Instagram has announced that it is suspending the rollout of new features to its app following an online backlash from users, influencers, and celebrities.
Updates to Instagram are believed to be due to the growing popularity of its competitor “TikTok” which comprises videos rather than still images.
Celebrity sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner also posted on social media this week urging the company to “make Instagram Instagram again” and stop trying to be like TikTok.
The slogan came from a Change.org petition that had more than 229,000 signatures as of Thursday night. “Let’s go back to our roots with Instagram and remember that the intention behind Instagram was to share photos, for Pete’s sake,” the petition reads.
Toni Tone, writer and content creator, posted how frustrated she was with the modifications and how Instagram was so much more reasonable when she received content from the people she preferred to follow.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri responded to the controversy earlier this week by posting a video on Twitter saying the features are a work in progress, testing with a small number of users. But after some backlash, he later said in a series of tweets that he wanted to “continue supporting photos.”
New features included recommended video content, styled like rival app TikTok. Meta, Instagram’s parent company, said it wants to “take the time” to get the transition right.
An Uzbek singer sang Pakistani Mili Naghma during an official lunch at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting. The video was shared by the Foreign Office of Pakistan.
“Warm hospitality on display by the hosts, during the recently concluded SCO Council of Foreign Minister,” tweeted Pakistan’s Foreign Office.
The video was re-shared by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on his Instagram account.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari led Pakistan’s delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers in Tashkent from July 28-29, 2022. During his stay, he held various interactions with his counterparts.
The centerpiece of the futuristic Neom site near the Gulf of Aqaba, the development’s extraordinary ambition was further revealed this week when Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s crown prince, outlined key components of what he intends to be one of the most ambitious urban developments ever constructed.
Since it was first unveiled in 2017, Neom has drawn attention for its futuristic features, like flying taxis and robot maids, even as economists and architects have questioned its viability.
The 500-meter-high, 200-meter-wide building, a car-free, carbon-neutral bubble that will claim nearly 100 per cent sustainability and a moderate, controlled microclimate, will use artificial intelligence at its core, according to the Saudis.
Environmentalists have expressed scepticism in the past about the kingdom’s environmental commitments, such as a promise to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2060.
What had previously been an idea that even some of the project’s planners had difficulty visualising has now been given colour through multimedia presentations. The slickly rendered videos depict a megacity with hanging gardens that somewhat mimic the Death Star.
In addition to having access to other benefits like outdoor skiing facilities and a “high-speed train with an end-to-end travel of 20 minutes,” residents will be able to access “all everyday requirements” within a five-minute walk.
Saudi officials claim they have no plans to lift the nation’s prohibition on alcohol, despite the fact that Neom will function under its own foundation statute, which is currently being created.
Prince Mohammed’s efforts to change the kingdom from an oil-dependent economy and conservative society that he believes are unfit to propel the Kingdom forward are centred on his vision for modern living.
According to Prince Mohammed, the project’s “first phase” would cost 1.2 trillion Saudi riyals, or roughly £265 billion. It would last until 2030. He noted that in addition to government grants, other potential funding sources included the private sector and Neom’s anticipated IPO in 2024.
He said that Neom may create up to 380,000 jobs in the face of a growing population and a sizable proportion of young people looking for work.
According to Saudi estimates, the kingdom’s population might reach 50 million by 2030, with more than half of them being foreigners. The present population of Saudi Arabia is little about 35 million.
Elon Musk shared a famous Pakistani meme on Twitter in response to the news that the United States (US) government is considering a prisoner swap with Russia that would see the handover of a Russian prisoner in exchange for WNBA player Brittney Griner and former US marine Paul Whelan.
The Biden administration has reportedly made an offer to release Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms dealer known as the “merchant of death”, in exchange for Griner and Whelan. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was detained in Russia after Moscow airport officials said they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. Whelan, a former US marine, was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and arrested on espionage charges.
Musk’s tweet
“Maybe free some people in jail for weed here too?” Musk tweeted on Sunday, sharing the famous Pakistani meme with a caption: “People in the US in jail for weed while the government trades a Russian war criminal to free a woman’s basketball player in jail for weed.”
This is not the first time that SpaceX founder and business tycoon Elon Musk has spoken out about people being in jail over crimes related to marijuana and weed.
In June 2020, Musk tweeted: “Selling weed literally went from major felony to essential business (open during pandemic) in much of America & yet many are still in prison. Doesn’t make sense, isn’t right.”
Pakistani cricket fan Sarim Akhtar’s viral meme
The disappointed Pakistani cricket fan Sarim Akhtar’s meme shared by Elon Musk has also been featured in Hong Kong’s Museum of Memes.
The ‘disappointed face’ of Pakistani cricket fan Sarim Akhat after Asif Ali dropped David Warner’s catch in Pakistan vs Australia became a meme, and it was widely shared by social media users.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday directed party leaders and parliamentarians in Punjab to prepare for the next general elections as they could be announced in six to eight weeks.
The direction came during separate meetings held at Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Pervaiz Elahi’s office on Sunday.
Khan congratulated Elahi on the ouster of an ‘unconstitutional and unlawful’ government from Punjab.
Steps to provide relief to the people of the province were also discussed during the meeting.
Khan held separate meetings with various party leaders, including provincial chief of the party Dr Yasmin Rashid, former chief Shafqat Mahmood, Mian Mahmood-ur-Rashid, as well as with MPAs from six Punjab divisions.
Khan has given Dr Yasmin Rashid a two-week ultimatum to reorganise the party in the province.
Earlier, former Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said that an “agreement” has been reached and the general elections will be held in October.
“Instead of by-elections, matters on new elections have been settled. The nation will soon hear about the date for the elections in October, the formation of a new election commission and a caretaker government,” said Rasheed.
PTI challenges approval of 11 resignations in court
PTI General Secretary Asad Umar on Monday (August 1) reached the Islamabad High Court where he challenged the approval of the 11 resignations of PTI MNAs.
“A petition has been submitted in the Islamabad High Court against the election commission accepting the resignations of 11 members of the assembly of their choice,” the PTI leader said on Twitter.
الیکشن کمیشن کے بندر بانٹ کر کے اپنی مرضی کے 11 ممبران اسمبلی کے استعفے منظور کرنے کے خلاف پٹیشن اسلام آباد ہائی کورٹ میں جمع کرا دی ہے. سارے ملک کے سامنے لوٹوں کے علاوہ تمام تحریک انصاف کے ممبران نے استعفیٰ دیا. سب کے استعفے ایک ساتھ قبول کئے جائیں
Umar said that they have approached the court against the acceptance of the 11 resignations.
“On April 11, 125 of our people resigned on the floor of the assembly, and on April 13, Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri accepted their resignations,” Umar said.
Asad Umar said that PTI MNAs resigned en masse but the election commission’s decision to accept the resignation of 11 members and not 125 is illegal.
According to the ECP, Ali Muhammad Khan, Fazal Muhammad Khan, Shaukat Ali, Fakhar Zaman Khan, Farrukh Habib, Ijaz Ahmad Shah, Jamil Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Akram Cheema, Abdul Shakoor Shad, Shireen Mehrunnisa Mazari, Shandana Gulzar Khan have been de-notified.
PTI to file judicial reference against Chief Election Commissioner
PTI Information Secretary Farrukh Habib issued a statement on July 30 and said the party had prepared to file a disqualification reference in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against the CEC Sikander Sultan Raja. He said the CEC met PDM leaders after reserving a judgment in the prohibited funding case.
“By doing so, the chief election commissioner violated his oath, the code of conduct as well as his constitutional duty,” he added.
According to media reports, PTI decided to file a judicial reference against CEC Sultan Raja. The decision came during a high-level PTI meeting chaired by Imran Khan, where the party leaders reviewed the coalition government’s recent meeting with the CEC and other ECP members.
An official at World Wide Fund (WWF) has revealed that approximately 90 per cent of the fish consumed in Pakistan is contaminated and unfit for human consumption.
Muhammad Moazzam Khan, WWF’s technical advisor on marine fisheries, made the statement at a seminar titled “Blue Economy: An Avenue for Development in Pakistan” held at the Pakistan Institute of International affairs.
He said that most of the fish sold on roadside carts is unhealthy for health because of lack of proper processing. He suggested that fish should be stored between 0 to 5 degrees Celsius to keep it from rotting.
“Fish are very delicate protein items and putrefy very quickly if not iced or frozen as soon as possible,” said Khan. “It is usually kept at room temperature and sometimes at above 40 degrees Celsius and vendors sprinkle water on them to make them look fresher and keep them from decaying. But they have already become unfit for consumption, yet people buy and consequently, fall sick.”
He also mentioned that the export of seafood was increasing but due to a lack of processing facilities and low-quality control, we were unable to achieve higher numbers. Pakistan exported around 10 per cent of the produce and the rest was degraded or damaged as most boats lacked deep freezers and other storage facilities.
Yamaha has announced a significant price increase for motorcycles effective from August 1, 2022. All variants from the manufacturer, including the YB 125Z, YB 125Z DX, YBR 125, and YBR 125G, have seen price increases.
It is important to note that this is the fifth price rise for Yamaha motorcycles in Pakistan since the year 2022 started, with the previous increase occurring in June 2022 and costing more than Rs20,000 for each model.
The Yamaha YB 125Z will now cost Rs273,000 after an increase of Rs18,000, and the Yamaha YB 125Z DX will cost Rs292,000 after a hike of Rs18,000.
Similarly, the Yamaha YBR 125’s price has increased by Rs19,500 to Rs300,000. After an increase of Rs20,500 for both models, the price of the Yamaha YBR 125G (Black/Red) is now Rs312,500, and the Yamaha YBR 125G (Gray) is now priced at Rs315,500.
Nevertheless, this was to be expected, and over the course of 2022, Yamaha Motorcycle prices are predicted to rise by several factors, especially in light of the depreciation of the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) against the US dollar and the implementation of the Super Tax on the automotive industry.
There is little justification for motorcycle manufacturers to raise prices so frequently and by such significant margins as bike manufacturing has been localised by up to 94 per cent in Pakistan.
The depreciation of the local currency caused price hikes across the board in Pakistan’s auto industry, whether it be for cars or two-wheelers, pushing prices out of reach for an average person.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan met Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and former federal minister Moonis Elahi at the Chief Minister’s Office on Sunday in Lahore and discussed matters of mutual interest, the political situation, the administrative affairs of Punjab, and the law and order situation.
A picture of their meeting was shared by Moonis Elahi on social media where Khan can be seen sitting on the CM’s seat while the chief minister sat opposite him. The picture went viral and was widely criticised by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders.
“No self-respecting, dignified man would sit on someone else’s official seat/chair but this man is hungry for power,” tweeted Defence Minister Khawaja Asif.
اس شخص کو کرسی کی کتنی ھوس ھے.. کوئ صاحب عزت self respecting dignified انسان کسی اور عہدے دار کی کرسی پہ نہیں بیٹھے گا. عمران خان کی یہ حرکت اسکی سوچ اور ذات کی پستی کی آئینہ دار ھے. https://t.co/vZElAqDfHA
— Khawaja Saad Rafique (@KhSaad_Rafique) July 31, 2022
The real story
However, senior journalist Hamid Mir explained the real reason why Khan was sitting on the CM seat.
Hamid Mir said that when Khan reached Elahi’s office to congratulate him, Pervaiz Elahi asked the PTI chairman to sit on the CM seat but Khan replied that it is Elahi’s seat.
Moonis Elahi said to the PTI chairman that they got this seat because of him, so he should sit on it. After Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Moonis Elahi’s insistence, finally Imran Khan sat on the chair of the Punjab Chief Minister.
The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) has denied media reports claiming doctors who attended medical schools in Pakistan might not be permitted to practice in the United States (US) after January 2024.
“Unfortunately over the last few days a malicious and false campaign in the media and social media has been initiated falsely claiming that PMC has failed to meet the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) criteria while referring to the decision of the US medical regulators requiring that foreign doctors entering the US in 2024 onward would be those graduating from or licensed by regulatory authorities recognised by WFME,” says the PMC statement.
“Currently all Pakistani doctors and graduates are able to work and train in the USA without any hindrance. PMC has been working in close coordination with the US regulatory authorities including ECFMG and the Federal State Medical Boards (FSMB) ensuring that there is no hindrance in Pakistani doctors and medical graduates being recognized in the USA. In addition to ECFMG and FSMB, the Association of Physicians of Pakistani-descent of North American (APPNA) are also supporting PMC’s recognition by WFME as evidenced by their recent communications with the Honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan and the Minister for Health,” it added.
“PMC has initiated the recognition process for WFME after exhaustive preparations and fulfilling all requirements over the last 18 months. WFME will be over the next 6 to 12 months evaluating the PMC and its recognized medical colleges to complete the recognition process, on completion of which Pakistan will be able to obtain the WFME recognition in 2023, well before the 2024 deadline. The WFME process is a phase wise process of evaluation which culminates in a physical assessment expected during the first half of 2023.”
— Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (@pmc_org) August 1, 2022
Media reports claimed that Pakistan has until January 2024 to finish the accreditation process and obtain recognition for its medical programmes, but officials with the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) are concerned that Pakistan may miss the deadline.
It is being reported that the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) is concerned that Pakistan may miss the deadline. Though the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) initiated the process, it was eventually replaced by the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) through a presidential ordinance.
The PMC Act does not meet the criteria to get recognition from the WFME. However, as per the PMC, it has “formally initiated the application process for the recognition”. The entire process, including the on-site visit by the WFME, is expected to take 12 to 15 months.
“It is not going to be easy to get accreditation by 2024 as there is a long list of conditions which include quality of education, criteria for inspections of colleges, rules, faculty and many other things,” PMA Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad toldDawn.
At least 136 people have been killed in flash floods in Balochistan triggered by heavy monsoon rains.
According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), flash floods have also damaged about 13,000 homes.
The federal government has announced Rs1 million worth of assistance for every household of the deceased in Balochistan flash floods. Flood relief efforts are also being carried out in Balochistan and other areas of the country, with assistance from military rescuers.
Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo has said that the federal and provincial governments are committed to completely rehabilitating flood-affected people in the province.
In a statement on Sunday, he also lauded the role of the Pakistan Army in relief and rescue activities.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit the flood-affected areas of Balochistan today. He visited Jhal Magsi on Saturday.
