Shahbaz Taseer reunites with family after years in captivity

LAHORE: Former Punjab governor Salman Taseer's son Shahbaz Taseer has reunited with his family in Lahore after spending almost five years in captivity.

DG ISPR Lt-Gen Asim Bajwa announced in a tweet that Taseer was flown to Lahore from Quetta in a special aircraft by intelligence officials.

Bajwa also tweeted photos of Shahbaz taseer meeting with his family, who were gathered at the airport to greet him.

Earlier photos tweeted by Bajwa showed Taseer had trimmed his long beard which could be seen in the photos released the previous evening.

Taseer was kidnapped from Lahore on Aug 26, 2011 near his company’s head office, a few months after the assassination of his father Salman Taseer at the hands of his body guard Mumtaz Qadri.

The development came days after Qadri was hanged to death for the murder of the former Punjab governor.

According to the ISPR, Shahbaz Taseer was taken into protective custody from a hotel in Kuchlak approximately 20 kilometers away from the provincial capital, Quetta.

Meanwhile, according to the owner of a restaurant who refused to make a statement on camera, a shabby looking man wearing grey shalwar kameez came to his hotel on Tuesday and ordered some food, paid his bill of Rs 350 and requested to use the owner's phone which was not granted.

The man was then told to use a phone outside, which he did and a short while later was picked up by FC personnel. That man was Shahbaz Taseer, the hotel owner claimed.

On Tuesday night, DG ISPR Lt-Gen Asim Bajwa released pictures of a smiling but bearded Shahbaz Taseer taken after his release. In messages on Twitter, Bajwa said Taseer was “in full protection, he is hale and hearty”.

This is the first time that Taseer has met his family members since his abduction four and a half years ago, a few months after his father’s assassination.

PM, COAS depart for Saudi Arabia

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif departed for Saudi Arabia today (Wednesday) on the invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The civilian and military leaders will witness the ongoing military exercise ‘North Thunder’ and its closing ceremony.

Troops from 21 countries including Pakistan are participating in the exercise in the northern region of Saudi Arabia. The main goal of the exercise is to improve training in response to the threat posed by terrorist groups.

PM Nawaz Sharif will also hold talks with the Saudi king to discuss the current situation in the Middle East, bilateral ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The prime minister will also hold meetings with heads of states during the visit.

PM Sharif will stay in Saudi Arabia for three days while the army chief will stay in Riyadh two days before returning to Pakistan.

Website launched by Jordan duo in a cafe now No. 1 in Arabic

AMMAN: A website created by two young Jordanians in a coffee shop six years ago has become the most popular site in Arabic, highlighting a vast vacuum: less than 1 percent of the Internet is written in the language spoken by 4.5 percent of the world's population.

The growth of Mawdoo3.com — Arabic for "subject" — is part of a steep rise in Internet use in the Arab world in recent years, along with an Arabic content publishing frenzy in which governments, independent journalists and Islamic militants also compete for page views.

The idea for Mawdoo3 ("maw-doo'ah") goes back to 2010, when Mohammad Jaber, at the time finishing his medical studies, teamed up with entrepreneur Rami Qawasmi. The two Jordanians, now both 27, shared a birthday and a vision for changing the World Wide Web.

"The content in Norwegian language is greater than Arabic," Qawasmi said, explaining the impetus for creating a wide-ranging informational site akin to an Arabic version of Ask.com.

Today, Mawdoo3 is the most popular Arabic language site, ahead of the entertainment site MBC.net and the sports site Koora.com, according to Effective Measure, a company that monitors Internet traffic in the Middle East and North Africa.

Millions of people visit Mawdoo3 every month. In January, 17.1 million people — nearly 60 percent of them women — visited the site, according to Effective Measure.

It deals with all sorts of topics of general interest, such as health, business, religion, advice, beauty and cooking, written by some 320 authors.

The site's most popular article so far explained the health effects of ginger root. Other entries include biographies, such as that of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, information on skin and teeth whitening, and tips on time management.

Mawdoo3, a transliteration that uses numbers for Arabic letters that don't exist in English, plans to expand.

The two founders say they've reached a $1.5 million partnership deal with the Dubai-based investment firm EquiTrust, as well as a new revenue-sharing agreement with Jordanian content marketing agency SyndiGate.

Qawasmi wants to branch out into real estate, e-commerce, multimedia, and add Turkish and English content. With his medical background, Jaber is keen on developing the site's health section and already has Jordanian university students translating scientific articles.

The growth potential seems vast — there are 370 million people in Arabic-speaking countries in the world— but less than 1 percent of the Internet is written in Arabic, according to the International Telecommunications Union.

With 4.5 percent of the world's population speaking Arabic, according to the World Bank, the Internet doesn't reflect the reality of mankind's fifth largest language community.

Between 2000 and 2013, the number of Arab Internet users grew by close to 5,300 percent, according to a study by Google, in partnership with WAMDA, a digital entrepreneurship and investment organization based in Lebanon.

A U.N. report in 2012 called this a "quantum leap," but said illiteracy and low Internet penetration, among other things, still limit Arabic online content.

Arabic Wikipedia content doubled from 2010 to 2013, but with 85 million monthly page views, it still lags behind 18 billion monthly page views in English, said WAMDA. Low quality content was a concern for 49 percent of youths and 66 percent of industry leaders polled, it said.

In the Arab world, where authoritarian governments are common, online publishing often serves as an important censorship bypass, said Lina Ejeilat, co-founder of the bilingual digital magazine 7iber ("he-ber"), Arabic for "ink."

"It's not like book publishing, magazines and knowledge creation is flourishing in universities and different places and we just need to get it on the Internet," she said, speaking to The Associated Press at her office in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

The magazine's investigations make it one of the most critical voices in Jordan, which the Press Freedom Index of the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders has listed as "not free."

In Bahrain, near-total censorship is only bypassed on the web, said Ron Gilran, co-founder of the Levantine Group, a risk consultant that monitors web reports of violence for security alerts.

Gilran said he couldn't imagine following Bahrain's daily unrest without Twitter. "Each village had its own account," he said.

Across the world, militant groups use social media to recruit, fundraise and publish propaganda, according to Gabriel Weimann, author of "Terror in Cyberspace." He estimated that militants run about 10,000 sites in 22 different languages — including in Arabic.

The Brookings Institution, a think tank, estimated that between 46,000 and 70,000 Twitter accounts linked to the extremist group Islamic State were active as recently as last winter.

But this "jihadisphere" is minute compared to what Twitter says are about 17 million tweets in Arabic a day. Many seem to deal with mundane issues such as sports and the weather.

Michele Malkoun, chief operating officer for the Choueiri Group, a Lebanese media consultancy firm, said he expects the "digital rush" of investors in the Arabic internet to diversify.

While content sites like Mawdoo3 and the recipe-focused Shahiya.com, a cooking website that comes in both an Arabic and an English version, will continue attracting audiences, new platforms like the musical app Anghami are the next frontier, Malkoun said.

Consumer demand for information will continue to drive growth, Malkoun said.

"When an Arab guy goes on the Net and searches," it's hard to find what he wants in Arabic, he said.

"From tying my shoelaces to fixing my water heater — it doesn't exist."

Pakistan refuses to participate in WT20 until security assurance from India

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided not to send its cricket team to participate in the World Twenty20 tournament until the Indian government gives an assurance of complete security to its players, the interior ministry said.

In a statement issued today, the Interior Ministry said that Pakistan has conveyed its reservations to the Indian government over the security of its team, after hard-line Hindu groups threatened to disrupt a much-awaited Pakistan-India encounter in Dharamsala scheduled for March 19.

The interior ministry said that Pakistan will not send its team to participate in the tournament until a senior functionary of the Indian government gives a clear assurance of complete and satisfactory provision of security to the Pakistani players and team management in the neighbouring country.

The Pakistani government made the decision after receiving a report from its three-man delegation that 'security is not assured' at the venue of the March 19 match. The PCB sent the delegation of officials to check security at the venues in neighbouring India earlier this week, with the Dharamsala venue of particular concern.

According to sources, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now suggesting that Pakistan play the World T20 match in Kolkata or Mohali instead of Dharamsala in view of their security fears.

The Pakistani government has already informed the BCCI and International Cricket Council (ICC) of its concerns.

The ICC is scheduled to hold a press conference at 4:30 PM Pakistan time in which it is expected to address the matter.

The WT20 tournament opened on Tuesday with qualifying matches before the main draw begins on March 15. The final will be held at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 3.

Lady Gaga plunges into polar lake to raise funds

CHICAGO: Lady Gaga and Al Roker are among the celebrities jumping into frigid Lake Michigan waters at a fundraiser for the Special Olympics.

It's the singer's second time participating in Chicago's Polar Plunge. NBC "Today" show personality Roker, Lady Gaga and her fiance, "Chicago Fire" actor Taylor Kinney, took the plunge Sunday with stars from other television shows.

Chicago aldermen also participated.

The event has gotten a celebrity boost recently. Last year, Vince Vaughn took the plunge. In 2014, comedian Jimmy Fallon jumped in wearing a suit and tie.

The weather on Sunday was warmer than years past. The National Weather Service says the air temperature was about 40 degrees during the plunge.

Brazilian man hides in gas tank to try to sneak into US

CALIFORNIA: A man has been charged with trying to sneak a Brazilian man into the United States from Mexico by hiding him in the gasoline tank of an SUV.

Jonathan Pantoja allegedly brought the 38-year-old inside the modified tank of a 2001 Toyota Sequoia early Tuesday at a crossing in Calexico, California. Customs and Border Protection says an imaging device spotted anomalies in the SUV's gas tank and back seats.

A criminal complaint says the driver — a 40-year-old U.S. citizen — told authorities that he smuggled to pay off a $5,000 debt. His attorney didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The complaint says the Brazilian man told authorities he paid $5,800 to get to the border from Brazil and was to pay another $4,000 in Los Angeles.

PCB stops Afridi from speaking to media

LAHORE/KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has stopped Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi from speaking to the media, a day after the board expressed annoyance over his latest tweets seeking Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's direct help in cricketing affairs.

In a brief conversation upon his arrival following a dismal team performance in the Asia Cup, Afridi had said that he would be staying in Karachi for a couple of days and would speak to the media later in a press conference.

But sources privy to the developments at the cricket board told Geo News on Monday that the PCB has stopped the T20 captain from holding any press conference.

The news comes a day after the board expressed annoyance over his most recent tweets, in which he had asked the prime minister to intervene and look into “barriers preventing talent from the grass root level to rise”.

Sources told Geo News on Sunday that the PCB is likely to issue either a warning or a show cause notice to the flamboyant all-rounder, who is known not to mince his words.

In tweets sent out on Saturday after his arrival, he had requested the prime minister to look into barriers preventing cricketing talent from the grass-roots level to rise and prove their mark.

Afridi has been facing severe criticism for his dismal performance in the Asia Cup, after Pakistan lost their clashes against India and Bangladesh to be thrown out of contention for the tournament final.

Sources say PCB Chairman Shahryar Khan is expected to take the final decision to discipline the T20 skipper.

Hawaldar Naseem: The father who sacrificed himself in the line of duty

Hawaldar Naseem, a father of three children, was one of two policemen martyred in the line of duty on Monday when they stopped a suicide bomber from entering the premises of a local court in Shabqadar tehsil of Charsadda.

At least 13 people, including two policemen, were killed and several others injured on Monday when the suicide bomber detonated his explosives after he was stopped at the court gates.

Eyewitnesses and fellow policemen present at the spot said Hawaldar Naseem's selfless act of bravery and sacrifice by challenging the suicide bomber helped save many other lives and avert a major disaster.  

According to police, the suicide attacker attempted to enter the court building but the policemen posted for guard duty challenged him at the gates of the Sessions' court.

“Policemen were deployed here for security duty. The bomber tried to force himself inside the court. He had a weapon and fired shots before blowing up his explosives,” said DIG Saeed Wazir. 

Naseem was martyred when the terrorist detonated his suicide vest.

Police officials said his funeral prayers will be offered at the police line in tehsil Shabqadar.

Five police constables were also among those injured in the terrorist attack.

In a statement from the PM House, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lauded the brave police officials who embraced martyrdom in the line of duty in Shabqadar today.

He strongly condemned the terrorist attack, and extended his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims.

The countless sacrifices by our law enforcement agencies in the fight against terrorism will not go in vain, said the prime minister.

The brave police officials who embraced martyrdom in the line of duty sacrificed their today to safeguard a peaceful tomorrow for our future generations, he said.

Former provincial minister Dr Saghir joins Kamal, Qaimkhani

KARACHI: Former provincial health minister and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Saghir Ahmed on Monday announced that he was joining former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal and MQM leader Anees Qaimkani to "play his role for the progress of Pakistan".

Saghir was addressing a press conference in Karachi alongside Kamal and Qaimkhani, who had recently announced a new, yet unnamed party in a direct challenge to the MQM in Karachi.

Bollywood actress Urmila marries Kashmiri businessman

Urmila is not single anymore. Two days after Preity Zinta announced her marriage, Urmila followed suit. 

Dressed in a red and gold ghagra designed by Manish Malhotra, Urmila got married to Kashmir based businessman Mohsin Akhtar Mir on Thursday afternoon in a quiet ceremony at her house, the Indian Express reported.

Interestingly, no one from Bollywood was invited except the designer Manish Malhotra himself.

To her fans the beautiful Urmila said,“We kept it an exclusive wedding with just family and friends at the celebration. Since our families wanted the wedding to be a low key affair we mutually decided to keep it private. We seek your blessings on embarking this new journey of our lives .”

Dutch Company to buy Engro Food

KARACHI: A Dutch dairy cooperative is set to buy out a Pakistani food giant with an investment of around $460 million, in what would amount to the largest private sector takeover by a foreign firm in the country s history.

FrieslandCampina International Holding BV intends to acquire a 51 percent stake of Engro Foods Limited, one of the largest listed companies at the benchmark Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), a notification on the bourse s website said Thursday.

The deal would bring in a minimum investment of $460 million based on the Pakistani firm s present stock value.

"Yes, it is the largest ever deal in the private sector," analyst Faisal Shaji, head of research at Standard Capital Securities, said.

Citibank Pakistan is the financial advisor.

Shahji added the deal would be closely watched by international investors eyeing the emerging South Asian economy.

"Pakistan is already in the radar range of the world corporate sector and this deal further lifts its image outside," he said.

If finalised the Dutch takeover would boost Pakistan s foreign direct investment statistics.

FDI was down by 57 percent to $336 million in Pakistan for the first seven months of the current financial year compared to the corresponding period in the last financial year ending June 2015.

Pakistan expects its economy to grow by 4.5 percent for the 2015-16 financial year due to lower oil prices, planned improvements in the energy supply, investment related to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), buoyant construction activity, and acceleration of credit growth

Rangers kill three Lyari gangsters

KARACHI: At least three alleged gangsters were killed in a shootout with Rangers in Lyari late on Thursday night.

According to the paramilitary, the exchange of fire took place in Kumhar Wara area of Lyari.

The accused killed in the shootout were identified as Gul Nawaz alias Pera, Bilawal alias Mendo and Naeem.

The terrorists, killed in the encounter, belonged to Uzair Baloch and Sheeraz Comrade groups of Lyari gangs and were involved in hand grenade attacks and other heinous crimes, a Rangers’ spokesman said.

West Indies all-rounder Russell commits doping violation

KINGSTON: West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell has committed an "anti-doping whereabouts" rule violation, the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) told Reuters on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old, named in the West Indies squad for the World Twenty20 in India that starts next week, has missed three doping tests within a 12-month period.

"We received notification of Russell's violation about two weeks ago and I've appointed a panel to hear his case," said JADCO independent disciplinary panel chairman Kent Pantry.

Russell, who helped West Indies win the 2012 World Twenty20, faces a possible two-year ban from cricket if found guilty.

"There is a process regarding the findings by JADCO. All that will be observed and you will be advised accordingly," the West Indies Cricket Board told Reuters.

Athletes must tell their local anti-doping agency where they will be for at least one hour each day to facilitate drug tests, World Anti-Doping Agency rules state.

If an athlete misses three drug checks within a 12-month period, that counts as a positive test.

Russell, who last month helped Islamabad United win the Pakistan Super league and was named man of the tournament, also plays for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.

World's costliest train station to open at site of NY's 9/11 tragedy

NEW YORK: New York on Thursday opens the most expensive train station in the world, on the site of the World Trade Center destroyed 14 years ago in the 9/11 attacks.

Twelve years in the making, there will be no official ceremony to mark the 3 pm opening to rail commuters of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub next to the site of the Twin Towers, which were destroyed in the al Qaeda hijackings.

The center connects the PATH commuter rail to New Jersey with New York subway lines, provides indoor pedestrian access to the Trade Center towers and will also house an enormous shopping and restaurant plaza.

The building, designed by Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava and called Oculus, is a giant oval made up of steel ribs and glass laid out in elliptical shape, reaching for the sky like wings of a bird.

The space measures 350 feet (107 meters) long by 115 feet (35 meters) at its widest point, according to Calatrava’s website.

Thursday is only a partial opening and the shops are slated to open in August. In the 12 years since the project was unveiled, it has been heavily criticized — for its appearance but also for spiralling so drastically off budget and closing seven years behind schedule.

Intially budgeted at $2 billion, it has spiraled to $3.85 billion according to a spokesperson in Calatrava’s office, which would make it the most expensive station in the world.

In contrast, the temporary station which was built straight after the September 11, 2001 attacks cost just $323 million.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey admitted in a report published in 2008 that the original cost estimate was “too low to begin with” but stressed the advantages it would afford the city.

It said that when completed, the transit hub will serve 250,000 people and more than 200,000 commuters each day, making it the third-largest transportation center in the city.

New Zealand begins final vote on whether to change its flag

WELLINGTON: New Zealanders began voting Thursday on whether to change their flag from a design which features the British Union Jack to one which features a native silver fern.

The postal ballot will extend over the next three weeks, with preliminary results to be announced March 24.

Organizers say that deciding the issue by popular vote represents a world first, and that other countries have changed flags by revolution, decree or legislation.

Opinion polls indicate the nation of 4.7 million people will opt to stick with its current flag, although proponents of the new design say they have momentum on their side and that more and more people are embracing a change.

Those favoring change say the current flag is too similar to Australia's and references a colonial past that it's time to leave behind.

Those opposed to change say the new design is uninspiring or is an attempt by Prime Minister John Key to create a legacy. One group seeking to keep the status quo is the Returned and Services Association, which represents war veterans.

The process of choosing a potential new flag has been long and sometimes amusing. People submitted more than 10,000 designs, including bizarre ones like a kiwi bird shooting a green laser beam from its eye and a stick drawing of a deranged cat.

A December popular vote saw a flag by architectural designer Kyle Lockwood become the official challenger. Like the current flag, it features four red stars representing the Southern Cross, but replaces the Union Jack with a fern and changes the background colors.

Prime Minister Key told Radio New Zealand this week that people had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to vote for a new flag.

"If they don't vote for change now, they'll never get another chance until we become a republic," he said, adding that he could not see that happening within his lifetime because of the popularity of the young British royals.

Mullah Fazlullah hiding in an area where Kabul has no control: Afghan envoy

PESHAWAR: Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Chief Mullah Fazlullah is hiding in an area of Afghanistan where the Kabul government has no control, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan said on Thursday.

Talking to media and Afghan refugees at the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar, Dr Muhammad Omar Zakhilwal assured that Kabul would not allow its land to be used against Pakistan.

He ruled out any rift between Kabul and Islamabad, saying that it was an atmosphere of distrust. He said peace could be restored if this distrust is ended.

Dr Omar went on to say, “Some elements in Pakistan and Afghanistan do not want peace.”

Fazlullah was appointed as chief of TTP on 7 November 2013 after the death of Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone attack. He fled to Afghanistan after Pakistan launched crackdown against militants.

Axact earned over $200m selling bogus degrees

KARACHI: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has submitted final challan of the Axact mega fake degree scandal case with the Sessions Court, according to which Axact earned over $200 million by selling fake degrees to 245,000 students across the world.

Up to 321 Pakistanis were identified so far who were victims of Axact. 

Axact used to send documents of students including fake degrees and certificates to US and other countries and then provided these documents to the students individually from those countries. 

Shoaib Sheikh and 14 other persons were arrested while four were declared proclaimed offenders. Ayesha Shoaib, wife of Shoaib Sheikh, was on bail in this case. The FIA has submitted challan along with 300 fake certificates of educational institutions, letters, folders, and envelopes and other details with the court. According to challan the degrees were dispatched to the students of different countries through shipment. 

Meanwhile, Additional District and Sessions Judge, Judicial Complex, adjourned hearing of the case against Axact about Hawala/Hundi till March 17.

Chief Executive of Axact Shoaib Sheikh was not produced in the court during hearing. The court was told that he was ill and under medical treatment and, therefore, he was not produced in the court.  While other accused Junaid and Younis appeared in the court, who were on bail.

Shootout in Balochistan kills four terrorists

QUETTA: At least four suspected terrorists were killed Thursday when Frontier Constabulary forces carried out search operations in different parts of Balochistan.

According to officials of the paramilitary force, the shootout took place in Kohlu area of the province.

In Sui, security persoonel successfully seven bombs planted on the roadside.

The FC also captured a truck full of explosives at Qila Abdullah.

The restive Balochistan province has been strife with frequent bouts of terrorist violence.

Twitter hit by temporary outages

Twitter said on Tuesday its social network was suffering outages in some parts of the world and it was working to resolve the issues.

Users trying to access the micro-blogging site through the web were greeted with a message informing them "Something is technically wrong" on Tuesday afternoon (Pakistan Standard Time). Users were unable to access Twitter on their mobile applications as well.

The message on the web portal adds, "We're going to fix it up and have things back to normal soon."

Smartphone users receiving the warning: "Tweets aren't loading right now." 

"Some users are currently experiencing problems accessing Twitter. We are aware of the issue and are working towards a resolution," said the company on its official service status page. 

A Twitter spokeswoman gave no further comment.

Outages were reported from several parts of the world and appeared to be concentrated around Europe in Britain, France and Germany, according to DownDetector.uk, an independent Twitter outage monitoring service.

But noot everyone experienced the outage, with some Twitter users in Europe still able to publish, suggesting there was never a complete blackout.

"I'm reading hundreds of tweets, on Twitter, saying Twitter is down. This is like Inception," tweeted London-based James
Martin who goes by the handle @pundamentalism, referring to the 2010 science fiction film in which a professional thief has the chance to have his criminal history erased.

Right-hand man of Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch arrested

 

KARACHI: The former right-hand man of notorious Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch was arrested in an early morning raid conducted by the Rangers at the Karachi Fisheries on Wednesday.

The accused, Waseem Ahmed, a former joint secretary of CBA Union of Fish Harbor, was arrested from Rach Mandi.

Ahmed was an active member of the Lyari gang-war during the tenure of former chairman of Fishermen Society Abdul Saeed Khan.

He has been accused of collecting extortion money from the fish harbour. Ahmed has been shifted to an undisclosed location for further investigation, sources said.

Two Palestinian teens shot dead after attacking Israeli in West Bank

JERUSALEM: Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinian teens who had attacked an Israeli settler at his home in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the military said, as a wave of heightened violence entered its sixth month.

"There were two young guys, teenagers, terrorists, at my door, dressed in dark clothes and holding wooden clubs," the Israeli man, Roee Harel, from the Eli settlement near the Palestinian city of Nablus, told Army Radio.

He said the two began beating him before he managed to push them out of the house, and he also found a knife at the door.

Soldiers who rushed to the scene shot the two Palestinians, a military spokeswoman said. "Upon the significant threat to the people of the community, forces shot the attackers, resulting in their death," the military said in a statement.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the two were both 17, from the adjacent village of Qaryout.

Since October Palestinian stabbings, shootings and car rammings have killed 28 Israelis and a U.S. citizen. Israeli security forces have killed at least 172 Palestinians, 114 of whom Israel says were assailants, while most others were shot dead during violent protests.

The violence has raised concern of further escalation a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided. The Palestinians and international powers have said Israel has often used excessive force against assailants, many of them youths.

Israel has rejected those allegations, saying it has been preventing lethal attacks on civilians and security forces.

Palestinian leaders say many Palestinian attackers have acted out of desperation in the absence of movement towards creation of an independent state. Israel says they are being incited to violence by their leaders and on social media.

Good enough for Preitty Zinta? Bollywood actress ties the knot

Actress Preity Zinta married her longtime boyfriend Gene Goodenough in a private ceremony at Los Angeles.

The news first made headlines as Bollywood actors congratulated her on Twitter.

Actor Kabir Bedi wrote on Twitter:

HUGE CONGRATS my friend @realpreityzinta on your marriage to Gene in Los Angeles, City of Angels. Blessings! pic.twitter.com/NLBEIY6fS7

— KABIR BEDI (@iKabirBedi) March 1, 2016

Actress Sushmita Sen, took to Twitter to congratulate the actress.

CONGRATULATIONS @realpreityzinta ❤️

The couple tied the knot at a small ceremony where only a few close friends were invited.

They plan on auctioning the wedding pictures soon in order to raise funds for the Preity Zinta Foundation.

Goodenough is a businessman based in Los Angeles.

CII members term Punjab women protection law un-Islamic

ISLAMABAD: Members of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) said Wednesday that a new law in Punjab that provides protection to women against domestic abuse is contrary to the teachings of Islam.

The Protection of Women Against Violence Bill 2015, passed earlier by the Punajb assembly and signed into law on Monday, declares physical violence, abusive language, stalking, cyber crimes, etc, against women a crime in the province.

A meeting of the CII was chaired by chairman Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani here today where the Women Protection Bill was discussed.

“The bill is contrary to Constitution of Pakistan. Such laws cannot be made because they contradict the teachings of Islam,” sources quoted the council members as saying.

The Council of Islamic Ideology is a constitutional body that advises the legislature whether or not a certain law is repugnant to Islam. Rulings and observations of the CII are not binding on the parliament or the government.

Uzbek woman tells court God ordered her to sever child´s head

MOSCOW: An Uzbek woman accused of murdering a child in her care and brandishing the child´s severed head outside a metro station, said on Wednesday in a Moscow court that "Allah ordered" her to carry out the act.

Gulchekhra Bobokulova, a 38-year-old mother of three sons, made the comment to reporters on the way into the courtroom.

She also replied "yes" when asked if she accepted her guilt.

On Monday, police wrestled Bobokulova to the ground as she was displaying the severed head of a child outside a Moscow metro station, in an incident that stirred fears of a terrorist attack.

An investigator speaking in the court said that to date no one else had been found who was involved in the crime.

Russian officials have said Bobokulova was suffering from mental health problems.

Twice lucky - Michigan family welcomes second leap year daughter

A southeast Michigan couple is twice lucky after the birth of their daughter on Feb. 29, the second time the mother has given birth to a baby girl on that day in a leap year.

Chad and Melissa Croff, from Columbus Michigan, welcomed Evelyn Joy into the world at 3:06 a.m., the Henry Ford Health System said in a statement. She arrived 10 days after her due date. Weighing in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces, the little girl shares a birthday with older sister Eliana Adaya, who was born Feb. 29, 2012, the last time there was a leap year, the hospital system said.

"It's a little surreal," Melissa Croff told Reuters in an interview. "It's kind of winning the lottery; the baby lottery." She added that labour was not induced. Neither drugs nor a Caesarian section delivery method were used.

Currently, the couple celebrates Eliana's birthday on the closest Saturday relatives can agree on, Croff said. In the future, the girls will pick a celebration day during non-leap years.

The serendipitous timing doesn't happen often. Guinness World Records lists five siblings born on the same day in the United States, Feb. 20, from 1952 to 1966, according to the hospital system.

World’s Longest flight lands in Auckland

WELLINGTON: An Emirates Airbus A380 touched down in New Zealand on Wednesday, completing what is believed to be the world’s longest non-stop scheduled commercial flight.

The service from Dubai to Auckland covered 14,200 kilometres (8,824 miles), according to industry website airwaysnews.com, pipping Qantas’ 13,800-kilometre Sydney-Dallas route launched in 2014.

It said the route was also the longest in duration, with passengers set to spend 17 hours 15 minutes in the air during the return leg from Auckland to Dubai.

However, that record is expected to be short-lived because Emirates’ upcoming Dubai-Panama City service will take 17 hours 35 minutes when it launches later this month.

Emirates described it as “one of the longest air routes in the world by distance”.

“But with the assistance of clever technology and good planning, passengers will get to their destination in the shortest possible time,” it said.

“Emirates will be using flexible routes, which can vary by day, taking advantage of tail winds and avoiding head winds to reduce the time in the air.”

The inaugural Dubai-Auckland flight was made by an A380 but the regular service will be carried out using the Boeing 777.

New Zealand Transport Minister Simon Bridges said the non-stop service, which cuts three hours off current Dubai-Auckland travel times, improved New Zealand’s connectivity to the rest of the world.

“Direct flights will encourage even more trade and tourism between our two countries, by offering more choice to passengers and freight customers,” he said.

First case registered in Lahore under Women's Protection Act

LAHORE: Days after the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Bill was passed, a woman on Tuesday filed a complaint against her husband in Lahore’s Green Town area.

Bassra Bibi, 30, filed a complaint against her husband at Green Town Police Station, making it the first since Punjab Assembly unanimously passed the protection of women bill.

Punjab Assembly unanimously passes protection of women bill

She claimed “her husband has been beating her for the past one year.” Further alleging that her husband “tortures and threatens” her, the 30-year-old demanded for her husband to be arrested.

“Police have registered an FIR 203/16 on Bassra Bibi’s complaint and police have arrested her husband Tayab,” officer on duty, Younis said while speaking to The Express Tribune, adding that he used to beat and torture her.

Further, Bassra’s four-year-old son has also been affected by the father’s alleged violent behaviour.

Earlier, Bassra staged a sit-in against the police in front of Green town police station on the grounds that police did not file any case against her husband which she had been pursuing for months.

Punjab’s pro-women bill goes against Sharia, says Fazl

She further expressed her disappointment, saying, “I have heard about the women protection bill but I don’t think the bill will be implemented in the province.”

Balochistan home minister survives attack on his convoy

QUETTA: Unknown gunmen on Monday targeted the convoy of Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti near Dera Bugti area of the country’s southwestern province.

“He was heading towards Dera Bugti from Sui area of the province when his convoy came under armed attack, in which he remained unhurt” Geo News reported.

The attackers fled as the security guards returned fire.

On January 22, Bugti narrowly escaped another life attempt when his convoy was targeted with a roadside bomb. Sarfaraz Bugti was on an official visit to his hometown when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in Baker tehsil of Dera Bugti.

CNG price to be slashed by Rs6-7 in Islamabad, Punjab from March 1

ISLAMABAD: keeping in view the low import price of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), the government has decided to reduce CNG prices in Punjab and the federal capital, applicable from March 1.

All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) chairman Ghiyas Paracha termed the decision a major step towards reviving ‘dying CNG industry’ in a statement issued here on Monday.

He said the business community is highly thankful to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in this regard.

Paracha said that price of CNG would be slashed by Rs6 to Rs7 per Kg only on the CNG stations which are being run on RLNG, adding that the decision will also help in reducing the oil import bill and pollution besides providing jobs to millions.

The APCNGA leader said the vision of Prime Minister Sharif has saved the investment worth Rs350 billion in Punjab as the CNG sector will attract more investment after being revived.

“Pakistan’s CNG industry will soon reclaim lost title of world’s largest CNG industry due to the support and initiatives of the government backed by the vision of energy managers,” he said.

Paracha said that CNG in Punjab would be 30 per cent cheaper than petrol, making it attractive for motorists and transporters and will also help to reduce fares in public transport providing relief to commuters.

Ghiyas Paracha hoped that the initiatives of the government will settle the gas shortages in the country soon.

Section 144 imposed in Karachi until Friday

KARACHI: The Sindh provincial government has imposed Section 144 in Karachi from March 01 (Tuesday) to March 04 (Friday) on the advice of the Sindh police.

A notification was issued in this regard here on Tuesday.

As per the notification, gathering of more than four people at any public place is banned under Section 144. The section 144 has been imposed on the advice of Additional IG Karachi.

It may be noted here that pillion-riding had also been banned in Karachi for four days till March 04.

Why do we have leap year?

Every leap year we welcome February 29 into our calendar - and with good reason. The humble leap day comes and goes every four years without much fuss - but it saves us a lot of trouble and is the one day women are encouraged to propose to their man.

Professor of Applied Physics at the University of Liverpool Ken Durose told the ECHO: “Leap years are a way to avoid a good deal of confusion – and some inconvenient party times.

“Without leap year we would only celebrate New Year on the stroke of midnight once every four years. The next year we’d have to celebrate at 6am, and after that at midday then the year after at tea time.

“I’ve spoken to some of the people in the lab and they weren’t too keen on having a 6am New Year ’s Eve, you’d run out of steam by then.”

We need an extra day every fourth February because a solar year is 365.25 days – not 365, so an extra day is added to keep the calendar and solar years in sync.

Without February 29 every four years the seasons would, in time, fall out of sync with the calendar.

Dr Steve Barrett from the Department of Physics at the University of Liverpool said: “If we adopt a calendar which is always exactly 365 days long then over a long period of time the calendar will slowly slip out of step with the Earth moving around the Sun. And so the seasons will occur at different times of the calendar year.

“After 100 years the seasons will have shifted by 25 days and after 400 years the shift will have amounted to 100 days. The middle of winter would then be in April and the middle of summer in October.

“To stop this happening we add a leap day into February in every fourth year. This year is exactly divisible by four and so 2016 is a leap year. This keeps the calendar in step with Earth’s motion and so the seasons come and go at the same time every year.” 

Summary Forwarded To Reduce POL Prices By Up To Rs8.48 In March

ISLAMABAD: The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on Friday forwarded a summary to the ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources to reduce the prices of petroleum products by up to Rs 8.48 per litre from March 1.

A reduction of Rs8.48 per litre for petrol and Rs4.67 for diesel has been recommended in the summary whereas the prices of high-octane and light-diesel are proposed to be reduced by Rs2.98 and Rs1.97 respectively. Kerosene oil price is likely to be reduced by Rs1.66 in the month of March.

According to the OGRA summary, new petrol price would be Rs62.77, diesel Rs71.12, high-octane Rs72.68 and light-diesel is likely to be Rs37.97 from March 1. Kerosene oil would be sold for Rs44.91 per litre.

PM Gives Two-year Extension To DG IB Aftab Sultan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday gave an extension of two years to the service of Director General Intelligence Bureau Aftab Sultan.

Sultan was set to retire in April. This is the second time that his term of service has been extended. 

“The prime minister has extended the contract of DG IB Aftab Sultan for two years," said a statement by the PM Office.

Sultan took was appointed as DG IB in Oct 2011, taking over the key post as the head of the country’s top civilian intelligence agency after the retirement of Additional IG Javed Noor. Sultan previously served as the Additional IG Welfare and Finance in Punjab.

Taseer Murderer Mumtaz Qadri Hanged

                                       RAWALPINDI: Mumtaz Qadri, convicted for the murder of former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, was executed in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail early Monday morning, jail and Punjab police said.

Qadri was hanged after President Mamnoon Hussain dismissed his clemency appeal.

Mumtaz Qadri, a bodyguard of Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab province, shot him dead in the federal capital Islamabad in 2011.

"Qadri was hanged at around 4:30am," senior police officer Rizwan Omar Gondal said.

Late in 2011, an anti-terrorism court handed down a double death sentence to Qadri for murder and terrorism.

The sentence was appealed and upheld by the Supreme Court late last year.

The jail authorities arranged a meeting of Mumtaz Qadri with his family before he was hanged. His body was later handed over to his family members.