The weather report on Sunday (December 12, 2010) and the forecast for Monday (December 13, 2010).

Comparative table of returns being given banks on their Profit and Loss Sharing Investment Accounts and Term Deposits.

Following currency fluctuations took place in foreign exchange rates during the last week. (December 06 to 11 2010)

MetLife Alico has issued Weekly Unit Prices for week ended December 09, 2010.

MetLife Alico has issued Weekly Unit Prices for week ended December 09, 2010.

MetLife Alico has issued Weekly Unit Prices for week ended December 09, 2010.

Abbott Laboratories is a highly diversified global health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical, nutritional and medical products, including devices and diagnostics.

Abbott Laboratories is a highly diversified global health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical, nutritional and medical products, including devices and diagnostics.

All timings are in PST (Pakistan Standard Time).

As negotiators at UN climate talks work toward setting up a functioning climate assistance fund, flood- hit Pakistan is trying to position itself as one of the world's most climate-vulnerable nations, alongside low-lying Bangladesh, sinking small island s

Two persons including a young girl were killed in a road accident, here on Sunday, in the vicinity of Domail Police Station. According to police, a passenger van bound for Bannu collided with a pickup truck near Domail Police Station. As a result, a young

There are times when everything loses focus, clarity and significance to descent into a chaotic state as in the case of the present long war fought by a myriad of forces against a myriad of militant groups with a predictable yet unacceptable zero sum that

In a TV talk show hosted by Dr Shahid Masood; an apparent difference emerged between Zaid Hamid and Dr Farzana Bari on Iqbal when the former spoke of him as Wali without using the actual term, and the latter as philosopher without using the actual word.

Sharon Byrne is blind and lives on a disability pension of 196 euros (260 dollars) a week. She rents an apartment in Dublin which costs her 750 euros a week. Her rent allowance is 390 a month, with the shortfall coming from her disability benefit. The Iri

Credit goes to President Zardari-led PPP government for signing into law the Sacked Employees (Reinstatement) Bill 2010 in a special ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr. The law is expected to reinstate over 7000 public sector employees, who were targeted on politic

The United States' first amendment was, pre-WikiLeaks revelations, cited by the world media as epitomising a commitment to press freedom unparalleled elsewhere, enabling its press to play a critical role in providing a check and balance on the members of

The 18th Constitutional Amendment mandates that the Federal Cabinet, together with the ministers of state, shall be collectively responsible to the Senate and the National Assembly, departing from the original position when it was supposed to be collectiv

The two-day meeting between the federal and provincial finance secretaries concluded without any agreement on the rate as well as the inter-provincial collection of the reformed general sales tax (RGST). The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has been directe

Former prime minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was posthumously awarded the Service to Humanity Award by International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia last week.

Four new high security prisons and barracks are being constructed, one each at central jails Lahore, Rawalpindi, Mianwali and Sahiwal at a total cost of Rs 1935.189 million.

Punjab Chief Minister, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan and UAE have always shown support for Pakistan in "thick and thin" and this translates into concrete investments in Pakistan. He said that as Pakistan's secon

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) would issue notices to over 20,000 companies and 40,000 to 45,000 Association of Persons (AOPs) to immediately e-enroll with the FBR electronic system and file their returns for Tax Year 2009 to avoid blockage of imports

Health experts have warned people to switch off gas room heaters before going to bed to avoid risks of fire and casualties. Talking to APP here on Sunday about recent gas related incidents in some areas, Medical Superintendent Jinnah Hospital Dr Muhammad

Provincial Food and Industries Minister Choudary Abdul Ghafoor has said that government has formulated a strategy for maintaining law and order during Muharram in Punjab. Under the strategy anti-state elements and mischief mongers would be dealt with iron

A ten-member Norwegian defence delegation, led by Defence Minister of Norway, Grete Faremo, arrived on three days visit to Pakistan here on Sunday. The delegation was received by Rear Admiral Shah Sohail Masood, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence a

Over 150,000 flood affected people of Khairpur Nathan Shah are still waiting for provision of tents, warm clothes and other relief items from the government side as promised earlier.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has ruled that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) is a commercial importer of sugar and tax on import of sugar constitutes full and final discharge of tax liability of the TCP from this source of income.

Senior leader of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference, Shabbir Ahmad Shah has said that the sacrifices of Kashmiri martyrs will not be allowed to go waste and the day is not far off when the people of Kashmir will get rid of Indian bondage.

The 21st century is the century of supremacy of Islam and the world would soon witness end of tyranny, exploitation and rule of human beings over fellow beings and state aggression, Deputy Secretary General, Jamaat-e-Islami, Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha said, h

Managing Director Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) HDA, Hyderabad has prepared a contingency plan to ensure efficient services to the citizens of three urban talukas during the month of Muharram-ul-Haram.

Provincial Minister for Finance and Planning & Development, Tanvir Ashraf Kaira has said that Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline project would bring prosperity and progress in region and this project would play a vital role

After being fingered as a key cause of the rising rate of US childhood obesity, video games got a reprieve on December 06 as a new study showed they can be used to encourage kids to eat healthier foods.

Scientists may be able to find new ways to tackle plant diseases after discovering how a fungus attacks barley, a staple around the world and a main ingredient in brewing and malting.

An improved version of a common emergency room blood test could be used to detect heart disease in apparently healthy patients, according to a US study published on December 07. A less sensitive test for the protein, called cardiac troponin T (cTnT), is a

In a world with twice as much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, plants could grow larger and create a cooling effect on a warming globe, but could not halt or reverse climate change, NASA said on December 07.

The most common type of malignant childhood brain tumour is actually two different types of cancer, researchers said on December 08 in a study they said also suggested the youngest patients could receive less toxic treatments.

Certain stem cells protect tuberculosis (TB) bacteria from being destroyed, which explains why TB can lie dormant for years or even decades in the human body, researchers said on December 07.

Parents may soon be able to find out if their unborn child is prone to any inherited diseases, researchers said on December 09, after developing a non-invasive technique to draw the entire gene map of the human foetus.

Royal Dutch Shell said on December 10 that it had agreed to sell a group of gas fields in south Texas to OXY USA, a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp., for about 1.8 billion dollars (1.4 billion euros). The sale, effective from January 01, 2011, "is

US insurance giant AIG has shortlisted two firms among five original bidders for its Taiwan unit, Nan Shan Life, a report said on December 09. American International Group has set its sights on Goldsun Group and an investment firm jointly formed by Ruente

Citigroup Inc, having finally shed its status as a US government ward, is no longer handicapped when competing for business - or for the people who can attract it. "CEO Vikram Pandit and his lieutenants had to have breathed a huge sigh of relief," said Mi

The European aerospace and defence group EADS said on December 08 it expected a "significant improvement" in operating profit from 2012 on but that next year would be as tough as 2010. "We expect significant improvements for 2012 and the following years a

The European aerospace and defence group EADS said on December 08 it expected a "significant improvement" in operating profit from 2012 on but that next year would be as tough as 2010. "We expect significant improvements for 2012 and the following years a

Consumer electronics maker Panasonic Corp said on December 10 it sees no strong recovery in year-end sales in North America and Europe and expects figures to be flat or marginally up on the previous year.

The chief executive officer of Swedbank said on December 10, slightly stronger lending margins due to higher interest rates and lower funding costs would help the bank produce "reasonable profits" in 2011.

Gulf-based banks and companies, struggling to overcome a lack of investor confidence after the Dubai debt crisis, are increasingly looking towards Malaysia, the world's biggest Islamic bond market with a vast pool of cash.

Gulf-based banks and companies, struggling to overcome a lack of investor confidence after the Dubai debt crisis, are increasingly looking towards Malaysia, the world's biggest Islamic bond market with a vast pool of cash.

Southeast Asia's biggest budget carrier AirAsia plans to launch a joint venture airline operation in the Philippines in 2011, an official involved in the negotiations said on December 08.

Dynamic business activity in Asia should push the global value of stock market flotations to more than 300 billion dollars (227 billion euros) this year, exceeding the record in 2007, a study showed on December 08. In the first 11 months of the year the a

Verizon Communications Inc is studying a plan that would allow its FiOS customers to choose different combinations of broadband speeds and TV channels, a top executive said on December 6Monday. The moves comes as Verizon and other cable and telephone dist

Backpackers are travelling the world with high-tech toys and are often searching as much for free Wi-Fi as for historical sites. And they are in touch with family and friends thanks to Facebook, Twitter, Skype and instant messaging.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg unveiled changes to member profile pages on Sunday and said the movie "The Social Network" got "hugely basic" things wrong about the origins of the site.

More than 300,000 smartphones running on Google-backed Android software are activated daily, according to an engineering vice president at the Internet giant. Andy Rubin fired off the update in a terse "tweet" at microblogging service Twitter late Decemeb

Microsoft unveiled increased privacy options December 7 for the upcoming version of its popular Web browser Internet Explorer 9 including the ability to prevent tracking by third-party websites. The US software giant said that the new feature, "Tracking P

Amazon will make its Kindle electronic books available for reading on Web browsers beginning early next year, with people's digital collections saved in the Internet "cloud." Amazon executives on December 7 showed off "Kindle for the Web" at a Google pres

Tech terms ruled when it came to queries on the world's leading search engine in 2010, with online stranger-pairing website Chatroulette and Apple's hip iPad tablet computer the hottest topics.

Germany is ranked seventh globally in its appeal to information technology companies, according to figures on December 7 released at government-sponsored IT summit in Dresden. South Korea topped the survey by pollsters TNS Infratest, bumping the US down t

ICANN, the international regulatory body for Web architecture, met here on December 6 to discuss expanding the list of top level domain names and a new generation of Internet protocol addresses.

Three-fourths of the US adult population are Internet users and eight percent of those who are online use Twitter, according to a study released on December 9. The study by the Pew Research Centre's Internet and American Life Project found that the micro-

Google is building its Chrome operating system into notebook computers expected to hit the market next year in a challenge to the software at the heart of Microsoft's empire.

About 1,000 people protested in Moscow on Sunday in support of jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky ahead of a new court verdict due next, with a smaller rally staged in Saint Petersburg. Khodorkovsky and his partner Platon Lebedev, who are already serv

Iran has sentenced a prominent reformist journalist to 16 months in jail on charges of insulting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and undermining the Islamic regime, he told AFP on Sunday. Mashallah Shamsolvaezin heads the Journalists' Association of Iran an

Australian former Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks on Sunday said he was a "political scapegoat" and insisted his training in Pakistan and Afghanistan was "very far removed from acts of terrorism".

The Ivory Coast crisis took a disturbing new turn Sunday after Laurent Gbagbo, clinging defiantly to power after disputed polls, accused foreign envoys of seeking to turn the military against him.

Bahrain's foreign minister on Sunday stressed that Gulf countries want to be kept informed about the negotiations that Iran is holding with world powers on its controversial nuclear programme.

Hundreds of Egyptian activists and members of opposition groups protested on Sunday against what they said were violations during a parliamentary vote that handed the ruling party a huge victory last month.

The Philippines skipped the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in an attempt to encourage China to spare the lives of five of its nationals on death row, officials said Sunday.

Home Secretary Theresa May said Sunday she was "actively" considering whether to ban firebrand US pastor Terry Jones from entering Britain to speak to far-right activists. He has been invited to an English Defence League (EDL) rally to speak out "against

A 1,400-year-old monastery that is the only known pre-Islamic Christian site in the United Arab Emirates has opened to visitors, The National newspaper reported on Sunday.

Several hundred nuclear energy opponents formed a human chain around a German nuclear storage site on Sunday, to protest against transports of radioactive material. The storage site in Ahaus, near the Dutch border, holds spent nuclear fuel rods that were

The United States tried to stop delivery of Russian anti-aircraft missiles to Venezuela in 2009 amid concerns it could pass them on to Marxist guerrillas in Colombia or Mexican drug gangs, The Washington Post said on Sunday, citing diplomatic cables from

Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee was in a class of his own as he cruised to an unprecedented 13th Asian Tour title at the Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open on Sunday. The untouchable three-time Asian Tour Order of Merit winner posted a final-round seven-under-par

Malaysia's world number one Lee Chong Wei put his Asian Games disappointment behind him to smash his way to the Hong Kong Open Super Series title Sunday, while Saina Nehwal won the women's crown. Top seed Lee, beaten by China's Lin Dan in the final last m

Tamim Iqbal smashed seven sixes in a brisk 95 as Bangladesh defeated Zimbabwe by six wickets in the fifth and final one-day international on Sunday to clinch the series 3-1. The left-handed opener also cracked five fours in a 96-ball knock to help Banglad

Former captain Ramiz Raja said on Sunday Pakistan have the talent to ride out a spot-fixing scandal engulfing the national game. "For me credibility and integrity are the main issues and there is a need to draw a line between whether we want suspicious pl

Highflying Premier League side Manchester City rejected on Sunday a written transfer request by disenchanted captain Carlos Tevez. The 26-year-old Argentine international has endured a rocky relationship with manager Roberto Mancini and is understood to b

Six people, including the coach of former world 3,000m steeplechase champion Marta Dominguez, were charged with public health offences and trafficking in illegal substances on Sunday as a major doping probe continued.

Chelsea missed the chance to go top in the English Premier League after Didier Drogba saw a late penalty saved in a 1-1 draw away to Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on Sunday. Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who'd let substitute Drogba's shot go thr

Wicketkeeper Matt Prior said England were aiming to go through their Australian tour unbeaten after the tourists ground out a draw in their three-day match with Victoria on Sunday. Set 311 runs to win on the final day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Engl

Muhammad Leghari of Royal Palm with an aggregate score of 213, net (74+68+71) emerged as title winner of the 27th Millat Governor's Cup Golf Tournament here at Gymkhana Golf Course on Sunday.

Retired tennis star Martina Hingis has married French showjumper Thibault Hutin in Paris, Swiss celebrity magazine Schweizer Illustrierte said. According to the magazine's website, the 30-year-old former Grand Slam champion and the 24-year-old rider held

Britain's Amir Khan withstood a furious challenge from Argentina's Marcos Maidana to retain his WBA light welterweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday. Maidana landed a right hand early in the first round that appeared to hurt the champion. But Khan (24-1,

An Abu Dhabi state firm says it will deepen ties to Yemen's oil industry as the Arab world's poorest country looks to boost output from its dwindling reserves. Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Company and the Yemen Company for Investments in Oil and Miner

Japan's Nissan Motor Co delivered the first mass-market all-electric car to a technology entrepreneur in California on Saturday as the company tries to get a jump in the nascent green vehicle race.

Dubai's ruler appointed a new board for Dubai World, the flagship conglomerate which struck a deal to restructure $25 billion in debt earlier, appointing his uncle and key adviser as chairman on Sunday.

Dubai's ruler appointed a new board for Dubai World, the flagship conglomerate which struck a deal to restructure $25 billion in debt earlier, appointing his uncle and key adviser as chairman on Sunday.

Ecuador will auction several oil fields including those previously held by foreign companies forced out of the country last month for refusing to accept new contract terms, the natural resources minister said on Saturday.

China will ratchet up efforts to quell inflation in 2011 while pushing forward economic restructuring to help sustain robust growth, state media said on Sunday after the close of an annual policy-setting conference.

Dubai's main banking centre is cutting office rental rates to encourage more business in the glitzy office park. The state-run Dubai International Financial Centre said Sunday the cuts - which could mean discounts of half or more - aim to attract new firm

Russia could allow visa-free travel for passengers of a high-speed train linking Finland and Russia, a senior official said, as Moscow presses the European Union to ease travel restrictions.

The European Central Bank's chief economist said on Sunday that Greece needed to press on with difficult structural reforms if it is to overcome the debt crisis plaguing the nation.

Ireland's main opposition Fine Gael party will seek to renegotiate an IMF/EU 85 billion euros rescue package to get a lower interest rate if it is elected to power next year, a senior member said on Sunday.

Germany is open to a discussion over whether countries that share the euro currency should harmonise their fiscal policy, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said. In an interview published on Sunday in Bild am Sonntag newspaper, Schaeuble said the

Australia's government unveiled reforms to boost bank competition on Sunday, allowing lenders to issue covered bonds for the first time and cracking down on interest rate signalling under a package designed to calm voter anger at rising mortgage interest

The Indian economy has grown at a rate above expectations and may touch an annualised 9 per cent in the current fiscal year, an economic advisor to the prime minister said Sunday.

Malaysia's foreign direct investment has jumped 141 percent in the first nine months, in a rebound analysts said Sunday was partly due a series of bold economic reforms introduced by the government. The export-dependent Southeast Asian nation saw a sharp

White House adviser David Axelrod said on Sunday he expected the US House of Representatives will pass President Barack Obama's tax deal without significant changes. The Senate was expected this week to approve the deal Obama cut with Republicans but many

After concluding the gas-shedding schedule, the hundred industrial units and more than 100,000 powerlooms were remained closed on fourth consecutive day, here on Sunday, when Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) authorities decreased the gas pressur

With every passing day amid hindrance and lack of political economic will to bring fiscal reforms, the budget deficit seems to be widening and the lack of funding sources is making the government rely more and more on domestic banking sources, which is bu

It has been notified that few seats are still vacant under the 'self financing scheme' for the districts of Jamshoro, Tando Muhammad Khan, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Dadu, Mirpurkhas, Thatta, Tharparkar, Umerkot, Sanghar, Badin, Sukkur, Kashmore, Shaheed Be