KPK doctors oppose enforcement of Essential Services Act

February 9, 2016 | 0 Comment

PESHAWAR: Doctors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have opposed enforcement of Essential Services Act 1958 at government-run hospitals across the province. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led government, yesterday, enforced the law to prevent protests… Read more »

Traders’ leader shot dead in Peshawar

February 9, 2016 | 0 Comment

PESHAWAR: Haji Haleem Jan, a prominent leader of leaders, was gunned down in Peshawar on Tuesday. According to police, unknown gun men targeted the senior trader at his shop in… Read more »

Dr Asim sent to jail on judicial remand till Feb 22 in corruption reference

February 9, 2016 | 0 Comment

KARACHI : Accountability court in Karachi has sent Dr Asim Hussain to jail on a judicial remand till February 22 in case regarding corruption, money laundering and granting illegal contracts,… Read more »

PIA employees continue sit-in in Karachi, Faisalabad office resumes service

February 9, 2016 | 0 Comment

KARACHI : Offices of Pakistan International Airline (PIA) are closed on the 15th consecutive day owing to employees’ strike across the country against privatization, Dunya News reported Tuesday. Courier and… Read more »

Supreme Court halts execution of two APS convicts

February 9, 2016 | 0 Comment

ISLAMABAD : The Supreme Court stayed on Tuesday the execution of four men convicted by military courts for their involvement in different terrorist attacks in Pakistan. A two-member bench headed… Read more »

Essential Service Act enforced in govt teaching hospitals across KP

February 8, 2016 | 0 Comment

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government here on Monday enforced Essential Services Act 1958 at all the government teaching hospitals across the province to prevent protests by doctors against the implementation… Read more »

One Woman Dead, 24 Injured In Abbottabad Blast

February 6, 2016 | 0 Comment

ABBOTTABAD: One woman died and 24 persons injured in a blast in a guest house located in Mandian, an area of Abbottabad. According to police, the explosion took place as… Read more »

‘PM should apologise over PIA chaos’

February 4, 2016 | 0 Comment

ISLAMABAD: Siraj-ul-Haq, the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, has urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to seek apology from the nation over the incident of firing on PIA workers. Expressing his solidarity with… Read more »

KPK doctors oppose enforcement of Essential Services Act

February 9, 2016 | 0 Comment

PESHAWAR: Doctors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have opposed enforcement of Essential Services Act 1958 at government-run hospitals across the province. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led government, yesterday, enforced the law to prevent protests… Read more »

China officials punished over wrongful execution of teen

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionThe court apologised to Huugjilt's elderly parents and gave them some compensation in 2014

Twenty-seven Chinese officials have been penalised for the wrongful execution of a teenager, state news agency Xinhua said.

Huugjilt was 18 when he was convicted of the rape and murder of a woman in a factory's public toilet in 1996.

A serial rapist confessed to the crime in 2005 and Huugjilt was formally exonerated in 2014.

Acquittals are extremely rare in China and it is even rarer for convictions to be overturned.

Twenty-six officials were given "administrative penalties, including admonitions and record of demerit", Xinhua said citing an official statement on Sunday.

Feng Zhiming, the other penalised official, was suspected of other crimes related to his job and was being investigated, according to the report.

The murder happened during an anti-crime drive and detectives in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region admitted being under pressure to secure a conviction. The use of force to get confessions is thought to be widespread in the country.

Huugjilt's parents were given 30,000 yuan ($4850; £3080) as an expression of the court's sympathy, when the conviction was overturned.

'World's best chef' Benoit Violier dies aged 44

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Chef Benoit Violier, whose Swiss restaurant was named the best in the world in December, has been found dead at his home.

Mr Violier, 44, ran the Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville in Crissier, near the city of Lausanne.

It earned three Michelin stars and came top in France's La Liste ranking of the world's 1,000 best eateries.

Swiss police said Mr Violier, who was born in France, appeared to have shot himself.

The Swiss news website 24 Heures said (in French) that Mr Violier had been due to attend the launch of the new Michelin guide in Paris on Monday.

His death comes some six months after that of Philippe Rochat, his mentor and predecessor at the Restaurant de l'Hotel de Ville.

Having worked at the restaurant since 1996, Mr Violier took it over along with his wife Brigitte in 2012, before obtaining Swiss nationality.

A keen hunter, he was known for signature dishes including game and produced a weighty book on game meat last year.

Image copyrightAP

Image captionBenoit Violier's work was recognised by the French government last year

Accepting the French award, given by France's foreign ministry as an alternative to the World's Best 50 Restaurants prize, he said it was an "exceptional" honour.

Swiss chef Fredy Girardet, who also received three Michelin stars, told 24 Heures that he was "dumbfounded" by the news.

"He was a brilliant man," he said. "Such talent, and an amazing capacity for work. He was so kind, with so many qualities. He gave the impression of being perfect."

French chef Pierre Gagnaire tweeted: "My thoughts go out to Benoit Violier's family. Very sad news about an extremely talented chef."

Myanmar begins new parliament session ending military-only rule

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Image captionMs Suu Kyi's NLD party dominates the majority of elected seats in parliament

Hundreds of MPs have begun a parliamentary session in Myanmar to see in the first democratically elected government in more than 50 years.

It is an assembly dominated by MPs from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which won 80% of contested seats in November's poll.

But a quarter of all seats are reserved for the military, which also retains control of key ministries.

One of the new parliament's first jobs will be to choose a new president.

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Media captionDrone footage shows new Myanmar parliament building

Outgoing leader Thein Sein steps down at the end of March, but Ms Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest, is constitutionally barred from standing because her sons are British not Burmese.

She has previously indicated, however, that she will seek to exert influence through the new leader.

November's polls were the first openly contested national elections in 25 years in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

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At the scene: Jonah Fisher, BBC News, Nay Pyi Taw

For most of the last 20 years Aung San Suu Kyi's party the National League for Democracy has been treated as the enemy here - its activities suppressed and its leaders jailed.

Now hundreds of them are being sworn in as MPs. Even when the 25% of army-appointed representatives are included the NLD still have a majority.

The identity of the country's next President is still a closely guarded secret.

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Media captionWatch: BBC's Jonah Fisher catches Myanmar's MPs on their way in to parliament

For it to be Ms Suu Kyi there would have to be an incredible last minute deal and constitutional change. Most likely it will be one of her most trusted confidantes possibly her doctor.

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The new parliament will also be choosing its new chairman, as well as the speakers and deputy speakers of both the lower and upper houses.

Last week Ms Suu Kyi confirmed her party will choose Win Myint as speaker of the lower house and Win Khaing Than, as the upper house speaker.

"We will work to get human rights and democracy as well as peace," NLD MP Nyein Thit told AFP news agency as he arrived at parliament. Ms Suu Kyi did not speak to reporters as she entered the building.

Image copyrightAFP/Getty Images

Image captionThe military still retains control of several key ministries

The transition from military-only rule will go on until the NLD government officially starts its term in April. The army overthrew the last democratically-elected parliament in 1962.

Despite the NLD's landslide last November the military still retains significant control. While it still has 25% of seats in parliament under the constitution, it also retains control of the important home affairs, border affairs and defence ministries.

US elections 2016: Candidates in final pitch before Iowa vote

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Image captionThe Iowa caucuses mark the start of the election year

Road to the White House

• All eyes on Iowa in unpredictable race
• Hillary's fight to the finish
• Video Brits v Americans on US election terms
• Is Donald Trump now unstoppable?

US presidential hopefuls are to make final pitches to people in Iowa, where the first votes for party nominations will take place later on Monday.

Polls suggest that Republican Donald Trump has a narrow lead over Ted Cruz but both are well ahead of the others.

But the Democratic race is slightly tighter, with former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton edging ahead of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Each party's nominee will contest the presidential election in November.

Over the weekend, the candidates barnstormed the sparsely populated Midwestern state of Iowa in an attempt to court undecided voters.

Campaigning is expected to continue until voting starts at 19:00 local time on Monday (01:00 GMT on Tuesday).

Candidates are hoping to triumph in this first electoral test because victory can spark campaign momentum as voting moves to the other states.

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Analysis - Jon Sopel, BBC North America editor, Iowa

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is facing a fierce challenge from the new kid on the block, Bernie Sanders, the 74-year-old senator from Vermont.

He describes himself as a democratic socialist, he wants to raise taxes, he doesn't argue with the description of himself as a grumpy old man - but he has been attracting thousands and thousands of people to his rallies, and millions and millions of dollars in donations.

His popularity seems to fly in the face of all conventional political wisdom. But then again, everything about this race so far has flown in the face of all the hoary old truths.

All eyes on Iowa in unpredictable race

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Among the wide Republican field, recent polling suggests that businessman Mr Trump has a comfortable, though not certain, lead over his main rival, Texas Senator Mr Cruz.

The Democrats' far smaller field - three candidates as opposed to 11 - appears to be more competitive.

Frontrunner Hillary Clinton has a commanding lead nationally but in Iowa she is narrowly ahead of self-proclaimed Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders.

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Iowa has an unusual election system called a caucus, which involves people gathering at sites across the state at 19:00 local time (01:00 GMT Tuesday).

Democratic voters divide themselves into groups based on their preferred candidate but the Republican caucus process is more like a traditional ballot.

The last Republican winner in Iowa who won the party's nomination was George W Bush 16 years ago.

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Media captionKatty Kay explains the long and complex process for picking a presidential nominee

One issue that could have implications in Iowa is the weather.

The National Weather Service is currently forecasting a winter storm to strike the area on Monday night.

Candidates are worried that the incoming storm could prevent their voters turning out earlier in the evening.

Mr Trump joked with his supporters on Saturday, saying: "You're from Iowa! Are you afraid of snow?"