The Cricketer

(Reuters) -  France  warned on Friday it would recognize a Palestinian state if a final international effort to overcome the impasse between Israelis and Palestinians failed, and proposed a two-year timeframe to end the conflict through a U.N.-backed resolution. Lawmakers will hold a symbolic parliamentary vote on Dec. 2 on whether the French government should recognize Palestine as a state, a move that the Israeli Prime Minister has called a "grave mistake". "If this final effort to reach a negotiated solution fails, then France  will have to do what it takes by recognizing without delay the Palestinian state. We are ready," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told parliament. The parliamentary vote has raised domestic political pressure for the government to be more active on the issue. An IFOP poll showed 63 percent of French support a Palestinian state. Fabius told deputies that, were they to adopt the motion, it would not change Paris' immediate diplom

Two men with an AK-47 robbed a Cartier jewellery store near Paris's Champs-Elysees on Tuesday, leading to a police chase and a brief hostage-taking when they sought refuge in a hair salon. The suspects agreed to release the hostage and turn themselves in, with the entire drama lasting about two hours. Police recovered a cache of jewels the men had stolen. One witness inside the Cartier store located in a busy touristic area said the two men, who did not seem "professional", burst in late in the day and forced the three customers inside and about 10 staff to lie down. They then demanded that the store's showcases be opened, but were interrupted as they gathered jewellery by the sound of police sirens. The suspects fled with the store manager. A witness told AFP he saw one of them dressed in a trench coat and a beret, with a towel on one hand and holding the hostage with the other. Read the full article here HOME

MULTAN:  Multan has officially been   declared as a ‘big city’ by the Punjab government with a notification to the effect issued on Wednesday. Talking to  The Express Tribune,  Provincial Minister for Prisons Abdul Waheed Araayin said that the government finally awarded Multan the ‘big city’ status, a move which had been pending for at least ten years. Civil society also lauded the step. House rent allowance for officials in the city increased DCO Multan Zahid Saleem Gondal told  The Express Tribune  that house rent of the provincial and federal employees posted in the city will be increased from 15 per cent to 45 per cent while traveling and dining allowance for the government employees will also be doubled after this announcement. The packages of development of the city will be enhanced. Talking about Metro bus project in Multan, the DCO told  The Express Tribune  that the project will be inaugurated in December along with Multan Airport by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sh