After closing at Rs218.38 on Wednesday, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) dropped further versus the US dollar on Thursday morning during the intraday trade.
As of 11:00am, the rupee depreciated by Rs0.61 or 0.27 per cent against the US dollar to Rs218.99 during intraday trading.
It is worth noting that the local unit has been witnessing a downward trend since the beginning of this week. PKR fell on Wednesday for the third straight session showing a decline of 0.33 per cent.
The fall occurs amid news that Pakistan’s cash-strapped economy may receive support from an investment of $3 billion by the Qatar Investment Authority, one of the biggest sovereign funds in the world.
Oil prices, a crucial factor in determining currency parity, increased on Thursday as supply fears mounted in the wake of delays to Russian exports, the potential for major producers to reduce output, and the partial suspension of a US refinery.
US West Texas Intermediate crude increased 42 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $95.31 a barrel, while Brent crude increased 59 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $101.81 per barrel.
On Wednesday, the PKR declined by Rs7 for both buying and selling against the USD on the open market, finishing at Rs227 and Rs229, respectively.
Internet users in Pakistan are expected to face internet disruption in the coming days, reports Kalbe Ali for Dawn. The internet services in the country were disrupted due to flood relief work in Sindh.
Minister of Information and Telecommunications Syed Aminul Haque said that initial reports of previous internet outages that happened this month indicated that the situation was severe and that more such incidents could be expected in the near future.
“Due to extensive flooding, most of the pathways of underground cables have been submerged, as relief workers or locals were trying to divert flood water by digging trenches on roads and footpaths.”
“The ministry has directed PTCL to declare an emergency so that repair work could be initiated when any such incident is reported in the system, while the PTA is constantly monitoring the quality of service,” the minister added.
According to a technical report submitted on Wednesday by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) to the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom, the repeated internet outages were caused primarily by flood relief efforts in the Sukkur division, where fibre-optic cables were damaged by the use of heavy machinery used to drain out flood water in Sindh.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill told journalist Matiullah Jan that electric current was used on his genitals. He was responding to a question on the alleged sexual abuse.
“Yes, it is true. Electric current was used on my testes and penis. This is the sexual abuse I was talking about. I was tortured as electric current was used on my penis and testes so that I could give a statement against someone,” said Gill.
In a series of tweets Khan said, “All the pictures and videos show clearly Gill was tortured both mentally and physically, including sexual abuse — most too gruesome to relate.”
It is pertinent to mention here that a district and sessions court in Islamabad on Wednesday, August 24, rejected a request by the Islamabad Police for an extension in the physical remand of Gill.
Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor landed in a controversy recently when his comment on his wife Alia Bhatt went viral on social media. Netizens felt Ranbir body-shamed Alia when he said that she has ‘pheloed’. The Raazi star is expecting her first child with Kapoor. The comment went viral on social media and the actor was slammed left, right and centre.
Ranbir has now clarified his comment and issued an apology to fans who were hurt by his words.
The actor, at an event on Wednesday, said that he loves his wife and that comment was a joke that didn’t land. He also clarified that it wasn’t his intention to hurt anyone. “Yes, absolutely. Firstly, let me start with, I love my wife with everything that I have in my life. And what happened on that, I think it’s a joke that didn’t turn out to be funny. I really want to apologize if I have triggered anyone. It was not my intention. So I want to say sorry to people who got offended or triggered,” said the actor. Ranbir also said that he spoke to his wife about it and she really laughed it off. “She didn’t mind it. But I do have a bad sense of humour and sometimes it falls flat on my own face. So I am sorry if I have hurt anyone about it,” the actor said at the event.
However prior to Ranbir’s apology, actor Ahmad Ali Butt’s wife and former model Fatima Khan slammed Ranbir for his derogatory remarks.
Fatima posted on her Instagram stories, “Stupid joke by an insensitive jerk. Poor girl was flabbergasted and speechless because of being embarrassed. Don’t know when will men understand the stress, insecurities and vulnerabilities, a woman go through during pregnancy.”
Khan concluded by mentioning, “If such an educated man can be so ignorant, I have no hope left.”
According to a whistleblower statement to US authorities, a former Twitter security head said that the Indian government pressured the social media company to hire a government agent.
Along with other security breach allegations at Twitter, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko brought up the matter with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to a redacted version of the lawsuit posted by the Washington Post and confirmed by Zatko’s attorney at Whistleblower Aid, he claimed that Twitter’s lax security measures would have allowed the government agent access to sensitive user data.
Without going into further detail, a corporate source told Reuters that the claims against the Indian government have already appeared on Twitter.
Requests for comment from the Indian IT ministry’s representatives were not immediately responded.
“What we’ve seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lack important context,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.
India is engaging in unlawful activities and content on Twitter, according to the company’s management.
After asking a local court to reverse several government orders to remove content from the social media site and alleging official abuse of authority, Twitter filed a lawsuit against the Indian government in July.
The case’s next hearing will take place on August 25.
“The company did not in fact disclose to users that it was believed by the executive team that the Indian government had succeeded in placing agents on the company payroll,” Zatko’s complaint noted.
According to Washington Post, the National Security Division of the US Justice Department and the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have received documentation corroborating Zatko’s assertions.
CNN claims that these revelations of Twitter’s carelessness represent a serious threat to democracy and national security.
Europe is facing its worst drought in at least 500 years. According to the most recent Global Drought Observatory report, 47 per cent of Europe is in “warning” conditions, which means the soil has dried up.
This summer’s record-breaking temperatures in Europe have disrupted transportation, displaced thousands, and resulted in hundreds of heat-related deaths. The recent heatwave has also fuelled destructive wildfires.
“The combination of a severe drought and heatwaves has created an unprecedented stress on water levels in the entire European Union,” European Innovation Commissioner Mariya Gabriel said in a statement.
The low water levels have exposed long-submerged treasure and ancient stones across Europe. German World War II ships have also been exposed to drought.
Have a look at the pictures:
Wreckage of a World War II German warship in the Danube in Prahovo, Serbia
World War II bomb was discovered in the dried-up River Po in Borgo Virgilio, Italy, on August 7
Remains of a bridge on the Tiber River near the Vittorio Emanuele
“Hunger stones” revealed by the low level of water in Worms, Germany, on August 17
The dolmen of Guadalperal, also known as the Spanish Stonehenge, in the outskirts of El Gordo, Spain, August 3
Similarly, receding water levels of China’s Yangtze has revealed ancient Buddhist statues. They are believed to date to some 600 years ago.
Actor Behroze Sabzwari has opened up about his equation with former daughter-in-law Syra Yousuf in his latest interview with a digital magazine.
The veteran actor said, “Syra is my daughter, even now. If their chemistry wasn’t compatible, we can’t do anything about it, it is up to God. All the people who trolled us, that was a difficult time for us to go through, it was harsh for Shahroz, for Syra and for the families. It was a very personal matter but people think they have a right over us, it’s not like that, we all have a personal life and social media has destroyed lives.”
The Tanhaiyaan star is supportive of Syra’s moving on and starting another family. “We’ve never seen Syra as separate from us and we never will. I’ve said to her many a time, ‘Beta, get settled down. Why not? I’m standing behind you.’ Why not? She’s our daughter and Nooreh is our life.”
Behroze opened up about the birth of the newest addition to the family, his second granddaughter and revealed her name. “She was born on 10th of Muharram, seven to eight minutes before 12. I think that 10th of Muharram is a big day for any Muslim. It is very important to me, Shahroz and the entire family. One of our elders, in connection to that, suggested Syeda Zahra Sabzwari. This is a really big present to us from Allah.”
Shahroz Sabzwari and Sadaf Kanwal tied the knot in May 2020 and their union attracted a lot of buzz as the timing overlapped with the announcement of Shahroz’s divorce with his ex-wife Yousuf. The couple welcomed their daughter earlier this month. It was Behroze who had announced that Kanwal was expecting in April.
Talking about the bond between the two half-sisters he said, “You cannot even imagine how excited Nooreh is, you can’t believe it, even we can’t believe it! Yesterday she was with Zahra all day and she kept her in her own room. She said to Sadaf, ‘If you want to feed her, come here and feed her’. I swear, she said to me and Safina, ‘Out, papa out.’ She calls me papa, she calls Shahroz baba, Safina mumma, Syra mimi and Sadaf Sadaf as she’s good friends with her.”
Earlier this year the father-son duo appeared together on Nida Yasir’s morning show.
On being asked by the host that who amongst the two is a more expressive husband, Behroze was quick to answer that he doesn’t believes in being expressive in public and finds expressive couples to be fake.
His son Shahroz added that he doesn’t like Public display of affection and he can’t do it. He also mentioned that it’s indeed fake love that couples express in public.
The Teri Rah Mein star added that he finds it weird when couples sit very close to each other, its just a pretense according to him and he can even challenge on this.
“I can challenge, its fake, yeh 2 number miyan-biwi hain, isko 2 numbri kehte hai. Dikhaway ke liye kartay hain.”
On the work front, Sabzwari was last seen in ARY’s Teri Rah Mein.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated that 17 million of the nation’s electricity consumers would not be required to pay the excessive fuel cost adjustment (FCA) charges that are included in their monthly bills.
According to Express, the prime minister outlined the rationale behind the FCA and claimed that it had resulted in a substantial increase in power rates for July and August due to high international oil prices.
He claimed that following discussions with the IMF, PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, and other coalition leaders, it was decided that 17.1 million energy users would not be required to pay the FCA.
The remaining 13 million power consumers who are in a better financial situation are also being reviewed by the government, according to PM Shehbaz.
Later, the PML-N tweeted that the relaxation will only apply to people with low electricity consumption.
Shehbaz stated that Power Minister Khurram Dastgir will give a thorough explanation of the announcement’s process and how it would actually operate.
The FCA exception would also apply to tube well users, who the prime minister estimated to number approximately 300,000.
Earlier, PM Shehbaz also abolished the budget’s fixed tax on traders.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry criticised the party’s own provincial governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for “disappointing party workers” and “not responding befittingly” to the attempted arrest of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, May 25 crackdown, arrest and alleged torture of Shahbaz Gill and other political workers.
اپنی صوبائی حکومتوں پر واضع کر دوں لوگوں نے ووٹ صرف وزیر بننے کیلئے نہیں دئیے عمران خان کی گرفتاری کی کوشش ہو، 25 مئ کے واقعات ہوں یا شہباز گل اور سیاسی کارکنان کی گرفتاری اور ٹارچر آپ نے ورکروں کو مایوس کیا ہے اسلام آباد کی 25 کلومیٹر پر حکومت کرنے والے بدمعاش بنے بیٹھے ہیں
“Let me make it clear to our provincial governments that people did not vote for you so that you become ministers. Be it the attempt to arrest Imran Khan, the events of May 25 or the arrest and torture of Shahbaz Gill and [other] political workers, you have disappointed the workers. Those ruling Islamabad have become goons,” tweeted Fawad.
Turning his criticism to his own party, Fawad Chaudhry wondered why there has not been any response from the PTI’s provincial governments to the federal government’s “witch-hunt” of Imran Khan.
