(Being disabled is actually often tougher on the soul than on the body, often because of who think as you do. Peer Zada Waqar Alam, 03433490165).

Current affairs:

12 Oct: OSLO: The European Union (EU) won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for its efforts to promote peace and democracy in Europe, an award given despite the bloc struggling with its biggest crisis since it was created in the 1950s. The Norwegian prize committee said the EU was being honored for six decades of contributions “to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human right in Europe.” The EU grew out of the tremendous devastation of the World War II, fueled by the conviction that ever-close economics ties would make sure that century-old enemies never turned on each other again. It is now make up of 500 million people in 27 nations, with other nations lined up, waiting to join. EU has Currency Euro, the common currency used by 17 of its member. “The EU is a unique project that replaced war with peace, hate with solidarity. Overwhelming emotion for awarding of #Nobel Prize to EU,” Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, wrote in tweet.

11 Oct: STOCKHOLM: Chinese writer Mo Yan was named the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature for the year 2012 on Thursday. The Swedish Academy, which selects the winners of the prestigious award, praised Mo’s “hallucinatory realism” saying that it “merges folk tales, history and the contemporary.” Academy said that it was honoring Mo Yan for using “fantasy and reality, historical and social perspectives” to create world reminiscent of William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The prize is worth eight million kronor, or about $1.2 million. Mo Yan is a pen name which means “Don’t Speak”. His real name is Guan Moye and he was forced to drop out of primary school and herd cattle during China’s Cultural Revolution.

11 Oct: COLOMBO: Former Indian captain Anil Kumble was on Thursday appointed head of the influential “ICC cricket committee” of the ICC, replacing West Indian legend Clive Lloyd. Kumble 41 is the world’s third-highest wicket-taker in Tests with 619 scalps, behind Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Shane Warne (708). He also took 337 ODI international wickets. “In Anil Kumble we have a new chairman who has unquestioned experience not only as a player with India but also as an administrator with Karnaktaka State Cricket Association,” ICC President Alan Isaac said. Andrew Strauss, who retired as England captain was also appointed to the committee.

10 Oct: MADRID: Archeologists said on Wednesday they believe they have found the exact spot in Rome where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death on March 15, 44 BC.

Oct 10: Chinese manufacture Lenovo has overtaken US-based Hewlett-Packard (HP) as the largest global vendor of personal computers, according to a survey Wednesday highlighting a struggling PC market. The survey by the research firm Gartner showed Lenovo took over the top vendor spot for the first time with 15.7 percent of the market in the third quarter of 2012, edging HP with 15.5 percent. Gartner said Dell was the number three maker with a 10.5 percent global market share followed by Taiwan’s Acer with 9.8 percent and another Taiwan firm Asus with 7.3 percent.

10 Oct: Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan celebrating his 70th birthday, media reported on Thursday.

10 Oct: Veteran politician and former federal minister Dr Sher Afgan Niazi passed away.

10 Oct: Indian famous singer Jugit Singh 1st death anniversary. He died on 10 October 2011 at the age of 70 years. He was admitted in hospital on 24 September 2011.

10 Oct: World Mental Health Day, is supported by the UN, and is annually held on October 10 to raise public awareness about mental health issues around the world. Mental disorders affect almost 12 percent of world’s population, about one out every four people or 450 million, will experience a mental disorder that would benefit from treatment.

9 Oct: Queen of Sindhi music who took Sufi music to the next level of spirituality, Abida Parveen was honored with life time achievement award at the KalaHarmi Begum Akhtar Academy of Ghazal in India. She is an internationally acclaimed singer of Sindhi descent who received training from her father Ustaad Ghulam Haider. She started her career with Radio Pakistan, Hydrebad, in 1973 after which there was no looking back. Parveen has been awarded Pakistan’s Award for Pride of Performance in 1982 and the Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 2005.

9 Oct: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.,: A prototype communication satellite flying as a secondary payload aboard a Space Exploration Technologies Falcon 9 rocket was sent into the wrong orbit because of a problem during launch Sunday evening, officials said Tuesday.

9 Oct: SINGAPORE: Pakistan State Oil is seeking up to 845,000 tones of oil products for delivery from November 2012 to February 2013, about 50 per cent more than it bought for September to December delivery, a tender document showed on Tuesday. The state-owned firm is looking for 455,000 tones of high sulphur fuel oil, 110,000 tones of low sulphur fuel oil and 280,000 tones of motor gasoline, the document said.

9 Oct: STOCKHOLM: Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the US won the Nobel Physics prize on Tuesday for work in quantum physics that could one day open the way to revolutionary computers. The pair, both 68, was honored for pioneering optical experiments

in “measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems,” the Nobel Physics jury said in its citation. “Their groundbreaking methods have enabled this field of research to take the very first step towards building a new type of super-fast computer based on quantum physics.” The laureates will receive their prizes at formal ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. The Nobel Foundation has slashed its prize sum to eight million Swedish Kronor ($1.2 million, 930,000 euros) per award, form the 10 million kronor awarded since 2001, due to economics crisis.

8 Oct: John Gurdon (an emeritus professor of developmental biology at the University of Cambridge) attends a news conference after winning the Nobel Prize for medicine in London October 8, 2012. Briton John Gurdon and Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka win the 2012 Nobel Prize for medicine or physiology for research which revolutionized understanding of how cells and organisms develop, the award-giving body said on Monday. British scientist John Gordon, awarded the Nobel Medicine Prize, admitted on Monday that ha had done the bulk of the cell programming work for which he was honored half a century ago. He told reporters that his ground-braking work “was essentially to show that all the different cells of body have the same genes. “The work that I did was to test that proposition, In the 1950s we really didn’t know. “The outcome was that they do. That means that, in principle, you should be able to derive any one kind o cell from another because they’ve all got the same genes.

7 Oct: COLOMBO: Darren Sammy’s West Indies were crowned the new World Twnenty20 champions on Sunday after a 36-run victory over hosts Sri Lank in a dramatic final in Colombo on Sunday. The West Indies, restricted to 137-6 after electing to bat, hit back to bowl Sri Lanka out for 101 and silence a sell-out crowd of 35,000 at the Premadasa Stadium that included President Mahinda Rajapakse. It was the first world title for the West Indies since the 50-over World Cup triumph under Clive Lloyd in 1979, and handed Sri Lnaka their fourth defeat in a major final since 2007.

7 Oct: Niles Henrik David Bohr 127th birthday, he was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. He was born on Oct 7, 1885, Copenhagen and died on November 18, 1962 in Copenhagen.

Oct 6: Australian umpire Simon Taufel received his farewell press as he will retire as ICC Elite Panel umpire after Sunday’s World T20 final on 7 Oct. The winner of the ICC Umpire of the Year award for five straight year’s b/w 2004 and 2008, Taufel officiated in 74 tests and 174 one-day internationals. The World T20 final on Sunday will be his 34th T20 international. He said” when I look back, there are many memorable moments. But I can instantly remember the India versus Pakistan game at Mohali during the 2011 World Cup semifinal as the most exciting one,”

Oct 5: the State Bank announced on Friday another cut in the policy interest rate by 50 basis points to 10 per cent. In August, the SBP had, in a surprise move, reduced the interest rate by 150 basics points amid an improved inflation projection for 2012-13 and for encouraging private investment. Since July the SBP has reduced the rate by 400 basics points. “A consistent deceleration in inflation since May to 8.8 per cent in September 2012 is more than earlier estimates. The likelihood of meeting the 9.5 per cent inflation target for FY13 has increased,” said the policy statement.

Oct 5: COLOMBO: Chris Gayle smashed an unbeaten 75 off 41 balls (also Kieron Pollard hit 38 off 15 balls) as the West Indies stormed into the World T20 final with a record 74-runs demolition of Australia in Colombo on Friday. The Windies piled up the tournament’s highest total of 205-4 after electing to bat, while Australians found the huge target too hot to handle and folded up for 131 in 16.4 over at the Premadasa stadium in front of 28,000 awe-struck spectators still reeling from the West Indies innings.

Oct 4: COLOMBO: Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 16 runs in 1st Semi Final. Sri Lanka made 139and Pakistan 124-7.

Oct 4: Pakistan’s regulator has issued new draft rules for the issuance of sukuk or Islamci bonds, as part of initiatives to boost the Islamic Banking sector in the country. Country also introducing new rules for Takful (Islamic insurance) designed to increase competition.

Oct 4: SEOUL: Samsung Electronics reported a record quarterly profit of $7.3 billion, nearly double last year’s figure, as strong sales of high-end TVs and Galaxy Smartphone more than offset reduced orders for chips and screens from Apple Inc, its main rival and leading customer. South Korean group, the world’s leading maker of Smartphone, TVs and memory chips, ramps up its marketing to counter Apple’s new iPhone and other products in a crowded $200 billion global Smartphone market.

Oct 4: NEW YORK: Facebook said Thursday that it now has more than one billion users, in a new milestone for the World’s biggest social network. Co-founder Mark Zuckerberg made an announcement, saying the number is humbling. He called the milestone “unbelievable”. The company also said it has seen 1.3 trillion “like,” endorsements by users, since the company launched the feature in February 2009. It said 219 billion photos were uploaded as of September, Excluding deleted photos; about 265 billion photos have been uploaded since 2005. About 17 billion location-tagged posts were made on the website, Facebook said, and 62.6 million songs have been played 22 billion times since September 2011. The median age of a Facebook user was 22, it said, and the top five user countries were Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico and the United States.

Oct 3: The Australian govt. admits the Great Barrier Reef has been neglected for decades after a study showed it has lost more than half its coral cover in the past 27 years. The study said coral cover on the heritage-listed-reef the world’s largest – could have again by 2022 if trends continued. Intense tropical cyclones -34 in total since 1985 – were responsible for much of the damage, accounting for 48 percent, with outbreaks of the coral-feeding- crown-of-thorns starfish linked to 42 percent. The study findings were drawn form the worlds largest ever reef monitoring project involving 2,258 surveys over 27 year.

2 Oct: COLOMBO: India beat South Africa by 1 runs while South Africa chasing India 152-6 bowled out at 151-10 (19.4) in last super eight match. Earlier Pakistan beat Australia by 32 runs. Pakistan made 149-6 after being sent in to bat in the group two super eight match at the Premadasa Stadium, before a five-man spin attack restricted Australia to 117-7. Prolific spinner Saeed Ajmal claimed 3-17, but it was 20-year-old Raza Hasan who was declared man of the match for conceding just 14 runs and taking to wickets in four over of steady left-arm spin.

2 Oct: TBILISI (the capital and largest city of Georgia on Kura River): Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili conceded on Tuesday that his ruling party had lost an election to a coalition led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, increasing the chances of a peaceful transfer of power in the former Soviet republic. Ivanishvili said he was confident to become prime minister a partial results put his six-party Georgian Dream on course to win Monday’s 1st Oct parliamentary election. “I believe that Bidzina will make our lives better,” said Nino Kantaria, 42, walking on the Freedom Square in Tbilisi. “

1 October: The state Bank has paid another installment to IMF debt that reduced the debt burden but also cut the size of foreign exchange reserves. The SBP said on Monday that it paid $109.4 million to the IMF which was the fifth such payments that started last year. The bank said it has so far paid a total amount of $1.402 billion to the IMF which had provided about $7 billion under Standby Agreement. The agreement was initially for a loan of $11 billion but Pakistan failed to remain on track suggested by the IMF as a condition to continue providing loans. The agreement was discontinued. The next installment of 258 SDR is due in November. Pakistan hopes to pay back entire loan to the IMF despite a huge current account deficit of $4.6 billion in FY 12.

1 Oct: NEW YORK: California-based Company Google soared past Microsoft in terms of market value Monday to become the second richest firm in the tech world behind apple. Google shares gained 0.96 per cent to end at $761.78, giving the internet giant a market capitalization of $249.1 billion. Microsoft meanwhile fell 0.91 per cent $29.49, translating into market worth of $247.2 billion. Both remain well behind Apple, which shed 1.16 per cent to $659.39, meaning its market cap is just above $618 billion.

1 October: Eric Hobsbawm, the eminent British historian who chronicled the extremes of the 19th and 20th centuries from the Marxist perspective, died on Monday at the age of 95, his daughter said. He was born at 9 June 1917. Hobsbawm is perhaps best known for his 1994 book “The Age of Extremes” on the 20th century, which has been translated into around 40 languages, including Hebrew, Arabic and Mandarin, and he received numerous international prizes.

1st October: PALLEKELE: Malinga took 5-31 as England, chasing a daunting 170-6 run target, were restricted to 150-9 in the Super Eights match at Pallekele stadium before a packed and rowdy 30,000 crowd. Sri Lanka and the West Indies reach the semi-finals after the hosts won all their three matches in the Super Eight. West Indies earlier enjoyed a dramatic Super Over win against New Zealand; both teams were locked at 139 after 40 over at Pallekele Stadium, sending the match to super over decider. New Zealand scored a challenging 17 off their six balls with Ross Taylor hitting a six off Marlong Samuels, but West Indies reached the target with a ball to spare as Samuels smashed the winning six off Tim Southee to keep his team in contention a for a semi final place.

Info: the 16th April 1853 is special in the Indian history. The day was a public holiday. At 3.30 p, as the 21 guns roared together, the first train carrying Lady Falkland, wife of Governor of Bombay, along with 400 special invitees, steamed off from Bombay to Thane. Ever since the engine rolled off the tracks.

1 October: KARACHI: Pakistan stocks closed higher on Monday after the inflation rate hit a 33-month low, boosting the confidence of investor. KSE benchmark 100-share index ended 0.80 per cent, or 123.91 points, higher at 15,568.73 –a four-year high – on total volume of 135.80 million shares. (Note: also view 18 September stock closing below)

30 September: COLOMOBO: India beat Pakistan (128, 19.4 over) by 8 wickets; India surpassed the modest target in 17 over, thanks to Largely to Kohli’s unbeaten 78 off 61 balls. A sell-out crowd of 35,000 at Colombo’s Premadasa stadium, including Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, saw India continue their stranglehold on Pakistan in major world meets.

30 September: COLOMBO: shane Watson shone with bat and ball for the fourth match in a row as Australia stepped closer to the World T20 semi-finals with an eight-wicket win over South Africa. Watson claimed 2-29 and then smashed 70 off 47 balls and adjudged man of the match for fourth consecutive game, as Australia restricted the Proteas to 146-5 and then surpassed the total in the 17.4 over to record their second successive win in group two of the Super Eights.

Pakistan has recorded at least 2,642 sectarian attacks, killing 3,963 people since 1989, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database. (Dawn reported)

29 September 2012: England beat New Zealand by 6 wicket in Super Eight match by chasing New Zealand 134-6 with 8 7 balls to spare.

28 September: COLOMBO: Shane Watson grabbed 3-34 and struck 72 off 42 balls to lift Australia to an emphatic nine-wicket win over India in the Super Eight match of the World Twenty20 in Colombo. Watson, who was adjudged man of the Match for the third consecutive game, shared first-wicket stand of 133 with David Warner (63 not out) as Australia eased past India’s 140-7 in the 15th over. Watson’s match winning display followed his 51 and 3-26 against Ireland and 41 not out and 2-29 in the second game against the West Indies.

28 September: COLOMBO: Pakistan beat South Africa by 2 wickets chasing South Africa’s modest 133-6. Umar Gul man of the Match smashed two fours and three sixes in his 32 off 17 balls and Umar Akmal unbeaten 43.

28 September: Monsoon floods in Pakistan have killed 371 people and affected nearly 4.47million, the govt. disaster relief agency said on Friday. Pakistan has suffered devastating floods in the past tow years, includinhg the wort in its history 2010, when catastrophic inundations across country killed almost 18,00 people and affected 21 million. As in 2010 and 2011, most of those hit by the latest floods in Sindh province, where the National Distaster Mnagement Authority (NDMA) said 2.8 million were affected, with nearly 890,000 in Punjab and 700,000 in Baluchistan.

27 September: NEW DELHI: Former India batsman Sandeep Patil was named as the new chief selector ahead of home Test series against England and Australia, the country’s cricket board announced. The 56-year-old replaced Krishnamachari Srikkanth whose tenure saw India Clinch 50-over World Cup at home. Patil, a member of the 1983 World Cup winning team in England, retired from international cricket in 1986 with 1,588 runs in 29 tests and 1,005 runs in 45 one-day internationals.

27 September: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves dropped to $14.841 billion in the week ending Sept 21, from $14.863 billion the previous week, the central bank said. According to SBP foreign reserves held by the SBP equal $10,321.8 million while net foreign reserves held by banks (Other than SBP) stood at $4,519.7 million. Pakistan’s reserves have been reduced by debt repayments in August on a $397.2 million loan from the IMF. Remittances from Pakistani abroad rose 17.73 per cent to $13.186 billion in the 2011/12 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, compared with $11.2 billion the previous year.

27 September 2012: Google’s 14th birthday.

26 September: PARIS: An 8.7 earthquake that struck west of Indonesia on April 11 was the biggest of its kind ever recorded and confirms suspicions that a giant tectonic plate is breaking

up, scientists said on Wednesday. The quake occurred around 500KM (300m) west of Sumatra in the middle of the Indo-Australian plate, a piece of Earth’s crust that spans Australlia, the eastern Indian Ocean and the Indian sub-continent. The December 26 2004 9.1 quake off Sumatra, whose waves killed a quarter million people around the Indian Ocean, is one such example, But the April 11 event caused no tsunamis because the movement was sideways. Fatalities, too, were few, 10, according to the Indonesian authorities because it occurred under the Indian Ocean.

26 September: PCB accounts frozen over failure to cough up Rs30 million tax money. FBR has seized bank accounts of the PCB to recover withholding tax of Rs30 million. The FBR has recovered Rs18 million for the PCB. Note: Against the annual target of Rs1.952 trillion, the FBR collected Rs1.865 trillion by June 30, 2012 showing a gap of Rs87 billion.

• Current Head of IMF or IMF Chief, Christine Lagarde,• Dmitry Medvedev is the current PM of Russia.• Current Chief Executive of Apple is Tim Cook.• The founder and CEO of the social network Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg.• Current Chairman of Security exchange commission of Pakistan (SECP) is Muhammad

Ali.• ICC current CEO is Dave Richardson.• UN Special Education envoy Gordon Brown, who was prime minister of Britian from

2007-2010.• Microsoft’s Current CEO is Steve Ballmer.• Apple’s CEO Tim Cook.• CEO of Google is Eric Schmidt.• Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

25 September: PALLEKELE: Pakistan bludgeoned Bangladesh out of the World Twenty20 by 8 wickets and successfully reached the Super Eights round with a ruthless batting display on Tuesday. Imran Nazir’s brilliant 72 and skipper Mohammad Hafeez’s 45 helped take Pakistan past Bangladesh’s challenging 175-6 in Pallekele. The win was achieved with eight balls to spare (18.4 over) as Pakistan wrapped it up with 178-2, joining New Zealand in the next round.

25 Sept: President Asif Ali Zardari addressed to General Assembly of UN on annual GA meetings in New York, USA.

24 September: Nearly on third of Pakistan’s population is poor as the incidence of poverty hovers around 33 per cent, making poverty alleviation a daunting challenge for the present govt. In absolute number 58.7 million people are living below the poverty line in Pakistan out of the total population of estimated 180 million. Balochistan is the poorest of all provinces

with 52 per cent population living below poverty line, followed by Sindh with 33 percent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 32 percent and Punjab with 19 percent, the report titled” Clustered Deprivation: District Profile of Poverty in Pakistan”, by an Islamabad-based think-tank – Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

24 September 2012: KARACHI: Maria Toor Pakay of Pakistan defeated two-time finalist American Latasha Khan in the Southwest Open (WSA) in Tempe, Arizona to win her second WSA title, the 21-year old from South Waziristan won the second title of WSA.s

23 September: Pakistan beat New Zealand by 13 runs in their first Twenty20 Match. Pakistan gave 178/6 runs target, main contribution was of Nasir Jamshed 56 runs, New Zealand made 165/9 in 20 over, Saeed Ajmal got 4 wickets and Nasir Jamshed was Man of the Match.

22 September 2012: BEIJING: China’s top security official has made the first high-level trip to Afghanistan by a senior Chinese leader in nearly half a century, meeting President Hamid Karazai in Kabul, state media Xinhua new agency said Sunday. Zhou Yongkang made the four-hour visit on Saturday, in a secretive trip aimed at shoring up ties b/w the neighbors. Late President Liu Shaoqi, the last senior Chinese official to visit Afghanistan, visited in 1966, Xinhua said.

22 September: the federal govt. on Saturday released Rs 90m for establishing two powers plants in Tharparkar yielding 50MW each, According to the planning commission of Pakistan, the total cost of this project is Rs8.9bn and this is the first time when funds for this project have been released. The project involves generation of electricity by converting the coal found underground in Tharparkar to gas. The project has been deferred since 2009. Foreign aid amounts to Rs5.85bn in the project. In current fiscal year, the govt. has allocated Rs.90m for the project, will enable long delayed work to begin on the two power plants.

22 September: KARACHI: the govt. flushed out liquidity from banks a huge govt. borrowing set new record within two months of the current fiscal year. According to the latest report of the SBP, the govt. borrowed Rs324 billions from scheduled banks b/w July 30 to Sept 7. This was 123 per cent higher than the same period of last year. During FY-12 the govt. borrowed Rs696 billion through banks while it had borrowed Rs 616 billion in Fy-11. The two-month borrowing is record high and is almost 47 per cent of the entire govt. borrowing made in Fy-12. According to SBP, the govt.’s accumulated borrowing from scheduled banks till June2012 was Rs 2.360 trillion against a total borrowing of Rs 1.704 trillion from the SBP.

22 September: US Senate has defeated a bill that would have linked foreign aid to a country‘s cooperation in investigating attacks on US diplomatic facilities. The bill also would have denied aid to Pakistan unless the country released Dr Shakil Afridi. 81 senator opposed Republican

Sen Rand Paul’s bill and 10 supported it. US facilities in several countries have been attacked in protest against an anti-Islamic film. Richard Olson nominated Pakistan new ambassador and Robert Stephan for Iraq by Senate of US.

21 September: Youm e ishqa Rasool (PBUH) celebrated in Pakistan officially to condemned and record their protest against the anti-Islamic film “Innocence of Muslims”. 23 people included two policemen killed in protests. (Note: the producer of the film, Nakoula Basselley Nakoula, is reported to be a 55 year-old Egyptian Copt and convicted fraudster, based in Los Angeles and currently out on parole.

20 September: BRUSSEL: European Union (EU), OIC, Arab League, African Union (AU) joint conference condemned anti-Islamic film which is against Muslims Prophet (PBUH) and Muslims belief.

20 Sept: “Khudaya e sukhan”, “Qadir e Kalaam” and “Ubaad Saaz” Poet Mir Taqi Mir 202 anniversary celebrated. He was born in 1723 in Aagra, India and died on 20th September 1810 in Lakhnow, India.

20 September: Pakistan and India signed here on Friday three technical agreements and discussed trade in gas and electricity. The decision taken by Pakistan and India to scale down tariff to a maximum of five per cent and remove all non-tariff barriers (NTBs) by 2020 will lead regional integration, according to an official of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO). The agreements on redressal of trade grievances, mutual recognition and customs cooperation will facilitate bilateral business mechanism and ease issues relating to certification, Licensing, lab testing, etc. They agreed to reduce the number of items to 100 in the sensitive list before the end of 2017 under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) on a reciprocal basis. India Commerce Secretary S.R.Rao said the agreements would be implemented in litter and spirit and Pakistan Commerce Secretary Munir Qureshi. India offered Pakistan 500MW of electricity and also offered to export up to five million cubic meters per day of gas for an initial period of five years. Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd, an Indian public sector company, made an offer to cooperate with the Pakistan government in setting up of 500-2000MV coal/hydro or gas power plants. India expressed its willingness to cooperate with Pakistan in areas of wind and solar energy and offered to help Pakistan Railway in meeting its requirements of up to 100 locomotives (engine).

19 September: Interesting info: The space shuttle Endeavour always had plenty of elbow room while soaring around earth. But to make way for its slow 12-mile (19-km) journey through city streets next month to its final destination at a Los Angeles, California Science Center museum, some 400 trees must fall. The 75 ton spaceship stretches 122 feet (37 meters) in length, measures 78 feet (24 m) from wingtip to wingtip and will stand more than five stories tall, lying

on its belly on a special rolling platform that will carry it at an average speed of a mile an hour, the work is estimated to $10 million. Shuttle Endeavour added to fleet after challenger was destroyed by an accidental explosion that killed seven astronauts in 1986, Endeavour has flown 25 missions and logged nearly 123 million miles (198 million KM) in flight during 4,671 orbits.

19 September 2012: NEW DELHI: India test-fired its second –longest-range missile on Wednesday, a defense official said, two days after Pakistan announced its own missile test. The two-stage Agni-IV blasted off from the eastern state of Orissa in the third test for the missile, which first launched in 2010 in a flight marred by technical problems. Its second test last November was declared a success. “The Agni-IV was tested for its full range of 4,000 KM (2,480 miles) and it was a success,” Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) spokesman Ravi Gupta told. Pakistan test-fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile on Monday with “stealth features”.

Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby.

19 September: Pakistan govt. has announced a national holiday on Friday, 21 September, to protest against the American anti-Islam that has caused an outrage throughout the Muslim World.

19 September 2012: ROME: Italian energy major ENI said on Wednesday it had discovered a major reserve of b/w 300 billion and 400 billion cubic feet of gas some 350 KM north of Karachi in Pakistan. the discovery was made in the Khirtar Fold Belt region close to the ENI-operated Bhit gas processing facility. ENI has been in Pakistan since 2000 and is the country’s largest producer, with average production of 54,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2011.

18 September: Parliamentarians expressed concern on Tuesday, as the country’s total debt crossed Rs12 trillion, that more loans have been taken in the fours years by incumbent govt. than by any other regime since 1985. The special committee on Foreign and Domestic Loans was informed that the country was under of Rs5.02 trillion foreign loans while domestic loans amounted to a huge figure of Rs 7.6 trillion. In 2008 total debt of the country was Rs5.5 trillion and now it has swelled to more than Rs12 trillion, it was Rs2 trillion in 1999.

18 September: BEIJING: Anti-Japanese rallies erupted across China again on the 81st anniversary Tuesday of the Liutiaohu railway bombing incident that triggered the Manchurian incident and led to Japan’s military operation in China before WW II.

18 September: One of the greatest musicians, classical and ghazal singer from the Patiala gharana Ustad Amant Ali Khan was remembered on his 38th death anniversary. He was born on 1932 in Sham Chaurasi, Hoshiarpur, and Punjab. He died at the age of 42 years in Lahore in September 1974.

18 September: World Cup Twenty20 started in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka defeated Zimbawe by 82 runs.

18 September: PM Raja Perviz Ashraf attended the proceeding of contempt of court case in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case of writing the letter to reopen a graft case worth $60 million against President Zardari. SC gave the govt. time till September 25 to draft the letter and present it in the court and also exempted PM Ashraf from appearing until next orders.

18 September 2012: PARIS: Paris’s famed Louvre museum opens a new wing of Islamic art in a bid to improve knowledge of a religion often viewed with suspicion in the West. Costing nearly 10 million euros (131 million dollars), it is funded by the French govt. and supported by handsome endowments from Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Kuwait, Oman and Azerbaijan.

18 September: South Korean LG Electronics launched the company’s new Smartphone “Optiums G” in Seoul on September 18, 2012, which will have to compete against flurry of new products from rivals Apple and Samsung who currently dominate the global market.

18 September: KOLKATA: the head of regional Trianamool Congress Pary, Mamata Banerjee, a key partner in India’s ruling coalition says their withdrew support from the govt. and said it’s six minister would resign in protest over a series of economic reforms.

18 September 2012: KARACHI: PIA Chairman Air Chief Marshal (retd) Rao Qamar Suleman tendered his resignation, he was previously Managing Director PIA, was made a chairman on May 22, 2012 after the he PPP-led govt. removed the then defiance minister from the position of Chairman PIA. Suleman, who was a former chief of Pakistan Air Force, reportedly resigned on account of ill-health, he is from Okara, received his initial training from PAF Public School, Sargodha. Thereafter, he joined Pakistan Air Force Academy, Risalpur, in 1972 and was commissioned in the Pakistan Air Force as a fighter pilot. He commanded the PAF from March 18,2009 to March 18, 2012.

18 September 2012: Pakistani stocks ended higher with increased investor activity, this was the first time in five years that the Karachi Stock Exchange closed above a 15,500 index. KSE benchmark 100-share ended 0.77 per cent, or 118.51 points, higher at 15,517.19, on total volume of 128.67 million shares.

18 September: Cull of 21,268 is continue form last one and half days at PK Livestock and Meat Company in Razzaqbad, Karachi. The Sheep’s are infected and were shipped from Australia to Bahrain but Bahraini authorities refused to accept them and these ships later purchased by some Pakistani people but govt. involvement proved them infected with salmonella and actinomyces bacteria. Australia’s high commissioner to Pakistan, Peter Heyward said that he

is surprised and concern about cull of imported Australian sheep over disease fear, despite assurances from Australian diplomats that the animals are safe for human consumption.

17 September: the govt. on Monday formed a high level committee to develop an electronic banking system for prompt and problem free disbursement of pensions to millions of pensioners. The five-member committee, comprising of National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) Chairman Tariq Malik, Governor State Bank of Pakistan Yaseen Anwar, Secretary Finance Abdul Wajid Rana, Auditor General of Pakistan Buland Akhtar Rana, chaired by President and Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh also present.

The committee was informed that at average each govt. had taken $2.5 billion foreign loans annually, while it had been b/w $2.6 billion and $2.7 bilion in the early 2000s but since 2008 the average foreign loan obtained by the govt. has been $3.5 billion.

17 September: FBR assigned its Intelligence Wing to reduce tax evasion by 20 per cent before the end of 2013-14. Tax evasion is the difference b/w potential and actual tax collection, where potential being the amount of tax the govt. collects if everyone fully complies with the tax law. Chairman FBR Ali Arshed Hakeem and Director General, Intelligence and Investigation (Inland Revenue), Khawaja Tanveer Ahamd announced after a meeting.

17 September: Twenty20 warm up match Pakistan beat India with Kamran Akmal unbeaten 82 in the reply of India 186.

17 September: India plans to launch a space probe that will orbit Mars in November 27, 2013 when the red planet will be closer to earth, K. Radhakrishanan, chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) told reporters in Bangalore. Remember, In September 2009, India’s chandrayaan-1 lunar probe discovered water on the moon, boosting the country’s credibility among more experienced space-faring nations.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen is NATO current Secretary General, Bujar Nishani is current Albania President. Current British defense Minister is Philip Hammond.

17 September: the govt. has released Rs. 40.10 billion out of the RS.223 billion allocated for social, infrastructural and Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) projects under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2012-13 until September 14. According to the planning commission of Pakistan sources, an amount of Rs 21.20 billion has been released for 342 projects of Infrastructure development out of Rs 200.90 billion. Similarly, Rs 17.60 billion has been released for 670 projects of the Social sector against the allocation of 146.10 billion. The govt. also released Rs 0.5 billion out of a allocation of Rs 3.0 billion for 68 projects of other sector. An amount of Rs 0.8 billions has been released to ERRA against of Rs. 10.00 Billion. All the releases are exclusive of foreign aid disbursements, the source said.

17 September 2012: ISLAMBAD: Pakistan’s military says it has successfully test-fired a cruise missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. An army statement says the Hatf-VII or Babar missile, which has a range of 700 KM (435 miles), was test-fired, missile has stealth features and can fly very close to the ground.

15 September: QUETTA: A six-member working group of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance arrived in Quetta on Saturday. UN team had arrived in Pakistan on Sunday (Sep 9) was to collect data about the ‘missing’ persons. The delegation, comprising Olivier de Frouville, the Chair-Rapporteur, and Osman El Hajje, member, will be accompanied by members of the secretariat of the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

15 September 2012: The annual ICC ceremony held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

15 September: KARACHI: Well-Known literary personality and Urdu fiction and drama writer Hajra Masroor passed away early Saturday. Anthologies of Masroor’s include: ‘Chand ki Doosri Taraf’, ‘Teesri Manzil’, ‘Andheray Ujalay’, ‘Chori Chupey’, Haye ALLAH’ and ‘Charkhay”. She also wrote the script for the 1965 Pakistani film ‘Aakhri Station’. She had been married to Ahmed Ali Khan, who was the editor of Dawn for 28 years, became practically a recluse following her husband’s death in 2007.

15 September 2012: Indian Prim Minster send condolence message to Pakistan on Karachi and Lahore fire incidents.

14 September: Two US Marines were killed and several others wounded late Friday, when 15 attackers dressed as US soldiers, armed with guns, rockets and suicide vests stormed the airfields. Six US AV-8b Harrier fighter jets were destroyed and two significantly damaged. Three coalition refueling stations were also destroyed and six aircraft hangars damaged. The killings came as NATO detailed unprecedented damage costing well into tens millions of dollars in a sophisticated, well-coordinated attack on Camp Bastion, in Helmand, where Britain’s Prince Harry and 28,000 soldiers are deployed. NATO is gradually withdrawing its 112,600 remaining troops. There are currently 68,000 US troops are Afghanistan (at currently in 3rd week of September)

13 September 2012: THE HAGUE: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Liberals won a closely contested election, but he faced the prospect of having to form a govt. with his arch-rivals from the Labour party.

13 September: Microsoft has launched its latest offering of the Office suit, the cloud-base Office 365, targeted primarily towards small and medium business with local pricing (6 dollar a month) for Pakistan.

13 September: Supreme Court: taking notice of the financial and administrative irregularities in the operation of PIA, the SC on issue notice to the Chairman of the national carrier Rao Qamar Suleman. The apex court took notice of the situation after a petition was moved by the Transparency International (TI). The report claimed that because of administrative inefficiency, the national carrier suffered the loss of PKR 410 million due to cancellation of 1200 flights b/w August 2011- November 2011.

13 September 2012: KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves rose to 14.828 billion dollar in the week ending Sept 7, from 14.821 billion dollar in the previous week, the central Bank said on Thursday. Pakistan’s reserves have been reduced by debt repayment in August on a 397.2 million dollars loan from the IMF. Remittances form Pakistanis aboard rose 17.73 per cent to 13.186 billion dollars in the 2011-12 fiscal years, which ended June 30, compared with 11.2 billion dollar the previous year.

13 September 2012: Ace film actor and comedian Safirullah Lehri passed away (died at 83) after a prolonged illness on Thursday. Lehri, who had won the Nigar award for around a dozen films, and acted in approximately 225 films. Lehri’s first film was 1956’s Anokhi, while his last productin was 1986’s Dhanak.

13 September 2012: Clara Schumann was 193th birthday, born at Leipzig, was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic err, died 20 May 1896 at Frankfurt.

13 September: the State Bank of Pakistan issued tough regulations to stop money-laundering and combat terrorism financing by making regulation up to international standards. The SBP made anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations more comprehensive by revising the existing regulations of Prudential Regulations on Corporate and Commercial Banking. Most of them already placed and some of them will be effective from Oct 31.

12 September: World Bank’s executive Directors approved two credits totaling 220 million dollars for two projects of the Punjab Government. The 150 million dollar Punjab cities governance improvement project is aimed at realizing the growth potential of five largest cities of the province through strengthening systems for improved planning, resource management and accountability. The additional financing of 70 million dollars for Punjab Land Records Management and Information systems project is meant for further strengthening and expanding better service delivery of land record management throughout province. “ Punjab is leading the way in fusing together the rural and urban development agenda” said Rachid Benmessaoud, WB country director for Pakistan. the province has four cities with population in excess of one million, namely Faislabad (3million), Gujrawala and Rawalpindi (2 million each),

and Multan (1.7 million). These carry a 0.75 % service charge, and 1.25 per cent interest rate, 5 years of grace period and a maturity of 25 years. (Edward Cook, WB Task Team Leader for the project)

12 September: Minister for Defense Syed Naveed Qamar informed members of the Parliament’s lower house that since March, 2008, PIA has signed only one agreement for purchase of five Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to meet its growing needs and the aircraft would be delivered to Pakistan in the year 2015. Currently, PIA was operating on 38 International and 24 domestic routes with a fleet of 38 aircraft.

11 September 2012: 64th death Anniversary of founder of Pakistan, Great Muslim Leader of Sub-continent Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, celebrated through out the country.

11 September: 5th South Asia Economic Summit in Islamabad started more than 114 participants from South Asian countries including Afghanistan are attending the three day session.

11 September: BENGHAZI: the US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three embassy staff were killed in an attack on the Benghazi consulate and a safe house refuge on Tuesday, stormed by Islamist militants blaming America for a film seen as insulting the Holy Prophet (B.P.U.H).

11 September, KARACHI: the government of Pakistan has finally approved issuance of the much awaited privately placed term finance certificates (PPTFCs) amounting to Rs82 billion by Power Holding (Private) Limited (PHPL) with the aim of overcoming the circular debt issue prevailing in the energy sector, said an official notification on Tuesday. Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC) has bought such PPTFCs from PHPL against its outstanding receivables from govt. The company would earn KIBOR plus one percent on investment in the certificates’ semi-annually for the next seven years period s(including grace period of three years), reported OGDC at the Karachi Stock Exchange. Interest payments will start the sixth month of the investment. The principal shall be repaid in eight equal installment starting from the 42nd month of date of transaction, the notice said. The National Bank of the Pakistan executed the transaction on September 10, 2012 as its trustee, it said.

11 September: JS Bank announces acquisition of HSBC Pakistan, the acquisition of HSBC Bank business operations in Pakistan will act as a catalyst in achieving the bank’s growth strategy and position it as one of the key players in the financial sector with the introduction of premium banking and credit cards suits. JS bank is majority-owned subsidiary of Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. Ltd. And currently operates 153 branches in 82 cities with a total asset base of Rs64.53 billion as of June 30, bank rated A+ by Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA). The Value of the deal

is not disclosed yet by both the parties but it is estimated to be worth b/w 40 million and 50 million dollars.

11 September: Nation’s worst Industrial Tragedy in Garment factory in Baldia Town, Karachi named Ali Enterprises swallows at least 258 people, 21 also burnt and died in shoe factory Lahore.

11 September, ISTANBUL: Turkey will not hand over Iraq’s fugitive Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, who faces a death sentence against him in Baghdad, and he can remain in Turkey as long as he needs to, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

11 September 2012: TIANJIN, China: Chinese Premier Meets PM Ashraf, assures Pakistan of support. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reiterated the stance of his government of supporting Pakistan’s sovereignty when he met Prime Minister Raja Perviz Ashraf here on sidelines of World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of New Champions 2012. The first official meeting that was schedule for 25 minutes lasted for 40 minutes. It was agreed that China would support the National Bank of Pakistan to launch the financial bond worth 6.5 billion Renminbi in China.

10 September: Pakistan clinched the three-match Twenty20 series 2-1 but were humiliated by 94 runs in the third and final match here on Monday, shout out for their lowest Twenty20 score of 74 in reply of chasing 169/7. Previous lowest total was 89 against England at Cardiff in 2010. Both teams flew to Sri Lanka early Tuesday for World Twenty20 begins from 18th of this month.

10 September: NEWYORK: Murray ends wait with epic US Open win over Djokovic. History-making Andy Murray ended Britain’s 76-year wait for a men’s Grand Slam champion when he beat 2011 winner Novak Djokovic of Serbia 7-6 (12/10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 in an epic US Open final on Monday. Murray became Britain’s first major champion since Fred Perry claimed his third American title in 1936, the year the Spanish Civil War started and Franklin D. Roosevelt was re-elected US President. Match was the second-longest US Open final of all time continued for four hours and 54 minutes.

7 September: the government has decided to convert tow inefficient thermal power plants in Sindh – Guddu and Jamshoro plants – to coal with 433 million dollar financing to be provided by the ADB (Asian Development Bank). The conversion of the plants would allow the authorities to enhance their production by at least 700MW.

7 September: Currency notes valuing Rs 1.78 trillion and coins worth Rs 6.2 billions are currently in circulation in the country, Minister of Finance, Revenue, Planning and Development Dr Abudu Hafeez Sheikh Friday told National Assembly.

7 September: Pakistan won the second Twenty20 against Australia in a thrilling Super Over finish at the Dubai Stadium here on Friday, taking an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. With both tied on 151 runs at the end of 40 fascinating overs in the match, a Super over round was played for the result. Pakistan paceman Umer Gul restricted Australian batsman David Warner, Shane Watson and George Bailey to 11-1 befor Umar Akmal and Abudl Razzaq hit the required runs, the winner coming off the last delivery. Pakistan had made 151-4 with M. Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed 45 each and Kamran Akmal (43 not out) contributing with the bat. George Bailey led the Australian run chase with a solid 42.

7 September: Former Pakistan football skipper Abdul Ghafoor Majna died. Majna , who nicknamed as the “Pakistani Pele”, represented Pakistan as a midfielder in the 1960s and 1970s. He was skipper of Pakistan team in the 1974 Tehran Asian Games. He also represented Pakistan in the Olympic Qualifiers.

7 September 2012: India foreign Minister S.M Krishna arrived in Islamabad on 3 days visit.

7 September 2012: A new super-earth has been discovered in the habitable zone around the red dwarf star Gliese 163. Astronomers found it using the European Southern Observatory HARPS telescope (or High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher). It has been billed as Gliese 163c, and has a mass of 6.9 times that of Earth and an orbital period of 26 days. It orbits a red dwarf star 49 light years away in the Dorado constellation. On their research announcement the team said that” Gliese 163c could have a size b/w 1.8 to 2.4 Earth radii, its surface temperature might be around 60”C”. Along with their latest discovery the team has also found a larger planet, Gliese 163b, orbiting the star much closer with 9 days period. They also announced that an additional third, but unconfirmed planet, might be orbiting the star much farther away. The new exoplanets were discovered by the European HARPS team led by Xavier Bonfils from the UJF-Frenoble/CNRS-INSU, Institure de Plane ‘Tologie et d’Astrophysique of Grenoble, France. Scientists from France, Germany, Portugal, Switerzaland, and Belgium also took part.

6 September 2012: MUMBAI, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has set a new world record for the Maximum number of spacewalks by a women astronaut. She surpassed Peggy Whiston whose space walks totaled 39 hours and 46 minutes. Sunita notched up 44 hours and 2 minutes, the total number of spacewalks being six. Sunita also holds the record of the longest space flight by a women astronaut, totaling 195 days.

5 September, ISLAMBAD: The state-run Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDC) on Wednesday announced discovery of new reserves in Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which would boost its daily output by about 8 per cent. The country’s total oil production has increased to about 72,500bpd against the total consumption of about 300,000bpd.

5 September: Pakistan beat Australia by 7 wickets in first T20 match in Abu Dhabi. Australia bowled out at 89 runs (19.3 over) 2nd lowest total since 2005. Pakistan chased the target in 15.3 over and Muhammad Hafeez was the man of Match.

4 September 2012: Great Muslim Poet and Musician, Amir Khusroo, 708 Urs starting from 4th September to 8th in New Delhi.

3 September: Labor Day celebrated (First Monday in September in USA and Canada).

3 September, 2012: SHARJAH, Australia beat Pakistan (244-7) by three wickets in the third and final one-day international, taking the three-match series 2-1 here on Monday. Hussey scored 65 for his 39th fifty and Maxwell hit a 38-ball 56 not out to round off a challenging chase of a target of 245 in 47 over spoiling Pakistan’s chances of beating Australia for the first time since 2002. (Other two matches info given under, dated 28 and 31)

1 September 2012: Federal Cabinet unanimously passes bill to increase minority representation and is accepted to be tabled in the next National Assembly session on September 3. If Govt. succeeds in getting to passed in the shape of 23rd Constitution Amendments with a two third majority, minorities’ seats would be increase from 33 to 53 in the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies. Non-Muslims represent 4.5% of the country’s totals population of 180 million. Therefore, the total number of minorities’ seats will increase from 33 to 53, out of which 16 seats will be added to NA from 10, 12 in the Punjab Assembly from 8, 13 in the Sindh Assembly from 9 and six each in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan assemblies from 3 each. Remember, the 21st Amendment (creation of new provinces) and 22nd Amendment (dual nationality) – are still pending with parliament)

31 August: Pakistan beat Australia by 7 wickets in 2nd ODI at Abu Dhabi leveling the three match series 1-1, Australia 248 and Pakistan 249 (43.3). Opener Nasir Jamshed hit an aggressive 97 to guide Pakistan to a seven-wicket win.

31 August 2012: Maria Montessori 142nd birthday, she was an Italian physician and educator, a noted humanitarian and devout Catholic best known for the philosophy of education which bears her name

29 August: President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Tehran to attend NAM 16th Summit.

29 August 2012: Andrew Strauss resigned as England’s Test captain and announced his retirement from professional cricket with immediate effect on Wednesday. He played 100 tests for his team and scored 21 centuries.

29 August 2012: Paralympics 2012 set to begin in London till 9 September. More than 4,200 athletes from 165 countries will compete in the 2012 Paralympics Games in London; Games

include 20 sports such as cycling, Judo and swimming. A record 2.7 million tickets have been sold for the 2012 Paralympics. The first large-scale games for disabled athletes were held in 1948 in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, and the Paralympics’ “spiritual home”.

29 August 2012: A resolution moved by Law Minister Punjab Rana Sanaullah against the formation of the new provinces’ commission was passed in the Punjab Assembly.

28 August: NASA transmitted the first song to be broadcast from Mars on Tuesday, by Grammy-winning US musician will.i.am, as part of efforts to inspire young people to get interested in science.

28 August 2012: SHARJAH, Australia beats Pakistan (198 at 45.1) by 4 wickets in first ODI in UAE with ten balls to spare. Starc (5-42) and James Pattinson (3-19) were the chief wreckers as Pakistan were bowled out for 198 in the 46th over.

28 August 2012: NSAS’s Curiosity rover transmits first ever voice message from another planet. The Mars Rover Curiosity has made history by beaming back to Earth the first audio recording of human voice sent from the surface of another planet. The recording was made by NASA administrator Charlie Bolden, congratulating NASA staff on their achievements.

28 August 2012: MOSCOW, the Mil Mi-38 has set a new world altitude record for helicopters in its class at the 14th Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) helicopter championships. The Mi-38 reached an altitude of 28,200ft (8,600m) which is a new world record for helicopter in the 10,000kg (22,046lbs) to 20,000kg (44,092lbs) weigh class. The previous record was 27,887ft (8,500m). The Mi-38 was flown by test pilot from the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant at Drakino airbase near Moscow.

27 August 2012: Pakistan all rounder Muhammad Hafeez has made it to the top of the ICC ODI bowlers list. Pakistan off spinner Saeed Ajmal has been ranked number 3 on the list. Meanwhile Umer Akmal has been ranked 12 on the ODI batsmen list while Misbau-ul-Haq was ranked 27.

The United Nations (UN) established in 24 October, 1945, The Chilean delegation signed its charted in San Francisco. There are 193 member states, including every internationally recognized sovereign state in the world but Vatican City. The UN most prominent position is Secretary-General which has been held by Ban Ki-moon of South Korea since 2007. The UN headquarters resides in international territory in New York, with further main offices at Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna and has six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. There are six main principal organs of UN and other bodies, which are as follows:

1. General Assembly (UNGA): is one of the six principal organs of the UN and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation and meets under its

president or Secretary General in regular yearly sessions the main part of which lasts from September to December. The first session was convened at 10 January 1946 in the Westminster Center Hall in London and included representatives of 51 nations.

2. Security Council (UNSC): is charged with the maintained of international peace and security and had its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House, Westminster. Current permanent home of UNSC is at UN headquarters in New York City. There are 15 members of the SC, consisting of five veto-wielding permanent members and 10 elected non-permanent members for the term of two years. Its basics structure is set out in Chapter V of the UN charter.

3. Economic and Social Council: have 54 member states, which are elected by the UNGA for overlapping three-year terms. Seats on the Council are based on geographical representation with 14 allocations to African states, 11 to Asian States, 6 to East European states, 10 to Latin America and Caribbean States and 13 to West European states and other.

4. Secretariat: provides studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN and have a staff of 44,000 civil servants worldwide.

5. International Court of Justice: commonly referred as the World Court or ICJ, is judicial organ of UN. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, the Netherlands. ICJ composed of fifteen judges elected to nine year term by the UNGA and the UNSC. Election is staggered with five judges elected every three years.

6. United Nation Trusteeship Council (which is currently inactive): suspended its operation from 1 November 1994. All territories dispute settled.

7. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): established in 16 October 1945, has its headquarters in Rome, Italy with 191 members states. Jose Graziano da Silva is Current Head.

• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): created on December 11, 1946, headquarter in New York City, awarded Nobel Peace Price in 1965.

• World Health Organization (WHO): is a specialized agency of UN and established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. As of 2012, the WHO has 194 members’ states, including the Cock Islands and Niue.

• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): established in 1957, has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria. The IAEA and its former Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded on October 7, 2005. IAEA’s current Director General is Yukiya Amano.

• World Food Programme (WFP): established in 1961 and have 36 member, its headquarter in Rome, provide food , on average, to 90 million people, 58 million of whom are children, world largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger world wide.

• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): is a specialized agency of UN and has 195 members’ states. UNESCO headquarter is in Paris, France.

• International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO): established in 1947, has its headquarters in Montreal, Canada. ICAO members are 191 of the UN members and the Cook Islands (is a self governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It is composed of 15 small islands whose total area is 250 sq.km (92.7 sq mi). Current Director General of ICAO is Raymond Benjamin.

• International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD): established in 1977, has its headquarters Rome, Italy. IFAD are 163 of the UN members. Kanayo F. Nwanze is current director General of IFAD.

• International Labor Organization (ILO): established in 1946 (1919), has it’s headquarter in Geneva. Almost all (185 out of 193) UN members are part of the ILO. ILO received Nobel Peace Prize in 1969.

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): has won Nobel Peace prize in 1954 and 1981 and founded in 1947. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Antonio Guterres in current High commissioner from 2005.

• World Bank Group (WBG): came into formal existence on 27 December 1945, New York is the headquarter city of WB. All of the 193 of the UN members and Kosovo are its member. Jim Yong Kim is the current president of WB. Agencies of WB are International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), established in 1945. International Finance Corporation (IFC), established in 1956. International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960. International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), established in 1966. Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), established in 1988.

27 August 2012: NRO Case, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf requested the court that he required at least four to six weeks to resolve the issue. Accepting PM‘s request, the Supreme Court on Monday granted time to him and adjourned the hearing till September 18 in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case.

26 August 2012: Indian Actor A.K Hangal died. He did the character of Rahim in film “Shula”.

August 26, 2012: Non-alignment Movement (NAM), a major international grouping of 120 countries (21 observers), 16th summit will held at the OIC Convention Centre in Tehran, Iran, on August 26-31. Senior official meeting” on 26 and 27 august, a “Ministerial Meeting” on 28 and 29 August 2012. The leaders’ summit will take place on 30 to 31 August. Iran will also take as a new President of NAM from Egypt.

NAM was founded in Belgrade in 1961, and was largely a brain child of Yugoslavia’s president, Josip Broz Tito; India’s first prime Minister, Jawarharlal Nehre; Egypt’s second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser; Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah; and Indonesia’s first president, Sukamo.

26 August: India won the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup for the third time, beating Australia by six wickets behind Captain Unumkt Chand’s 111 not out. India 227-4 48.4 overs (Unumkt Chand 111 not out, Smit Patel 62 not out, Joel Paris 1-33), def. Australia 225-8 (William Bosisto 87 not out, Sandeep Sharma 4-54) by six wickets.

25 August 2012: First man on the moon Neil Armstrong died at 82. As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. As he stepped on the moon’s dusty surface, Armstrong said:” that’s the one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” The Apollo 11 moon mission turned out to be Armstrong’s last space flight. The following year he was appointed to a desk job, being named NASA’s deputy associate administrator for aeronautics in the office of advanced research and technology. He left NASA a year later to become a professor of engineering at the University of Cincinnati. The former astronaut lived in the Cincinnati area with his wife, Carol. (Note: Yuri Gagarin, who died in an air crash in 1968, was the first man in space on April 12, 1961) Armstrong’s family praised him as a “reluctant American hero,” saying they hoped his legacy would encourage young people “to be willing to explore and push the limits and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.” Something interesting to know about Armstrong is that he was decorated by 17 countries and received a slew of US honors, but was never comfortable with his worldwide fame and shield away from the limelight.

“I wasn’t chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command and flight. Circumstance put me in that particular role,” he said. Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5, 1930, Armstrong had an early fascination with aircraft and worked at a nearby airport when he was a teenager. He received his pilot’s license on his 16th birthday. A US Navy aviator, he flew missions in the Korean War. Armstrong joined NASA’s predecessor agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, in 1955. As a research pilot at NASA’s Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, he flew on many pioneering high-speed aircraft, eventually flying over 200 different models, including helicopters, gliders, jets and rockets. He reached astronaut status in 1962, and was assigned as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission, during which he performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space.

25 August: 4th Death Anniversary of Poet Ahmed Faraz. He died on 25 August 2008.

24 August, 2012: Kasur – Provincial Minister for Aquaf and Religious affairs Haji Ehsanuddin Qureshi Thursday inaugurated the 254th annual Urs celebrations of Baba Bulleh Shah by lying traditional ‘Chadar’ on his shrine in Kasur, Secretary Aquaf, seniors officers of the Aquaf Dep. and a larg number of devotees were also present. The Aquaf Department has allocated Rs 265,000 for Urs celebrations. (Updated: Urs concluded after three days at 26 August on Sunday)

24 August: Pakistan appointed Mohammad Akram as their bowling coach replacing, Aqaib Jawed, PCB director International cricket Intikhab Alam told media.

21 August: Senior Journalist Shamin-ur-Rehman passed away in Karachi early Tuesday.

18 August: Brahimi to become new Syria conflict envoy UN: Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran diplomat troubleshooter, will take over from Kofi Annan as the international envoy on the Syria conflict, the UN said. He was Algeria’s forign minister from 1991-93 and later became a UN envoy in Afghanistan before and after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and in Iraq after 2003 invasion. While representing the Arab Leagure, Brahimi helped end the Lebanese civil war in the 1980s, negotiating with Syrian government of the time. UN deputy spokesman Eduardo del buey said Brahimi would ocme to New York “soon” for talks. (Updated: He reached today on 13 September 2012 in Damascus, Syria)

Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin.

18 August 2012 HYDERBAD: Veteran Indian batsman Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman (WS Laxman) announced his retirement form international cricket on Saturday, saying it was time to make way for the next generation. Laxman, better know by his initials WS, has played 134 tests since his debut in 1996, scoring 8,781 runs at an average of 45.97 with 17 centuries and 56 fifties. He also scored 2,338 runs in 86 one-day international with 6 hundreds, but had not been part of Indian’s limited-over squad since 2006.

17 August, New Spider family found in US caves: WASHINGTON: A team of amateur cave explorers and archeologists has found a new family of spiders in caves and old-growth redwood forests in Oregon and California, US researchers said Friday. Entomologists (a zoologist who studies insects ) at California Academy of Sciences said the spider, named Trogloaptor – or “cave robber” – for its lethal front claws, had such unique evolutionary features that it represented not just a new genus or species, but also new family of spiders. Strong evidence suggesting Trogloaptor was a close relative of goblin spiders.

17 August 2012 KARACHI: the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) through reverse repo open market operation, in treasury bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds, has injected Rs 485.550 billion in the banking system. According to SBP here Friday, the offered amount was Rs 485.550 billion while the rate of return for seven days stood at 9.95% and for 14 days at 10.10 per cent per annum.

16 August on Thursday: Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attack on a Pakistan military Minhas airbase at Kamra (also attacked by a suicide in 23 Oct,2009), which left 10 people dead, 9 militants and one soldier and damaged at least one Air Force Aircraft.

16 August: A commission for the creation of new province in Punjab was constituted by National Assembly Speaker Dr. Fehmida Mirza – though only 12 out of 14 members of the commission have been notified.

16 August: Great Pakistani Singer and Kawal Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s 15th anniversary, He died in 1997 on same day.

15 August: Stephen KIporichi, Ugandan athlete received a tremendous welcome on arrival in his country Uganda. He got a gold medal for Uganda after 40 year in London Olympic 2012.

15 August: India also celebrated 65th Independence Day. Pakistan releases 55 fishermen as a “Good Will Gesture” on Indian Independence Day.

14 August: Power subsidies cost exchequer Rs 1.2trn in four year. Prime Minister Raja Perviz Ashraf has said that the govt. has provided Rs1, 200 billion subsidies on electricity over past four years. According to him, the govt. had added more than 3,500 megawatts of electricity in the national electricity network. The govt., he said, had also decided to exploit 175-billion-ton coal reserves in Thar on fast-track basics for electricity generation. He said that the size of the PSDP (Public Sector Development Porgramme) had been increased from Rs 416 billion to Rs 873 billion over the past four decade and remittances had crossed 13$ billon mark. 6 billion will also provide for Kachi canal project.

14 August, 2012: 65th Independence Day is celebrated throughout Pakistan and all around the world by Pakistanis.

13 August: Foreign minister at a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) agreed on Monday 13 to suspend Syria form the international body, an OIC source said, further isolating President Bashar al-Assad. The move by OIC, a body comprising 56 member states plus the Palestinian Authority that aims to represents Muslims interests on the world stage, it is response to Assad’s suppression of a 17-month uprising.

13 August, 2012: “Party, Party” London Summer Olympics 2012 Closing Ceremony. London bade a flamboyant and madcap farewell to the Olympic Games with a romp through British pop and fashion, bringing the curtain down on more than two weeks of action that ended with America topping the sporting world with 46 gold medals (29 silver, 29 bronze, total 104). The hosts Great Britain have claimed 29 gold medals (17 silver, 19 bronze, total 65), comfortably beating their Beijing tally of 19. It puts them third in the overall medals table, which United States tops on 46 to China’s 38 (27 silver, 22 bronze, total 87) at the end of 16 days of thrilling action. The closing ceremony featured thousands of athletes and performing volunteers as well as a section devoted to the next summer Olympic hosts, Rio de Janeiro 2016 ( The former capital and 2nd largest city of Brazil: Chief Brazilian port: famous as a tourist attraction). Russia

placed 4th (24 Gold, 25 Silver, 33 bronze, total 82). Korea 5th (13 Gold, 8 silver, 7 bronze, total 28). Germany 6th (11 Gold, 19 silver, 14 bronze, total 44). France 7th (11 Gold, 11 silver, 12 bronze, total 34). Italy 8th (8 Gold, 9 silver, 11 bronze, total 28). Hungary 9th (Gold 8, 4 silver, 5 bronze, total 17). Australia 10th (Gold 7, 16 silver, 12 bronze, total 35).

13 August: Pakistan cricket team’s Saeed Ajmal was nominated in three categories for the ICC Awards. Ajmal nominated for ICC ODI player of the year along team mate Shahid Afride. He is also nominated for ICC test cricketer of the year and ICC player of the year. Other Pakistani nominated for Award are Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez for ICC spirit of cricket award and T20 performance of the year ward for his performance against Zimbabwe on 16 September 2011. Junaid Khan has been nominated for the ICC emerging player of the year award and Umpire Uleem Dar has been nominated for ICC umpire of the year. The award will be given on 15 September.

August 12: twelve years ago today, Pakistan’s iconic pop princess Nazia Hassan lost the battle against lung cancer at 35.

12 August: Iran hit by twin earthquakes measuring 6.4 and 6.3, 360 people killed and injured around 3,037 in northwest Iran, northeast of the city of Tabriz, Health Minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi said.

11 August, 2012 London Olympics: Mexico beats 5 time world champion Brazil by 2-1 and wins the final of London Football Olympics 2012 in front of a London Games record crowd of 86,162 at Wembleey Stadium.

11 August, London Olympics: Germany won the Olympic title for the second successive time when they beat Netherland 2-1 and becomes hockey Olympic champion.

London Hockey Olympics: India lost their six matches out of six when 3-2 defeat to South Africa condemned them 12th and last place in the tournament. It was the first time that eight-time champions had gone through an Olympics without winning a match.

9 August, 2012 London Olympic: Pakistan bounced back against Korea to win the classification match 3-2 and clinch seventh place at the London Olympics. Remember, Pakistan were win hockey gold in 1960 (in Rome Olympics), 1968 (Mexico Olympic) and 1984(Los Angeles Olympics) “toughest” Olympic final (Los Angeles Olympic). London is their fifth Olympics without a medal. Their last was a bronze at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Pak 1st match against Spain 1-1, 2nd against Argentina, 3rd against South Africa win by 5-4, 4th against Great Britain lost by, 5th against Australia lost by 7-0, 6th for the seventh-position with south Korea today.

9 August London Olympics: Britain’s Nicolo Adams becomes first women boxer who got Gold medal in Olympics.

9 August, 2012: India test-fires nuclear capable Agni-II Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) with a strike range of 2000km as part of a user trial by the Army from the wheeler Island off Odisha coast. The 20-meter long Agni-II is a two-stage, solid propelled ballistic missile. It has a launch weight of 17 tones and can carry a payload of 1000kg over a distance of 2000km.

8 August, 2012: In Egypt New Govt. takes the responsibility.

7 August, 2012: Pakistan were annihilated 7-0 by world champions Australia in their last pool match on Tuesday- their worst Olympic defeat – to crash out of the medal race.

6 August, 2012: London: Pioneering British physicist and astronomer Bernard Lovell, who developed one of the world’s largest radio telescopes exploring particles in the universe, has died. He was 98. The University of Manchester, where Lovell was emeritus professor of radioastonomy, said. Lovell was founder of England’s Jodrell Bank Observatory and creator of its massive 250-foot-wide (76-meter-wide) radio telescope that has borne his name since 1987. But three decades earlier, the half-built telescope was I danger of being mothball because it had cost far too much to develop. Lovell credited the Soviet Union’s Oct 4, 1957, launch of Sputnik, the world’s first articficial satellite, with saving his project. Lovell also led an important World War II research project that developed the world’s first radar system for scanning the ground. The H2S radar technology was used on British Bombers from 1943 onward to identify ground targets at night and low bisibility.

6 august, 2012: President confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz to Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt during a special ceremony owning to his long meritorious services. He also has been decorated with the award of Hilal-i-imtiaz (Military), Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Military) and Tamgha-i-Basalat for his meritorious dedicated services.

Current Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. French President Francois Holland.

5 August, 2012 on Monday: Curiosity rover lands successfully on Mars (Gale Carter), Red Planet: NASA. Landed on Martian surface shortly after 10:30 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday (1:30 a.m. EDT Monday/05:30GMT) to begin a two year mission seeking evidence the Red Planet once host ingredients for life, NASA said. Mission controls at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles. The $2.5 billion curiosity project, formally called the Mars Science Laboratory, is NASA’s first astrobiology mission since the 1970-era Viking probes. The landing capped a journey of more than eight months across more than 350 million miles (567 million km) of space since the Mars Science Lab was launched in November 2011 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It’s also the one-ton mobile lab is the largest rover ever sent to Mars. President Barak

Obama described the landing as “an unprecedented feat of technology that will stand as a point of national pride far into the future”.

London Olympic 2012: American Michael Phelps, a swimmer from suburban Baltimore, won his 19th (total 22) Olympic medal, almost all of which are gold and which he was accumulated over three summer games. His haul has beaten the previous record of 18 medals (half of which were gold) won by Larisa Latynina for the Soviet Univon in gymnastics b/w 1956 and 1964.

London Olympic 2012: Britain’s Anislie makes Olympic history with fourth sailing gold (total 5 with one silver), Ainslie overtakes Danish Olympic legend Paul Elvstrom – who won four gold medals b/w 1948 and 1960 – to become most successful sailor in Games.

London Olympics 2012: British Cyclist Chris Hoy winning two gold medals in the Velodrome- the fifth and sixth golds of his career – to become the most successful British Olympian ever.

6 August, 2012: Basketball- Britain gets first Olympic win in 64 years by thumbing China 90-58. The only other Olympic victory came in the 1948 London Games.

6 August, 2012: Usain Bolt remains fastest man on the earth after winning the 100 meters in London Olympics 2012. Later, he also wins 200 meter and become first athlete who successfully defend his Olympic 100,200 and 4*100 meters titles.

5 August 2012: Neil Armstrong 82nd birthday celebrated, he was born on 5 August, 1930. He is the first person who stepped on moon on 21 July 1969.

3 August, 2012: Contempt of Court Case 2012 abolished by SC of Pakistan.

July 31 on Tuesday: Pakistan and USA signed the bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) on transit of cargo. USA Charge d’Affaires Ambassador Richard Hogaland and Additional secretary of the Ministry of Defence Rear Admiral Farrokh Ahmed signed the agreement on behalf of their govt.

International Olympic Committee (IOC): created on 23rd June 1894 based in Lausanne, Switzerland , created by Pierre, Baron de Coubertin (also 2nd longest serving president from 1896 to 1925, 29 years) with Demetrios Vikeas as its first president. Today its membership consists of 105 active members and 32 honorary members. Current president is Count Jacues Rogge (till 2013) and have Motto Citius, Altius, Fortius (Latin: Faster, Higher, Stronger). French, English and host country’s official language when necessary. First Summer Olympic were held, Greece, in 1896, the first Winter Olympic were in Chamonix, France, in 1924. Until 1992, both Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same year. The first summer youth Olympic were in Singapore in 2010 and first Winter youth Olympics were held in Innsbruck (Austria city and capital of state of Tyrol) 2012.

July 27, 2012 on Friday: London Olympics 2012 opening ceremony held in London (3rd time).16, 000 athletes from 204 (Pakistan has 39 team member) countries share the thrill of victory and despair of defeat with 11 million visitors in almost 36 games. Olympics will end on 12 august 2012.

(Olympics Games started from The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was held in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to 15, 1896( 241 Athletes from 14 nations participated in 43 events in nine sports at the Games, the US won most Gold medal (11), while host nation, Greece, won the most medal overall (46) as well as the most silver(17), bronze(19), finishing with one less Gold medal than the United States) Athens was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organized by Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, in Paris, on June 23, 1894. The International Olympic Committee (IOC, Demetrius Vikelas, the first president of the IOC, was credited with the successful organization of the 1896 Games) was also instituted during this congress. Interesting to know that the 1900 Summer Olympics, some were already planned for Paris and, except for the Intercalated Games of 1906, the Olympics did not return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympic, some 108 years later.)

July 27 on Friday: Rehman Mailk took his oath again as interior minister of Pakistan. He was suspended by SC on June 4 because of issue of dual nationality. He elected without competition from a technocrat seat from sindh.

July 25, 2012 on Wednesday: Indian new president Pranab Mukherjee takes his oath as 13th president of India by the CJ of India.

July 24, 2012 on Tuesday: Ghana’s vice president John Mahama’s swift took oath after Atta Mills dies at 68 before term ends.

July 24: Mariam Sultana, a lecturer at the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST) has become the first Pakistani woman to earn a doctorate degree in Extragalactic Astrophysics, which is an emerging branch of Astrophysics. Her research work was” Mathematical modeling of formation of ring structure in galaxies at early evolution of Universie.”

July 22, 2012 on Sunday: Indian former president Pranab Mukherjee Elected India’s 13th President. He won against former lower house parliament speaker P.A. Sagma with huge margin. Pranab will replace the current and first woman president, Pratibha Patil. Whose five-year term ends on Wednesday July 25. The new president will be administered the oath of office by the chief justice of India on 25 july.

July 21: "Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may learn piety and righteousness"(Quran 2:183)

July 18, 2012 on Wednesday: Former South African President and Great Black leader Nelson Mandela as he celebrates his 94 birthday in Qunu, South Afric, Wednesday, July 18. For much of the world, Nelson Mandela is the epitome of saint. He is called Tata Madiba”. Tata means father in mandela native isiXhosa language.

July 18,2012 on Wednesday: North Korea Kim Jong-un named ‘marshal’ of military and become the head of the country’s 1.2-million strong armed forces. The 29 year old leader promotion places him above six military leaders who hold the rank of vice marshal. He is now Marshal of democratic People’s Republic of Korea, First Sectetary of workers “ Party of Korea, Chairman of the central Army Commission, First Chairman of the National Defence Commission of NK, Supreme Commander of the Korean People’ Army and a presidium member of the central Politburo of the pary.

July 17, 2012 on Tuesday: Final result of election in Libya after 64 years put Liberal Alliance ahead. The national Alliance, led by ex-interim PM Mahmoud Jibril, has won 39 out 40 whereas Muslim Brotherhood gained 17.

Mr. Yaseen Anwar, Current Governor of SBP (Takes charge from October 20, 2011 as 17th Governor of SBP.

July 15, 2012 on Saturday: Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf first foreign vist to Saudi Arabia.

July 14, 2012: Aussie speed demon Brett Lee retires from international cricket. He played 216 one-day games for Australia, taking 374 wickets.

July 13, 2012 on Friday: President Asif Ali Zardari’s approval Fakkhurddin G Ebhrahim appointed new ECP for next five years. He’ll be the 24th individual to occupy the post after 12 permanent and 11 acting Chief Election commissioners. He will take over from Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan who was the acting CECP after the retirement of juctice (retd) Hamid Ali Mirza on March 23, this year.

July 12, 2012 on Thursday: President Sign contempt of court bill which was first approved by federal cabinet on July 4 and then

Current Law Minister of Pakistan Govt. is Farooq Naek. Attorney General Irfan Qadir.

July 12, 2012: Pakistan Cricket team Sri Lanka tour ended. Pakistan lost the five-match one day series 3-1 and three tests 1-0. They leveled a two match Twenty20 series 1-1. Summary of the tour is as follows:

• 1st T20, 1st June, Hambantota, Sri Lanka (132/7) won by 37 runs.• 2nd T20, 3rd June, Hambantota, Pakistan (122/6) won by 23 runs.• 1st ODI, 7th June, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele, Pakistan (135/4) won

by 6 wickets (D/L method)• 2nd ODI, 9th June,same Stadium, Sri Lanka (280/4) won by 76 runs.• 3rd ODI, 13th June at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Pak (12/2), No result • 4th ODI, 16 June, same stadium, Sri Lanka (243/8) won by 44 runs.• 5th ODI, 18 July, same stadium, Sri Lanka (248/8) won by 2 wickets.• 1st Test, 22nd June 2012, Galle International Stadium, Galle, Sri Lanka (472/10,137/5, Pak

100/10 & 300/10) won by 209 runs.• 2nd test, June 20 at Colombo, Drawn• 3rd test, July 8 at Pallekele, Match Drawn.

July 10, 2012 on Tuesday: Justice (Retd) Fakkhurddin G Ebhrahim nominated as a Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan by a parliamentary panal.

July 8, 2012 on Sunday: Donors pledged 16 billion Afghan aid In Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan (hosted representatives of 80 nations) to prevent the country from sliding back in turmoil after foreign Troops depart in 2014.

A record number of Polio cases (198) registered in Pakistan last year.

Karim Massimov, Current Prime Minister of Republic of Kazakhstan.

Largest Library of the World is The Library of Congress with 151.8 millions books and about 838 miles of bookshelves.

Yammer internet startup co-founder and current CEO David Sacks.

Pakistan Current IG Railway is Syed Ibn-Hassan and DC Railway Javed Noor.

July 7, on Saturday: Election helded in Libya after four decade on one-man rule of General Qadafi. Last time election was held in Libys in 1964. Libyans will elect a 200-seat national assembly.

July 6, 2012 on Sunday: the Govt. of France will provide Euros 68.3 millions for the construction of a 48MV jaggran-II Hydro Power Project, which will be built in the upper extent of Neelum River. Aggrement was signed here at Economics affairs division (EAD) by the Additional

secretary of EAD, Iftikhar ahmed Rao, ambassador of France, Phillippe Thiebaud and Country Directo of the French Development Agency (AFD), Nicolas Fornage here on Friday. ( With this aggrement , France has now a portfolio of projects amounting to 213 million Euros for the water and energy sector in Pakistan, corresponding to 73 percent of its pledge.

July 5, 2012: An Ariane 5 ascends from French Guiana at sunset Thursday with the Echo Star 17 and MSG-3 satellite payloads into orbit from Guiana Space center in kourou, French Guiana.

July 5, 2012 on Thursday, first NATO truck crossed Chaman border towards Afghanistan after senven month gap turmoil which was started after 26th November attack of USA at salsala check post, which martyred 24 Pakistani soldiers.

July 5, 2012: 2 day foreign secretary level talks from 4 to 5th June, ended on 5rd June 2012 at Thursday b/w foreign secretary of Indian Ranjan Mathai and Pakistani counterpart Jillil abbas Jillani.

July 4, 2012, on Wednesday: announced UW (University of Washington, Anna Gossouo and gordon watts are two of physicist) physicist aided in discovery of new sub atomic particles, believed to be the long sough higgs boson, boson is the key part of the physicist of how the universe works. Boson higgs named after the theorist physicist Peter higgs who imagined and named it half a century ago.

On this discovery, British most favorite and living scientist Steffen Hawking also looses 100 dollar because he bets with Gordon Kane (University of Michigan) that these particles will never discover but it happened contrary to his statements.

July 3: NATO supply resumed after seven month turmoil.

July 4, 2012: Federal Cabinet approved the Toheena-adalat Constitutional amendment bill 2012 on Thursday.

July 3, 2012 on Wednesday: Supreme Court of Pakistan declared that Na Ahal Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani’s all orders are illegal and unconstitutional from 26 April to 19th June 2012.

July 2, 2012 Euro 2012: Spain beat Italy to be crowned champions of Euro 2012. Spain retained their European championship title, beating Italy 4-0 in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, to become the first side to complete back-to-back wins in the competition’s 52-year history.

June 30, 2012 on Saturday: Egyptian President M. Marsi takes his oath.

June 24, 2012 on Sunday: Presidential Ordinance issued to give the legal recognizance of the Previous Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani’s orders from 26 April to 19 June.

June 23, 2012 Saturday: Pakistan New Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf took his oath as a 25 Prime Minister of Pakistan.

June 22, 2012 on Friday: Pakistan National Assembly selected PPP’s Raja Pervaiz Ashraf as a leader of house and prime minister of Pakistan.

June 20, 2012 on Thursday: Chinese astronauts in the orbiting space module Tiangong-1 received the first of its kind email from the earth.

June 20: AJK (The Azad Jammu & Kashmir) presented Rs 49.50 billion budget.

June 19, 2012 on Tuesday: Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified Prime Minister of Pakistan and declared him as illegal and unconstitutional because of contempt of court punishment which he got at 26th April. Yousaf Raza Gillani membership of Parliament dismissed so he was no more Prime Minister of Pakistan form 26 April onward.

June 16, 2012: observes as Father Day (3rd Sunday of June).

June 12, 2012: observes as Children Labor day.

June 9, 2012: Punjab Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman on Saturday presented annual budget of Punjab for the year 2012-12 with total outlay of Rs 782 billion. 20% increase in the salaries of Govt. employees whereas 5% reduction in the salaries of MPAs. Around 125,000 laptops will be distributed to students. Rs 10 billion allocated for energy sector.

June 8: KPK budget worth Rs 303 billion presented.

June 4, 2012 on Monday: Supreme Court suspended Pakistan Interior Ministier Rehman Mailk Senate Membership. Next day he is appointment as an advisor to Prim Minister by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.

June 1, 2012 on Friday: Gov. unveils Rs 2960 billion budget 2012-13 in the parliament presents by Finance Minister Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh. Other statistics about budget which are important are as follows:

• Inflation target 9.5 percent• Fiscal deficit of 4.7 percent• National development outlay 873 billion with federal public sector development

programme (PSDP) of Rs 363 billion Rs.• Budget allocated to defense 545.389 billions.• 787.396 million allocate for IT sector in budget• Revenue collection target 2504 billion rupees

• Duty of raw material of 88 medicine reduce from 10 to 5 percent• Sales tax on imports has been standardized on 16 percent from 22 percent to 19.5

percent while minimum tax slab has been fixed to Rs 400,000.• 20% adhoc relief package has been proposed for government employees and

pensioners.• The total federal receipts are estimated at 3234 billion Rs which are 18.3% percent

higher than 2732 billion Rs of outgoing year.• Tax collection of FBR estimated 2381 billion Rupees enhancing tax to GDP ration to

10.1 %.• Province would give 1459 billion rupees from federal divisible pool as under 7th NFC

award as against 1203 billion rupees during the current financial rupees.• The net federal receipts for the next year are estimated 1775 billion rupees as againt

1529 billion rupees in current year.• The overall fiscal deficit would be 1105 billion rupees which is 4.7 percent of GDP as

against 5.5 percent of GDP in outgoing year.• Allocation for BISP increase from 50 to 70 billion rupees.• 10 billion have been allocate for export development fund.• Card holder of BISP would get 17% discount of Govt. utility stores• Bachelor and Master degree holders would be provided 40 thousands internship in

public and private sectors• Five hundred millions rupees would be spent on higher education for masters and PhD

programmes of FATA, Gilligat and Balochistan higher education

Budget Taxation:

• Income tax for commercial importers is being reduced from five to three percent, for exporters from one percent to half percent and for suppliers from 3.5 percent to 2.5%.

• Withholding tax exemption limit of twenty five thousand rupees on withdrawal of cash from banks in a day is being raised to fifty thousand rupees.

• The value of vehicle for the purpose of depreciation rate is being increased from 1.5 to 2.5 million rupees whereas initial rate of new building would be 25%.

• GST on tea is being reduced from the existing 16% to 5%.• 25% reduction in import duties and taxes on Fuel efficient Hybrid Electric and their

batteries.

Budget Development:• Power Sector would get 69 billion rupees besides 115 billion Rs to be spent on

WAPDA and electric companies.

• Water sector would get 48 billion Rs, social sector 44 billion rupees and FATA, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir would get 37 billion rupees from the development budget. PSDP also includes 16 billion rupees for higher education and 84 billion rupees for transport and communication.

May 31, 2012 on Thursday: Pakistan conducted test of medium range cruise missile Hatf-VIII(Ra’ad).

May 31, 2012: Finance Minister Abdul Hafiz Sheikh shows the Pakistan Economic Survey Report 2011-2012 on Thursday. Some important highlights are as follows:

Growth and Stabilization

• Govt. achieved a growth rate of 3.7% this year as compared to 3 % last year.• Commodity producing sector growth rate is 3.28 percent against 1.47% last year.• The Minister outlined the three ways of measuring inflation: consumer price index,

wholesale price index and sensitive price index. “The average consumer price index this year was 10.8% as compared to last year’s 13.8%. The wholesale price index was 21% last year, but this year it was 11.2%. The sensitive price index was also brought down from 18% last year to 8.5%.” The food inflation on average basics is estimated at 11.1 percent and non-food 10.7 percent, against 18.8 percent and 10.8 percent in the corresponding period of last year. Core inflation is also estimated at 10.4 percent.

• Agriculture registered the growth of 3.12% against 2.38% last year.• Industrial sector contains 25.4% of GDP having sub sectors: manufacturing,

construction, mining & quarrying and electricity gas distribution.• Per capita real income grew at 2.33% in 2011-12 as compared to 1.33 percent growth in

last year. In dollar term it increased from 1258$ to $ 1372 in 2011-12.• Fiscal deficit is recorded at 5.0% during July-March 2012-2 as compared to 5.5% last

year.• Tax collection of the FBR was targeted at Rs 1952.3 billion for fiscal year 2011-12.

Revenue collections of FBR stood at Rs 1426.0 billion during July-March 2011-12, thereby reflecting 24.0% growth over Rs 1149.8 billion during the corresponding period last year. Among the four federal taxes, the highest growth 33.7% has been recorded in sales tax receipts, followed by customs 17.7%, and direct tax 22.6%. It does not include Rs. 19 billion collected by Sindh province on GST on Services.

31 May, 2012: Our galaxy to hit another in four billion years: NASA. Our galaxy is on a collision course with its nearest neighbor, Andromeda, and the head-on crash expected in four billion year, the US space agency NASA said on Thursday, 31 May. Scientists have long known that Andromeda, also known as M31, is moving toward the Milky Way at a speed of 250,000 miles

per hour, or fast enough to travel from the earth to the moon in one hour. Andromeda was first spotted as “a little cloud” by the Persian astronomer Abd-al-Rahman Al sufi in 964.

May 24, 2012 on Thursday: National Assemble Speaker Dr. Fahimida Mirza decided not to send the disqualification of Prime Minister Issue on court verdict to the Election commission of Pakistan.

20 May, 2012: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization formed at 4th April, 1949) Summit held at Chicago the home town of President Barak Obama. 401 billion dollar needed for 2014-17 after withdrawal of American from Afghanistan. America will give 2/3. (Andra Rasmosar: NATO secretary General)

15 May 2012: President Francois Holland takes his office as a President of France preceded by Nicolas Sarkozy.

May 7, 2012 on Sunday: President Valadi Mir Puttin takes his oath as a third time President of Russia Federation.

April 26, 2012: PM Pakistan Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani Convicted against contempt of court case as a punishment of 30 second up to the rising of court. He also appeared before the court on February 19 and March 13.

April 26, 2012: Visionary day celebrated.

26 April: Also remember with a worst nuclear disaster, Chernobyl disaster: The 1986 nuclear plant accident in Ukraine (Pripyat,Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, now Ukraine) dated 26 April, 1986, worst nuclear disaster in the history.

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan dated 11 March, 2011 is another worst event of nuclear mismanagement.

April 25, 2012: Earth day observed.

April 20, 2012: BOJHA Airline Crashes near Islambad, casailuties of 127 people.

April 14, Security committee presents its report in National Assembly on specific relation to USA.

April 8, 2012: President Asif Ali Zardari Vistied India on a private Visit.

April 7, 2012: Between the night of April 6th and 7th in Gahayari Sector, Pakistani Soldiers post hited by ice.

22 April: Water Day observed since 1993. Realizing the gravity of the situation, experts have described water as “Blue Gold”.

Success is never certain, but self-doubt, negativity and low expectations guarantee failure. (John F. Murray)