe and Joe Willock scored either side of an Aaron Ramsey penalty as the Gunners went in 3-0 at half-time. Vorskla Poltava s coach had complained that the switch forced by UEFA had deprived the city of a "holiday", and had also distracted his players. Arsenal will now avoid any of the Champions League drop outs in the draw for the next round as they have a better head-to-head record with second-placed Sporting Lisbon. Maurizio Sarri had demanded a reaction from his Chelsea side after they lost at Tottenham in the Premier Leag...

BMW said it can force its hybrid cars switch to an electric-only mode in heavily polluted inner-city areas, helping its vehicles compete with pure battery-driven rivals as a raft of cities seek to create emissions-free zones. “The car switches off the combustion engine automatically,” BMW’s board member for development, Klaus Froehlich, told Reuters at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Because of BMW vehicles’ connectivity and navigation systems, its cars can be converted to automatically disable engines, Froehlich said, adding that the new X5 sports utility vehicle has an operating range of 80 kilometers in electric-only mode. BMW is currently demonstrating the technology to local authorities in German cities which may be forced to ban heavily polluting diesel cars as a way to meet European Union clean air rules. A global clampdown on vehicle pollution in the wake of Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) 2015 diesel emissions cheating scandal has prompted cities including London, Paris and Stuttgar...

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is all set to celebrate 51st Foundation Day today (Friday) with vigour and commitment to the ideology for which the leadership and workers sacrificed their lives. The main function of the 51st Foundation Day of PPP will be held in Sukkur in which delegates from all the provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan will participate. A public meeting in connection with the 51st Foundation Day of PPP will be held at Z.A Bhutto Sports Complex Sukkur at 3:00pm. PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other party leaders will address the gathering. All arrangements for the public meeting have been finalized. A stage has been set up to accommodate PPP leaders. The venue has been decorated with posters and party flags while thousands of chairs have been placed for the workers. Strict security arrangements have been made for the public meeting. Heavy contingents of police have been deployed on all roads around Z.A Bhutto Sports Complex for security o...

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Friday accorded approval for gifting 40,000 metric tons of wheat to Afghanistan. According to details, Federal Finance Minister Asad Umar presided over an emergency meeting of ECC that was held in Islamabad today (Friday). The ECC agreed to gift the wheat worth Rs1.73 billion to Afghanistan. According to sources, the meeting also reviewed problems being faced by the sugar mills owners and has decided to negotiate with the sugar industry owners. The meeting also reviewed the issue of delay in payment by the mills owners to the sugarcane growers. The ECC also approved the release of funds to Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) for the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). Following ECC’s decision, $82.6 million will be released for the 320,000 BISP card holders.

A new drug developed by Australian scientists is being heralded as a major breakthrough for people suffering from diabetic retinopathy, the main cause of blindness from diabetes. The debilitating disease occurs in diabetic patients when tiny blood vessels in the retina of the eye, responsible for detecting light, leak fluid or hemorrhage. However, the only treatment options available include laser surgery or eye injections known as anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy, which do not always prove to be effective. Lead author Dr Ka Ka Ting from the Centenary Institute in Sydney said."We believe (the new drug) CD5-2 could potentially be used as a stand-alone therapy to treat those patients who fail to respond to the anti-VEGF treatment." She added, "It also may work in conjunction with existing anti-VEGF treatments to extend the effectiveness of the treatment." Ting continued, "Proven to be effective on mice, the drug has the ability to red...

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Friday advised the Indian government to accept that the Kashmir issue has no military solution. Chaudhry was addressing a seminar of the All Parties Parliamentary Kashmir Group in Islamabad. "Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi just announced that [his government] will give a package of billions of rupees to [Indian Occupied] Kashmir," Chaudhry said. "But independence cannot be bought with money. Independence is a sentiment felt in the heart, a narrative of the heart." The information minister said that India's allegation that Pakistan was instigating unrest in Kashmir had no foundation and the Indian government had only adopted this stance because it was unable to crush the struggle for freedom in the region. He urged Indian authorities to realise that "armies cannot conquer the narrative of the heart". Chaudhry said that Pakistan's stance on Occupied Kashmir was not inspired by the "beauty of Kash...

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Friday has taken notice of alleged occupation of the properties belonging to Hindu community in Sindh. During the hearing, the top judge directed the concerned authorities to investigate the matter and identify names of those behind it. Member of National Assembly (MNA) Ramesh Kumar told the court that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Khurshid Shah was also among the grabbers. Earlier on October 12, Chief Justice (CJP) Saqib Nisar took notice of illegal encroachments on properties of the Hindu community in Sindh.A notification issued by the Supreme Court (SC) Registrar’s office stated that the CJP had taken notice of the issue on a video released by Bhagwan Devi, a retired professor Dr Bhagwan Devi w/o Professor Dr Baghwan Das, in which she claimed that the Hindu community in Sindh was the victim of “the worst lawlessness and mismanagement”. She said that her lands and properties are being encroached by land mafia by f...

Expect a deal between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Argentina, but manage your expectations. “I am optimistic that they will strike a deal. I don’t think it’s going to be the deal that either side wants, but I think there will be some concessions,” said Kirk Hartman, global chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Asset Management. “I think this is more about protecting U.S. technology as much as it is trade, so I think you will see some comments on that front. ” Hartman said the U.S. may delay on Chinese imports that were due to take effect in January. Washington and Beijing may also agree to meet for further negotiations. Trump told reporters Thursday that he was “close” to doing something on trade with China but added he wasn’t sure if he wanted to do it. “Because what we have right now is billions and billions of dollars coming into the United States in the form of tariffs or taxes, so I really don’t know,” he said. Me...