Ancient Egyptian boat to be reassembled

CAIRO: Archaeologists will excavate hundreds of fragments of an ancient Egyptian wooden boat entombed in an underground chamber next to Giza's Great Pyramid and try to reassemble the craft.The 4,500-year-old vessel is the sister ship of a similar boat removed in pieces from another pit in 1954 and painstakingly reconstructed.Experts believe the boats were meant to ferry the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid in the afterlife.Starting Saturday, tourists were allowed to view images of the inside of the second boat pit from a camera inserted through a hole in the chambers limestone ceiling.

Sounds of music reverberated the air in Manipur

MANIPUR: Sounds of music reverberated the air in India's northeastern Manipur during a festival of traditional wind musical instruments that left the people enthralled with its melodious offering.Organised under the aegis of North East Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC), the two-day festival saw a participation of 26 folk artistes from Nagaland, Assam, Tripura, Sikkim and Manipur.The main aim behind the organisation of the festival was to provide a platform for different tribes across the northeastern region of the country, to share their culture and tradition on a common stage and promote harmony and integrity through music.

OGRA releases new oil prices notification

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has approved a summary regarding further hike in the prices of petroleum products after that Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) released notification of new prices.According to notification, the government has approved Rs. 10 per liter raise in prices of petroleum products, diesel price by Rs. 7.45 and kerosene oil rate by Rs. 8.20 per liter. Earlier a summary was forwarded to the prime minister for increase in the petroleum prices and decision on the issue was expected on July 15. The decision on the summary however put off due to 100 days performance of the government. whereas common public was deeply struck with the recent oil price hike and rejected the new prices.with the new oil prices everything will increase their price, which will only hurt teh middle and lower income group.

Pakistani IT industry achieves US$ 2 billion size

KARACHI: The size of Pakistan's Information Technology and the IT-enabled services industry stands at (US$) 2 Billion annually with a 50% annual growth rate. The IT exports stand at US$1 billion, according to a research study commissioned by Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA). This was stated by Ms. Jehan Ara, President Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA) here on Sunday on the occasion of a day-long Career Expo for IT students and professionals. This very event was organized by the PASHA in a local hotel on Sunday.

LG net profit surges 84 percent

SEOUL: LG Electronics said Monday that second-quarter net profit surged 84 percent from the same period last year amid record mobile phone sales. LG Electronics Inc. earned 706.9 billion won (US$694.4million) in the three months ended June 30, the company said in a regulatory filing. LG posted a net profit of384.6 billion won a year earlier. Sales during the quarter rose 22.5 percent to 7.23 trillion won (US$7.1 billion) from 5.9 trillion won a year earlier, LG said.

Trade policy to help SAFTA implementation: SCCI chief LAHORE: SAARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry president Tariq Sayeed commenting on the recently announced trade policy appreciated some of the measures announced, and expressed hope that these will help in implementing the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) in true perspective. He hailed the government decision to enlarge the list of importable items from India, which at 8-digit level now comprises 1900 items out of total 6700 importable items from across the world, according to a media release received here Monday.

No mobile SIM to be issued without NIC

ISLAMABAD: The Government has decided that from now on no mobile SIM shall be issued without valid Identity Card and no SIM is to be handed over to any person but will be posted to the address given by the applicant. Any violation of this procedure shall be punishable under the relevant laws. Necessary instructions have been issued to Chairman, PTA in this regard.

JI to observe "Black Day" on Friday

LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami Punjab will observe ‘Black Day’ against fuel-price hike, poor law and order and power crisis on Friday.Amir JI Punjab Liaquat Baloch announced this while addressing a press conference here Monday.He said that his party fully supports the lawyers’ deadline of August 14 for deposed judges’ reinstatement, adding that the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chodhry will be welcomed at each city during his proposed journey towards Multan.He said that the APDM will devise its strategy in view of the present political scenario of the country in its meeting scheduled to be held on July 28.

VimpelCom acquires Cambodian operator Sotelco

Russian and CIS mobile operator VimpelCom has acquired a 90 percent stake in the Cambodian operator Sotelco, which owns a GSM 900/1800 licence and related frequencies for the local market. VimpelCom's largest shareholder Altimo has acquired the majority stake in Sotelco's parent company, Atlas Trade Limited, for USD 28 million. The remaining 10 percent of Atlas will remain with a local partner, a Cambodian entrepreneur. In addition, VimpelCom has acquired a call option to purchase the 10 percent interest from the local partner.

Karachi Transporters Announce Strike From Tomorrow

KARACHI: Transporter organizations from allover city announced unspecified-period strike from tomorrow (Tuesday) against the recent fuel-price hike.It was deiced in a meeting on Sunday hosted by President Karachi Transport Ittehad Irshad Bukhari to chalk out a joint reaction against recent raise in fuel prices.Transporters in the meeting demanded the government to fix the fuel-prices as those were before February-18 general elections.