LAHORE: Both the leaders discussed the law and order situation of the country. The Prime Minister also briefed the
President about energy situation in the country and various measures being taken to overcome the energy shortages.
Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was also present during the meeting.

KARACHI - The State Bank of Pakistan and all offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation including Public Debt Offices will remain closed. On 25th December (Tuesday) on the occasion of Quaid-e-Azam Day/Christmas) being declared as public holiday by the Government of Pakistan.

BEIJING: A major Iranian partner of Huawei Technologies offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran s largest mobile-phone operator in late 2010, documents show.

China s Huawei, the world s second largest telecommunications equipment maker, says neither it nor its partner, a private company registered in Hong Kong, ultimately provided the HP products to the telecom, Mobile Telecommunication Co of Iran, known as MCI. Nevertheless, the incident provides new evidence of how Chinese companies have been willing to help Iran evade trade sanctions.The proposed deal also raises new questions about Shenzhen-based Huawei, which recently was criticized by the U.S. House Intelligence Committee for failing to "provide evidence to support its claims that it complies with all international sanctions or U.S. export laws."

At least 13 pages of the proposal to MCI, which involved expanding its subscriber billing system, were marked "Huawei confidential" and carried the company s logo, according to documents seen by Reuters. In a statement to Reuters, Huawei called it a "bidding document" and said one of its "major local partners," Skycom Tech Co Ltd, had submitted it to MCI.The statement went on to say, "Huawei s business in Iran is in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations including those of the U.N., U.S. and E.U. This commitment has been carried out and followed strictly by our company. Further, we also require our partners to follow the same commitment and strictly abide by the relevant laws and regulations."



In October, Reuters reported that another Iranian partner of Huawei last year tried to sell embargoed American antenna equipment to Iran s second largest mobile operator, MTN Irancell, in a deal the buyer ultimately rejected. The U.S. antenna manufacturer, CommScope Inc, has an agreement with Huawei in which the Chinese firm can use its products in Huawei systems, according to a CommScope spokesman. He added that his company strives to comply fully with all U.S. laws and sanctions.Huawei has a similar partnership with HP. In a statement, the Palo Alto, Calif., company said, "HP has an extensive control system in place to ensure our partners and resellers comply with all legal and regulatory requirements involving system security, global trade and customer privacy and the company s relationship with Huawei is no different."

 The statement added, "HP s distribution contract terms prohibit the sale of HP products into Iran and require compliance with U.S. and other applicable export laws."Washington has banned the export of computer equipment to Iran for years. The sanctions are designed to deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons; Iran says its nuclear program is aimed purely at producing domestic energy.

CHENNAI  - While captain  was happy Pakistan managed to get off to a winning start in the three-match ODI series against India, he believes the team still has a lot to work on, especially in the field. Pakistan, he said, were fortunate to walk away with the six-wicket win in Chennai. "Today we were lucky, India gave us a tough time in this situation. They lost five wickets early but still went on to make 227," Misbah was quoted as saying by PTI. "To win the next match, we will have to work hard and improve a fair bit. We have to really improve our fielding, and our death-over and Powerplay bowling. After these (changes to the) ODI rules especially, we have to improve the bowling.
Misbah-ul-Haq
"Also, we have to improve our batting performances; we couldn't chase the target down easily." Both Misbah and India captain MS Dhoni said that while it was outstanding bowling, the toss too was important. "It was a good toss to win, but it was an excellent spell by Junaid. There was something for the bowlers but of you don't bowl in the right areas when the ball is seaming, you don't get results," Misbah said. Dhoni agreed: "I think it was the toss to start with. After that they bowled well. When the ball is seaming or swinging, if you pitch it in the right areas it works.

"If you see their bowlers, they bowled up which was good. Generally on these kind of wickets there will be temptation to bowl short because there will be bounce and carry, but they made sure they bowled up and left the batsmen in trouble."

With India tottering at 29 for 5 in the 10th, Suresh Raina and Dhoni began the rebuilding, adding 73 runs. Raina was out short of a half-century but Dhoni, in extremely humid conditions, paced his innings and finished unbeaten. He was 34 off 78 balls without a boundary, got to 50 off 86 and was battling dehydration when he launched, finishing with 113 off 125. The innings won him the Man of the Match award ahead of Jamshed.

Misbah had high praise for Dhoni: "At one stage, it looked as if India would be getting out for 125 but Dhoni's was a brilliant innings. It was more difficult to play in the first half. There was lot of moisture but very well played by Dhoni. He single-handedly took the game away from us, but in the end Nasir too played an extremely good knock."

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain and Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri will address a public gathering in Karachi today (Tuesday).

Both leaders would address their supporters in Jinnah Ground and would make important announcements regarding the long march being organized by TMQ on January 14.In a surprising announcement last week, MQM chief Altaf Hussain had vowed to join Tahirul Qadri’s long march.

KARACHI: World Health Organization has released its report on measles in Pakistan according to which 210 people died of measles in Sindh province.

According to the statistics stated in WHO report, 7,274 cases of measles were reported in the province. The report also stated that an emergency campaign against the epidemic has been kicked off from today, January 1 that will continue till January 9.

The campaign will aim to vaccinate 2.9 million children to fight against measles while the government of Sindh has provided 1.3 million injections for the said  purpose.