Man kills newborn daughter

KASUR: A man allegedly strangled his newborn daughter and buried her in the courtyard of his house at Herjoki village on Sunday.

Police arrested the suspect on the complaint of his wife and exhumed the body.

Shamim Bibi complained to police that she gave birth to a baby girl on the night between Saturday and Sunday at a maternity centre where her sister Ghulam Fatima and brother-in-law Muhammad Sarwar brought her. She alleged that no sooner had she returned home with the newborn than her husband Sher Alam, who blew his top on hearing about the girl’s birth, got hold of her (newborn) and strangled her.

Alam, alleged his wife, dug up a grave in the courtyard of his house and buried the newborn without any remorse.

Shamim’s sister Fatima informed police who arrested Alam, a kiln worker in Chunian, and recovered the body of the newborn from the temporary grave. Police registered a case against Alam under sections 302, 311 and 201 of PPC.

Android bug puts millions of phones at risk

Checkpoint Software Technologies and its team of researchers have discovered a set of four vulnerabilities that could potentially give attacker access to a phone's data in tens of millions of Android devices.

The vulnerabilities, known as QuadRooter, were discovered while looking at software which operates on chipsets made by US firm Qualcomm.

Qualcomm is a US telecommunications equipment company and controls 65 per cent of the LTE modem baseband market.

The defect was discovered in software that deals with graphics and in code which communicates information between chipset components. Michael Shaulov, head of mobility product management at Checkpoint, says that the problems were revealed after a six month effort to reverse engineer Qalcomm's code.

The bugs in the software can easily be triggered using an app, which would go by undetected during installation.

Affected devices include handsets such as Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung S7 Edge, Google Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, LG G4, LG G5, LG V10, OnePlus One, OnePlus 2, OnePlus 3 and many more.

In response to the information provided by Checkpoint, Qaulcomm has created software patches and has also started manufacturing chipsets with the bug-free version. The patches have also been distributed to phone makers and operators. However, there are no clear figures on how many phones have been updated.

Checkpoint has created a free app called QuadRooter Scanner, which checks if your phone is at risk.

While there is no current evidence of these vulnerabilities being used, Shaulov says that its only a matter of time.

"It's always a race as to who finds the bug first, whether it's the good guys or the bad."

Young DawnNews cameraman killed in Quetta blast

QUETTA: A DawnNews cameraman tragically became the victim of a suicide bombing targeting a Quetta hospital as he performed his duty Monday. The blast left 54 people dead and several others injured.

DawnNews Quetta bureau chief Syed Ali Shah confirmed the passing of Mehmood Khan, whom he described as a dedicated, young, God-fearing man who is survived by four children.

Mehmood was also the guardian to his brother’s three children, Shah said.

He added that Mehmood joined DawnNews several years ago as a security guard. He showed an interest in working in the newsroom and was soon given the role of a non-linear editor. For the last two years, he was working as a cameraman for DawnNews.

An ambitious young man, Mehmood was preparing to apply for admission to a Masters in Mass Communication.

The blast at civil hospital took place soon after dozens of lawyers gathered at the hospital following the killing of the Balochistan Bar Association President, who was shot dead this morning.

Several media personnel were present at the hospital to cover the protest. Another cameraman from Aaj TV was also killed in the explosion.

American, Australian kidnapped at gunpoint in Kabul

KABUL: An American and an Australian were kidnapped at gunpoint in the heart of Kabul, officials said Monday, the latest in a series of abductions of foreigners in the conflict-torn country.

The two professors at the American University of Afghanistan were seized on Sunday evening and no group has so far claimed responsibility for their abduction.

“Two foreign professors, one American and the other Australian, were abducted at gunpoint by a kidnapping gang from Dar-ul-Aman road in the centre of Kabul city,” a security official told AFP.

“We refrain from further comment in order to not damage police rescue efforts.”

The kidnapping comes just two weeks after the rescue of an Indian charity worker, who was also taken at gunpoint near her residence in the heart of the city.

The US State Department said it was aware of reports of the kidnapping of an American citizen, but declined to comment further.

The Australian government confirmed the “apparent kidnapping” of one of its citizens, citing its embassy in Kabul, but also refused to elaborate due to security considerations.

“We continue to advise Australians not to travel to Afghanistan because of the extremely dangerous security situation, including the serious threat of kidnapping,” the government said in a statement.

The abductions underscore the growing dangers faced by foreigners in Afghanistan.

A group of tourists, including British, American and German nationals, came under Taliban fire on Thursday in the western province of Herat, leaving some of them wounded.

Aid workers in particular have increasingly been casualties of a surge in militant violence in recent years.

The Indian charity worker, 40-year-old Judith D'Souza who was a staff member of prominent NGO Aga Khan Foundation, had been abducted on the night of June 9.

D'Souza's abduction came after Katherine Jane Wilson, a well-known Australian NGO worker, was kidnapped on April 28 in the city of Jalalabad, close to the border with Pakistan.

Wilson, said to be aged 60, ran an organisation known as Zardozi, which promotes the work of Afghan artisans, particularly women.

The United States in May warned its citizens in Afghanistan of a “very high” kidnapping risk after an American narrowly escaped abduction in the heart of Kabul.

In April last year the bullet-riddled bodies of five Afghan workers for Save the Children were found after they were abducted by gunmen in the strife-torn southern province of Uruzgan.

Two Indian border guards, rebel killed in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Two border guards and a suspected rebel were killed on Monday in a gun battle in India-held Kashmir, the Indian army said.

The shootout took place near the de facto border with Pakistan, although it was not immediately clear whether the dead fighter had crossed into India from there.

“Two Border Security Force soldiers were martyred and a terrorist was killed in the gun battle,” army spokesman N.N. Joshi told AFP.

Several rebel groups have for decades been fighting an estimated 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in the restive territory, demanding either independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan.

Tens of thousands have died in the fighting since 1989 when the armed rebellion against Indian rule over the Himalayan territory began.

Large parts of the restive territory including Srinagar have been under a strict curfew for the past month following widespread anti-India protests, sparked by the killing of a popular young rebel leader in a gunfight with government forces.

At least 55 civilians and two police have been killed in the latest unrest, the worst since 2010, and nearly 5,000 protesters and bystanders have been injured.

Sindh approves two schemes worth Rs3.9bn

KARACHI: The Sindh Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) on Friday approved two schemes worth Rs3.942 billion in the energy and health sectors.

The first PDWP meeting for the current fiscal was presided by Additional Chief Secretary for Development Muhammad Waseem. One scheme relates to the construction of pretreatment system for RO (reverse osmosis) plant at the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) water supply scheme at Nabisar for Thar Coal power project worth Rs3474.950 million while the other is for strengthening of Sindh Government Qatar Hospital in Orangi Town, Karachi worth Rs449.458m.

Cotton price soars

KARACHI: Cotton pric­es soared to a new high level on Friday on short supply of phutti (seed cotton) and rising demand from spinners.

Reports of rains in most cotton-growing areas in Punjab and Sindh triggered panic buying. But the trading volume remained slow and restricted due to short supply.

The domestic market was also influenced by global trend where most major cotton markets remained bullish. The New York market gained over two US cents per lb for October 2016 contract.

Moreover, spinners are reluctant to buy at this stage as moisture content in phutti after downpour has resulted in low quality of lint.

However, high demand from some needy spinners pushed prices to a seasonal high of Rs7,040 per maund (around 38 kilograms). But short supply of quality cotton kept the proceedings devoid of much needed activity.

According to figures recently released by the textile commissioner, cotton consumption was around 14.42 million bales during August 2015 to May 2016. Similarly, spinners put consumption of cotton in June 2016 at 1.4m bales.

Cotton analyst Naseem Usman contested these figures, saying that if this data was correct then why All Pakistan Textile Mills Association kept claiming that the industry was running under capacity due to high cost of doing business and power crisis.

The Karachi Cotton Association increased its spot rates by Rs250, to Rs6,650 per maund.

Major deals on the ready counter were: 200 bales from Mirpurkhas (at Rs6,790 per maund), 200 bales Sanghar (Rs6,800), 100 bales Chichawatni (Rs7,000), 200 bales Gojra (Rs7,025) and 100 bales Haroonabad (Rs7,040).