BRASILIA: The Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on Wednesday was awarded Brazil’s coveted ‘Order of Merit’ award in a ceremony held in the South American country.General Raheel Sharif is also the first Asian to have received the award. General Raheel Sharif also met the Brazilian minister of defence and offered security assistance from Pakistan for the upcoming 2016 Olympics games due to be held in the South American country.

LAHORE: An election tribunal dismissed a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Hamid Zaman, which had alleged rigging during the 2013 general elections in Lahore’s NA-118 constituency, upholding Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) MNA Riaz Malik’s victory.Hamid Zaman had urged the tribunal to disqualify MNA Riaz Malik on grounds of rigging. The tribunal’s decision, which had been reserved yesterday, was announced Wednesday.

MOSCOW: Russia’s foreign minister on Wednesday said the downing of its fighter jet by Turkey appeared to be a “planned provocation” but said the countries would not go to war over the incident.“We have serious doubts about this being an unpremeditated act, it really looks like a planned provocation,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow after speaking with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.