Lao Pan, an unmarried man without much family, found close companionship with his loyal dog. And even through tragedy, their steadfast bond lives on.
Pan lived in the Chinese village of Panjiatun, but died earlier this month at the age of 68. His furry friend was found by villagers at Pan’s grave safeguarding the site according to BBC News. The loyal pup refused to leave even after going seven days without food.
Sky News reports that since noticing the dog, villagers have been bringing food and water to the gravesite, and are even planning to build a kennel there for the dog to sleep in.
Hachiko would greet his master at the train station each evening in Japan, until one day his owner had a stroke and died at work. Although Hachiko was adopted, his loyalty remained. Legend has it that Hachiko went to the train station each night to wait for his master.
But perhaps more likely, Sky News highlights the similarities between this yellow dog and Edinburgh’sGreyfriars Bobby — a dog who returned to his master’s grave every day for 14 years. The dog now has a statue erected in honor of his loyalty.
The Pemra issued a restraining order in a statement released by the government’s Press Information Department on Saturday evening, accusing nine channels, the BBC and CNN included, of violating section 30 of the Pemra Act.
The move, which is likely to come under criticism on grounds of curbing press freedom, comes amid continuing interest at home and abroad in the May 2 operation by US navy commandos that killed the world’s most wanted man in Abbottabad.
The statement added that Pemra had stopped “foreign satellite TV channels from illegal uplinking of signals and live covering (of) news from Abbottabad”. The agency named the channels as Fox News, NBC News, CNN, CNS, IBN, BBC, Al-Jazeera, Voice of America (VOA) and Sky News.
“All foreign channels have been issued notices to show cause (about their alleged illegalities) and stop illegal activity immediately,” the statement said.
It said: “Pemra issues temporary uplinking for covering any event live from Pakistan for a specific event and time” and added: “Pemra being a regulator is steadfast in discharging its regulatory responsibility and ensuring level playing field for all stakeholders.”
However, representatives of several foreign electronic media organisations told Dawn their crew were still in Abbottabad and some said their channels, like BBC, Al Jazeera, VOA and NBC, were not airing their news live from the spot.
The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority has barred all major foreign television channels from making live broadcasts from Abbottabad five days after US commandos killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden there, reflecting the government’s unease over the coverage of perceived failures of its agencies.
ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha has embarked on a foreign trip to an undisclosed location against the backdrop of reports that he may step down over the debacle of the Pakistani military’s failure to detect Osama bin Laden’s presence in the country.
Pasha set off for an undisclosed location yesterday and it is believed that his visit is linked to the fallout of Monday’s US raid that resulted in the killing of bin Laden in a compound located a short distance from the Pakistan Military Academy in the garrison city of Abbottabad, sources told PTI.
The influential Dawn newspaper had reported that Pasha had gone to Washington on a “critical mission for putting an end to misgivings about Pakistan in the US” but the sources said the ISI chief had not gone to the US.
Some reports said Pasha may have travelled to a friendly country like China or Saudi Arabia but this could not immediately be confirmed.
Amid mounting international and domestic pressure on the government over the May 2 US special forces’ “get Osama bin Laden” operation, the country’s top civilian and military leadership got their heads together on Saturday in an effort to come up with a collective response.
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met for the second time at the Presidency since the Abbottabad operation.
According to an official statement, they ‘comprehensively reviewed’ the situation in the “perspective of Pakistan’s national security and foreign policy”.
UPDATE 10.50 CST – Video taken in Tokyo of a blinding blue light witnessed on the horizon at the time of the quake is causing a stir. Sky News reports that the light could be a phenomenon thought to occur due to intense electromagnetic activity with the movement of tectonic plates.
UPDATE 10.22 CST – No damage, casualties in Miyagi Pref. as of 11:55 Thurs.: police
UPDATE 10.20 CST – The quake has been revised down to a mag 7.1.
UPDATE 10.19 CST – Japanes Weather agency sees Miyagi quake as aftershock of March 11 temblor.
Japan was rattled by a strong aftershock Thursday night nearly a month after a devastating earthquake and tsunami flattened the northeastern coast.
The Japan meteorological agency initially issued a tsunami warning for a wave of up to one metre, but that was later lifted.
The warning was issued for a coastal area already torn apart by last month’s tsunami, which is believed to have killed some 25,000 people and has sparked an ongoing crisis at a nuclear power plant.
Announcers on Japan’s public broadcaster NHK told coastal residents to run to higher ground and away from the shore. Residents along the northeast coast were being evacuated.
The U.S. Geological Survey said Thursday’s quake was a 7.1-magnitude and hit 40 kilometres under the water and off the coast of Miyagi prefecture. The quake that preceded last month’s tsunami was a 9.0-magnitude.
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