Hajj pilgrims face hassles

ISLAMABAD: Haj pilgrims from across the country on Wednesday faced some problems in getting Haj visas.

Some pilgrims were seen awaiting their travel documents at various airports in the country.

In Islamabad, Haj pilgrims faced many difficulties over non-issuance of visa and other related documents. They complained that a number of pilgrims were not issued visas even after taking the preventive vaccines.

Some pilgrims were informed about non-issuance of travel documents at a time when they had already put on Haj Ihram. Some complained that they were facing multiple problems in Haji camps including Saudi currency.

Same situation was witnessed in Karachi too where pilgrims started to gather at the Haji camps for obtaining visa. However, after waiting for several hours, they had to leave empty handed.

On the other hand, Director Haj, Abdul Sattar said that Karachi station remains under pressure for at least two days as passports from across the country are sent here for issuance.

Similarly, several Haj pilgrims had to face several problems at the Haji camps as some missed their flights because of non-issuance of travel documents. They further said that the government could not give any satisfactory answer of these problems.

HAJJ FLIGHT INFORMATIONS

Trials for women’s junior hockey team in Karachi tomorrow

KARACHI: Trials for selecting the Pakistan women’s junior hockey team for the Junior Women Asia Cup Hockey Tournament will be held tomorrow in Karachi.

The trials will be held at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium in Karachi where the members of the national selection committee will review the performance of the players.

Earlier, 27 players were short-listed from 65 who participated in the trials held in Lahore.

The camp of the probable players will be held from November 15 in Karachi while the final team will be announced on November 27.

The Women Junior Asia Cup Hockey Tournament will be played from November 13 to 21 in Kuala Lumpur and nine teams will participate in the event.

Ganguly bids farewell to Cricket

NAGPUR: A glorious career comes to an end on Monday. Sourav Ganguly, a man with a never-say-die spirit, will be seen on the field wearing the Indian cap for the last time today.

Known as the best ever captain to have represented India, the Royal Bengal Tiger will bid his adieu to cricket today and will be remembered as a man who had a career as dramatic as it can be. He made his debut in the year of 1989.

Ganguly made his mark on both ODIs and Test matches but as his career progressed he became a better player of ODIs than Tests.

Munaf Kalia, Javed Khanani remanded to FIA

KARACHI: Munaf Kalia, Javed Khanani and others accused of being involved in the scandal of illegally transferring billions of dollars abroad were handed over on remand to FIA today.

Munaf Kalia was presented in the court of Judicial Magistrate, Muhammad Umar Awan at the City Court here, when the court ordered giving him on three-day transit remand to FIA for taking him to Lahore during this time for further grilling.

The attorney of the accused made a plea in the court that Munaf Kalia was ill and a medical report was also presented in this regard.

On the other hand, Lahore Special Magistrate handed over Javed Khanani, Tariq Mahmood and Rustam Ali in the custody of FIA on four-day physical remand, while the accused would again be presented in the court of Lahore Area Magistrate on November 14. Khanani & Kalia Company has been charged for violating foreign exchange laws and is on trial.

Asian stocks lose ground

TOKYO: ASIAN markets lost ground in early trade on Tuesday after US stocks fell overnight on concerns that the financial crisis is taking a heavy toll on corporate earnings.

China's massive economic stimulus plan failed to boost Wall Street on Monday amid more bad corporate news, including a US$24.5 billion (S$36.7 billion) loss at AIG that forced the US government to expand its bailout of the troubled insurer.

The latest bailout plan, in excess of more than US$150 billion, is the largest in US history.

Tokyo's Nikkei index dropped 3.3 per cent by lunch. Hong Kong share prices opened 2.9 per cent lower while Australian stocks fell 4.3 per cent in morning trade, a day after rising on news of China's fiscal stimulus plan.

Beijing on Sunday announced a US$586 billion package to help boost growth in Asia's second largest economy, has continued to see slowing growth over the past few months.

'The Chinese stimulus package failed to soothe worries about a global recession,' noted NAB Capital economist David de Garis in Sydney. 'While we've had some positive news, there is still plenty to worry about.'

In a fresh sign that the Chinese economy is cooling, inflation hit a 17-month low of 4.0 per cent in October, down from 4.6 per cent the previous month, official figures showed.

Japan said its current account surplus nearly halved in September from a year earlier amid slack export growth and high energy import costs.

Chinese shares edged lower on Tuesday amid losses in other Asian markets and profit taking in local bourses after a 7.3 per cent surge in the previous session, dealers said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, was down 16.19 points or 0.86 per cent to 1,858.61.