By Abdul Qadir Qureshi  (Pakistan News and Features Services)  Former Railways bigwigs and stalwarts have taken exception to successive railway accidents claiming many precious human lives and described the same as utter professional mismanagement and overloading of railway system caused by launching of new trains with old rolling stock just for political reasons.  “The recent spate of accidents on PR’s network reflects the breakdown of an intricate system put in place to ensure safety of train operations. These horrific accidents are reflective of utter mismanaged and a quickly deteriorating and overheated system, adversely affecting the safety of train operations,” the former senior railway professionals observed while offering their comments on railway accidents one after the other.  The tragic accident occurred at Walhar station, near Sadiqabad, on July 11 in which about 24 precious lives were lost and more than 70 passengers injured, some of them...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) The overseas students, including over 20,000 Pakistanis, in China are set to be benefitted from the revamped policy of Beijing allowing international students to take up part-time jobs.  China will allow international students at Chinese universities nationwide to take part-time jobs during their studies to make the country's higher educational system more attractive, the Ministry of Education said in a statement provided to China Daily on August 7.  The government of China has been introducing a number of exploratory changes allowing international students in Beijing and Shanghai to take part-time jobs or internships off campus as long as they obtain approval from their academic institutions and the entry and exit administrative authorities.  In 2016, the Ministry of Public Security had implemented new policies to allow foreign students recommended by their host universities in Beijing to t...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) The Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms, Government of Pakistan, has appointed Hassan Daud as the spokesperson on matters related to China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).  The ministry, through a statement, has announced that Hassan Daud, who is Project Director of the CPEC Support Project, will be authorized to issue statements on status of CPEC projects to all forums if required after due approval.  “All concerned including center of excellence CPEC (PIDE) are advised to acknowledge this in view of importance and coherence of CPEC arrangements”, the statement said adding that any official participating in CPEC related event should coordinate with CPEC secretariat ministry of planning for updated information on all CPEC related activities.  When contacted by PNFS, Hassan Daud vowed to keep the media posted of the developments regarding the CPEC projects as and when they happe...