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Wal-Mart's next move against Amazon: More warehouses, faster shipping

Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) is accelerating its investment in e-commerce in a bid to narrow the gap with Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and to give it an even more dominant position against the rest of the field in retail.

The world's largest retailer is now on track to double the number of giant warehouses dedicated to online sales to 10 by the end of 2016, according to Justen Traweek, vice-president of e-commerce supply chain and fulfillment.

That pace is faster than the 8 large warehouses that industry consultants expected Wal-Mart to build by the end of 2017.

At the same time, Wal-Mart in the last year has installed new technology such as automated product sorting and improved item tracking that for the first time puts them on par with Amazon's robot-staffed facilities, according to supply-chain consultants.

"We have doubled our capacity in the last twelve months and that allows us to ship to a majority of the U.S. population in one day," Traweek said.

Wal-Mart is holding its annual investor day on Thursday when, among other topics, it is expected to update on the progress it has made in its e-commerce business.

Wal-Mart, which has about 4,600 stores in the United States and over 6,000 worldwide, has been investing in e-commerce for 15 years, but it still lags far behind Amazon.

"These additions definitely give Wal-Mart the opportunity to compete better than other companies going head-to-head with Amazon," said Steve Osburn, director of supply chain with consultancy Kurt Salmon, referring to the likes of Target (TGT.N) and others. "Having said that, choosing to race with Amazon is different than catching up with them."

Wal-Mart in the last four fiscal years has accelerated its investment in e-commerce and digital initiatives, excluding acquisitions, from about $300 million in 2013 to $1.1 billion this year for a total of about $3 billion, according to public filings and earnings transcripts. E-commerce accounts for about 3 percent of Wal-Mart's overall sales.

Since 2011, Wal-Mart has acquired 15 e-commerce startups, one of which became its core Silicon Valley technology arm, @WalmartLabs. Last month, it completed its purchase of online retailer Jet.com for about $3 billion and named Jet's founder, Marc Lore, the head of Wal-Mart's e-commerce business.

The massive warehouses are key to Wal-Mart's e-commerce strategy because they enable the company to deliver packages more economically when shipping online orders with multiple items. Fulfilling such orders now can often mean multiple shipments from different warehouses or stores.

"This improves two fundamental things: Wal-Mart's speed to market, which is how fast their products reach consumers, and it will help them reach an even larger audience," said Regenia Sanders, vice-president of supply chain at consultancy SSA & Co.

Even with Wal-Mart's new investments, though, Amazon has a commanding position in e-commerce with 40 warehouses of one million-plus square feet and plans to open five more by the first quarter of next year, according to data compiled for Reuters by retail technology firm ChannelAdvisor.

Its online sales of $107 billion last year far outstrip Wal-Mart's $13.7 billion of online sales in the same period.

The ten warehouses are designed to boost its overall distribution capabilities, which consists of smaller online warehouses, stores that stock online orders and 160 store serving distribution centers that stock online items. Amazon runs 104 warehouses and has announced 18 new ones, according to ChannelAdvisor data.

An Amazon spokeswoman did not comment on specific questions for this story, but did say the company is laser focused on its customers and delivering unlimited, fast, free Prime Shipping.

TRYING TO NARROW THE GAP

Inside Wal-Mart's 1.2 million square-foot warehouse in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, two 40-foot robotic towers shuttle products like Cheerio's from storage to packaging. It handles more than 70 percent of the orders for best-selling products, Traweek said.

Workers inside wear smart-phone like devices on their wrists that tell them where to find a product, what box it needs to got into and even how much tape is required to seal the package.

The devices give Wal-Mart the ability to store items anywhere in the warehouse and increase efficiency and lower costs, Traweek said, though he would not detail cost savings.

The new warehouses allow Wal-Mart to now ship orders to 70 percent of Americans in a day, Traweek said, but it cannot yet do so profitably. That's why it has not yet begun to promise one-day delivery to customers, he said.

Charles Sizemore, founder of Sizemore Capital Management LLC which owns Wal-Mart shares, said investors expect profitable growth from Wal-Mart, while Amazon is still given leeway to lose money in the hunt for longer-term growth.

"Anything that crimps Wal-Mart's profits in the short term will not be met well by their shareholders, so trying to find a cost-effective shipping solution is a sensible approach," he said.

Wal-Mart plans to complete at least one more giant warehouse, in addition to the ten, by the first quarter of 2017, Traweek said. The retailer had worked with five giant warehouses since launching its online business in 2000.

(Editing by Jo Winterbottom and Edward Tobin)

Gold loses shine as Fed feelings lift dollar

By Marc Jones | LONDON

Growing expectations that U.S. interest rates will rise before the end of the year lifted the dollar and bank shares on Thursday but took the shine off gold, one of the year's best- performing assets.

Investors were already looking to U.S. jobs data on Friday as the dollar hit a four-week high against the yen JPY= in early European trading. Sterling GBP= remained near a three-decade low. [FRX/]

European shares had a choppy start. Beaten-down banking stocks .SX7P provided the biggest boost, while reports of a takeover sent German lightbulb maker Osram (OSRn.DE) to a record high [.EU].

Although German industrial orders data came in surprisingly strong nL5N1CC0P0, the region's big markets - Britain's FTSE .FTSE, Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC .FCHI - still dipped in and out of the red.

"By and large the dollar is continuing to trade well," said Societe Generale strategist Alvin Tan. "Expectations about the Fed raising rates are edging up and that has been helped by the good run of U.S. data ... The big one though is tomorrow with the non-farm payrolls report."

Strong U.S. jobs numbers could cement expectations of a Federal Reserve rate increase, most likely in December. The median forecast of economists polled by Reuters is for payrolls to rise by 175,000.

The Fed-sensitive two-year U.S. government bond yield reached a four-month high of 0.857 percent US2YT=RR on Wednesday as rate futures FFZ6 FFF7 markets started pricing in a more than 60 percent chance rates would rise before the end of the year.

Europe's benchmark bond yield DE10YT=TWEB edged back below zero, however, as investors looked towards minutes of the European Central Bank's last meeting to soothe nerves about its eventually winding down its stimulus program.

Euro zone yields, including the bloc's top-rated German debt, which is usually seen as a safe haven in times of stress, have shot higher this week after reports about possible ECB moves but were almost universally lower in early trade.

"The minutes to be released today may already shed some light on the possible tweaks being considered," said Padhraic Garvey, ING's global head of debt and rates strategy, referring to a possible expansion of the ECB program rather that a taper.

LOSING SHINE

The threat of tighter monetary policy in the U.S. and possibly Europe as well hit precious metals hard.

Gold XAU= slumped to $1,267.4 per ounce, just off a 3 1/2-month low of $1,262.2 it had hit overnight. Silver XAG= also fell to $17.69 after having tumbled to $17.565 per ounce, its lowest since late June.

"A surprise on the upside (of U.S. jobs numbers) will make market watchers expect an even higher probability of a rate hike and that could bring gold prices down," said OCBC Bank analyst Barnabas Gan.

"I would advise to buy on dips for gold simply because the fall in gold prices is very much driven by very short-term factors," Gan said, who has a year-end forecast of $1,350 an ounce.

In the currency market, the dollar rose to a one-month high of 103.67 yen JPY= and last stood at 103.37 yen.

The British pound GBP=D4 was close to the three-decade low of $1.2686 it touched on Wednesday on worries about Britain's exit from the European Union. It last traded at $1.2710.

The euro EUR= was little changed at $1.1200, as concern over the health of Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) offset speculation about ECB tapering.

Oil prices slipped from three-month highs after Saudi Arabia trimmed the price of its flagship crude in Asia.

International benchmark Brent futures LCOc1 was last at $51.55 a barrel, after rising as high as $52.09 on Wednesday, the highest since early June.

U.S. crude futures traded at $49.56 CLc1, down 0.5 percent on the day but up 2.7 percent on the week.

"Markets are hoping that they will not just agree on a cut next month but will also come up with a series of cuts in the future," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.

"But unless we have more evidences of cooperation, it is hard to see oil prices rising much further."

(Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo and John Geddie in London, editing by Larry King)

France makes new push for Aleppo ceasefire

By John Irish, Lidia Kelly and Angus McDowall | PARIS/MOSCOW/BEIRUT

France is to launch a new push for United Nations backing for a ceasefire in Syria that would allow aid into the city of Aleppo after some of the heaviest bombing of the war.

As diplomatic efforts resumed, the Syrian military said army commanders had decided to scale back air strikes and shelling in Aleppo to alleviate the humanitarian situation there.

It said civilians in rebel-held eastern Aleppo were being used as human shields and a reduced level of bombardment would allow people to leave for safer areas.

Intense Syrian and Russian bombing of rebel-held areas of the northern city of Aleppo followed the collapse last month of a ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington, which backs some rebel groups. The United States broke off talks with Russia on Monday, accusing it of breaking its commitments.

France said Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault would travel to Russia and the United States on Thursday and Friday to try to persuade both sides to adopt a Security Council resolution to impose a new truce.

Ayrault has accused Syria, backed by Russia and Iran, of war crimes as part of an "all-out war" on its people. Damascus rejects the accusation, saying it is only fighting terrorists.

Speaking to French television channel LCI, Ayrault said: "If you're complicit in war crimes then one day you will be held accountable, including legally. I think with the Russians you have to speak the truth and not try to please them."

The former prime minister said he would also ask Washington to be "more efficient and engaged" and not allow a laissez-faire attitude to take over just because presidential elections were approaching in November.

"ALL THAT'S LEFT"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed Syria by telephone on Wednesday, but no details emerged. The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Lavrov would meet Ayrault in Moscow on Thursday.

The two-week-old Russian-backed Syrian government offensive aims to capture eastern Aleppo and crush the last urban stronghold of a revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that began in 2011.

Half of the estimated 275,000 Syrians besieged in the rebel-held eastern part of the city want to leave, the United Nations said, with food supplies running short and people driven to burning plastic for fuel.

Mothers were reportedly tying ropes around their stomachs or drinking large amounts of water to reduce the feeling of hunger and prioritise food for their children, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in Geneva.

The Security Council began negotiations on Monday on a French and Spanish draft resolution that urges Russia and the United States to ensure an immediate truce in Aleppo and to "put an end to all military flights over the city".

"This trip is in the framework of efforts by France to get a resolution adopted at the U.N. Security Council opening the path for a ceasefire in Aleppo and aid access for populations that need it so much," the French foreign ministry said.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Monday that Moscow was engaged in discussions on the draft text even if he was not especially enthusiastic about its language.

The draft text, seen by Reuters, urges Russia and the United States "to ensure the immediate implementation of the cessation of hostilities, starting with Aleppo, and, to that effect, to put an end to all military flights over the city."

The draft also asks U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to propose options for U.N.-supervised monitoring of a truce and threatens to "take further measures" in the event of non-compliance by "any party to the Syrian domestic conflict".

A senior Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "In the experts' negotiations they (Russia) have opposed every single dot and comma of the resolution."

French officials have said that if Moscow were to oppose the resolution they would be ready to put it forward anyway to force Moscow into a veto, underscoring its complicity with the Syrian government.

"It's all that's left," said a French diplomatic source. "We're not fools. The Russians aren't going to begin respecting human rights from one day to the next, but it's all we have to put pressure on them."

GULF STATES

Ayrault said in the television interview that the situation was unacceptable. "It is deeply shocking and shameful," he said. "France will not close its eyes and do nothing. It's cynicism that fools nobody."

The collapse of the latest Syria ceasefire has heightened the possibility that Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and Qatar - backers of Syrian rebels - might arm the opposition with shoulder-fired missiles to defend themselves against Syrian and Russian warplanes, U.S. officials have said.

Qatar's foreign minister said outside powers need to act fast to protect Syrians because foreign military backing for the government is "changing the equation" of the war.

A United Nations expert said that analysis of satellite imagery of a deadly and disputed attack on an aid convoy in Syria last month showed that it was an air strike.

Some 20 people were killed in the attack on the U.N. and Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy at Urem Al-Kubra near Aleppo.

The United States blamed two Russian warplanes which it said were in the skies above the area at the time of the incident. Moscow denies this and says the convoy caught fire.

"With our analysis we determined it was an air strike and I think multiple other sources have said that as well," Lars Bromley, research adviser at UNOSAT, told a news briefing.

In northern Syria, rebels were expecting stiff resistance from Islamic State in their attempt to capture a village that is of great symbolic significance to the jihadists, a rebel commander said.

With Turkish backing, rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner have advanced to within a few kilometres (miles) of Dabiq, the site of an apocalyptic prophecy central to the militant group's ideology.

(Writing by Giles Elgood and Philippa Fletcher,

Iraq wants emergency UN session to discuss Turkey's military presence near Mosul

BAGHDAD, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Iraq on Thursday demanded that the United Nations Security Council convene an emergency session to discuss the presence of Turkish troops on Iraqi territories near Mosul.

Iraq's permanent representative to the UN has delivered "a formal request to the current president of the Security Council, Vitaly Churkin, demanding that the council convene an emergency session to discuss the incursion and interference of the Turkey side," the Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement.

The request demanded that the session's agenda include discussion of a decision made earlier in the week by the Turkish parliament that extended the mandate of Turkish forces in northern Iraq for one more year.

The Iraqi move came amid mounting tension between Baghdad and Ankara over the presence of Turkish troops near Mosul and the latest decision by the Turkish parliament to extend mandate of their troops inside Iraq.

The Turkish government said that withdrawing Turkish troops from Iraq is out of the question and that the Turkish soldiers are in Iraq as part of an international mission to train and equip Iraqi forces fighting the Islamic State (IS) group.

Hundreds of Turkish soldiers have been deployed since 2015 in Bashiqa camp, some 30 km northeast of Mosul.

Ankara said that Turkish soldiers were sent to Bashiqa at the request of Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to train local forces.

Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, is the second largest city in Iraq. It has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.

Iraq has urged the international community to increase their support for its war against IS and other terrorist groups and in its efforts to liberate Mosul from IS militants.

Scientists create better blood sugar test for diabetes

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. researchers have developed a more precise method for estimating average blood sugar levels that can cut diagnostic errors by more than 50 percent compared to the current widely used but sometimes inaccurate test.

"What we currently deem the gold standard for estimating average blood glucose is nowhere as precise as it should be," senior investigator John Higgins, an associate professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School and a clinical pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a statement.

"Our study not only pinpoints the root of the inaccuracy but also offers a way to get around it."

Findings of the study were described Wednesday in the U.S. journal Science Translational Medicine.

Because blood sugar varies by the hour and even by the minute, doctors use the so-called A1C test as a proxy to gauge a person's average blood glucose level over the previous three months.

The A1C test measures the amount of glycated hemoglobin, glucose that sticks to hemoglobin, or oxygen carrier, inside red blood cells, which can live in the body for only three months.

The test, however, is somewhat imprecise. It can lead to identical readings for people with different average blood sugar levels. At the same time, people with similar blood sugar levels can also end up having widely divergent results.

The team found these inaccuracies stemmed entirely from individual variations in the life span of a person's red blood cells.

"Like a water-soaked sponge that's been sitting on the kitchen sink for days, older red blood cells tend to have absorbed more glucose, while newly produced red blood cells have less because they haven¹t been around as long," Higgins explained.

To eliminate the influence of age-related variation, the team developed a formula that factors in the life span of a person's red blood cells and then compared the age-adjusted blood sugar estimates to estimates derived from the standard A1C test and to readouts of glucose levels measured directly by continuous glucose monitors.

The standard A1C test provided notable off-target estimates in about a third of more than 200 patients whose test results were analyzed as part of the research.

By factoring in red blood cell age, however, the team reduced the error rate to one in 10.

Under the new model, patients could wear a glucose monitor for a few weeks to have their blood sugar tracked as a baseline, also allowing physicians to calculate the average age of a person's red blood cells before having the monitor removed, the team said.

"Physicians treating recently diagnosed patients would immediately know what a patient's red blood cell age is," Higgins said. "The patient's test results can then be adjusted to factor in the red blood cell age and get a result that more accurately reflects the actual levels of blood sugar, allowing them to tailor treatment accordingly."

Currently, diabetes affects more than 422 million people worldwide and knowing accurate blood sugar averages can help them better manage the disease and their risk of diabetes-related complications.

Spotlight: Africa's first electrified railway embraces full Chinese standards

by Xinhua writers Wang Xiangjiang, Yao Yuan and Liang Shanggang

ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia and Djibouti launched Africa's first modern electrified railway connecting their respective capitals on Wednesday. It also marked the first time that the complete spectrum of an overseas railway industry chain is fully backed by Chinese standards.

The construction of the 752.7-km Ethiopia-Djibouti railway adheres to China's level-two electrified railway standards. It has a designed hourly speed of 120 kilometers and a total investment of 4 billion U.S. dollars.

As many African countries have been following different gauge standards of Western countries, they are not in a position to form an integrated African railway network.

In January 2004, African countries proposed an integrated railway network on the continent. With support from regional organizations like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community, construction projects at transnational and intra-regional levels have been put on agenda.

Before official planning was set for the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway project, the Ethiopian government, following repeated negotiations with Chinese firms, found that Chinese railway standards are not only by no means inferior to their Western counterparts, but also fit better with its national conditions. The government eventually agreed to build the railway by following Chinese technology standards.

In the early stage of the railway's construction, however, cases of confusion did pop up on the Ethiopian side with regard to understanding and implementing Chinese standards.

"When construction has just started, someone on the Ethiopian side, simply judging from a plain look, made a claim that some reinforcing steel bars inside a pier were substandard," said Wu Xiaoling, a project manager of the China Railway Group (CREC). "But they dropped their unfounded suspicion of Chinese standards and quality after we had presented to them unquestionable proofs."

As construction neared completion, bidding for operation and management right was opened in August 2015. A consortium of the two Chinese contractors, CREC and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), beat their Western rivals to win the bid.

At the end of July this year, the Chinese side was officially awarded the right to operate and manage the railway for six years as it starts service. At that point, a milestone was established in the Chinese railway industry as its technology standards were fully embraced by a foreign market across a complete railway industry chain.

Allen Lee, General Manager of CCECC Ethiopia Construction PLC, recalled that local governments or other foreign rail firms, more often than not, took over the operation and management right after Chinese companies had finished the construction of railway projects in Africa.

"Whenever a problem emerged in operation or maintenance, the Chinese contractors would be made a scapegoat for so-called 'quality issues', and this in turn would discourage African governments from constructing their own railways," Lee said. "Such an unfortunate scenario will be avoided in the case of the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway."

The early completion of the Ethiopia-Djibout railway and its top-grade quality have boosted the confidence of the Ethiopian and Djibouti governments to develop further the railway industry and set a positive example for neighboring countries.

"The technology standards, engineering quality and the speed at which the Ethiopia-Djibout railway was constructed will provide valuable references for other African countries in their own railway endeavor," said Lee.

Former Portuguese PM Guterres selected to be next UN chief

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres was unanimously selected by the UN Security Council on Wednesday as the next UN secretary-general.

"Today after our sixth straw poll, we have a clear favorite and his name is Antonio Guterres," Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who is the council president for October, told reporters after about one and a half hours of closed council consultation.

"We have decided to go for a formal vote tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) Thursday and we hope that it can be done by acclamation," he said, with representatives of the 15 council members standing behind him outside council chambers.

"So tomorrow morning acclamation vote and we wish Mr. Guterres well in discharging his duties as the secretary-general of the United Nations for the next five years," Churkin said.

Guterres, who was also the former head of the UN refugee agency, is poised to succeed UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Jan. 1, 2017.

The 15-nation Security Council's Wednesday decision will be sent, following the formal approval on Thursday, to the 193-member General Assembly for final formal approval.

A spokesman for UN General Assembly President Peter Thomson told Xinhua that it was too early to say when such a vote could be scheduled.

There was no immediate comment from 66-year-old Guterres.

Churkin and council members came to a microphone outside the Security Council chambers after about 90 minutes of secret deliberations Wednesday morning to make the announcement to reporters who were waiting in the hopes only of a leaked tally on the straw poll.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are witnessing, I think, a historic scene," he said as council members gathered behind him. "I don't know if it has ever been done this way in the history of the United Nations before. As you know we have conducted our sixth straw poll."

This time, the permanent five members of the Council, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States were to use color ballots to indicate a possible veto of a candidate when they marked encourage, discourage or no opinion for a candidate on the ballots. But instead of a leak, the announcement came.

"This has been a very important process of selecting the next secretary-general and I think we have treated it with great responsibility," Churkin said.

"We appreciate the participation of all the candidates in this campaign," he said. "They all displayed a lot of wisdom, understanding and concern for the fate of the world so their participation was extremely valuable and we wish to express our gratitude for those who participated in this campaign."

The five previous straw polls were conducted secretly in council chambers since July but results were quickly leaked by those supporting transparency in the selection process.

The candidates at one point were equally divided between men and women and there were many candidates from Eastern Europe, but Guterres led the race from the first poll.

All 13 announced candidates, including the four who dropped out, each appeared before members of the General Assembly for two hours interview in another bid for increased transparency in the selection process.

Shortly after the Security Council's decision was announced, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, was asked how he thought members of the Assembly would vote on the council's decision.

"It's too soon to venture a guess about how the member states act," he responded. "I'm not going to comment on any specific individual until that happens, in keeping with our standard practice of allowing them to have a say on this."

When asked about the gender and geographic movements, Haq said, "In terms of whether it was time for a woman to be a secretary-general, we have to remember it is their decision as enshrined in the UN Charter how a secretary-general is determined and we respect whoever they come up with."

"They had a full slate of candidates of which you've been aware," the spokesman said. "There's been a greater transparency to the process so you know who the candidates are and you could see for yourselves they were all very well qualified regardless of where they came from and what their gender is."

"The Security Council and the General Assembly in deciding the next secretary-general had a good, wide and diverse roster of candidates to look at," Haq added.

Most ambassadors in the council were pushing for a selection to be made by November to give the next secretary-general enough time to prepare for the end-of-year transition.

Pakistan, Belarus establishing economic ties on strong footing:

ISLAMABAD, Oct 5 (APP) : Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Wednesday said Pakistan and Belarus were establishing a strong footing to promote trade, business and investment, adding that it would provide a solid basis for enhancing their multi-dimensional relations.

The Prime Minister made the remarks at a round of delegation-level talks with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko here at the PM House.

The President of Belarus is on a three-day official visit to Pakistan.

Prime Minister welcomed the delegation and said Pakistan values its relations with Belarus and said the two countries enjoy a warm, cordial and multi-faceted relationship.

“Pakistan is keen to forge closer ties with Belarus in all fields including trade, economy, investment, industry, education, defence, agriculture, culture and other areas,” the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Sharif said Pakistan today was one of the most investor friendly countries; offering excellent opportunities for foreign investors with investment-friendly regulations and a huge market of nearly 200 million people.

The Prime Minister said establishment of Joint Trade Committee was an important vehicle to identify bottlenecks and resolve issues in trade relations of both the countries.

The Prime Minister noted that both the Joint Economic Commission and the Joint Trade Committee are actively pursuing these issues.

The Prime Minister informed the visiting President that his government was focused on reviving the economy, overcoming the energy shortage.

“We are committed to good governance, curbing corruption, ensuring fiscal discipline and widening the tax base to revive the economy to its true potential,” the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister said the momentum of increased high level exchanges between the two countries needs to be maintained.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said Belarus has significant expertise in building of heavy machinery including automotive engineering, agricultural harvesting machinery, road construction machinery and dump trucks.

He said both sides can develop joint ventures and business-to-business contacts in these areas.

President Lukashenko said Belarus and Pakistan need to explore the possibility of creating joint ventures for the production and processing of wide range of agricultural products, including the production of milk powder, other dairy products, textiles, auto parts, surgical instruments, pharmaceuticals and other areas of mutual benefit.

The President of Belarus applauded Pakistan for making huge successes in the revival of economy.

The president supported Pakistan’s stance in nuclear supply group, a statement from the PM House said.

In the context of regional peace and stability, the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan pursues the policy of maintaining good relations with all its neighbours.

He said Pakistan wants peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues with India, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

“I want to thank you for your expression of support for peaceful resolution of Kashmir dispute,” the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister said India has deliberately escalated tensions at the LoC to divert attention of the international community from the grave situation in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The Prime Minister informed the visiting President that over 110 innocent people have lost their lives, and more than 12000 injured, with hundreds in critical condition.

More than 700 people have suffered severe eye injuries due to the use of pellet guns by the Indian occupation forces and more than 150 have been permanently blinded, the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister later hosted a luncheon in honour of the President of Belarus and his delegation.

Pakistan’s stance on its nuclear programme vindicated at ICJ: FO

ISLAMABAD, Oct 5 (APP): The International Court of Justice
(ICJ) has ruled in favor of Pakistan in the case brought to the
Court by the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI), regarding
‘Obligations concerning Negotiations Relating to Cessation of
the Nuclear Arms Race and to Nuclear Disarmament.’

RMI had filed suits at the International Court of Justice
(ICJ) against all the nine states possessing nuclear weapons, a Foreign Office statement issued here on Wednesday said.

However, in conformity with the Statute of the Court, only
Pakistan, India and the United Kingdom had been asked to respond to the RMI’s suits since these countries recognized
the jurisdiction of the court for certain specific issues at the
time of their ratification of the Court’s Statute.

In its comprehensive written response to the ICJ, the
statement said, Pakistan had sought dismissal of the
suit for lack of the Court’s jurisdiction to entertain the RMI’s
claims and the inadmissibility of its application.

Moreover, there was no dispute, let alone a legal dispute,
that existed between the RMI and Pakistan. Therefore, RMI lacked the requisite standing to institute the proceedings.
The court upheld the strong counter arguments put forth by
Pakistan.

“The decision of the court is a vindication of Pakistan’s
stance that its nuclear programme is a matter of its national
defense and security which falls exclusively within its domestic jurisdiction,” the statement added.

India adopting provocative stance to divert world attention from Kashmir

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (APP): India is adopting provocative stance to divert the attention of the world community from the horrendous human rights violations being committed by the Indian troops in the held Kashmir, Special Envoys of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Jammu and Kashmir told a media briefing in Washington.

Senator Mushahid Hussain and Dr. Shazra Mansab Ali Khan who are currently in Washington to apprise the US authorities about the situation in the Indian held Kashmir, emphasized that Kashmir was a flashpoint and there could not be any peace in the region without the resolution of this lingering issue.

“The Kashmir dispute needs to be resolved in line with the aspiration of the Kashmiri people,” Senator Mushahid said.

Both the Envoys stated that since the killing of young Kashmiri freedom fighter Burhan Wani in July, India is witnessing a popular, indigenous, spontaneous and widespread freedom movement in IoK.

India has wrongly alleged Pakistan in a jiffy after Uri attack without taking into consideration the ground realities. The whole area of LOC in Uri is electronically fenced so there was no possibility of crossing over, the Envoys said.

While answering a question, Senator Mushahid Hussain said that Indian narrative of cross border infiltration is baseless.

“India has adopted a provocative stance to divert the attention of the international community from horrendous human rights violations being committed by the Indian occupation forces.”

Dr. Shazra Mansab Ali Khan explained in detail the horrendous human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir. She narrated that curfew had been in place in the Valley for more than 80 days and over 100 people had been killed during last two months. 150 people have been blinded with pallet guns by Indian forces.

More than 500 people have been partially blinded and approx. 12000 people wounded . Crops have been burnt and orchards destroyed. Indian forces are committing war crimes with impunity.

Both the Envoys remarked that USA as a leader of free world should raise voice for oppressed people of IoK. Dr. Shazra further insisted that a plebiscite should be held in Kashmir to ascertain their will on the lines of East Timor. “Kashmiris have been giving their verdict day in, day out and international community should play its due role in this regard.”

UN top court throws out Marshalls nuclear case against India

The Hague, Oct 5 (AFP) The UN's highest court today threw out a bid by the tiny Marshall Islands to sue India for failing to halt the nuclear arms race, saying it lacked jurisdiction.

"The court upholds the objection to jurisdiction raised by India... and finds that it cannot proceed to the merits of the case," judge Ronny Abraham told the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

अमेरिकी नागरिकों से धोखाधड़ी करने के मामले में कॉल सेन्टरों पर छापेमारी

ठाणे, पांच अक्तूबर :भाषा: अमेरिकी नागरिकों को कथित तौर पर धमकी देने और उनसे रूपये एंेठने के एक मामले में यहां मीरा रोड पर कुछ कॉल सेन्टरों पर एक बड़ी छापेमारी करते हुये पुलिस ने 500 से अधिक कर्मचारियों को हिरासत में ले लिया।

पुलिस ने आज बताया कि इस छापेमारी में 200 से अधिक पुलिसकर्मी शामिल हुये जिसमें से अधिकतर अपराध शाखा के थे। यह छापेमारी कल देर रात और आज तड़के तक जारी थी।

उन्होंने बताया कि ये कर्मी मीरा रोड इलाके में कॉल सेन्टरों में काम करते हैं। यह इलाका ठाणे ग्रामीण पुलिस के अधिकार क्षेत्र में आता है। कर्मियों ने खुद को अमेरिकी कर विभाग के अधिकारियों के रूप में पेश किया जो भारत में आयकर विभाग के बराबर होता है।

उन्होंने अमेरिकी नागरिकों को फोन किया और उनके वित्तीय और बैंक संबंधी ब्यौरे मांगे। ऐसा नहीं करने पर उन्होंने कथित तौर पर उन्हें कानूनी कार्रवाई सहित गंभीर परिणाम भुगतने की धमकी दी।

पुलिस ने बताया कि अमेरिकी नागरिकों से ब्यौरा हासिल करने के बाद इन कॉल सेन्टरों के कर्मचारियों ने उनके खातों से रूपये निकालले की योजना बनाई थी । उन्होंने बताया कि इस तरह की जानकारी प्राप्त कर जो धन निकाला जा सकता था वह अनुमानत: प्रतिदिन एक करोड़ रूपया से अधिक होता ।

इस बारे में शिकायतें मिलने के बाद पुलिस ने कल देर रात अचानक कॉल सेन्टरों पर छापेमारी की और कर्मचारियों को धर दबोचा।

पुलिस ने बताया कि इस मामले में अपराध दर्ज करने की प्रक्रिया चल रही है।

रैकेट के बारे में विस्तृत ब्यौरे की प्रतीक्षा है।

पाकिस्तान को ‘आतंकवाद प्रायोजक’ देश घोषित करने संबंधी याचिका ने बनाया रिकॉर्ड

वाशिंगटन, पांच अक्तूबर :भाषा: पाकिस्तान को आतंकवाद का प्रायोजक देश घोषित करने की मांग करने वाली याचिका को 50,000 से अधिक नए हस्ताक्षर मिल जाने से यह अमेरिका में अब तक की सबसे लोकप्रिय याचिका बन गई है।

‘‘हम लोग प्रशासन से पाकिस्तान को आतंकवाद का प्रायोजक देश :एचआर 6069: घोषित करने की अपील करते हैं’’ याचिका को 6,13,830 हस्ताक्षर मिले जिसे व्हाइट हाउस ने पुरालेख में दर्ज किया ।

याचिका पर हस्ताक्षरों की संख्या कल दोपहर तक 51,939 नए हस्ताक्षरों के साथ 6,65,769 पहुंच गई।

ऐसा माना जा रहा है कि यह अब तक की सबसे लोकप्रिय व्हाइट हाउस याचिका बन गई है। किसी भी व्हाइट हाउस याचिका ने अभी तक 3,50,000 का आंकड़ा पार नहीं किया है।

इस बारे में व्हाइट हाउस ने अभी तक कोई बयान नहीं दिया है। यह संभव है कि व्हाइट हाउस द्वारा याचिका बंद किए जाने से पहले किए गए इन हस्ताक्षरों को विधिवत सत्यापन के बाद अंतिम संख्या में शामिल किया गया था। ऐसा होने पर फर्जीवाड़ा किए जाने की आशंका कम हो जाती है।

याचिका ने ओबामा प्रशासन की प्रतिक्रिया हासिल करने के लिए आवश्यक एक लाख की संख्या की सीमा पार की ली है। व्हाइट हाउस की ओर से इस याचिका पर निर्धारित 60 दिनों के समय में आधिकारिक प्रतिक्रिया मिलने की उम्मीद है।

UAE's Etihad in talks with Germany's TUI to create new airline

DUBAI, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Etihad Aviation Group, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Germany's TUI AG said on Wednesday that they are in talks to create a European "leisure airline group" in order to connect "key tourist markets."

The new company will focus on point-to-point flying to connect key tourist markets such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Under the proposal, the touristic operations of the Air Berlin group, in which Etihad has a 29.2-percent stake, and the German TUIfly company will form the new airline group, Etihad said in a joint statement.

Etihad (Arabic for "unity") Aviation Group's flagship is Etihad Airways, the government-controlled airliner of the oil-rich sheikhdom of Abu Dhabi, also the capital of the UAE.

The TUI Group, whose shares are traded at stock markets in Frankfurt and London, is the world's biggest tourism business group, controlling a portfolio of 300 hotels, 14 cruise liners, six airliners in Europe and 1,800 travel agencies.

TUI shares fell by 1.9 percent on Wednesday's trading. Shares of Air Berlin, on the other hand, gained over 4 percent.

No commercial trade in lion bones from Namibia

WINDHOEK, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The rejection of the proposal by some other African countries, for African Lions to be moved from Appendix II to I, is a blessing to Namibia, according to the Environment Ministry.

In an update on the CITES meet from Namibia's Ministry of Environment on Wednesday, Minister Pohamba Shifeta said in this case the status quo remains and Namibia will continue with their business as usual, which is sustainable use to ensure the survival of the lion in the wild.

"We strongly feel that the conservation of the African lion will be better served through initiatives at national level to address specific identified major threats," he added.

"The only change will be that no commercial trade in lion bones from Namibia will be allowed which is a blessing to the country," he said.

Meanwhile, in the case of the pangolin, which has been transferred from Appendix II to I, according to the Minister, Namibia does not trade in its specimens for primarily commercial purposes.

"Our pangolin population is being threatened by illegal catch and trade. With this transfer to Appendix I, our pangolin population may be more protected. Therefore, the results of this conference do not affect Namibia negatively," he said

Shifeta said that the pangolin is protected in Namibia and they will continue to focus our efforts on its conservation and also enhance efforts to catch the criminals involved in this trade.

Israeli war jets strike Gaza in response to rocket firing

GAZA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Israeli war jets carried out a series of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday afternoon in response to rocket firing from Gaza into southern Israel, Hamas security officials said.

The security officials said that Israeli F16 warplanes hovered over the Gaza Strip and carried out more than four airstrikes on the coastal enclave.

The officials said one of the airstrikes targeted a Hamas movement's armed wing training post in east of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, adding that the second one targeted another Hamas military post in central Gaza.

The source said the Israeli warplanes kept striking Hamas military posts and waged more than two successive airstrikes on eastern Gaza City.

Medical sources said that at least three civilians were lightly injured when an Israeli missile hit an empty field east of Gaza city.

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a southern Israeli town of Sderout on Wednesday morning, according to Israeli police.

No one claimed responsibility for the rocket firing. However, Israeli tanks fired two tank shells on the area where the Palestinian rocket was fired from, causing no injuries.

Breaking news-

BLAST IN AFGHAN CAPITAL KABUL, CASUALTIES FEARED .

Science news-Trio wins Nobel chemistry prize for 'world's smallest machines'

By Niklas Pollard and Kate Kelland | STOCKHOLM/LONDON

A trio of European scientists has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing molecular machines that could one day be injected to fight cancer or used to make new types of materials and energy storage devices.

Frenchman Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Scotland's J. Fraser Stoddart and Dutchman Bernard Feringa developed molecules that produce mechanical motion in response to a stimulus, allowing them to perform specific tasks, the Nobel Academy said on Wednesday in awarding the 8 million Swedish crown ($931,000) prize.

Such molecular machines can be developed in smart medicines that seek out disease or damage and deliver drugs to fight or fix it, and in smart materials that can adapt in response to external triggers such as changes in light or temperature.

"There are endless opportunities," Feringa, a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, told reporters when asked to predict what his work could eventually be used for.

"Think of a tiny micro-robot that a doctor in the future will inject into your blood and that goes to search for a cancer cell or goes to deliver a drug, for instance."

Goran Hansson, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences which conferred the award, said this year's recognition was "all about the world's tiniest machines".

"The sky's the limit," he said when asked where the discovery could lead.

The Nobel committee's statement said the science of molecular machinery was now "at the same stage as the electric motor was in the 1830s" - when scientists displayed various spinning cranks and wheels, unaware that they would lead to electric trains, washing machines, fans and food processors.

"We can still only guess at the thrilling developments ahead of us," it said. "However, we do have a definite answer to (the) initial question - how small can you make machinery?: At least 1,000 times thinner than a strand of hair."

Sauvage is professor emeritus at the University of Strasbourg and director of research emeritus at France's National Center for Scientific Research.

Stoddart, born in Edinburgh and now professor of chemistry at Northwestern University in the United States, said the prize was "quite unexpected".

"When it happens, it takes your breath away," he said in a phone interview as he watched the ceremony live from his home outside Chicago.

Chemistry is the third of this year's Nobels. Japan's Yoshinori Ohsumi won the medicine award on Monday, while three British-born scientists, including two Scots, took the physics prize on Tuesday.

The prizes are named after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace, in accordance with his will.

($1 = 8.5947 Swedish crowns)

(Additional reporting by Anna Ringstom in Stockholm and Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Mark Trevelyan)