WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Wednesday for a second time with families of three American hikers being held in Iran since July 2009 and discussed ongoing effort to win their release, officials said. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the meeting took place as officials sought to explain to the families "steps that we are taking to do everything possible to gain their release." Washington, which has no diplomatic relations with Tehran, has asked Austria to help in the matter, Crowley noted. The meeting came less than a week after the families expressed concern over the health of the detainees, who have not been formally charged by Iran. Relatives of Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, said last week that Swiss diplomats that visited the detainees for the first time in nearly five months found them weak and demoralized.
CNews Karachi. July 05: A Pakistani Scientist in Britain has invented a new chemical for processing plastic (polythene) bags which has the quality of dissolution after its use in 105 days.A manufacturing unit for these plastic bags was being set up in Turkey while interest has been shown in the setting up of a big unit and manufacturing firm’s head quarter in Karachi which will be used to supply such dissolvable polythene bags to Asian countries. The Director of UK based firm Bio Plast Biodegradable Plastics GL Punn while leading a 15 member delegation called on EDO Municipal Services City Government Masood Alam. The Executive Director of Bio Plast Pakistan Muhammad Hanif Awan and M. Sultan Mehmood Awan was also present on this occasion. The Director of Bio Plast informed the EDO Municipal Services about the characteristics of new chemical. He said that the firm was going to set up its first plant in Turkey which will be operative in next two months. The delegation also praised the vi