India approves plan to develop Iran's Chabahar port

India will float a company to develop Iran's Chabahar Port, a government statement said on Saturday, as New Delhi aims to take advantage of a thaw in Tehran's relations with world powers. 

The port of Chabahar in southeast Iran is central to India's efforts to circumvent Pakistan and open up a route to landlocked Afghanistan where it has developed close security ties and economic interests. Iran and six world powers are engaged in talks to agree on a deal easing sanctions against Tehran before a late-November deadline. 

The powers want Iran to scale back its uranium enrichment programme to ensure it cannot produce nuclear bombs. Iran says the programme is for peaceful purposes. India plans to sign an agreement with Iran for the development of the port and New Delhi intends to lease two berths at Chabahar for 10 years, the statement said. The planned Indian company will invest USD 85.21 million in one year to convert the berths into a container terminal and a multi-purpose cargo terminal, the statement said, adding India would consider the participation of Iranian firms if needed.

Turkish businessmen for joint ventures to promote business

Turkey for being the second fastest growing economy of the world after China has a lot to offer to their Pakistani counterparts through joint ventures, said Murat Agabay, leader of a four-member Turkish delegation, on Monday.

Speaking during a meeting with businessmen at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), he said the Turkish businessmen were keen to initiate joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts.

He called for exchange of business delegations so that both the sides could have first hand knowledge of the available opportunities in Pakistan and Turkey.

He said both the countries had huge untapped business potential that needed to be realised by maximizing the involvement of private sectors of the two countries.

LCCI President Ijaz A Mumtaz said the businessmen of both the countries should enhance their bilateral relations which would be beneficial for the people of both sides.

He said the textile sector of Pakistan had traditionally been the biggest sector of the economy, adding in the context of having won the GSP plus status, the need of technology improvement and capacity building in textile sector of Pakistan was necessary and Turkey could help Pakistan in this regard.

Ijaz said Turkey was well positioned to take advantage of Pakistan’s economic potential and its geo-strategic location and added with regard to solid waste management, it was proposed that waste-to-energy solutions were gaining a lot of success in modern world.

He said Pakistan was facing severe crisis in energy sector and it was the best way to go for all possible options of alternative energy. He emphasized that some kind of understanding should be developed between the private sector representatives of both the countries that will certainly provide basis to convert that into business deals.

He said these practical steps would surely go a long way in enhancing the current level of two-way trade between Pakistan and Turkey which does not reflect the friendly relations.

He also called for B2B (Business to Business) meetings on regular basis in order to strengthen our business ties asserting that Turkey and Pakistan both were great attraction for tourists.

Vice President Syed Mahmood Ghaznavi also spoke on the occasion. Former LCCI president Bashir A Buksh, who is also Chairman of Puk-Turk Business Council, EC members- Waqar Ahmed Mian, Khawaja Khawar Rasheed, Raja Adeel Ashfaq, Khurram Lodhi, Tanzila Yousaf, Kamal Mahmood Amjad Mian, Rizwan Shamsi, Mian Muhammad Afzal and Sheikh Muhammad Fayyaz Ahmed were prominent amongst the others. Other members of the Turkish delegation were Huseyin Moralioglu, Mustafa Dundar and Osman Ozen.

French researchers 'develop 15-minute test for Ebola'

Device can be used in the field without special equipment, according to developers

Paris
French researchers have announced they have developed a 15-minute diagnostic test for Ebola.

The Ebola virus diagnostic kit - described as being similar to a simple pregnancy home test - gives results in less than a quarter of an hour, said the researchers from the Commission for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies (CEA) on Tuesday.

The device can be used in the field without the need for any special equipment using a drop of blood, plasma or urine of the patient with symptoms of the disease.

Current tests based on genetic testing of the virus are very sensitive but require special devices and should only be performed in a laboratory, CEA experts said, adding that the results usually take more than two hours.

The French developers said the test could be available for a clinical trial by the end of October in order to allow doctors to diagnose a patient with suspected Ebola in a short period of time.

In recent months, Ebola – a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure – has killed at least 4,546 people in the three West African states of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Ebola - a tropical fever which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo - can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.

It can also reportedly spread through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have succumbed to the virus.

Qadri ends Islamabad sit-in, to hold demos in different parts of the country

ISLAMABAD: 

Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on Tuesday announced that he was ending sit-in at D-Chowk in the federal capital,

While addressing the sit-in participants on Tuesday, Qadri said the sit-in had turned into a revolution, and now there will be sit-ins across the country.

“The participants should pack their bags, return to their homes,” he said.

A schedule for PAT protest sit-ins was also announced.

On October 23, Qadri will travel to Abbottabad to hold a protest demonstration. In Bhakkar on November 23. A rally will be held in Sialkot on December 14 while another protest will be organised at Karachi’s Mazar-e-Quaid on December 25.

Qadri, along with his allied parties on Monday had decided to not hold rallies during the month of Muharram.

ARY News channel’s license suspended for 15 days

ISLAMABAD: In compliance with an order of the Lahore High Court (LHC), the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) banned on Monday a local TV channel, ARY News for a period of 15 days and imposed a fine of Rs10 million for airing a derogatory programme against the judiciary.

A special meeting of Pemra was called in today to review the talk show anchored by Mubasher Lucman on the orders of LHC. Pemra officials found the show in contravention with the Pemra act and it’s code of conduct.

The regulatory authority had also banned Lucman and his programme “Khara Sach” on Saturday.

Sindh Assembly approves local government amendment bill

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Monday approved the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2014 giving the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) the authority to carry out delimitation of constituencies in the province.

The bill was tabled by Sindh's Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro and was approved with majority votes.

The authority to carry out delimitation was previously held by the provincial government.

Reconstruction of Quaid-e-Azam Residency begins in Ziarat

ZIARAT: Reconstruction process of the Quaid-e-Azam Residency began here on Saturday.

According to technical adviser and a member of committee constituted by Balochistan Government for reconstruction of the residency, Abdul Jabbar, construction work of the damaged building had begun and it would be completed soon.

Jabbar told media that the initial estimated cost of the project was Rs 45 million to 60 million. All the expenses would be borne by provincial government, he added.

It is to be mentioned here that the residency of Quaid-e-Azam, the founder of Pakistan, in Ziarat was destroyed in militants attack with hand grenades on 15 June.