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Ancient Aleppo mosque damaged in Syrian battle Novartis working on H7N9 vaccine Benazir assassination Azam Khan detained briefly at US airport Missing Indian-origin student found dead in US
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Imran
Khan targets PPP, PML-N; Shahbaz hits back Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has said the PPP and the PML-N have been unable to deliver despite taking ruling twice and thrice in the past. “They have been taking turns one after the other and their leaders enriched themselves while worsening economic, social and political condition in the country,” Imran said addressing a rally in Pakpattan on Thursday. “The people have got the opportunity to decide in May 11 polls as to how long this game of musical chairs would continue,” he said. Imran has been making whirlwind tour of constituencies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, addressing three to four rallies daily. Directing his guns mainly at Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, Imran said the Punjab government under Shahbaz misused funds for achieving political gains. He said development funds were given to members of National and provincial assemblies whose main job is to do legislation instead devolving financial and administrative powers to local counsels. Addressing a public gathering in Sahiwal, Shahbaz Sharif said President Asif Ali Zardari was sure of his defeat and he is using Imran against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). “The PPP and the PTI are working as allies in the elections. Imran is working for Zardari and this is the reason that he is only criticising the PML-N and its leaders,” he maintained. Shahbaz said the author of Imran’s and Bilawal Bhutto’s speeches is the same.
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Can’t give voting rights to overseas nationals by May, govt tells SC The caretaker government has told the Supreme Court that according the voting rights to the overseas Pakistanis was near to impossible as it needs a tough exercise of 18 months. Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who heads the Bench, insisted that the government must find ways to implement court’s decision on the issue delivered two years ago. He regretted that no concrete action had been taken for so long. He further stated that neither the Election Commission nor the government was serious and sincere in providing voting right to the overseas Pakistanis. It has kept the court in the dark. Information Technology Minister Sania Nashtar apprised a three-judge Bench about the reservations of the government over the court’s insistence and spelled out technical problems and complexities on the issue of extending voting right to the overseas Pakistanis. Nashtar stated that after intense deliberations conducted in various meetings with different stakeholders, including the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF), the Law Ministry and the NADRA, her ministry has come to a logical conclusion that the suggestion for including expatriates in the coming general elections was not possible. Nishtar counted five problems on the issue. These included absence of appropriate legislation, developing software for e-voting, deployment of software in foreign missions and Pakistani embassies, diplomatic hurdles, visa processing and training to the staff. She said the necessary legislation was near to completion, while the NADRA has also prepared a software for e-voting. “But the real hardship is that the software is still untested and the foreign missions and Pakistani embassies are also not trained to carry out this practice,” Nishtar said. She said the process of training staff and testing the e-voting software needs at least 18 months.
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Ancient Aleppo mosque damaged in Syrian battle Beirut, April 25
Syria's civil war has cost more than 70,000 lives and has also damaged or destroyed many archaeological and architectural treasures, some of them United Nations world heritage sites, such as Aleppo's Old City where the mosque is located. The opposing parties blamed the other for the toppling of the minaret, which predated the medieval-era mosque it stood in. Fighting has ravaged the Old City's stone-vaulted alleyways for months and had already reduced much of the mosque to rubble. State news agency SANA accused the Nusra Front, an Al-Qaida-linked rebel group, of bringing down the minaret. However, opposition groups said army tank fire was to blame. The conflict in Syria, now in its third year, threatens ancient castles and Roman ruins across the country. Islamist rebel units said on Wednesday that they had launched an offensive on the coastal province of Latakia, a move which could further stoke sectarian tensions in a war that has increasingly divided the country along religious and ethnic lines. — Reuters
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Novartis working on H7N9 vaccine
Geneva, April 25 In an interview with the Swiss daily Tagesanzeiger, Joe Jimenez said that Novartis had already analysed the virus' genetic codes, which have been published by Chinese authorities. Jimenez said that Novartis "would today be in a position to develop a vaccine for initial clinical trials within six to eight weeks". "The need is theoretical for now," he added. —
AFP
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Benazir assassination Islamabad/Lahore, April 25 Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman of the Rawalpindi-based anti-terrorism court today accepted a request from prosecutors to question Musharraf and to include him in the investigation into the 2007 assassination. Special prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told PTI that a joint investigation team will question Musharraf on two issues - making a threatening phone call to Bhutto and sending an email that warned her not to return to Pakistan, and failing to provide adequate security to Bhutto after she came back from self-exile in 2007. Musharraf's failure to provide adequate security to Bhutto "indirectly facilitated and helped terrorists in executing their plan to murder" her, Ali said. Musharraf will also be quizzed on why he did not respond to five letters from Bhutto seeking foolproof security ahead of her return to Pakistan. "Musharraf provided foolproof security to other leaders like (then) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz but ignored Benazir," he said. Ali, who is part of the joint investigation team, said Musharraf will be questioned at his farmhouse on the outskirts of Islamabad, which has been declared a 'sub-jail'. —
PTI
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Azam Khan detained briefly at US airport New York, April 25 According to sources familiar with the incident, Khan was detained for about 10 minutes for "further questioning" at Boston Logan International Airport yesterday after he landed in a scheduled British Airways flight from India. The Urban Development Minister is in the US to present a study on "Kumbh Mela" held at Allahabad. — PTI
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Missing Indian-origin student found dead in US Washington, April 25 “A forensic dental examination confirmed the identification (of Tripathi),” said Dara Chadwick, a spokesperson for the state Health Department. “The cause of death is pending further studies, which could take several months,” she said. No signs of trauma were initially found, the police said. Tripathi (22), a Brown University student, was last seen on March 16 by his roommate just before he left his mobile, ID and wallet in his room. The police had pulled a body from the Providence yesterday and suspected it to be of Tripathi. Meanwhile, a grief stricken Tripathi family today expressed “incredible gratitude” to all those who helped in the search operation over the past month. “As we carry indescribable grief, we also feel incredible gratitude. To each one of you - from our hometown to many distant lands - we extend our thanks for the words of encouragement, for your thoughts, for your hands, for your prayers, and for the love you have so generously shared,” the family said in a statement. — PTI
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Protect Uighurs’ rights: US to China 19 killed in Iraq clashes 3 Indians charged with possessing IED Building collapse toll rises to 250 the ringside view
Presidential office plaint to poll panel
One killed, five hurt in attacks Naek appointed Leader of Senate Final list of candidates out |
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