Author: newsdesk

  • Shehbaz meets with world leaders during climate change conference

    Shehbaz meets with world leaders during climate change conference

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Monday attended the inaugural ceremony of the United Nations (UN) Climate Implementation Summit at the coastal city of Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt.

    The “Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit” is part of the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27).

    The premier separately met with the Presidents of Iraq, Tajikistan and Indonesia Abdul Latif Rashid, Emomali Rahmon, and Joko Widodo, respectively. He also conducted a meeting with Lebanese PM Najib Makati.

    In his meeting with the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Shehbaz Sharif thanked him for the assistance sent as aid for flood victims.

    In his meeting with the European Union Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen, PM Shehbaz appreciated the spirit of EU nations for their support extended to the flood-hit population of Pakistan. The premier also met with UN chief Antonio Guterres.

    The PM arrived in Egypt on Sunday to participate in the conference that has drawn delegates from 197 countries.

    Before his departure, PM Shehbaz took to Twitter to say that he would raise the matter of the devasting effects of climate change in Pakistan.

    Last month, it was announced that PM Shehbaz would be the vice-chairperson for COP27.

    The conference is taking place at a time when millions of people in Pakistan, and millions more in other parts of the world, are facing severe adverse impacts of climate change.

    For the first time in the history of COP27, the members would discuss whether rich countries should compensate poor nations most exposed to the adverse effects of climate change.

  • ‘A choice of soul, heart, and reason’: French model accepts Islam

    ‘A choice of soul, heart, and reason’: French model accepts Islam

    French model and reality TV star Marine El Himer has converted to Islam. She made the announcement on her official Instagram handle to her millions of followers, calling it the “happiest day” of her life.

    “There are no words strong enough to express the intensity of happiness and emotions experienced at this very moment. A spiritual journey that I hope will continue to uplift and guide me Inshaallah,” she wrote on Instagram, terming the conversion, “a choice of soul, heart, and reason.”

    The well-known influencer also thanked her fans for their generosity and support.

    According to French media, Himer spent her childhood with her stepfather, spending a considerable amount of time learning about her real father and their history, and during this time she also got to know about Islam.

  • Suo motu notice if FIR of attack on Imran not registered in 24 hours, warns SC

    Suo motu notice if FIR of attack on Imran not registered in 24 hours, warns SC

    The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed Faisal Shahkar, Inspector General (IG) of Punjab Police, to register a first information report (FIR) of the gun attack on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan within 24 hours.

    A five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Mazahar Akbar Naqvi, heard the plea.

    During the hearing, CJP Bandial warned that the court will take suo motu notice if the FIR of the attack was not registered within 24 hours.

    He also asked the IG, who joined the hearing from the SC’s Lahore registry via video link, why the FIR had not been registered as yet.

    “Tell us when the FIR will be registered,” he asked, adding that there should be a concrete reason for not registering the FIR. CJP Bandial observed that it had been 90 hours since the attack. “How will an investigation be initiated without it? And without an FIR, even evidence can be altered,” he added.

    On Sunday, Khan again questioned the delay in the registration of the FIR. He said the case should be registered against the prime minister, interior minister, and a senior intelligence official for “hatching a conspiracy to kill him”.

    He added that despite the passage of three days, the case was not registered as the Punjab police were “rel­u­c­tant to register the FIR”. He expressed surprise that the police were adamant abo­ut not including the name of the military officer in the FIR but ready to nominate the prime minister and the interior minister in the case.

    “Policemen requested that they be transferred from the post…[and] some other officer may register the FIR nominating suspects mentioned by me,” he claimed.

  • Elon Musk fires more than 90% of Twitter India staff

    Elon Musk fires more than 90% of Twitter India staff

    Twitter Inc. terminated more than 90 per cent of its employees in India over the weekend, “severely depleting its engineering and product team in a prospective growth area.”

    The firing frenzy is part of global reductions by new owner Elon Musk.

    .According to persons familiar with the situation who spoke to Bloomberg on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, Twitter’s India offices employed just over 200 people before the cuts, leaving it with only about a dozen employees. The offices are in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and New Delhi.

    Due to its sizable potential pool of new online users, India is a crucial growth engine for international internet companies like Twitter, Meta Platforms Inc., and Google, a division of Alphabet Inc.

    The businesses must comply with “increasingly strict regulations” intended to rein in giant digital enterprises in the country.

    According to one of the employees who spoke with Bloomberg, the product and engineering teams in India that worked on a worldwide mandate accounted for roughly 70 per cent of the jobs that were eliminated.

  • ISB police gives bike to Bykea rider whose bike burnt by PTI protesters

    ISB police gives bike to Bykea rider whose bike burnt by PTI protesters

    The Islamabad Police has handed over a new bike to Ishtiaq, whose bike was burnt by PTI protesters.

    The Incident:

    An angry mob protesting in Islamabad against the assassination attempt on former Prime Minister Imran Khan set ablaze a motorcycle of a bike rider.
    According to the details, the bike was set on fire at IJP Road over minor resistance.

    In a video that is being widely shared on social media, the bike’s owner can be seen crying.

    The boy says on the video that after the death of his father, he along with his brother, ran the household by using the bike in delivery services. Clearly distressed, the boy says that he is a student of grade nine and he pays for his fee by working as a delivery rider

    Supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took to streets across the country on Friday to protest against the firing incident that injured party Chairman, Imran Khan.
    On November 3, Khan survived an assassination attempt on day seven of PTI’s ‘Haqeeqi Long March’ as his container moved through Punjab’s Wazirabad.
    Following the incident, the suspect/shooter, caught by police on the scene, said that he wanted to kill Khan because “He was misleading the public.”

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Muhammad Hanif Abbasi has annouced that he will hand over a new bike to the victim on Sunday.

  • Khan tells President Alvi to make a plan to give ISPR ‘operational lines’

    Khan tells President Alvi to make a plan to give ISPR ‘operational lines’

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has sent a letter to President Dr Arif Alvi, appealing to him not just as Head of the State but also as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces to take note of “wrongdoings that undermine Pakistan’s national security”.

    Upping the ante in the war of words with the establishment, Khan in his letter raised questions about the joint press conference of the Director General (DG) ISI General Nadeem Anjum and DG ISPR Lieutenant General Babar Iftikhar and asked, “How the head of Pakistan’s premier Intelligence Agency can do a public press conference?” His second question inquired how two military bureaucrats could carry out a, “highly political press conference targeting the leader of the largest and perhaps the only federal political party in Pakistan today?”

    “The parameters of a military information organisation such as the ISPR also need to be clearly defined and limited to information relating to defence and military issues. As Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces I call on you to initiate the drawing up of these clear operational lines for the ISPR,” the letter stated.

    Khan further said to the President said, “You are the Head of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and you must protect its democracy and its Constitution,” asking him to ensure that no person or State institution can be above the law of the land. “We have been seeing a massive abuse of citizens at the hands of rogue elements within State organisations, including custodial torture and abductions all carried out with impunity.”

    “You hold the highest Office of State and I am requesting you to act now to stop the abuse of power and violations of our laws and of the Constitution, which ensures the fundamental rights of every citizen.”

    Khan concluded his letter by telling Alvi to protect the country’s democracy and Constitution.

  • T20 World Cup: Did PM Shehbaz predict Pakistan reaching the semi-final?

    T20 World Cup: Did PM Shehbaz predict Pakistan reaching the semi-final?

    Pakistan on Sunday defeated Bangladesh and made its way to the semi finals of the T20 World Cup , booking a spot in the last four after all odds seemed against the team.

    Shaheen Shah Afridi took 4-22 as Bangladesh posted 8-127, setting up an easy chase with Pakistan scoring 5-128 to win Sunday’s Adelaide Oval encounter with 11 balls to spare.

    Pakistan joined India, New Zealand and England as semi-finalists.

    Soon after Pakistan’s victory, the official twitter handle of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), while sharing a tweet of Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif wrote, “Told you, did not he?”.

    “We may not have the real Mr Bean, but we have real cricketing spirit .. and we Pakistanis have a funny habit of bouncing back :),” PM had written in his tweet, addressed to the President of Zimbabwe.
    “Mr President: Congratulations. Your team played really well today,” it added.

    The PM yesterday congratulated both Pakistan and the Netherlands.

  • After Twitter, Meta reportedly planning ‘large-scale’ layoffs this week

    After Twitter, Meta reportedly planning ‘large-scale’ layoffs this week

    With plans to layoff thousands of employees this week, Facebook parent company Meta will join a growing list of digital companies that are reducing their workforces.

    As of September 30, Meta has over 87,000 people working for it across its various platforms, which include the social media sites Facebook and Instagram as well as the messaging service WhatsApp. According to WSJ, the social media business had reduced its ambitions to hire engineers by at least 30 per cent in June, and Mark Zuckerberg had advised staff to prepare for a slowdown in the economy.

    In his announcement of Meta’s dismal third-quarter results, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the company’s headcount will not rise by the end of 2023 and might even decline significantly.

    “In 2023, we’re going to focus our investments on a small number of high-priority growth areas. So that means some teams will grow meaningfully, but most other teams will stay flat or shrink over the next year. In aggregate, we expect to end 2023 as either roughly the same size or even a slightly smaller organization than we are today,” Zuckerberg said on the last earnings call in late October.

    Profits for Meta dropped to $4.4 billion in the third quarter, a 52 percent year-over-year decline. The poor findings had a significant negative impact on Meta’s stock price, which dropped by 25 per cent in one day.

    Over the past year, the company’s market value has decreased to $600 billion.

    In a previous open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s shareholder Altimeter Capital Management stated that the company needed to streamline by eliminating positions and capital expenditures. They also stated that investors had lost faith in Meta as a result of its increased spending and pivot to the metaverse.

    Owing to increased interest rates, rising inflation, and a European energy crisis, several technological businesses, including Microsoft Corp., Twitter Inc., and Snap Inc., have reduced workforce in recent months.

  • Video: Taliban govt reveals final resting place of founder Mullah Omar

    Video: Taliban govt reveals final resting place of founder Mullah Omar

    The Taliban government in Afghanistan has disclosed the location of Mullah Omar’s grave, after his passing and burial were concealed for many years. Mullah Omar was the founding leader of the Taliban.

    According to Taliban’s spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, who spoke to Agence France-Presse on Sunday, senior officials of the movement attended a ceremony at Omar’s tomb on Sunday close to Omarzo, in the Suri area of Zabul province.

    The Taliban once again came into power in August 2021 after defeating after defeating government forces as the American troops withdrew after 20 years in the country.

    Earlier this year in June, the Taliban discovered a white Toyota jeep belonging to Omar, which was buried 21 years ago. When the US forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as a response to the 9/11 attacks, Mullah Omar hid his personal vehicle by burying it.

    The car was discovered mostly unharmed and wrapped in plastic. However, the front mirror of the car was broken.

    Omar reportedly died in 2013. However, the news of his death was not revealed by the Afghan Taliban until July 2015.

    In the video, his grave can be seen covered by a green metal barrier inside a walled enclave.

  • Hareem Shah opens up about her love story with Politician husband

    Hareem Shah opens up about her love story with Politician husband

    TikToker Hareem Shah recently discussed her love story and marriage with politician Bilal Shah on a podcast with comedian Nadir Ali. She described how her husband proposed to her and how they eventually decided to tie the knot.

    Shah said, “I met my husband in Karachi, we met randomly at an event and after that we became very good friends, it was him who proposed to me, I used to like him a lot as a friend so I was shocked when he proposed me, in start I thought he’s just joking but he was serious, I said to him to send his parents to my house and that’s how it happened.”

    Hareem also discussed the impact of social media’s trolling on celebrities, “People have a lot of negativity, I don’t pay heed to trolling because people troll a lot, the reason why I don’t pay heed to trolls, because, I have seen many media persons who lost lives after being trolled like, recently, I saw Aamir Liaquat Hussain, who was so happy and came in your show with his wife, he was fine and okay, I also talked with him along with my husband, but sooner I saw him dying, don’t you think he died because of the trolling.”

    The digital influencer recently shared a video on her Instagram in which she and Bilal can be seen sharing a loving moment.

    In the video, the TikToker can be seen hugging Bilal, holding his hand while sitting on a swing. Hareem can also be seen holding her husband’s nose as if he is irritating her.

    In another video, hecan be seen giving her a foot massage.