Kerry seeks release of Davis

 LAHORE: US senator John Kerry arrived here on Tuesday seeking the freedom of an American whose murder charges have rocked the uneasy but vital alliance between Washington and Islamabad.

Lithuania opens all-chocolate room to sweeten Valentine's Day

 VILNIUS: Lithuanian shoppers on Monday had a sweet Valentine's Day visual treat in the form of an entire chocolate room, but will have to wait to actually taste a piece of the walls and decor, organisers said.

"We wanted to create something special for Valentine's Day. The chocolate room looks just like a traditional Lithuanian sitting-room," Frederikas Jansonas, spokesman for the Akropolis shopping mall in the capital Vilnius said.

Sialkot lynching: Destroyed, but not defeated

Brothers Mughees Butt and Muneeb Butt were lynched by a mob. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE: Six months have passed since the tragic lynching of two brothers Hafiz Mughees and Muneeb in Sialkot and despite being assured of justice by top officials, including the president himself, the family continues to await justice.

Aafia Siddiqui was handed to Pakistani agencies in 2003, new tape reveals

Alleged conversation with police officer released by Aafia’s representatives.
KARACHI: A new recording of an alleged conversation with a high-ranking police officer suggests that Aafia Siddiqui was handed over to Pakistani intelligence agencies in 2003

Help! Our police needs help

There he stands; his black uniform stretched across a protruding belly, he has a certain fondness for chai and ‘pieces of paper with pictures of the Quaid’. This is the image that comes to mind when one thinks of a Pakistani policeman.

Phone wars: Nokia x2-01 vs Samsung ch@t 322

While Nokia X2-01 may have its loyalists, Samsung ch@t 322 is a better option if one is willing to try a Korean phone.
Screen and phone size

They’re armed, dangerous and crazy about lawn!

Winter is nearly over in Karachi and I can already see billboards of Iman Ali modeling for lawn.

This is just the beginning of the lawn madness in Karachi.

Rani ignores filmmaker Yash Chopra

Rani Mukerji and filmmaker Yash Chopra crossed each other’s path over three times during a recent award ceremony but chose to avoid each other. The actress, whose last film with the Yash Raj banner was ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’ opposite Shahid Kapoor has kept herself away from the filmmaker’s gang since then.
Buzz has it that Rani, who is seeing Chopra’s son divorcee son Aditya , did not even acknowledge the veteran filmmaker’s presence at his studio, where the Award ceremony was being held

Pakistan to face BD in warm up match today

The 1st warm up match between Pakistan and Bangladesh will be played today in Dhaka before the World Cup Cricket Tournament.
Australia will play its 2nd warm up match against South Africa in Bangalore India while Zimbabwe and Ireland and Kenya to face Netherlands.

Obama proposes $ 3.1 billion for Pakistan

The Obama administration has proposed to Congress a total of $ 3.1 billion in the 2012 budget for U.S economic and security assistance and diplomatic operations in Pakistan, according to a senior American official.
The administration’s spendings for Pakistan are broken up into two parts, the “enduring core part” – meaning long-term assistance programs – and the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), an administration official said at a briefing on President Barack Obama’s budget proposals for the fiscal year 2012, beginning October 1, 2011.

Eid Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH) to be celebrated with religious fervour

Eid Milad-un-Nabi,the birthday of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) will be celebrated with religious reverence and enthusiasm in the provincial metropolis like other parts of the country on Wednesday. Milad celebrations will begin right after Fajr namaz with special prayers at mosques and religious seminaries. Conferences and meetings on Seerat-un-Nabi (PBUH) will be held in different parts of the city where speakers will highlight various aspects of `Uswa-e-Hasna’,the sacred life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) as a source of guidance for the

Bangladesh catch World Cup ticket cheats

Bangladesh’s elite security force has jailed four people for two years each for printing fake tickets for the cricket World Cup, an official said on Tuesday.
The Rapid Action Battalion raided a printing press in Dhaka late Monday and caught the four printing fake tickets for Thursday’s opening ceremony, RAB spokesman Commander Mohammad Sohail told AFP.
“All four were handed out two-year jail terms by a magistrate who accompanied us in the raid,” he said. “The printing press and computers attached to it have been

Police files ‘Challan’ against Raymond Davis

The police filed complete Challan against detained US national, who fatally shot dead Pakistani youth, in a session court here on Tuesday
The US national Raymond Allen Davis was charged with murder of two Pakistani citizens at Lahore’s Mazang Chowk last month.
In the Challan, it is maintained that the allegation of murder against the accused proved true during the investigation and he had ‘cold-bloodedly and intentionally’ murdered the Pakistani nationals.
The police investigations found Davis’ claim that he

US to submit evidence on Davis’ immunity

The United States would provide the evidence of detained national’s diplomatic immunity to Pakistani court, British media reported on Tuesday.
The US administration insists that detained US national, who fatally shot dead two Pakistani citizens in Lahore last month, is a member of diplomatic mission and, therefore, enjoys immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) to which Islamabad is a signatory.
According to the BBC, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters in Washington that

Indian PM to face media grilling

India’s under-fire prime minister Manmohan Singh is to face senior editors on Wednesday in a rare live televised interview as he seeks to bounce back from months of pressure over a series of scandals.
The premier, battling to retain his reputation as the “Mr Clean” of politics, is likely to be grilled over recent corruption cases that have put his government on the back foot.
“The prime minister is expected to interact with Indian news channel on Wednesday,” a source in his office told AFP. “The agenda for the meeting is being worked out

Pakistan softens on issue of Davis’ immunity

Pakistan will tell a court that most of its legal experts believe a detained American has diplomatic immunity, but will leave it to a judge to rule on his status, an official said Tuesday — a sign that Islamabad is trying to give the U.S. an opening to free the man while avoiding domestic backlash.
Raymond Davis has been held by Pakistani authorities since he fatally shot two Pakistanis in the eastern city of Lahore on Jan. 27, and his case has become a bitter point of contention between Washington and Islamabad, two countries whose relationship is considered key to ending the