00:00Good day. Welcome to the Gulf News Update for Wednesday, October the 28th. Here are
00:10the top stories at this hour.
00:13Residents in a northwestern Pakistani town that was among the worst affected by this
00:18week's massive earthquake were seeking government help to rebuild their damaged homes after
00:23spending the second straight night with relatives. Authorities said the quake damaged 8,453 homes
00:31and 113 schools in Pakistan's impoverished northwest.
00:36Rescuers in Afghanistan and Pakistan are struggling to reach regions stricken by the magnitude
00:417.5 quake, which was centered in Afghanistan's sparsely populated Badakhshan province that
00:48borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China. The quake left at least 258 people dead in Pakistan
00:55and 115 in Afghanistan.
00:59Iran could join international talks over Syria's future for the first time later this week
01:04as the United States declared itself ready to engage its long-time foe if it might help
01:09halt Syria's four-year civil war. Washington was still waiting to hear if Tehran will attend
01:15the next round of discussions, expected to start tomorrow and continue on Friday in Vienna.
01:21U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and several
01:27top European and Arab diplomats will be attending, a familiar cast that up to now hasn't included
01:34any Iranian representatives.
01:37The UAE has retained its top spot in Middle East and North Africa in the World Bank's
01:42ranking of ease of doing business for the third consecutive year. The World Bank report
01:48Doing Business 2016, measuring regulatory quality and efficiency, ranks the UAE at 31st
01:55position globally, while other leading regional economies such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and
02:01Egypt are ranked at 82, 68 and 131, respectively.
02:07Jose Mourinho's miserable season took another turn for the worse as holders Chelsea were
02:12knocked out of the League Cup by Stoke in a penalty shootout last night. Stoke won 5-4
02:18on penalties after the scoreline read 1-1 after extra time. Stoke scored all of their
02:24spot kicks as Eden Hazard missed the final penalty.
02:29And finally, the weather. Today's high across the UAE will be 38 degrees Celsius, dropping
02:34to 26 degrees at night. That's all for now. Thanks for watching. But as always, you can
02:39get the latest news on gulfnews.com
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