pakistan news

OTTAWA: The daughters of Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi, whose blasphemy case spotlighted religious extremism in her country, are now in Canada, a source close to the case said Wednesday.Unconfirmed Pakistani reports earlier claimed the children had already fled to Canada, and speculation was rampant that she would seek asylum in North America or Europe.Canadian officials reached by AFP would not confirm the source’s information.Bibi, a laborer from central Punjab province, was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and was on death row until her acquittal last year which prompted days of violent demonstrations.Under a deal with protesters to end the violence, the government allowed a petition demanding an appeal against the acquittal.But Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa on Tuesday threw out the petition, lifting the last legal hurdle in the case and paving the way for her to leave the country.After the ruling, Bibi’s lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook hinted that his client’s move could be imminent....

CHICAGO: Bitter cold with temperatures lower than Antarctica gripped the American Midwest on Wednesday, grounding flights, closing schools and businesses and raising frostbite and hypothermia fears for homeless residents.Mail deliveries were suspended and people encouraged to stay home in nearly a dozen US states where the mercury plunged into the negative double digits, the worst freeze to grip the region in a generation.US media have attributed at least five deaths since the weekend to the freezing conditions and a major snowstorm that preceded the blast of Arctic air currently gripping the region. In Chicago, blocks of ice floated on the downtown river of America´s third-largest city and flames from gas burners heated regional commuter rail lines to keep them functioning. The morning temperature in the Windy City was -22 degrees Fahrenheit (-30 Celsius), which felt like -50 degrees (-46 Celsius) with wind chill. It was colder than Alaska´s state capital and even colder than parts of...

WASHINGTON: Facebook paid users, including teens, to track their smartphone activity as part of an effort to glean more data that could help the social network´s competition efforts, according to a new report that may raise fresh privacy concerns.An investigation by the online news site TechCrunch said the effort, which had been known as the Onavo Protect and later rebaptized as Facebook Research, was used to gather data on usage habits.Apple told AFP on Wednesday that it revoked software certificates letting Facebook take part in its Enterprise Developer Program to work in-house on applications for the Cupertino-based company´s devices."Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple," Apple said.The news could be a further embarrassment for Facebook, which has been under heightened scrutiny over failing to crack down on manipulation of its platform and for sharing private data w...

NEW YORK: A drawing by Flemish Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens sold for $8.2 million in an auction in New York on Wednesday that was criticized by some in the Netherlands who said the work should have been offered to a Dutch museum. Sotheby´s described the small, rectangular "Nude Study of a Young Man with Raised Arms" as a key piece in the development of one of the artist´s pivotal commissions, and one of only a handful of drawings of comparable importance by Rubens to have come on the market in the last half century.Depicting a muscular, nearly nude young man who strains as he pushes an unseen weight above his head, the drawing was used in the preparation of Ruben´s famous "Raising of the Cross" triptych, painted in 1610.It was acquired by the Dutch royal family in 1838 by Prince William of Orange, who became the Netherlands´s King William II. Unlike many monarchies, the Orange-Nassau dynasty, whose fortune Forbes magazine estimated to be $220 million in 2011, ow...

Riyadh: Twelve people have been killed in floods after heavy rain lashed northern parts of Saudi Arabia this week, the civil defence agency said on Wednesday.Ten died in the northwestern city of Tabuk and one each in the holy city of Medina and in northern border areas, the agency said in a statement cited by the official SPA news agency.Between Sunday and Wednesday, the agency had rescued 271 people from flooded areas, more than half of them in Tabuk, the statement said.Heavy downpours have hit several areas of Saudi Arabia this week, mainly in western and northwestern parts of the kingdom close to the border with Jordan.A number of committees have been set up to assess the damage caused by the bad weather, the agency said. from The News International - World http://bit.ly/2sTD4aH

Bangkok: Toxic smog forced hundreds of Bangkok schools to close Wednesday, as authorities struggle to manage a pollution crisis that has stirred widespread health fears and taken on a political edge just weeks before elections.The Thai capital has been shrouded in murky haze for weeks, sparking social media criticism of the uneven response by the government and prompting rare scenes of residents donning masks on streets and on public transport.Reasons given for the lingering pall include exhaust from traffic, unfettered construction, the burning of crop stubble, and pollution from factories getting trapped in the city.Authorities have seeded clouds to provoke rain, sprayed overpasses with water to catch micro-pollutants and even asked people not to burn incense sticks and paper during Chinese New Year celebrations.The measures so far have drawn derision from many Bangkok residents, while stocks of pollution masks have run out in many shops.But on Wednesday, the Bangkok Metropolitan Adm...

TOKYO: Detained auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn believes his arrest and the charges against him are the result of a "plot and treason" at his former employer Nissan, he told the Nikkei newspaper Wednesday.The Japanese business daily quoted Ghosn as saying he had "no doubt" that the charges against him were motivated by Nissan executives opposed to greater integration of the firm with its French alliance partner Renault.It was the first press interview Ghosn has given since his stunning arrest on November 19, conducted in the Tokyo detention centre where he has languished ever since.A Nissan spokesman hit back immediately, saying that current CEO Hiroto Saikawa has "already categorically refuted the notion of a ´coup d´etat´"."The sole cause of this chain of events is the misconduct led by Ghosn and (chief of staff Greg) Kelly," the spokesman added.He said a Nissan probe had uncovered "substantial and convincing evidence of misconduct" and that...