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ISLAMABAD: Senior vice president of the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has urged the commission of inquiry on the sugar scam to include Prime Minister Imran Khan and the then finance minister Asad Umar in the investigation to find out the truth.

Talking to reporters after appearing before the commission with another senior party leader and former minister Khurram Dastagir Khan here on Saturday, Mr Abbasi said he had told the commission there would be no worth of its report if it did not summon the prime minister and Mr Umar, the then chairman of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) that had allowed export of sugar despite knowing it was not available in stock.

“We do not talk politics. We have presented facts before the commission. If the prime minister and the [former] ECC chairman are not called [for interrogation] there will be no worth of the commission’s report,” said Mr Abbasi, who had served as prime minister after disqualification of Nawaz Sharif in July 2017 as a result of the Supreme Court’s verdict in Al-Azizia corruption case.

Mr Abbasi had himself written a letter to the commission and offered his services to it by sharing his experiences in probing the sugar scam. He had stated that he would inform the commission how sugar scandals developed in the light of his experience as a former chief executive of the country.

Mr Abbasi held the prime minister directly responsible for over Rs100 billion sugar scam, saying the inquiry commission should ask him the reason for allowing sugar export despite the fact that the commodity was not available in surplus in the country and for not taking any step to prevent increase in its price. He said the export continued for 16 months with 45 per cent increase in the sugar price in the country, but the government took no notice of it.

The former prime minister alleged that the sugar mill owners earned Rs30 per kilogram extra due to this decision of the government. He said the increase in sugar price proved the decisions of the cabinet and the ECC to export sugar were wrong.

“There can be three factors behind this wrong decision. Either the prime minister is incompetent or corrupt or he is both. The facts prove he is incompetent as well as corrupt and the people of Pakistan are paying the price for it,” he said.

Mr Abbasi said he had told the inquiry commission it would not be able to understand the issue until it would not summon the members of the cabinet and the ECC.

“Is it not a matter of conflict of interests?” he asked, alleging those who made billions through the sugar scam were part of the federal cabinet.

Mr Abbasi said it was a clear, open and shut case as facts showed sugar was exported against the advice of the relevant authorities and continued to be exported for 16 months while prices rose. He said not only that, the government also imposed a special tax on sugar import to ensure the rise in price and exploitation of the people.

Replying to a question, the former prime minister said when the PML-N had left the government in 2018, the sugar price was Rs54 per kg. He said the PML-N had also given huge subsidy of over Rs20bn and even allowed the export, but at the same time it kept check on its price and brought the price down.

Responding to another query, he said they had not given anything in writing or any document, but they were ready to do so, if asked. However, he said, the minutes of the meetings of the cabinet and the ECC would be sufficient as evidence.

The federal cabinet in its meeting on April 28 had allowed three more weeks to the Sugar Forensic Commission (SFC) to compile its report on last year’s food crisis after the expiry of the April 25 deadline given for the task.

The commission headed by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General Wajid Zia had reportedly made a formal request to the federal government to grant it more time citing multiple reasons, including the situation created by coronavirus.

The commission had been constituted by the government in the first week of April following the release of two separate inquiry reports of the FIA on the issue of artificial shortage of sugar and wheat in the country and sudden increase in their prices last year.

The inquiry report on sugar had revealed names of many bigwigs, including Jahangir Tareen, former secretary general of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and a close confidant of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had allegedly obtained benefit during the crisis.

The report had showed in the past few years sugar production was historically more than the local requirement and said therefore it was imperative to include this aspect related to export of sugar, including any subsidy given, its impact on local sugar prices and eventually major beneficiaries of such export subsidies, if any. The inquiry committee had found the sugar export was not justified as sugarcane production was expected to be low in harvesting season 2018-19 and with the export of sugar in Jan 2019, the prices of sugar sharply increased.

After the release of the report, the opposition had demanded that the PM take stern action against those who had been declared responsible for the crisis by the FIA committee.

PM Khan had vowed to take action, but said he would do so after receiving the forensic audit report from the commission he had constituted on the recommendation of the ‘initial’ reports. The commission comprises officials from a number of agencies and departments, including Intelligence Bureau and the Federal Board of Revenue.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2020

Three senior officials guiding the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic were in self-quarantine on Saturday after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for the disease, their agencies and spokesmen said.

The British government wants to slowly and cautiously restart the economy, housing minister Robert Jenrick said on Sunday ahead of a televised address from the prime minister to set out plans to begin easing the coronavirus lockdown measures.

Vanessa Bryant filed a claim against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, contending deputies shared unauthorized photos of the site where her husband and daughter died in a helicopter crash in January.

As the NBA begins to allow practice facilities to reopen on a team-by-team basis, with state and local rules regarding reopening dictate which teams can welcome players back, one NFL coach wants his league to take a different approach when pro football gets back to work.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Saturday approved emergency use authorization (EUA) to Quidel Corp for the first COVID-19 antigen test.

* PM Johnson to detail Britain's next steps on Sunday (Adds comment from transport minister, Balpa, updated death toll)

Throughout the coming weeks, we will be releasing several new series on working in workplace post quarantine. These series of courses are separated for employees, […]

The post Post Quarantine Training: Returning to Work appeared first on e-Learning Feeds.

Here are the latest coronavirus updates from around the world.

The test can rapidly detect fragments of virus proteins in samples collected from swabs swiped inside the nasal cavity, the FDA said in a statement.

Alameda County ordered the facility closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus and said it was working with Elon Musk's electric car company to resolve the issue.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration will also self-quarantine; all three are on the coronavirus task force.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thinks the Democratic National Convention should be moved to a much bigger stadium so party faithful have space to social distance for Joe Biden's nomination. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci will testify at the Senate Health Committee Tuesday, Fox News has learned, while two other White House coronavirus task force members will attend the hearing via video conference after placing themselves in quarantine.

She also has a gift for mothers everywhere.

“If you don’t have any flour, you can just go to bed.”

The Trump administration is considering a broad exemption to Obamacare's mandate on contraceptive coverage, according to a leaked draft of the proposed rule published by Vox on Wednesday.

Since 2011, the Obamacare provision has required that most employers provide insurance that covers birth control, without any cost to the patient. The rule has been the target of a number of lawsuits by religious employers who felt that the requirement violated their religious beliefs. Showing sensitivity to such concerns, in 2014 the Supreme Court ruled in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby that some religious employers could opt out of the coverage. But the court required them to file paperwork indicating their objection, in turn triggering separate contraceptive coverage for employees provided directly by the insurance company. That ruling, though, didn't settle the issue for religious groups. In a follow-up 2016 Supreme Court case, Zubik v. Burwell, a number of religious organizations said that even this accommodation required them to violate their beliefs, as the paperwork made them complicit in providing birth control coverage. The Supreme Court sent the case down to the lower courts, where it has still not been resolved.

Now, the Trump administration seems ready to extend the birth control exemption beyond just religious employers. According to the leaked draft, dated May 23, the new rule would allow virtually any organization to opt out of the mandate if they feel contraception coverage violates "their religious beliefs and moral convictions."

"This rule would mean women across the country could be denied insurance coverage for birth control on a whim from their employer or university," said Dana Singiser, vice president for public policy and government relations of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement. "It would expand the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling to allow any employer—including huge, publicly traded companies—to deny birth control coverage to their employees. Think about it: Under this rule, bosses will be able to impose their personal beliefs on their female employees' private medical decisions."

What's more, this draft doesn't require employers opting out of the mandate to notify the government they are doing so; they're only required to notify employees of a change in their insurance plans. Insurance companies could also themselves refuse to cover contraception if it violates their religious or moral beliefs.

This appears to provide an even broader exemption than what team Trump has previously signaled it would enact. Throughout the campaign, Trump assured religious leaders their organizations would not have to comply with the contraception mandate: "I will make absolutely certain religious orders like the Little Sisters of the Poor are not bullied by the federal government because of their religious beliefs," he wrote in a letter to Catholic leaders last year, referring to the order of nuns that were party to the Zubik Supreme Court case. And on May 4, Trump, flanked by the Little Sisters of the Poor, signed an executive order about religious liberty, which encourages several agencies to address religious employers' objections to Obamacare's preventive care requirements, including contraception.

It is unclear what changes may have been made to this draft since May 23, but what is clear is that the rule is in an advanced stage of the process; the Office of Management and Budget announced that it is currently reviewing it, the penultimate step before the rule is enacted via posting in the Federal Register.

You can read the full draft, obtained by Vox, below:

A Honduran immigrant held at a troubled detention center in California's high desert died Wednesday night while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Vincente Caceres-Maradiaga, 46, was receiving treatment for multiple medical conditions while waiting for an immigration court to decide whether to deport him, according an ICE statement. He collapsed as he was playing soccer at the detention facility and died while en route to a local hospital.

Caceres-Maradiaga's death is the latest in a string of fatalities among detainees held at the Adelanto Detention Facility, which is operated by the GEO Group, the country's largest private prison company. Three people held at the facility have died in the last three months, including Osmar Epifanio Gonzalez-Gadba, a 32-year-old Nicaraguan found hanging in his cell on March 22, and Sergio Alonso Lopez, a Mexican man who died of internal bleeding on April 13 after spending more than two months in custody.

Since it opened in 2011, Adelanto has faced accusations of insufficient medical care and poor conditions. In July 2015, 29 members of Congress sent a letter to ICE and federal inspectors requesting an investigation into health and safety concerns at the facility. They cited the 2012 death of Fernando Dominguez at the facility, saying it was the result of "egregious errors" by the center's medical staff, who did not give him proper medical examinations or allow him to receive timely off-site treatment. In November 2015, 400 detainees began a hunger strike, demanding better medical and dental care along with other reforms.

Yet last year, the city of Adelanto, acting as a middleman between ICE and GEO, made a deal to extend the company's contract until 2021. The federal government guarantees GEO that a minimum of 975 immigrants will be held at the facility and pays $111 per detainee per day, according to California state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), who has fought to curtail private immigration detention. After that point, ICE only has to pay $50 per detainee per day—an incentive to fill more beds.

Of California's four privately run immigration detention centers, three use local governments as intermediaries between ICE and private prison companies. On Tuesday, the California senate voted 26-13 to ban such contracts, supporting a bill that could potentially close Adelanto when its contract runs out in 2021. The Dignity Not Detention Act, authored by Lara, would prevent local governments from signing or extending contracts with private prison companies to detain immigrants starting in 2019. The bill would also require all in-state facilities that hold ICE detainees, including both private detention centers and public jails, to meet national standards for detention conditions—empowering state prosecutors to hold detention center operators accountable for poor conditions inside their facilities.

An identical bill passed last year but was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown. "I have been troubled by recent reports detailing unsatisfactory conditions and limited access to counsel in private immigration detention facilities," Brown wrote in his veto message last September. But he deferred to the Department of Homeland Security, which was then reviewing its use of for-profit immigration detention. In that review, the Homeland Security Advisory Council rejected the ongoing use of private prison companies to detain immigrants, citing the "inferiority of the private prison model." Yet since President Donald Trump took office, the federal government has moved to expand private immigration detention, signing a $110 million deal with GEO in April to build the first new immigration detention center under Trump.

Nine people have died in ICE custody in fiscal year 2017, which began October 1. Meanwhile, private prison stocks have nearly doubled in value since Election Day.

दो पहिया वाहन निर्माता कंपनी अपना BS6 Vespa Elegante 149 स्कूटर लॉन्च करने जा रही है। बता दें कि कंपनी ने अपने सभी 150 सीसी इंजनों को 149 सीसी का कर दिया है। Vespa Elegante में सिंगल सिलेंडर इंजन दिया गया है।

Anti-quarantine protesters jumped onto other social platforms after being shut down by Facebook, Amazon Vice President Tim Bray said Amazon is designed to create a climate of fear and quits the company, Apple releases new MacBook 13 with an improved keyboard and more storage.   Anti-quarantine protesters are being kicked off Facebook and quickly finding…

There has been a significant surge in contactless payments for everyday purchases since the onset of COVID-19, according to a new study. The Mastercard global consumer study conducted from April 10 to 12 says that in Canada, 76 per cent of consumers say contactless payments are now their preferred way to pay when making in-store…

ZYUS Life Sciences is working with VIDO-InterVac to see if proteins produced by plants can be made into a working COVID-19 vaccine. 

This pro-bono initiative crowdsourced 4,500 drug designs, synthesized 311, and is now testing them against viral proteins

Vanessa Bryant filed a claim against the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, contending deputies shared unauthorized photos of the site where her husband and daughter died in a helicopter crash in January.

Three senior officials guiding the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic were in self-quarantine on Saturday after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for the disease, their agencies and spokesmen said.

Our weekly roundup of books that should be on your radar.

Indian Hindi and Urdu poetry has time and again narrated horror stories of how the society turns a blind towards the dying poor. News18 has compiled a collection of ten such pieces of literature to depict the present condition of migrant workers.

Indian Hindi and Urdu poetry has time and again narrated horror stories of how the society turns a blind eye towards the dying poor. News18 has compiled a collection of ten such pieces of literature to depict the present condition of migrant workers.

The Mayor of Flavortown is giving back to restaurant workers around the country. Guy Fieri has helped raise more than $20 million by partnering with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, he announced in an interview with TMZ. He and the organization have been sending restaurant workers $500 grants through the newly created Restaurant Employee […]

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Three Indiana women who moved to the United States as children have created a fund to help immigrant families who don't qualify for government aid and have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.

The women joined other volunteers, many of whom are also recipients under the ...

A lack of guidance for some non-essential dental treatments is causing concern for hygienists and assistants as clinics reopen in Alberta during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We're led to believe though that, having refused to quarantine the vast majority of passengers arriving in the UK earlier, the government will now move to do so, as lockdown starts to ease.

Three members of the White House coronavirus task force — FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, CDC Director Robert Redfield and NIAID Director Anthony Fauci — are isolating themselves for two weeks.

UFC 249 served as the first major sporting event to take place since the global pandemic shut down much of the country nearly eight weeks ago. It was originally scheduled for 18 April in New York, but was postponed in hopes of helping slow the spread of COVID-19.

Moments after defending his bantamweight title, Henry Cejudo has announced shock retirement from UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). Cejudo defeated Dominick Cruz in a second round TKO in the co-main event of UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Florida.

In Shikhar Dhawan's latest antics on Instagram, he can be seen romancing with his wife Ayesha on song 'Main Teri Mohabbat Mein.' Through the video, he showcased the difference between the first week of quarantine which will leave you in splits.

Justin Gaethje turned his attention to the UFC's unbeaten lightweight champion after Saturday's stunning victory.

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The British government wants to slowly and cautiously restart the economy, housing minister Robert Jenrick said on Sunday ahead of a televised address from the prime minister to set out plans to begin easing the coronavirus lockdown measures.