Rawalpindi, Nov 6: Cases of rat-bites are on the rise in Rawalpindi, the city adjoining Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. And, the rats are of sizes as big as cats!

Rat-bite cases were increasing day-by-day in the city due to presence of large size rats in the populated areas, said Dr Mehmood Ahmed of the Benazir Bhutto Hospital.

Islamabad, Nov 6 : Pakistan federal cabinet is learnt to have approved a new law aiming at protecting women against workplace harassment.

Lahore, Nov 6 : Religious leaders in Pakistan are of the opinion that the mere election of Barack Hussein Obama as the new President of the US will not change America’s “falling democratic image and growing Muslim hatred” unless he reversed the present incumbent in the White House George Bush’s policies, “especially those foreign policies deemed as anti-Muslim”.

They say that Pakistan should not expect any major policy change from Obama, as, in their view, he would stick to US’ interests chalked out by American authorities.

Islamabad, Nov 6 : Pakistan ambassador in New Delhi Shahid Malik has expressed hope that there was a likelihood that some more confidence building measures 
(CBMs) aimed at improving Indo-Pak relations would be taken soon, because “so many channels are operating for such a long time”.

He, however, emphasised that Kashmir continued to be the core issue for Pakistan, and that it was vital to address the issue.

Islamabad, Nov 6: US Central Command chief General David Petraeus, whose Pakistan visit ended yesterday, said that Pakistan was fighting its own war on terror because it faced an “existential threat from the situation in the Tribal Areas.”

Giving an account of his talks with Pakistani leadership, Petraeus said: “In general there is mutual agreement on the nature of the threat in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, a threat that they increasingly see as a threat to Pakistan’s existence.”

Sukkur (Pakistan), Nov 6: If figures released by a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Pakistan are to be believed, child abuse, both physical and sexual, was rampant in the country, and it was on a constant rise. According to it, everyday nearly five children were subjected to sexual abuse.

In a report, SAHIL, the only organization in Pakistan that works exclusively on the issue of child sexual abuse and exploitation, said that incidents of child abuse were on constant rise in Pakistan and 992 children including 304 boys and 688 girls were subjected to sexual abuse during the first six months of the current year.