Pak News Today: Pakistan not to withdraw its Kashmir stance: Abdul...

Pak News Today: Pakistan not to withdraw its Kashmir stance: Abdul...: NEW DELHI: Pakistan High Commissioner in India Abdul Basit says Pakistan will not withdraw from its stance on Kashmir, ARY News reporte...

Fan’s sequel in the making?

MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and producer Aditya Chopra were thrilled over the reviews of the movie “Fan” and are thinking of making a sequel of the thriller flick whose story-line is based on a youngster who is obsessed to meet his favorite movie star.

An Indian news website, quoting a report, stated that Khan and Chopra were happy over the response of Fan is getting and is eager to take the thriller story forward.

Bodybuilding clubs in hot water after mysterious death of weightlifters

KARACHI: Pakistan Bodybuilding Federation cancelled the registration of all the bodybuilding clubs in the country following the mysterious deaths of four bodybuilders in the 17 days, ARY News reported.

Pakistan Bodybuilding Federation, in its stance, stated that bodybuilders are made to consume banned substances.

“The registration of all bodybuilding clubs in the country has been cancelled a five-member committee has been initiated in every province,” the federation stated. The organization added that the clubs will have to submit an affidavit for the restoration of their registration.

It should be noted that the main cause of death of the four bodybuilders is unknown but the consumption of banned substances is said to be one of the reasons.

Bodybuilder Matloob Haider became the fourth bodybuilder to die in mysterious circumstances within a period of 17 days. His death came several days after the passing away of Humayun Khurram, who had won the South Asian Bodybuilding Championship.

Matloob Haider

Khurram’s family denied that the bodybuilder was on steroids and passed away while consuming a meal.

Humayun Khurram

Bodybuilder Hamid Ali, hailing from Sialkot, also died on 3rd April in mysterious circumstances while Gujranwala’s Rizwan had also died in similar fashion as well.

Watchdog says press freedom in decline, warns of ‘new era of propaganda’

PARIS: World press freedom deteriorated in 2015, advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday as it released its annual rankings, warning of “a new era of propaganda”.

The World Press Freedom Index ranks 180 countries on indicators such as media independence, self-censorship, the rule of law, transparency and abuses.

This year’s index saw a decline in all parts of the world, Christophe Deloire, secretary general of the Paris-based group told AFP, with Latin America of particular concern.

“All of the indicators show a deterioration. Numerous authorities are trying to regain control of their countries, fearing overly open public debate,” he said.

“Today, it is increasingly easy for powers to appeal directly to the public through new technologies, and so there is a greater degree of violence against those who represent independent information,” he added.

“We are entering a new era of propaganda where new technologies allow the low-cost dissemination of their own communication, their information, as dictated. On the other side, journalists are the ones who get in the way.”

The situation was particularly grave in Latin America, the report said, highlighting “institutional violence” in Venezuela and Ecuador, organised crime in Honduras, impunity in Colombia, corruption in Brazil and media concentration in Argentina as the main obstacles to press freedom.

Among the lowest ranked countries were Syria, at 177th place out of 180, just below China (176th) but above North Korea (179th) and last placed Eritrea.

Japan slumped to 72nd due to what the watchdog identified as self-censorship towards Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, while Finland retained its top spot for the sixth consecutive year, followed by the Netherlands and Norway.

Trump, Clinton clinch New York primary to emerge inevitable contenders

New York: Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton scored sweeping victories in nominating contests in their home state of New York making them inevitable choice as their respective parties’ presidential nominees.

Trump’s crushing defeat of Ted Cruz in the primary election tilted the energy in the Republican race back to the front-runner. The Republican National Committee members begin meeting in Florida to discuss their July convention where the nominee will be chosen.

The Democratic favorite Clinton’s narrow victory over Bernie Sanders snapped a string of victories by the 74-year-old democratic socialist and gave her a much-needed lift. The eventual victors of the Democratic and the Republican nominating campaigns will face each other in November’s general election.

Trump’s win was celebrated to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” at Trump Tower in Manhattan. It set him up for another big night on April 26 when Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Maryland will hold primaries.

Trump has sought to improve in recent weeks as a candidate with a campaign reboot and a more focused performance. The tone of his victory speech was in keeping with a more measured style the often-brash billionaire has adopted.

Trump’s haul of most of New York’s 95 delegates moved him closer to the 1,237 needed to win the nomination outright. Anything short of that will lead to a contested convention when Republicans hold their national conclave July 18-21 in Cleveland.

“We don’t have much of a race anymore based on what I’m seeing on television,” Trump said as television networks projected a large margin of victory for him. “Senator Cruz is just about mathematically eliminated.”

Trump predicted some “amazing weeks” ahead for his campaign, but has a long way to go to seal the nomination and begin trying to heal the wounds in his bitterly divided party.

Cruz, a 45-year-old U.S. senator from Texas, came in third in New York and gave his primary night speech in Philadelphia, where he was already focused on running in Pennsylvania. He called on Republicans to unite around his candidacy.

Ohio Governor John Kasich, 63, a long-shot candidate, is seeking to use his second-place showing in New York as proof he is emerging as a central challenger to Trump.

Clinton, a former U.S. senator from New York, former secretary of state and former first lady, got nowhere near the knockout punch she needed to finally put Sanders away.

The broad smile on her face as she gave her victory speech spoke volumes about how important New York was to her bid to become the first female U.S. president.

“Today you proved once again there’s no place like home,” Clinton said. “This one was personal.” The race for the Democratic nomination, she said, is now in “the home stretch, and victory is in sight.”

Clinton, 68, was to campaign in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Sanders flew home to Vermont to take a day off the campaign trail. Her win made it nearly impossible for Sanders to overtake her commanding lead in the number of delegates needed to win the nomination.

Saudi to take $10 billion foreign loan: report

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will take a $10 billion loan from foreign banks to help close the gap in its state finances from collapsed oil revenues, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

Citing three people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg said it would be the first sovereign loan in at least 15 years to the kingdom, the world’s biggest oil exporter.

The five-year loan is expected to be signed by the end of this month, said Bloomberg’s sources, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.

They said US, European, Japanese and Chinese banks are lending the funds at about 120 basis points above London’s interbank offered rate.

The global collapse in crude prices over the last two years — from more than $100 a barrel in early 2014 to around $40 this month — has put pressure on Riyadh to cut spending and to intensify its efforts to find economic alternatives.

Riyadh posted a record budget deficit of $98 billion in 2015 and projects an $87 billion shortfall for this year.

The shortfall has been covered by the kingdom’s significant fiscal reserves, which dropped to $611.9 billion at the end of 2015 from $732 billion a year before, Saudi Arabia’s Jadwa Investment said in a February report.

The kingdom also issued bonds on the domestic market worth $30 billion.

Riyadh took the unprecedented step of raising retail fuel prices by up to 80 percent in December and cutting subsidies for electricity, water and other services.

It has also delayed some major projects and mooted privatisations and the imposition of taxes.

On Monday the kingdom is to announce its “vision” for future social and economic development, including a “National Transformation Programme” aimed at diversifying the economy away from oil, which still accounts for more than 70 percent of state revenues.

Agencies have lowered Saudi Arabia’s long-term credit ratings. Fitch Ratings earlier this month downgraded Riyadh to AA- from AA due to the “major negative implications” of the plunge in oil prices.