Author: newsdesk

  • Video: Karachiites protest against load-shedding, clashes erupt between police protesters

    Video: Karachiites protest against load-shedding, clashes erupt between police protesters

    Residents of Karachi came out on the streets in the late hours of Monday to protest against the unannounced and prolonged load-shedding in their areas.

    On Tuesday morning, the police used tear gas and baton-charged protestors in an effort to disperse the crowd, which resulted in a clash between the two.

    According to Dawn, the demonstrators have been protesting since last night, burnt tyres, and blocked the road for traffic, which has caused traffic problems.

    The chairman of the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) Aslam Pakhali said that over 100 shipping containers carrying mangoes and potatoes are worth an estimated Rs250 million were stuck in traffic since Monday evening.

    https://twitter.com/nshz22/status/1541682874750947328?s=20&t=OIuOxKPZe5onCToMDfxlBw

    According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asif Bughio, electricity in several areas of Lyari has been suspended since 4pm yesterday (Monday). He claimed that the police tried to negotiate with them but they attacked the law enforcers with stones.

    Their protest has continued for more than 20 hours now.

    According to media reports, in Karachi’s Gadap Town, the load-shedding time has gone up to 18 hours in a day. Similarly, Shah Faisal Colony, Malir, Surjani Town, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, and other areas are seeing power outages of 14 hours or more.

    Following the incidents, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh contacted K-Electric Chief Executive Moonis Alvi. He noted that load-shedding has made the lives of people miserable.

    “Due to persistent load-shedding, the security situation is deteriorating,” he told the KE official.

    A day earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif warned the nation that they might face increased load-shedding in the coming month of July.

  • Four dead in attack on polio team in North Waziristan

    Four dead in attack on polio team in North Waziristan

    One polio worker and three others have been killed as a result of an attack on the polio team in North Waziristan.

    According to North Waziristan DSP Traffic Sher Wali Khan, during a polio vaccination drive in the Dand Kali neighbourhood of Tehsil Datta Khel, unknown assailants opened fire on the polio team, killing two police officers, one polio worker, and a passerby. The incident happened as the polio worker was giving a young patient the oral polio vaccine (OPV).

    Pakistan has reported at least six cases of polio this year, As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two polio-endemic nations in the world.

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has expressed his grief over the incident and has ordered an inquiry.

  • Lahore High Court considering holding Punjab CM elections again

    Lahore High Court considering holding Punjab CM elections again

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) is considering the polls for the Punjab chief minister’s (CM) slot again, the court remarked on Tuesday while hearing the case challenging CM Hamza Shehbaz’s election, reports Geo News.

    The court while hearing the arguments from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) counsel asked how a political crisis would be avoided if matters are taken back to the Punjab Assembly session on April 16 and polls are held again.

    “In this case, the same presiding officer will hold the polls who was on duty during the April 16 polling,” the court said.

    The court adjourned the hearing till 10am on June 29.

    Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in his plea challenging Hamza’s election maintained that Hamza does not have the number of votes required to be elected as the chief minister in light of the Supreme Court’s order.

    Hamza was elected as chief minister of Punjab in a session of the Punjab Assembly in complete ruckus on April 16, 2022.

  • Pakistan notifies revised export control lists of goods

    Pakistan notifies revised export control lists of goods

    Pakistan has notified revised control lists of goods, technologies, materials, and equipment subject to the Strategic Export Control Division (SECDIV) license for export.

    This was done in accordance with the Export Control on Goods, Technologies, Materials, and Equipment related to Nuclear and Biological Weapons and their Delivery Systems Act of 2004.

    “The act empowers the government to control the export, re-export, trans-shipment, and transit of goods, technologies, materials, and equipment related to nuclear and biological weapons and their delivery systems,” it added.

    According to the statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Strategic Export Control Division (SECDIV) revised/updated the control lists in consultation with other relevant ministries and departments as part of the regular review process.

    In the Pakistani Gazette S.R.O. 551(I)/2022 dated April 12, 2022, the revised control lists were announced. The control lists were first published in 2005 and later updated in 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2018, the statement said.

    According to the notification, the updated lists are in compliance with the standards and lists of these export control regimes. Over the years, Pakistan has improved its export control system, streamlined and strengthened it, and increased its interaction with international export control systems like the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime, and the Australia Group.

    The notification emphasises Pakistan’s continued commitment and strategy as a responsible nuclear state to advance the common cause of non-proliferation and strictly uphold its commitments, the statement said.

  • ‘Khan through paid social media teams is running vulgur, abusive trends against COAS, DG ISPR’: Aisha Gulalai’s letter to CJP

    ‘Khan through paid social media teams is running vulgur, abusive trends against COAS, DG ISPR’: Aisha Gulalai’s letter to CJP

    Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Aisha Gulalai Wazir has written a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, demanding the apex court to take suo motu notice of the anti-army campaign being run “by PTI Chairman Imran Khan”.

    In the letter, she demanded the court to put Khan’s name on Exit Control List (ECL), for a treason case to be registered against him and that he and his party should be banned.

    Gulalai argued that Khan is “shamelessly” dragging the army into politics. “Criticising it [army] for being neutral, maligning it, threatening with dismembering the country, waging civil war and creating anarchy in the country, if the army stayed neutral,” she added.

    Furthermore, she said, “Acting like a mafia, Khan and his party through social media teams are running shameful, abusive and vulgar social media trends against Pakistan army, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar.” Along with these allegations, she also attached screenshots as proof.

    Gulalai also alleged that they [Khan and PTI] are using some mainstream media channels and journalists for their propaganda.

    The former PTI member also pointed out that in this way Khan is trying to “instigate the masses” against the armed forces. Moreover, she said, “Khan is threatening the state that he will disclose the security secrets of Pakistan.”

    She also alleged that the provincial government recruited social media influencers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with Rs736 million from public funds.

    Giving the reference of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain — who is banned due to hate speech — and Member National Assembly (MNA) Ali Wazie, Gulalai wrote that if their hate speech cannot be allowed who actually “never went to such an extent”, Khan “should be no exception and above law”.

    Who is Aisha Gulalai Wazir?

    In 2017, Gulalai quit PTI and alleged that her then-party Chairman Imran Khan had sent her inappropriate text messages but she did not reveal any other details to support her allegations.

    According to her, she is not the only one who faced this and claimed many women in the party are facing similar issues.

  • ‘Ultimate goal is self-reliance’: PM Shehbaz on Pakistan receiving $2bn from IMF

    ‘Ultimate goal is self-reliance’: PM Shehbaz on Pakistan receiving $2bn from IMF

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif was informed by Finance Minister (FM) Miftah Ismail that Pakistan could receive Rs2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    “Miftah Ismail sent a message this morning saying that Pakistan will receive not $1 billion but $2 billion from the IMF. I told him in response, Alhamdulillah, but our ultimate goal is self-reliance,” said PM Shehbaz while addressing the “Turn Around Pakistan” conference.

    The premier’s address comes shortly after Ismail confirmed Pakistan has received the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) from the IMF for the seventh and eighth reviews.

    The draft MEFP is a prerequisite to paving the way toward striking a staff-level agreement.

    PM Shehbaz said that although the Opposition created much political drama in recent weeks, he will ask whether it is the “choosers” that are now going to receive $2 billion or “the other word”, referring to beggars from the phrase “beggars can’t be choosers”.

    “There is no shortage of anything in Pakistan and there are experts in every field,” said PM Shehbaz, before lamenting that “billions of dollars are buried in Reko Diq but we have not earned a single penny”.

    “It is a pity that the country’s development and prosperity have not been achieved,” he said.

    Addressing the conference before PM’s speech, Ismail said that when he messaged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif about the development, he replied: “Well done. But remember our ultimate goal is self-reliance. That will be our legacy,” Miftah said, quoting PM Shehbaz.

  • Science declares Robert Pattinson as the ‘most attractive man on earth’

    Science declares Robert Pattinson as the ‘most attractive man on earth’

    According to a recent report by LadBible, Hollywood actor Robert Pattinson has been declared the most attractive man alive on earth by science.

    The title comes after an algorithm that ranks different facial features analysed of actors like Ryan Gosling, Idris Elba, Brad Pitt and Henry Cavill. Although the actors are good-looking in their own sense, none of them could match Pattinson’s perfect features.

    In 2020 also, Pattinson was announced as the most attractive man in the world according to science. The actor’s beauty was judged using an ancient Greek calculation method, the Golden Ratio of Beauty Phi, which has historically been used to measure physical perfection. It seems that even now Pattinson continues to hold that title.

    The Golden Ratio of Beauty Phi is said to have originated during the European Renaissance era. According to Vice, this calculation was mainly used by architects and artists like Leonardo Da Vinci to map and measure the “perfect” length and width for their artistic creations. In modern times, the same formula has been adapted to measure beauty standards and determine how perfect a person’s physical features are. Under this technique, the face is measured and the results are divided. The closer a face’s measurement is to Phi (1.618), the more attractive the person is said to be. The beauty factor also relies on the symmetry and proportion of the face and is influenced by factors such as whether the length of the ear is equal to the length of the nose, or if the width of the eye is equal to the distance between the eyes.

    Robert Pattinson robs Brad Pitt and David Beckham of World's Most Beautiful Man title - Irish Mirror Online

    Speaking to LadBible, Centre of Facial Cosmetic Surgery’s Dr Julian De Silva said, “Robert Pattinson was the clear winner when all elements of the face were measured for physical perfection.” Silva added that the brand new computer mapping techniques have allowed scientists to solve some of the mysteries of what it is that makes someone physically beautiful. Silva also mentioned that the technology is useful when planning a patient’s surgery who aims to accentuate their features.

    According to Vice, Pattinson has the most perfect physical features, followed by British actor Cavill, who has a score of 91.46 percent, Cooper who is rated 91.08 percent, Pitt at 90.51 percent and Clooney ranking fifth with 89.91 percent. Meanwhile, Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid was declared the most beautiful woman in the world through the same method in 2020.

  • Pakistan gets temporary relief of $3.68 billion from G-20 countries

    Pakistan gets temporary relief of $3.68 billion from G-20 countries

    The Ministry of Economic Affairs stated that the Government of Pakistan and the French Republic on Monday signed an agreement as part of the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).

    The government signed a DSSI, which amounted to the suspension of loans totaling $107 million under the G20 DSSI framework, according to a statement made in this regard by the ministry, according to Profit.

    This sum, which was initially due between July and December 2021, will now be paid back over a six-year period (plus a one-year grace period) in semi-annual installments, according to the statement.

    Federal Secretary for Economic Affairs Division Mian Asad Hayaud Din and French Ambassador to Pakistan Nicolas Galey signed the agreement today in Islamabad.

    Agreements for the revocation of $261 million between the government and the French Republic have already been signed.

    The ministry mentioned that the G20 DSSI has provided the fiscal space required to address the immediate health and financial demands of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan as a result of the support given by Pakistan’s development partners.

    According to the ministry, $3,688 million in debt has been suspended and rescheduled overall under the DSSI framework, which covers the period from May 2020 to December 2021.

    Pakistan has so far reached 93 agreements and signed them with 21 bilateral creditors for the restructuring of its liabilities under the G20 DSSI framework, totaling a delay of nearly $3,150 million.

    The above-mentioned agreements have been signed, bringing the total to $3,257 million. The G20 DSSI’s remaining agreements are currently the subject of negotiations.

  • Man shoots restaurant employee dead for putting too much mayonnaise in sandwich

    Man shoots restaurant employee dead for putting too much mayonnaise in sandwich

    A man opened fire at two employees of a restaurant for putting too much mayonnaise in the sandwich. One employee was killed and another was injured. The man claimed that his sandwich had too much mayonnaise. The incident took place at an Atlanta sandwich shop.

    Before shooting two female employees, according to the police, the man argued with them.

    “This was a very tragic situation that did not have to occur,” Atlanta police Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jnr told reporters on Monday.

    According to the police, the deceased was a 26-year-old woman. The second woman, a 24-year-old, was shot in front of her 5-year-old child and is currently being treated in a hospital in critical condition.