Shawwal moon sighting: meeting of Ruet-e-Hilal Committee underway

KARACHI: The meeting of Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee is underway here on Monday for the sighting of Shawwal crescent, Geo News reported.

The meeting of is being chaired by the Committee's Chairman, Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman.

The meetings of zonal committees are also being held at their respective district headquarters.

Meanwhile, Chief Meteorologist Tauseef Alam has predicted that there were clear indications of sighting of Shawwal moon today (Monday).

Lawmakers to announce tentative deal on bill to overhaul troubled VA

FILE: May 17, 2014: The Department of Veterans Affairs in Phoenix, Ariz.AP

The leaders of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees are planning to unveil a tentative deal on Monday on legislation meant to improve veterans' health care and tackle the litany of scandalous problems at the VA. 

The plan is expected to authorize billions in emergency spending to lease 27 new clinics, hire more doctors and nurses and make it easier for veterans who can't get prompt appointments with VA doctors to obtain outside care. At the heart of the department's problems have been long wait times and falsified records covering up the delays. 

Though talks appeared to be imperiled late last week, Fox News confirms a tentative deal was struck over the weekend between Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. They plan to unveil details at a 1:30 p.m. ET press conference. 

The announcement could quell concerns that Congress would start a five-week summer recess without a legislative solution amid widespread national outrage over problems within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The pair said in a joint statement that they had "made significant progress" toward an agreement on legislation "to make VA more accountable and to help the department recruit more doctors, nurses and other health care professionals."

Eighteen veterans died while on a secret waiting list for care at the VA facility in Phoenix. And an inspector general’s report in May found roughly 1,700 veterans in Phoenix were on the unauthorized list with some waiting as long as 115 days for treatment.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned shortly after the release of the report.

Lawmakers were working through dueling proposals last week. Those proposals would have scaled back separate House- and Senate-passed bills after lawmakers in both parties expressed shock at price tags totaling more than $35 billion. The proposals would still allow veterans to go to private doctors if they face long waits for appointments at VA hospitals and clinics, or if they live more than 40 miles from a VA site. 

The Senate panel made the first move last week, announcing a proposal that would cost about $25 billion over three years to lease new clinics, hire thousands of doctors and nurses and make it easier for veterans to go outside the VA system. 

The proposed price tag was $10 billion less than a bill passed by the Senate last month and nearly $20 billion less than a House-backed measure.

The House panel countered hours later with a proposal that would require only $10 billion in emergency spending, with a promise of more spending in future years under the normal congressional budget process. Miller's bill would keep most of the provisions in the Senate-passed bill and also would authorize about $100 million for the Department of Veterans Affairs to address shortfalls in the current budget year. 

The Obama administration says it needs about $17.6 billion to hire thousands of doctors, nurses and other health professionals, lease new facilities and upgrade its computers to reduce a backlog of veterans awaiting care at VA hospitals and clinics.

The administration's request does not include money to allow more veterans to go to private doctors to avoid long waits for VA care. Expansion of private care was the biggest cost in the bills approved by Congress.

Republicans complained that Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson's budget request was thinly documented.

Miller told Gibson on Thursday he was surprised that such a large request was made in a slim, three-page memo.

The request "makes it very difficult for us to do our job" Miller told Gibson at a hearing of the House veterans' panel.

Gibson said the request reflected his judgment about what the department needs to address current problems.

The VA request includes $8.2 billion to hire 1,500 doctors and thousands of nurses and other medical and mental health professionals; $6 billion for construction projects to improve safety or patient access; $1.2 billion for computer enhancements; and $400 million for more staff to deal with the agency's backlog of benefits claims.

North Carolina mayor walks to Washington to bring focus to ObamaCare's effect on rural hospitals

A North Carolina mayor on Sunday was just a few miles away from finishing his 273-mile walk to Washington to draw attention to the closing of his small town’s local hospital and the plights of other rural facilities caught in financial bind created largely by ObamaCare, a changing economy and less federal funding.  

“We’re almost there,” Belhaven Mayor Adam O’Neal, a Republican, said as he reached northern Virginia ahead of an approaching thunderstorm. “We’re going to make it.”

The mayor and others argue that an increasing number of small, rural hospitals have been shuttered since ObamaCare was signed into law in 2012.

Still, O'Neal is equally focused on bringing attention to what he considers Department of Health and Human Services and Justice Department failures leading to the closure of Belhaven’s Vidant Pungo Hospital.

“They let our hospital close,” he told FoxNews.com on Sunday. “Nobody is helping our people.”

He argues that closing the hospital, which receives federal funds, is a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act because the closure disproportionately impacts poor black people.

However, HHS is now investigating the possible violation, the mayor said.

O’Neal also thinks hospital owner Vidant Health failed to fulfill the terms of mediation required by the Justice Department and that the agency did not follow up on the agreement.

Still, he argues the turning point was after the hospital closed July 1, when a 48-year-old local resident suffered a heart attack, then died waiting an hour for a helicopter to take her to the now-closest hospital, 75 miles away.

To be sure, the 49-bed hospital appears a likely candidate for closure.

Beyond getting less Medicaid and Medicare money and few subsidies under ObamaCare, the aging facility reportedly serves fewer than 20 patients a day.

Vidant declined Sunday to comment but recently told The Wall Street Journal that the hospital last year saw an average of just four patients daily and that admissions had dropped by 30 percent.

The company also released a statement just before the hospital was scheduled to close that stated the town’s accusations “only serve to disguise the fact that it has failed to fulfill its obligations as outlined by the mediation agreement.”

Vidant said in part that multiple failed attempts to contact Belhaven about the transition “made it apparent that the town knew that it did not have a plan.”

As an alternative to keeping the hospital open, Vidant has opened a clinic in the costal North Carolina town to serve the residents of Beaufort and Hyde counties, many of whom are poor and uninsured, and plans to open an urgent-care facility next year.

O’Neal and others argued that Vidant makes hundreds of millions in annual profits and that keeping open smaller facilities such as Pungo also turns a profit, just not as much as closing them and instead opening urgent-care facilities.

At least 14 rural hospitals have closed since last year, according to several reports.

They have been squeezed in large part by the increasing cost of health care, fewer patients allowed overnight stays, less subsidies under ObamaCare for helping the uninsured and the potential for cuts in Medicaid payments in the next fiscal year.

Along the way to Washington, O’Neal met in Richmond with Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who is dealing with similar issues and vowed to contact the White House for assistance.

The mayor also has a meeting Monday on Capitol Hill with North Carolina Rep. G.K. Butterfield and is tentatively scheduled to meet with fellow Democratic Reps. David Price, N.C., and Hank Johnson, Ga.

O’Neal’s argument that expanding Medicaid under ObamaCare could have prevented the hospital's closure puts him at odds with Republican leaders, considering North Carolina and 23 other states, all GOP-controlled and mostly southern, have refused Medicaid expansion.

Gaza fighting resumes after UN Security Council calls for 'immediate' cease-fire

Israeli jets resumed airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas rocket fire hours after the United Nations Security Council ratified a draft statement early Monday calling for a cease-fire in the region. Israel's military said it struck two rocket launchers and a rocket manufacturing facility in central and northern Gaza after a rocket hit southern Israel. The rocket caused no damage or injuries. Earlier, the Israeli military said it had not carried out any attacks in Gaza since 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, but that troops on the ground were pressing on with efforts to destroy the cross-border tunnels constructed by Hamas for attacks inside Israel. The military said it opened artillery fire on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza in response to the rocket fired at Ashkelon, said the office of Israel's military spokesman. "Quiet will be met with quiet," the office statement said. In New York, the Security Council adopted the presidential statement calling for an "immediate and unconditional humanitarian cease-fire" as Muslims began celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The statement calls for both Israel and Hamas "to accept and fully implement the humanitarian cease-fire into the Eid period and beyond." It said this would allow for the delivery of urgently needed assistance. The statement also called on both sides to begin to "engage in efforts to achieve a durable and fully respected cease-fire," based on a proposal previously put forward by Egypt. Hamas has rejected previous Egyptian proposals for a truce in the region and insisted that any cease-fire agreement must include the lifting of a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza. The resolution was drafted by Jordan, the Arab League's representative on the Security Council. The text "expresses grave concern regarding the deterioration in the situation as a result of the crisis related to Gaza and the loss of civilian lives and casualties," though it does not call for the Israeli military to pull out of the territory. Rwanda, the current council president, announced agreement Sunday night on the presidential statement and the immediate, rare emergency meeting. Presidential statements become part of the council's official record and must be approved at a council meeting. They are a step below Security Council resolutions, but unlike resolutions they require approval of all 15 members. The Security Council is often deeply divided on Israeli-Palestinian issues, with the United States, Israel's most important ally, often blocking or using its veto on statements and resolutions pressed by the Palestinians and their supporters. Jordan's deputy U.N. ambassador Mahmoud Hmoud said the presidential statement was the first Security Council document on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since January 2009, when the council called for an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza after another conflict with Hamas. The Gaza health ministry claims the 20-day war has killed more than 1,030 Palestinians, though it is unclear how many are civilians. Israel has lost 43 soldiers, as well as two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker killed by rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza, according to the Israeli military. The Palestinians and the Israelis both criticized the statement adopted by the council. Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour said the council should have adopted a strong and legally binding resolution a long time ago demanding an immediate halt to Israel's "aggression," providing the Palestinian people with protection and lifting the siege in the Gaza Strip so goods and people can move freely. Nonetheless, Mansour expressed hope that Israel will "honor and respect" a new humanitarian cease-fire which the Palestinians hope will last "for a long time" so all outstanding issues can be addressed, especially the siege. "You cannot keep 1.8 million Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip in this huge prison," he told reporters. "That is a recipe for disaster, It is inhumane, and it has to be stopped and it has to be lifted." Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor said the presidential statement didn't mention Hamas or the firing of rockets into Israel or Israel's right to defend itself. He sidestepped several questions on whether Israel would accept a new humanitarian cease-fire, but stressed that it had agreed to five cease-fires since the conflict began. "Every single time the international community called for a cease-fire, we ceased and Hamas fired," he said. Prosor directed his statement to countries that give money to the Palestinians in Gaza, saying, "Your tax dollars are not being used towards education, civil services or development -- they are being used to develop a terrorist stronghold." The statement calls for "full respect" for international humanitarian law and reiterates "the need to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety and well-being of civilians and their protection." The statement also commends efforts by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to achieve a cease-fire. Ban is scheduled to address U.N. correspondents on Monday morning on his mission. In the longer term, the statement urges the parties and the international community to achieve a comprehensive peace based on the vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace "with secure and recognized borders."

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Joy of swim star Erraid's parents

The proud parents of teenage swimming sensation Erraid Davies have described their daughter as "just amazing".
David Davies, 69, and wife Joyce, 64, watched their daughter blaze to Commonwealth bronze in front of a screaming home crowd at Glasgow 2014.
The 13-year-old captured the nation's heart by coming in third in the para-sport 100 metres breaststroke.
Earlier, she finished second in the morning heat which featured the same seven competitors as the final.
"It's been an amazing day. She's just amazing," her father told the Press Association.
"Unfortunately we weren't in the best position to see her in the race in the morning so we could only see her on the video screen, but I just couldn't believe how fast she was going. I've never seen her swim as fast as that.
"This evening we were in a much better position at the finish line, and it was just absolutely amazing to hear the noise. "When she was coming out the noise was just tremendous and it just built up, and I don't think it could have been any more amazing if she won the gold.
"It was just so amazing with everyone being behind her, and I believe the whole Twitter-sphere is going wild.
"She got into swimming because she developed a hip condition called Perthes' disease when she was three, and was told she was not to do any weight bearing exercises and that the best thing for her was to swim.
"We had just moved to Shetland and she couldn't swim, but she was soon taught and she has virtually never been out of the pool since.
"She trains in a 16 and 2/3 metre pool with three lanes nine times a week and once a week in a 25 metre pool.
"I've not seen Erraid for about four weeks. She went to the Team Scotland camp at the beginning of July, and spent 10 days in Stirling using a 50m pool and then up to the Scottish swimming holding camp in Aberdeen so I suppose she got a feel for a 50m pool there but it's still a totally different atmosphere.
"Even that could not have prepared her for what she faced tonight, but she just took it in her stride.
"She's just got a great big grin on her face all the time now. She's very pleased with herself and very happy, as she should be.
"We've got to have discussions now about her future. She's got a couple of galas planned. She going straight to the youth games in Sheffield, and then she's going to the UK school games in Manchester in September.
"After that we don't know. Obviously there's the IPC world championships next year, again in Glasgow, which I'm pretty sure she's got a qualifying chance for now.
"After that it's the Rio Olympics, but we don't know."
Erraid said she kept the fact she was spending her summer holidays at the Commonwealth Games a secret from her school friends. She set a new personal best for the second time in a day as she fought her way into a medal position in the Tollcross pool.
Roared on by the crowd, she finished strongly just behind Australian silver medallist Madeleine Scott in one minute and 21.38 seconds, with New Zealand's Sophie Pascoe taking gold.
Erraid later took a standing ovation in her stride following the medal ceremony but she had earlier shunned the limelight among her friends.
"They didn't know before I came here, I didn't really know how to tell them," she said.
"I am really happy to have another PB. I got a medal and I am so happy. I am feeling really, really happy."
When asked what she felt she could achieve in her sport, she said: "I don't know. I am just going to keep on swimming and see where it gets me."
Liz Southern, a meetings planner and former president of the Delting Dolphins Swimming Club in Brae, for which Erraid competes, said there was a great sense of thrill among its members.
"We're delighted," she said. "I watched it on the telly and I'm really happy for her and the family.
"We're quite a small club and we all live miles apart, so there's been emails and texts going around celebrating.
"Erraid goes to school 30 miles away from where she goes swimming. We have very dedicated swimmers.
"We're all overjoyed here.
"We went to the Scottish Open together with Erraid in June. There's a great bond up here and we're so excited."
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond sent his best wishes to the country's new star, writing on Twitter: "Congrats to Scotland's youngest-ever Commonwealth Games competitor Erraid Davies winning a brilliant Bronze."
And Erraid's coach at Delting Dolphins, Lorraine Gifford, was ecstatic to watch the race she feels will launch a push for a place at the Olympics in two years' time. Ms Gifford said: "I was screaming at the telly. I'm known for being pretty loud but I'm sure she could hear me.
"I started coaching Erraid when she was eight. I did some lessons with her before.
"She still does a lot of able-bodied meetings for us. It's just recently she's been classified for the para-sports.
"We're all so proud of her."
Ms Gifford stayed at home while her star pupil headed south to Glasgow.
"I thought there were enough coaches here, and I'm going to spend a week with her at the upcoming nationals."
Ms Gifford is certain that Erraid will take the attention in her stride.
"I think she'll cope with everything," she added. "It's great that she's done this. I hope she's enjoying herself.
"I think she can go to Rio for the Olympics. This has been the shot to launch her international career."

Ravi vs Sabarmati: Team seeks revision of riverfront project cost

.— File photo

LAHORE: A Pakistani team has observed that the cost incurred on various components of the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project (SRDP) in Ahmedabad, India, mainly diversion and disposal of sewerage water after treatment, is too low than that estimated by a foreign consultancy firm preparing a feasibility report of the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project (RRUDP) in Lahore.

The members directed the consultants to visit SRDP along with the technical staff working at the firm’s country office in India, analyse cost and find how the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) managed it in such low cost, Dawn has learnt. The team headed by Commissioner Rashid Mehmood Langrial and comprising Lahore Development Authority Director General Ahad Cheema, LDA’s Strategic Policy Unit Project Manager Moazzam Sipra and technical expert on urban development Mustafa Kamal Chaudhry recently paid a three-day visit to SRDP, an initiative of Indian premier Narendra Modi during his tenure as chief minister of Gujarat, Ahmedabad, and returned on July 23.

Officials said the visit was beneficial with a view to executing the RRUDP. “We inspected the SRDP in depth and were given presentations from AMC senior officials as well as site visits with them. We saw how the AMC managed bringing water through a barrage in the barren Sabarmati river, developed limited infrastructure at various spots, treatment of sewerage water, its diversion and disposal on other sides to avoid water pollution on the 11km stretch,” a team member told Dawn.

Team set to visit India for riverfront project study

He said the team observed that cost estimation prepared by consultants for the feasibility of RRUDP was much higher than the money spent on SRDP. “Though our consultants are reviewing the cost they reported in the pre-feasibility report, but we have advised them to visit SRDP as soon as possible,” the official added.

When asked how the AMC managed its low cost, he said it might be due to availability of local vendors manufacturing and maintaining water treatment plants and other allied equipments in India rather than importing them. Since there was no such arrangement in Pakistan, the consultant might have added the cost of importing the plant and its parts. “But we have an alternative plan. If we have no such arrangement here, we could ask Indian vendors to help us in saving cost,” the official explained.

He said the RRUDP management would try to accomplish phase-1 of the project, at least riverfront, within a year after getting a detailed feasibility report from the consultants.