India, Pakistan suspend trade on Kashmir border: officials

Pakistani Kashmiri men walk past the truck supply check point to India at the Line of Control (LoC) in Chakothi
MUZAFFRABAD: India and Pakistan have suspended trade across their de facto border in the disputed territory of Kashmir after Indian authorities detained a truck driver accused of drug trafficking, Pakistani officials said on Sunday. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the two countries won independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the scenic Himalayan territory in full. Barter trade across the de facto border began in 2008 as part of peace efforts but it is frequently disrupted over disputes. “We were informed by the Indian authorities on Friday evening that they have stopped 22 Pakistani trucks which crossed the Line of Control (LOC) earlier that day,” Basharat Iqbal, trade facilitation officer on the Pakistani side of the border, told AFP. “They told us that they had discovered 12 kilogrammes of opium from a truck carrying oranges and were taking an action against the driver. After the incident, we also held 50 Indian trucks in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), because traffic crosses the border simultaneously,” said Iqbal. Imtiaz Wayen, director-general of AJK’s trade and travel authority, said India was not entitled to stop Pakistani drivers on grounds of smuggling. “According to our agreement, if they find any banned item in our trucks they are bound to hand over that item and the relevant truck driver to us for further action,” he said. “We have informed the officials of the ministry of foreign affairs about this matter and have asked them to take up this issue,” he added. In addition to barter trade, families separated by the de facto border may apply for special passes to visit their relatives on buses that operate two days a week.

WAYS OF Creative Portfolio WordPress Themes 2015

In today’s technological era, now it is very easy to create your own highly effective and stylish professional portfolios using WordPress. Such pages are easy to operate and edit as you want. For doing so, you do not need high expertise on web. A number of good and stylish looking WordPress templates are available, that you can use. Here we have presented 20 best WordPress portfolio themes so that you can select the best one suiting your requirements.

1- W & M Creative WordPress Theme:

W & M is an amazing and creative design for all web users who want to manage their business online for their web users. The theme has 2 team member style, and unlimited colors. It gives dark and light styles for all sections that beautify its look. It is retina ready and full responsive theme with easy options that anyone can use customize according to his needs. It is supported by Top Notch.

2- Midas- Unique and Simple WordPress Theme:

All those users who want to showcase their portfolios and the bloggers can find Midas best theme for them. It is a simple and highly responsive theme.  It has fixed and scrolling styled side bars. The theme is built on Bootstrap 3 and brings 6 different custom skins with unlimited number of font styles including more than 600 Google fonts. With translation ready and update options, Midas is a complete package.

3- Intima, Resume and Portfolio WordPress Theme:

Intima ia a simple and wonderful highly responsive theme with elegant colors and designs. This theme is best for all those professionals who want to present their resume in a more established and wonderful way. The theme is best for those individuals as well who want to show their profile in a unique way. It includes 4 different styles of blog page.

4- Eight- Stylish Multi-Purpose Theme:

Eight is a latest highly responsive WordPress theme with many useful widgets such as Tweets, Cloud, Rss, Instagram, Calendar and many more. It is useful for any kind of users for their portfolios. It has the latest technology that allows users to add videos and gives smooth scroll effects to the users without any complains of jerking.

5- Ink Drop- Responsive WordPress Portfolio Theme:

Ink Drop is a simple and latest design WordPress theme that includes simple design with perfect combination of colors. It contains the feature of service listing. The theme is a perfect option for freelance designers, where you can upload your own logos and favicons. You can customize the backgrounds and fonts with changeable sidebars.

6- Memphis- Minimal Creative WordPress Theme:

Coding with HTML5 and CSS3, Memphis is a perfect, modern and clean design that is suitable for your work. It promotes your work in a professional and pleasant way. It is a highly responsive theme that is adjustable in all types of screens. There are three variations of Memphis available, Image Background, Video background and Content Slider.

7- Local Fire- Clean and Simple:

Local Fire is a simple, responsive and multipurpose theme. This is a one page site that you can use for your personal purpose or for any small agencies to show the work. With wonderful options of customizing backgrounds and color schemes, you can create your site in minimum time.

8- AVA- Futuristic Portfolio a Blogging WordPress Theme:

AVA brings very attractive and catchy designs especially for freelance artists and agencies. Graphic designers, photographers and illustrators are always in search of attractive sites to place their work. AVA provide them that place. Any creative worker can take advantage of this simple and easy to use theme.

9- Relway – Responsive Parallax One Page WP Theme:

It is a simply beautiful and eye catching one-page theme that is best for everyone from a freelance to an agency. It looks great on Retina screens. Relway is a full responsive theme and works great on any device. With 2 blog layouts, 8 color schemes, and uncountable short codes and with many other fantastic features, you can create an awesome site.

10- Ariva – One Page Theme:

Ariva is specially built for groups’ websites. Anyone who wants to build a creative and modern website for his agency, group, team work, a music or dancing band or for any other group of people, Ariva is the best option. It is a simple one page theme that is highly responsive and can be easily used in any device. Unlimited colors, designs, blog styles and home pages with 14 sections are the attractive features.

11- Ananke- One Page Parallax WordPress Theme:

Ananke is a simple but modern WordPress theme that is suitable for all kinds of personal, professional, group, and agency, designer or photographer portfolios. The theme brings unique and stylish designs with animated effects as well so now you can make a stylish site that would match your requirements.

12- Folio Zee- One Page Multi Purpose WP Theme:

Folio Zee is a very well organized one page theme that is built with unique shades of light and dark grey skins. The theme brings unlimited color patterns and stylish curve shape modules. It presents visual composer builder and very efficient options panel for the theme.

13- Photo. 01 – A Photography Theme:

Photo 01 is a stylish and highly responsive theme especially built for those photographers and creative designers who want to make their portfolios stylish and attractive. With a premium support you have an option to ask directly to the author of the theme about anything you want to know. With unlimited galleries and photostes, Photo01 is the best theme for all photographers.

14- Art23- Responsive Multipurpose WordPress Theme:

To show off your portfolios with beautiful styles, Art23 is designed with parallax and CSS3 animation effects. It is the modern theme with creative effects. Whether you are a blog user or you run any kind of portfolios ranging from personal to any agency’s one, this theme will best suit your needs. This is a highly responsive theme that is compatible with any devices.

15- Vega Portfolio Gallery Theme:

Vega Portfolio theme is built for any kinds of portfolio ranging from photography to business portfolios. The theme contains a simple design that is highly responsive and compatible with all kinds of devices. It has content builder option that gives you the option of creating different gallery images layouts with drag and drop user interface. The translation ready, contents filter and other similar options make it more easy to use.

16- AV Studio- One Page WP Theme:

This is a highly responsive professional theme that is compatible with any device. With attractive designs, it is suitable for all kinds of business or professional portfolios. Unlimited layouts, variations and colors allow you to customize your site as you want.

17- Ucelli One Page WordPress Theme:

Uccelli is built for all creative personal or business portfolio builders who want to give stunning look to their website. This is a highly responsive theme with retina ready; it is suitable for small agencies. The theme contains short codes that allow you to make your home page with the option of 3 different styles.

18- Typo- One page WordPress Theme:

Typo is a one page simple and highly responsive theme that is retina ready. It is a professional and very simple easy to use theme. It is compatible with all sorts of devices and anyone can use it including Photo studios, freelancers, creative agencies etc.

19- Hanna WordPress Theme:

For professionals and creative agencies, Hanna is an Immersive WordPress theme. It is a creative theme that allows your project to get centre stage with attractive designs and colors your blogs and sites will be worth seeing.

20- Color:

As the name suggests, it is a colorful theme that is not only best suitable for your blogs but it is the best and stylish portfolio theme also. The portfolio posts are presented with complete images, gallery sliders and complete support of videos. Color has a number of colorful options and designs options.

On the edge: Furnace oil stock used up, massive blackout feared

PSO is left with no choice but to freeze its business with the power sector once current supplies are completely exhausted

ISLAMABAD: 

The country is on the verge of a massive power crisis as the stock of furnace oil for power generation has been exhausted due to Pakistan State Oil’s (PSO) inability to replenish it through imports due to lack of funds.

Sources close to the director general of oil in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources told The Express Tribune that PSO’s stock of furnace oil has been fully used up and there is no supply for power plants for electricity generation.

“Owing to the issue of circular debt, power plants have maintained only two to three days of oil reserves, but now these have been completely consumed,” a source said, adding that the country was now utilising the stock of diesel to partially run power plants.

Despite PSO’s constant warnings, the federal government has failed to take measures to release funds through either the finance ministry or the power sector.

Sources added that the petrol and diesel reserves were also not satisfactory for PSO, which is taking the products from Shell.

Petroleum ministry officials said that PSO had requested for the release of Rs46 billion to restore the Letters of Credit (LC) which were blocked but the finance ministry released only Rs10 billion.

“The finance ministry is now expected to release Rs15 billion to bail out the company which has inflated receivables of over Rs200 billion,” said an official, adding that PSO would be required to streamline the furnace oil supply for at least 20 days if it receives the money.

In a letter sent to the petroleum ministry on December 30, 2014, PSO said that power sector receivables and their potentially adverse effects are causing a negative impact on the entity’s business viability.

In view of these receivables standing at Rs198 billion, PSO authorities added, they had also incurred penalties of approximately Rs250 million on account of delayed payments to banks for the October to December 2014 period.

Cash cycle suffering

The company also paid $1.8 million in demurrages from July to November 2014 and the supplier claims of $6.4 million due to delay in use of vessels and in opening of LCs respectively.

In view of the above situation, officials said that PSO was not able to open further LCs as the credit limit stands exhausted and the credit line of Rs110 billon is blocked.

PSO is left with no choice but to freeze its business with the power sector once current supplies are completely exhausted.

PSO had said that it could commence business with the power sector once its receivables were cleared or at least all liabilities on account of demurrages, damages to banks and suppliers are written off.

It also highlighted that lack of financing due to the power sector would also affect white oil supplies and its imports because of the blocking of LCs. The entity added that it was unable to continue supplies to the power sector and will stop further supplies of furnace oil unless its liabilities are discharged.

PSO had sought permission from the petroleum ministry to deal with the power sector as per contracts.

Ukraine says Russia behind cyber attack on German government

(Reuters) - Ukraine's prime minister blamed Russian intelligence on Thursday for a hacker attack against German government websites, for which a pro-Russian group claimed responsibility. The attack on Wednesday took place before Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk was due to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Russian group demanded Berlin end support for the Ukrainian government. "I strongly recommend that the Russian secret services stop spending taxpayer money for cyberattacks against the Bundestag and Chancellor Merkel's office," Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk told ZDF TV when asked if pro-Russian hackers from Ukraine were responsible. The attack included web pages for Merkel and for the German parliament. Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibbert, said counter-measures were taken but failed to halt the attack, which left the sites inaccessible from 10 a.m. (0900 GMT) Wednesday until the evening. In a statement on its website, a group calling itself CyberBerkut claimed responsibility. "Berkut" refers to the riot squads used by the government of Ukraine's former president, the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich, who was ousted after violent protests last February. The claim could not be verified. It was believed to be the first successful prolonged attack on German government websites, which intelligence agencies say face about 3,000 such assaults daily. About five of the daily attacks come from foreign intelligence agencies, the head of the BfV domestic intelligence agency said recently. The attack comes after U.S. investigators said they believed North Korea had probably hired hackers for a massive cyber attack against Sony Pictures. North Korea blamed the United States for internet outages it suffered soon after.

Imran, Reham Khan tie nuptial knot

ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan has tied the knot with anchorperson Reham Khan and their nikkah cermony was held at the Bani Gala residence of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman. The PTI chairman wore a sherwani and Peshawari chappal, while Reham Khan wore an off-white wedding dress.
Imran Khan ties the knot with Reham Khan at his Bani Gala residence

Imran’s sisters not happy with his marriage

LAHORE: Imran Khan has tied the knot with anchorperson Reham Khan and while the news of his marriage has been well received, the cricketer turned politician’s sisters are not happy. According to family sources, Imran’s sisters were not happy as news pertaining to his marriage started circulating and did not even attend the nikkah ceremony held at the PTI chairman’s Bani Gala residence on Thursday. Imran Khan’s sisters were in Lahore at the time of the nikkah. Aleema Khan told Geo News that they had learnt of his wedding from television. “We were neither aware nor informed of the nikkah prior to this,” she said. Aleema Khan further said that no member of the family had attended the nikkah. Imran Khan’s elder sister Rubina is also visiting Lahore from the US and staying with Aleema Khan. Family sources have also informed Geo News that Imran will travel to Lahore to reconcile with his sisters.

Israel eyes tougher moves after Palestinian tax freeze

JERUSALEM: Israel was weighing its options Sunday for further punishing the Palestinians after freezing millions in tax revenues as a first response to their bid to join the International Criminal Court. The Palestinian move to join the Hague-based court sets the scene for potential legal action against Israel for war crimes, in a bid to put pressure on it to pull out of the territories. But the request to join the court, formally presented on Friday, infuriated Israel which quickly moved to freeze the transfer of half a billion shekels ($127 million/106 million euros) in tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority. “The Palestinian Authority has chosen to take a path of confrontation with Israel, and we will not sit idly by,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers on Sunday, vowing to put up a vigorous defence of Israel’s soldiers. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat denounced the freezing of the transfer as “piracy”, and Hamas said it amounted to “the theft of Palestinian money”, urging the leadership to cut all security cooperation with Israel. But Israeli officials warned it was only the first in a series of punitive measures. “If the Palestinian Authority doesn’t take a step back, I think we have to take much more severe steps,” said Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, a close associate of Netanyahu, referring to a “gradual dissolution” of the PA. “We should not aid the existence of this authority.” Israel may also file countersuits against top Palestinian officials, a source close to the government said on Friday. But, in an unusual development, Israel was not planning to announce any new settlement construction, a senior foreign ministry official said on Sunday. Speaking to Israeli diplomats serving in Europe, foreign ministry director general Nissim Ben Sheetrit said Israel’s response would be “harsher and more comprehensive” than just freezing the taxes, but would not include settlement announcements, ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon told AFP. “Israel is about to switch from defence to attack mode,” Nahshon quoted him as saying, confirming comments first published by the Haaretz website. After the Palestinians won the upgraded UN rank of observer state in November 2012, Israel froze the tax monies and also announced plans for 3,000 homes in a highly sensitive area of the West Bank, as well as in annexed east Jerusalem, triggering a furious response from the international community. A senior official quoted by Haaretz said the government had learned a lesson from that incident and would not be taking any steps making Israel the focus of criticism rather than the Palestinians. “We will not let Israel Defence Forces soldiers and officers be dragged to the International Criminal Court in The Hague,” Netanyahu told ministers, vowing to defend them with “determination”. The ICC can prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since July 1, 2002, when the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, came into force. Speaking to AFP, a Palestinian legal expert said the first case that would be referred to the ICC would be the “crimes” committed by Israel during summer 2014, including the Gaza war. Shawan Jabarin, director of the Ramallah-based rights group Al-Haq, said the Palestinians had decided to file suit over Israel’s actions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip starting from June 13, 2013. That was the date when Israel began a massive West Bank crackdown after the kidnapping and subsequent murder of three Israeli teenagers, triggering a series of events which led to the seven-week Gaza war. A high-ranking legal official quoted by the top-selling Yediot Aharonot said Israel was ready to counter with its own lawsuits against senior Palestinian officials. “These lawsuits, which are backed up with evidence, documents and affidavits, can be filed as early as tomorrow morning,” he told the paper. The basis of the complaints would be that Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s partnership in a consensus government with Hamas makes him complicit in the militant group’s rocket attacks from Gaza on civilians in Israel. Under an economic agreement between the sides signed in 1994, Israel transfers to the PA tens of millions of dollars each month in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports. The tax revenues make up around two-thirds of the PA’s annual budget, excluding foreign aid.