LAHORE: A plan to import 1,000MW electricity from Iran is unlikely to address Pakistan?s immediate energy crisis as the whole process will take at lea

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BIRMINGHAM: Mitchell Johnson believes Australia will be able to overcome the loss of fellow pace bowler Ryan Harris in their series with Pakistan.

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KARACHI: The misuse of microfinance banking facilities for funding terrorism can be checked by monitoring the frequency and size of transactions, said

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LAHORE

MUCH to the embarrassment of the Treasury, two cabinet members, having no knowledge of their respective departments, kept passing the bu

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SINGAPORE: Crude prices fell below $72 on Wednesday on a slightly stronger U.S. dollar, reversing earlier gains of as much as 0.6 percent boosted by forecasts of a second weekly fall in U.S. inventories.

Prices tracked volatile equities in the past two days, paring gains on Tuesday after a report from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed a slowdown in the U.S. service sector. But the expected tightening of U.S. crude and gasoline supplies allowed oil to shrug off falling Asian equities on Wednesday.

U.S. crude for August fell 24 cents to $71.74 a barrel by 0706 GMT on Wednesday after advancing as much as 40 cents to $72.38 a barrel earlier. ICE Brent for August fell 25 cents to $71.20.

“Yesterday’’s non-manufacturing data fell more than expected, so investors have a wait-and-see approach,” said Serene Lim, a Singapore-based oil analyst with ANZ.

“The market is pricing in a drop in crude inventories, but if inventories fall less than expected, we might see prices falling.”

U.S. crude stockpiles probably fell 2.6 million barrels in the week to July 2, a survey showed on Tuesday, as imports may have dropped for a second straight week.

Gasoline inventories were forecast down 300,000 barrels on average, following a surprise modest build in the prior week, while supplies of distillates, including heating oil and diesel, probably posted their sixth straight weekly increase, adding 1.5 million barrels.

The American Petroleum Institute will publish weekly inventory data on Wednesday at 2030 GMT, followed by government statistics from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday at 1500 GMT. Both reports come a day later than usual because of the independence day holiday on July 5.

Asian stocks fell on Wednesday as investors worried global growth was faltering, while the euro held near a 7-week high as investors pared long positions in the dollar on doubts about the resilience of the U.S. recovery.

“Investors are still very concerned about the economic outlook,” said Lim, adding that prices may test the $68-$70 range before the end of the month.

“I don”t think oil could decouple from the stock markets. It’’s quite highly correlated these days. Whatever is going to happen in the stock market will have some impact on crude prices.”

A weather system over Mexico’’s Yucatan peninsula and the eastern Gulf of Mexico had a 30 percent chance of developing during the next two days into a tropical cyclone, a category that includes tropical storms and hurricanes, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said late on Monday.

The system’’s course so far has been similar to that of Hurricane Alex, which in late June forced Mexican oil terminals to shut and U.S. producers to curb output.

Global oil output will rise faster than first expected in 2010 with a strong rebound in prices from the depths of the crisis ensuring growing demand will not stretch supplies for at least another year, a Reuters poll of 10 top oil-tracking analysts and organisations found on Tuesday.

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LAHORE

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KARACHI: The weather in Karachi turned pleasant on receiving intermittent downpours in various areas of the metropolis, which pushed the mercury down as well, Geo News reported Wednesday.

According to Met Department?s chief meteorologist Muhammed Riaz, the eastern parts of the city including Clifton, Tariq Road, Nazimabad, Saddar, Gadap Town and Orangi Town began to receive showers.

According to Met Department, the recent rain spell will continue intermittently during the next 24 hours.

Meantime, power supply in Hub and Hyderabad was suspended. The streams on the RCD Road in Hub started overflowing. The low-lying areas and rain rivers were inundated with downpours couple with gale-force winds in Hub and its suburbs, posing great problems to the local residents.

Besides, Hyderabad also received from light to heavy rains, which caused the power supply cut-off. The sweltering weather got more intense with no winds after light rains.

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DURBAN: Having beaten World Cup favorites Brazil in the quarter-finals, Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk has warned his players not to take the less

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ERASMIA: Germany coach Joachim Loew said on Monday that World Cup semifinal opponents Spain will be a tougher proposition for his young team than both

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LAHORE: Local accountability court in Lahore has extended the physical remand of the former Chairman Bank of Punjab Hamesh Khan for 14 days and handed over him to NAB.

Hamesh Khan is accused of being involved in Rs9 billion fraud.

Khan had fled from the country in June this year despite his name being on the Exit Control List. However, he was brought back to the country after completion of formal legal proceedings and important documentation.

The National Accountability Bureau said Rs6.1 billion have been recovered in the Bank of Punjab scam case so far.

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