KARACHI: Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani was brought to a private hospital in Defence Housing Society (DHA) Karachi Thursday for medical check-up.
The hospital sources said the CM was brought to the hospital due to severe kidney problem.
After an hour?s check-up he left hospital with the help of a walking stick.
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Pakistan News
LAHORE: The government will announce a package to redress the grievances of the people of Balochistan within a few days.
Federal Minister for I
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HYDERABAD: Twenty-eight bogies overturned as a result of the collision of two freight trains at Kotri Railway Station near Hyderabad on Thursday.
Moreover, two persons were injured while oil from bogies spilled over around the area.
According to reports, a goods train coming from Karachi collided with another goods train stationed at Kotri Railway station due to which several bogies overturned.
A train driver Shahid and a fireman Rashid sustained injuries in the incident and they were taken to Taluka Hospital Kotri for immediate medical treatment.
The collision resulted in spilling of oil in huge quantity.
The incident took place at 1-30 pm but relief operation has still not begun after the accident.
However, Railway officials said that a rescue train has left Karachi towards the spot and the Railway officials have also gone to the scene.
Police and Rangers cordoned off the area just after the trains collided while fire-brigade and Edhi ambulance immediately reached the spot.
According to the Railway officials, each bogie contains 49,000 litres of oil and 28 bogies overturned from which oil is being taken out.
Taking notice of the accident of the goods trains, minister of state for Railway Jadam Mangrio has ordered GM and DS Railway for investigation.
He also directed to investigate that how both trains reached the same track.
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SYDNEY: Australia’’s jobless rate remained steady at 5.8 percent for a third month in August despite a continuing shift from full-time to part-time employment due to the near-stagnant economy, figures showed Thursday.
The jobless rate was better than most economists had expected but Employment Minister Julia Gillard said the data contained “some troubling aspects” including a shift to part-time work and an overall loss of jobs that was matched by a fall in the number of people seeking work.
“When we consider … these figures, they point to a need to continue to support economic activity through economic stimulus,” Gillard told reporters, referring to government plans to spend billions of dollars on infrastructure projects.
Craig James, chief economist for financial management firm CommSec, said that with the number of job advertisements beginning to increase, Australia’’s unemployment rate would likely peak far below the government’’s prediction of 8.5 percent in mid 2010.
“We”re getting some early indications that the jobless rate may be peaking around about 6 percent, and that’’s a whole lot lower than what a lot of economists thought,” James told Sky Television.
Despite the overall unemployment rate remaining steady, full-time jobs slipped by 30,800 while part-time jobs increased by 3,800. Total hours worked during the month fell by 1.5 billion.
A fall of 27,100 jobs to less than 11 million was canceled out by a 0.3 percentage point shrinkage of the labor market as many job seekers abandoned their search, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday cited falls in retail spending and housing finance in July to warn that Australia’’s economy was not yet clear of the global economic downturn.
Australia has so far avoided a recession, recording only one quarter of economic contraction in the three months through December since the global downturn struck.
Opposition lawmakers argue that better-than-expected economic growth is evidence that the government is unnecessarily overspending on boosting the economy.
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KARACHI: The country?s foreign exchange reserves have downscaled to $14.243 billion with the decrease of $64 million, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan shows Thursday.
The reserves held by the SBP witnessed a decrease of $52.6 million to go down to $10.73 billion on the week ending on September 5.
The reserves held by the banks other than SBP recorded a decrease of $10.6 million to climbed down at $3.504 billion.
The experts said the national forex reserves shrank owing to the payments of international loans.
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PESHAWAR: At least three women were killed in firing incident in Gulabad area of Peshawar, police sources said Thursday.
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NEW YORK: Women labour leaders say there’’s a ?dark side? to Statistics Canada figures suggesting that for the first time in history there are more women than men in Canada?s workforce.
A recently issued labour force survey found that about 7.1 million women were in paid employment during the first half of 2009, compared to 6.9 million men.
Women outnumbered men in both the ?under 25 years? and the ?25 years and over? demographics.
The figures are not a reflection of gains in female-dominated industries, but of layoffs and cutbacks in male-dominated industries, such as the beleaguered manufacturing and natural resources sectors, said labour leaders in the auto and nursing sector.
?Nobody should break out the champagne here,? said Laurell Ritchie, a national representative with the Canadian Auto Workers? union. ?There is a dark side to this story.?
In the past year, employment among women has risen by 0.6 per cent, while men?s employment has fallen by 1.7 per cent in the same period, the report indicates.
?Men are losing jobs, they?re unemployed, they”re taking early retirement, when that may not have been their original plan, or moving into self-employment,? Ritchie said.
?With women, there has been some increase in some areas of the service sector, like health care, and women predominate in those jobs.?
Ritchie said she was reviewing the report and noticed something she had never seen before ? that there were more women in paid employment than men.
She called Statistics Canada and got the numbers confirmed.
But the study?s figures do not include Canadians who are self-employed or unemployed who are actively seeking jobs.
Women are taking part-time and any work they can get, to put food on the table for their families, said Lesley Bell, a registered nurse and CEO of the Ontario Nurses? Association.
?Women are only paid 71 cents on the dollar in relation to men so they?re cheaper costs,? Bell, whose association is 98 per cent women, said. ?Women are getting more work, but at a much lower rate usually.?
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Islamabad
As the holy month of Ramazan nears its last 10 days, million of faithful are preparing to observe ?Aitkaf?, which starts from Friday
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KARACHI: The teams of Lahore and Sialkot on Thursday qualified for the quarter-finals in the Junior Super Hockey League, being played here at the Hockey Club of Pakistan.
In the hockey league of the highest prize money of the country?s history, Abottabad defeated Larkana 2-0 and both goals were scored by Mohammad Rehan.
In other match, Sialkot outplayed Peshawar 4-0 to qualify for the quarter-finals. Wasim Abbas made two goals while Mohamamd Adnan and Mohammad Umair scored one goal each for Silakot.
Lahore beat Faisalabad 1-0 to reach the quarter-finals. The solitary goal of the match was netted by Mohammad Javed.
The match between Islamabad and Multan ended in a draw.
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KARACHI: Pakistani stocks ended nearly one percent lower on Thursday after gaining almost 3 percent the previous day as investors sold shares to book profits at higher levels, dealers said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange’’s (KSE) benchmark 100-share index closed or 88.79, or 0.98 percent, lower at 8,996.19 on turnover of 232.4 million shares. The KSE-index made its highest close this year on Wednesday at 9,084.38 points.
The index has gained 53.4 percent this year after losing 58.3 percent in 2008.
“After a huge increase yesterday, we saw some profit taking today, especially from the local institutions,” said Mohammed Sohail, chief executive at Topline Securities.
The KSE-index has been rallying for the previous few sessions as dealers said foreign investors had been looking at Pakistan because its macroeconomic fundamentals were improving, but there was some selling from local institutions.
According to official data, foreign investors bought shares worth $95.3 million in August and $77 million in September.
Last month, SP raised Pakistan’’s sovereign rating to B-minus from CCC+, citing improvements in its external liquidity and a reduction in its fiscal deficit.
Dealers said that the 9,000-points level had also been provided some resistance.
Among blue-chips, Oil and Gas Development Co. Ltd. shed 3.41 percent to 109.50 rupees, National Bank of Pakistan, gained 0.39 percent to 78.10, and Pakistan Oilfields, ended 4.2 percent higher at 211.50 rupees.
In the currency market, the rupee ended firmer at 82.77/87 to the dollar compared with Wednesday’’s close of 82.90/94 due to portfolio inflows.
Dealers said the rupee was expected to face downward pressure because of import payments.
The rupee has lost 4.43 percent this year after losing 22.12 percent in 2008.
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