SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia announced a Aus$14.5 billion (US$15.2 billion) plan to boost funding for schools Sunday in one of the country’s biggest education reforms in decades. Under the proposal, the extra cash will be made available over six years from 2014 with the government setting a goal ...

SYDNEY - Australia announced a Aus$14.5 billion (US$15.2 billion) plan to boost funding for schools Sunday in one of the country’s biggest education reforms in decades. Under the proposal, the extra cash will be made available over six years from 2014 with the government setting a goal for ...

LAHORE – PPP leader Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo has said that the impression of the continuity of Shahbaz Sharif’s rule in Punjab is strengthening with every passing day as the Sharif family continues to enjoy the same level of protocol and security during the caretaker government in ...

LONDON  - Britain should not increase aid to nuclear-armed Pakistan unless Islamabad tries to make its wealthy elite pay more taxes, British lawmakers recommended Thursday.Britain is due to double its assistance to Pakistan to £446 million ($675 million) in 2014-2015, making it the ...

SLEEPING for two hours extra a night can reduce sensitivity to pain and can be more effective than strong painkillers, according to a new study.  Scientists say ten hours of sleep a night – rather than the recommended eight – is more effective in reducing pain than codeine. ...

OFFERING free nicotine patches or intensive counselling to smokers calling the English NHS helpline does not help them quit, a study in the BMJ says. University of Nottingham researchers found that this additional support - on top of what is already offered - had no effect on numbers giving up ...

ISLAMABAD - Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) Muhammad Shoaib Suddle on Friday said that smuggling related to the transit trade is recording a major decline of 60 per cent in one year leading to generate additional revenue of more than Rs one billion per month after investigation completed by FTO ...

ISLAMABAD - After getting a little respite from the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the contempt of court case against Prime Minister Gilani, the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and its coalition partners have started negotiations on seat adjustments for the upcoming elections on half of the ...

LAHORE – Wapda has approved the annual accounts of its Power Wing (Hydroelectric) for the fiscal year 2010-11 in a meeting held here at Wapda House on Monday. Wapda Chairman Shakil Durrani presided over the meeting while Member (Water) Syed Raghib Abbas Shah, Member (Power) Muhammad Qasim ...

Chief Justice of Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said that nobody will dare to take extra judicial step in the country and there only will be rule of law. Speaking at a ceremony on Friday, the CJ said that those who were speculating about such extra judicial steps have narrow ...

MADRID (AFP) - Rafael Nadal says his game this year has been too predictable and he has sometimes lacked drive on court -- weaknesses he plans to overcome for Wimbledon and the 2012 Olympics."With the years, you lose a bit of intensity. Intensity in your self-belief, concentration, being positive, ...

LAHORE - In order to ensure uninterrupted and efficient ATM service to customers on Eid days, almost all commercial banks have deputed special staff to fill and monitor the cash machines round the clock, it was learnt on Saturday. Banking sector sources told The Nation that the majority of the ...

OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE The Punjab Government on Saturday closed down two collection centres of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital set up near Mayo Hospital and Jinnah Hospitals, respectively, apparently for charging extra fee from dengue patients. The Government has asked the private ...

A Chinese farmer is hopeful one of her hens can smash the world record for an egg. Zhao Li from Feixiang County, northern Chinas Hebei Province was given quite a surprise when she discovered the egg, which measures an eye-watering 9cm long and 6.5cm wide with a circumference of 17cm. The whopper ...

OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE Wapda generated 3.2 billion additional units of hydel electricity during the period July 2010 to March 2011 compared with the corresponding period last year and the low-cost electricity caused saving of Rs 35 billion to the national exchequer. This increased hydel ...

A BRITISH toddler has become the first person in the world to be diagnosed with an extra strand in his DNA. Two-year-old Alfie Clamp from Nuneaton in Warkwickshire was born blind and with severe disabilities, which led doctors to carry out various tests. They found out that his seventh chromosome ...

A compromise on the process of addressing the full India-Pakistan agenda and a principle of reciprocity on the Mumbai attacks inquiry seem set to restart the peace process, claimed Hindustan Times on Wednesday. New Delhi also believes the all-powerful Pakistan army is now on board when it comes to ...

KARACHI - Pakistan Chemicals & Dyes Merchants Association Chairman Muhammad Haroon Agar has appealed the Ministry of Commerce to devise some mechanisms or impose regulations to shun the abusive dominance and cartelisation of shipping lines/agents stating that shipping lines/agents claim from ...

INDIA has formed two new army divisions - comprising more than 36,000 men - to defend the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, reported BBC on Tuesday. The remote north-eastern state adjoins China which claims large parts of it. The 56th Division will be based in the nearby state of Nagaland ...

TOKYO (AFP) - Japans central bank on Friday said it would inject more than 20 billion dollars in liquidity to calm markets in response to global turmoil triggered by the Greek debt crisis. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama also vowed to take necessary steps as Tokyo stocks closed 3.10 percent lower and ...

LAHORE - Hundreds of small traders and shopkeepers staged strong protest demonstration against massive power outages here at Regal Crossing at The Mall road on Wednesday afternoon, demanding the government to immediately end the menace of load shedding from the country. On the other hand, the LCCI ...

ISLAMABAD - Fertilizer manufacturers and traders mafia is looting farmers by charging Rs 850 or more for one bag of urea against the government announced price of Rs 750 per bag. While these money seekers are looting innocent farmers, the federal government is just sleeping and taking no action ...

ISLAMABAD - The National Assembly Standing Committee on Education has decided to move the Supreme Court to nullify the jacking up of marks of Farah Hamid Dogar and suspend her admission in medical college. The decision was taken at a meeting of the committee, which met on Friday under the ...

KARACHI - The devaluation of rupee against the US dollar and other major currencies gave a bumper benefit of Rs 195 billion to the exporters in the last financial year. Despite 6.67 per cent decline in exports in the US dollars, the exports surged by 16.27 per cent in rupees from July-June 2008-09. ...

KARACHI - The Federal government will earn additional tax revenue of Rs 7 billion per month from the general public through 10 per cent raise in electricity from July 1, 2009 and levy of Rs 8 carbon tax/per-kg on the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), sources told The Nation. The withdrawal of subsidy ...

KABUL (Reuters) - The majority of the 17,000 extra US troops being sent to fight a growing Taliban-led insurgency in southern and western Afghanistan should be on the ground by mid-July, the US military said on Sunday. A further 4,000 troops are arriving to train Afghan security forces and they ...

LAHORE - Sri Lankan cricket team manager, Brenden Kurrupu dispelled the impression that his team demanded extra security for playing a test match at Lahore's Gadaffi stadium. "We never made such a demand as we are satisfied with the security provided to us at Karachi during the first test and we ...

LAHORE - Losing spree continued even on the last of the business week on Friday and dilapidated Karachi Stock Exchange went further down on ninth consecutive day as KSE bourse had lost further 172.66 points and wrapped up at 6487.52 tumbling another 2.6 percent - meaning the market has lost about ...

KARACHI - Pakistani exporters have earned Rs 182 billion worth extra money in five months of the current financial year mainly because of the devaluation of rupee. From July-November FY09, the exports showed 12.75 per cent growth in the US dollars, but in Pakistani currency the exports reflected ...

TOKYO (AFP) - The Japanese cabinet on Saturday approved a 4.8 trillion yen (54 billion dollar) second extra budget to finance a massive stimulus package, government officials said. Prime Minister Taro Aso's cabinet plans to submit the budget, for the year to March 2009, to parliament early next ...