Unknown assailants waylaid a cop in North Karachi area who was riding a motorbike and opened fire on him. The officer died on the spot. The attackers fled the scene, sparking tension in the area.
Law enforcers reached the spot and began investigation.
In another incident, armed miscreants gunned down a man in Haideri area. The man was aboard a car when the criminals attacked him. He was identified as Khurram. Sources told that the deceased man was affiliated with a political party.
People no longer need to sign-up to use a preview version of Skype Translator, which handles spoken English, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin.
The number of languages translated jumps to 50 for written instant messages, with missives written in one language arriving converted into a preferred language, according to Skype.
“We are breaking down language barriers that have historically made it challenging for friends and families to connect,” Yasmin Kahn of Skype said in a blog post.
Skype Translator was made available as a free download at the Windows Store for computers or tablets running on the latest version of Microsoft’s operating software, according to Kahn.
Skype Translator preview debuted late last year, but was invitation-only to allow time and testing for refining the service.
“Our goal for Skype Translator is to translate as many languages as possible on relevant platforms, and to deliver the best speech translation experience to our more than 300 million connected Skype customers,” Kahn said.
Google earlier this year debuted a feature for its Translate app that allows people to pair any two of 38 language options for translation, and also automatically translates when pointed at text items or signs. -AFP
The KSE 100-share index closed 1.59 percent or 517.94 points high at 33023.80.
High and Low were 33087.48 and 32354.01 respectively.
Total volume traded in the market was 176,999,210 and in terms of value it was 10,392,290,931.
Total traded companies were 325, among them 217 advanced, 85 declined while 23 went unchanged.
Unilever Foods is the top advancer with price per share 7849.00 (98.50) followed by Colgate Palmolive with price per share of 1500 (50.00) and Hinopak Motor with price per share of 1039.98 (38.37).
According to investors successful negotiations with International Monetary Fund (IMF), agreement between federal and KP government and expectation of decrease in interest rate from SBP were some of the reason behind recovery of KSE 100-Index.
The Cleveland Museum of Art said it was voluntarily returning the stone figure with a human body and a monkey’s head and tail, which it acquired in 1982 from an art dealer in New York who had since died.
Khmer ballet dancers threw flowers for good luck at the handover ceremony, attended by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and dozens of ministers in Phnom Penh. Officials hung flower garlands around the statue’s neck.
“I am sure that if Hanuman were alive we would see a smile on his face showing his joy at being here among us where he belongs,” Sok An said after signing handover papers with Cleveland Museum of Art Director William Griswold.
The statue joins five others from the northern Koh Ker region recently returned to Cambodia from the United States.
The Cleveland museum said research had found the statue’s head and body had been offered for sale in Thailand in 1968 and 1972. Experts said it had probably come from the east gate of the Prasat Chen temple complex. – Reuters
He was addressing an all parties conference (APC) at Idara Noor e Haq in Karachi with respect to the May 12, 2007 incident.
Liauqat Baloch demanded the federal government to stop patronizing terrorists, and to expose and bring the mastermind of terrorism in Karachi to book.
He also called for the appointment of an impartial governor in Sindh and to end the ‘point of good MQM and bad MQM’.
Other attendees of the APC condemned the May 12 incident and appealed for a thorough probe of it.
They said that the Karachi Operation should continue indiscriminately until complete elimination of all crimes.
Salahuddin Ahmed, a former minister for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, told AFP that he had been snatched in his home country back in March 10 but had no idea how he had come to surface in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya.
“I was kidnapped by a group of unidentified people from Uttara (a district in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka) but I do not know how I landed in this place,” he said in brief comments on Tuesday before being led away to a prison cell in the state capital Shillong.
Ahmed’s mysterious disappearance at the height of deadly anti-government protests in early March sparked widespread allegations that he had been secretly taken into custody by intelligence agents.
His fate had become a growing source of tension between the opposition and government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, with her administration insisting that it knew nothing about what had happened to him or of his whereabouts.
Police in Meghalaya said that Ahmed had been picked up near a golf course on Monday morning after being alerted by the public “about the suspicious movement of an individual” and then brought in for questioning.
“When police officers questioned him, they found that he was not speaking comprehensibly. Hence, we referred him to MIMHANS,” local police official M. Kharkrang told AFP, referring to a local mental health facility.
“However, he was found to be mentally sound.”
An official at MIMHANS, speaking anonymously, confirmed that Ahmed had been kept under observation before transferred to a general hospital suffering from unspecified “physical problems” where he was later formally arrested over suspicions of illegally entering the country.
Speaking to AFP in Dhaka, Ahmed’s wife said she had received a phone call from her husband.
“The hospital authorities called me just a moment ago and then I spoke to my husband,” Hasina Ahmed told AFP.
She could not describe the circumstances that led to Ahmed’s disappearance from a hideout in Dhaka nor of his re-emergence in India.
Ahmed took over as the BNP’s chief spokesman after two other senior party members were detained in January at the start of a campaign of anti-government protests.
Hasina Ahmed told AFP her husband was picked up from a hideout in the northern suburb of Dhaka by a member of the country’s elite security force. But police and the government always denied that he was in their custody.
From the hideout, Ahmed had issued a series of hard-hitting anti-government statements, urging people to join the months-long transport blockade — called by BNP leader Khaleda Zia — aimed at toppling the government.
Zia, who is a two-time former prime minister, has accused the security agencies of keeping Ahmed in their custody and demanded his immediate release.
Bangladesh has been plagued by unrest for the last two years and has a long history of deadly political violence.
Scores of people have been killed in firebomb attacks on vehicles since Zia called the blockade. -AFP
Shehnaz Hamid for the first time appeared on television, while talking exclusively to anchorperson Kashif Abbasi in ARY News program ‘Off the Record’ on Tuesday.
The widow of former MD KESC said, “Saulat Mirza’s hanging has served justice to her family to some extent”, adding, “The FIR of her husband’s killing was registered against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), while the police charge sheet also had the names of five accused including Altaf Hussain.”
Shehnaz Hamid said that ‘her husband wanted to streamline the then KESC, which drew opposition of a specific party’.
“My son was issued threats, his friends were asked to persuade him to pardon Saulat Mirza,” she recalled. “The MQM was afraid that if its “star terrorist” is hanged, no one will work for them.”
Saulat Mirza, who was hanged to death early on Tuesday after twice being given extension, was convicted of murdering then MD KESC Shahid Hamid, his guard Khan Akbar and driver Asharf Brohi in July, 1997.
The sale will leave Hang Seng Bank with a 0.88 percent holding in Industrial Bank. The move was made in two separate deals, with around half the stake being sold in February and the other half to be sold shortly.
According to an announcement made on Hang Seng Bank’s website, the two transactions will raise a total of up to HK$36.78 billion ($4.74 billion) before expenses.
“Hang Seng Bank and HSBC consider that the transaction represents an opportunity to realise part of Hang Seng Bank’s investment in Industrial Bank, taking into account the current market conditions,” the firms said in the joint announcement.
“Hang Seng Bank expects to use the net sale proceeds of the transaction principally to support future business expansion,” they added.
HSBC, which holds a 62.14 percent stake in Hang Seng Bank, is headquartered in Britain but has strong links to Hong Kong.
It was founded in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1865, but has been based in Britain since 1992.
The bank recently launched a review on whether to remain headquartered in Britain, however, as the country increases regulation and taxation of the financial sector. -AFP
A team of drivers that is testing the fleet of more than 20 vehicles have driven 1.7 million miles so far.
“…Not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident,” Chris Urmson said in a post on technology news website Backchannel’s blog Medium. No one was injured in the accidents, Urmson added.
“If you spend enough time on the road, accidents will happen whether you’re in a car or a self-driving car.”
The cars had been hit from behind seven times, mainly at traffic lights, with a majority of the accidents being on city streets rather than on freeways.
“We’ll continue to drive thousands of miles so we can all better understand the all-too common incidents that cause many of us to dislike day-to-day driving – and we’ll continue to work hard on developing a self-driving car that can shoulder this burden for us,” Urmson said. – Reuters
The Volkswagen Passat, which began road tests last week that will end on Thursday, has been equipped with sensors, computers and special software.
“Swisscom is interested in the digitisation of the economy,” company official Christian Petit told reporters, showing the vehicle to the press for the first time.
“Swisscom is not turning into a car manufacturer. But future innovations in the automotive industry will centre on networking with the environment. For this reason, the driverless car is a prime example of digitisation and therefore of great interest to us,” he said in a statement.
The computer drives, steers and brakes the car and uses laser scanners, radar and video cameras to detect nearby vehicles and pedestrians and road users.
The software is used to issue driving commands and analyse data.
The project also involves Germany’s AutoNomos Labs, which has run similar tests in Berlin.
The test Passat has two people in it as a precautionary measure, just in case a driver has to take over.
Driverless cars are being tested in several European countries including Britain and in US cities, including by Internet giant Google. -AFP