Urgency for Iran is because of July 1 deadline for oil embargo by EU, June 28 US sanctions against buying Iranian oil. MOSCOW: Russia will try to shield its ally Iran from the looming threat of military strikes while seeking an elusive commitment on its nuclear program when it hosts showdown talks on the crisis next week. A skilled balancing act would put a rare feather in Moscow’s diplomatic cap and suppor ...

A closed CNG retail station in Karachi. ISLAMABAD: On the directions of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani,  the government on Thursday announced to reduce the prices of petroleum products. The new prices will be implemented from Friday midnight. The price of petrol will be reduced at least by ten rupees and 15 paisas and CNG price will be reduced by six rupees and 25 paisas, O ...

TOP GEAR: 159.5% is the rise in car imports to 51,895 units during July-May 2011-12 from 20,000 in the corresponding last year. KARACHI: Car imports have almost tripled in the current financial year amid massive jump in local assembled prices. Import data shows that 51,895 units have been imported during July 2011 to May 2012, showing a phenomenal increase from last year’s approximately 20,000 units. Import ...

Bollywood actor and face of L'Oreal, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan arrives at Nice-Cote d'Azur international airport with baby daughter Aaradhya in a baby-carrier on May 26 in Nice, France. Aishwarya Rai recently took time out from her work commitments to go shopping for her daughter, Aaradhya, in London. A few onlookers at London's famous Regent Street spotted the former beauty queen-turned-actress with her bundl ...

Tossdown is an interactive web portal for eatouts, designed for food lovers and restaurant owners alike. LAHORE: Attracted by the technological gap in the market and the desire to utilise their full potential, two childhood friends bid farewell to their marketing profession and set up a software venture to create one of the leading food and restaurant websites – tossdown.com – in Pakistan. Omair Bangash, co ...

Turkey has arrested 49 military officers in the second phase of an operation to dismantle a military espionage ring in the country. Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman quoted Izmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office as saying that the 49 arrestees were among the 51 officers against whom arrest warrants had been issued on Wednesday. Sting operations were launched simultaneously in 16 provinces. The detainees are r ...

She is just one of 1,000 people worldwide to be suffering from Kleine Levin Syndrome also known as Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. LONDON: A teenaged British girl, who missed her exams and even celebrating her birthday after nodding off in April, woke up last week. Stacey Comerford, 15, from Telford in the West Midlands region, suffers from a rare neurological disorder which means she enters a sleeping state for ...

Policemen stand guard on a street in Karachi. KARACHI: Four people were killed in latest incidents of violence in Karachi. One person was shot dead in the city’s North Karachi area and another was killed in an incident of firing in the Garden area. In an incident of firing on Jahangir Road, one person was killed and two others were wounded. The area became tense in the aftermath of the firing. Moreover, in ...

Veena says her personal life was chaotic. To say that Pakistani siren Veena Malik has made it big in Bollywood, would be an understatement. The actor who is being swamped with offers one after the other, says that even though she is a public figure, her personal life and the people in it are not to be discussed with the media. Malik adds that she is in a relationship but she does not want to divulge any det ...

As many as 50 international aid and human rights organizations have signed a petition, calling for Israel to immediately end its years-long blockade of the Gaza Strip. "For over five years in Gaza, more than 1.6 million people have been under blockade in violation of international law. More than half of these people are children,” said the petition, issued on Thursday, according to DPA. “We, the undersigned ...