Author: newsdesk

  • Honda Pakistan to launch already ‘discontinued’ City with decade-old engine

    Honda Pakistan to launch already ‘discontinued’ City with decade-old engine

    The wait is over because Honda Pakistan will soon be launching its new variant of Honda City.

    Competitor companies are already coming up with new models – for example, Toyota recently revealed its most anticipated Yaris series. Hyundai has already launched Tucson and will soon introduce Elantra. New entrants are already coming up with competitive models like MG and Changan. Hence it is imperative for Honda Atlas Pakistan Limited (ATPL) to introduce something worthwhile.

    If you want to know the release details of the car, you need to understand the generation and chassis codes system. The generation of Honda City currently in Pakistan is as old as the fifth generation in line with chassis code GM2/GM3.

    The 5th gen model was replaced by the 6th gen back in 2014. The 6th gen had chassis code GM4/GM5/GM6/GM9. The Honda City in our region (ASEAN) is known as GM6, and it came in 2014 and remained till 2019.

    Logically, the GM6 variant will be replaced with the most recent model of Honda City (7th gen) that was launched in Thailand in November 2019. However, Pakistan has been unable to launch the 7th gen is because it follows the Honda Indonesia product lineup. Honda has not yet introduced the 7th gen model in Indonesia.

    Besides, when it comes to the design and performance of the new Honda City: it is bolder, bigger and as per Honda, much better equipped with improved driving dynamics.

    However, some reports have suggested that Honda Atlas is working on bringing the GN1, which is the newest generation of Honda City, but it is not happening anytime soon.

    According to Pakistan Import Data, Honda Altas imported Complete Built Units (CBU) of the 6th generation (one model before 7th gen) from Thailand.

    The data further shows that this variant will have an L15Z engine with a 1.5L engine; it is the same engine that we have in the contemporary model of Honda City.

    Importing the 6th gen model means one thing: Honda imports the foreign model and then after analysis, starts local production. But there are chances that car enthusiasts will severely criticise this decision as Honda Thailand has already discontinued the 6the gen model.

    Instead of introducing the 7th gen model, Honda fans will get a ‘new model’ that has been discontinued globally, with reportedly, the same decade-old engine.

  • ECP accepts Miftah Ismail’s plea for a vote recount

    ECP accepts Miftah Ismail’s plea for a vote recount

    The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday reserved the verdict on PML-N’s Miftah Ismail’s plea for a vote recount in the NA-249 by-poll. The ECP accepted Ismail’s request for a vote recount . All parties have been summoned to the RO’s office on May 6 for a vote recount.

    Ismail had written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner, seeking a vote recount in NA-249 after he lost the poll by 683 votes. PPP’s Mandokhel had won the NA-249 By-Election.

    A four-member commission of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja heard the plea.

    PML-N’s counsel Salman Akram Raja in his argument stated that a large number of Form 45 were not duly signed by the presiding officers, while agents of PML-N were also not given Form 46. Raja demanded the ECP to initiate an inquiry on the irregularities surfaced in the Karachi by-poll.

    The PPP’s counsel Latif Khosa opposed the re-polling in the constituency and said that it is not enough to say that irregularities were made. “You should highlight where irregularities were reported,” Khosa added.

    After hearing from both sides, the chief election commissioner announced the judgement.

  • VIDEO: Nausheen Shah scolds Dr Aamir Liaquat on live television

    VIDEO: Nausheen Shah scolds Dr Aamir Liaquat on live television

    Nausheen Shah recently lost her cool and scolded Dr Aamir Liaquat live during her appearance on his Ramzan special game show Jeeway Pakistan.

    Read more – Yasir Hussain vs Nausheen Shah: Who said what?

    Throughout the show, Shah was pretty active and in an extremely joyful mood but by the end, she ran out of patience and got angry at the host. One thing led to another as the situation got super awkward.

    At the end of the show, Nausheen was trying to share her thoughts but Liaquat kept interrupting, which annoyed her.

    Annoyed with the constant interference, Nausheen scolded Liaquat saying: “Listen, Dr Sahab. Oh My God you talk nonstop and don’t listen to the other person at all and that’s what I am fed up with.”

    Earlier, Saboor Aly refused to entertain Liaquat’s antics after he kept teasing her throughout the show.

  • ‘Blood on your hands’: Michael Slater slams Australian PM

    ‘Blood on your hands’: Michael Slater slams Australian PM

    Former cricketer Michael Slater, who is currently part of the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) commentary panel, has slammed his country’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison for not allowing its citizens to return from COVID-19 hit India, calling the travel ban a “disgrace”.

    Australia has shut its borders and is not allowing any commercial flights from India because of the massive COVID-19 surge which has left players, support staff and commentators, who might have wanted to leave the IPL in a fix.

    Meanwhile, the Indian government has made it clear that Australians who are engaged in the IPL will have to make their own arrangements.

    “If our government cared for the safety of Aussies they would allow us to get home. It’s a disgrace,” wrote Slater on social media. “Blood on your hands PM. How dare you treat us like this. How about you sort out [a] quarantine system.”

    “I had government permission to work on the IPL but I now have government neglect,” he added.

    The former cricketer further said: “And for those who think this is a money exercise. Well, forget it. This is what I do for a living and I have not made a penny having left early.”

    “So please stop the abuse and think of the thousands dying in India each day. It’s called empathy. If only our government had some,” he remarked.

    Threatening a five-year jail term or a hefty fine, the Australian government temporarily barred its citizens from entering the country if they happened to be in India within 14 days of their intended arrival.

    The decision was announced after a meeting of the National Cabinet last Friday and came into force from Monday.

    The move aims at keeping the COVID-19 spread in check in Australia as India is facing a surge in cases.

    The decision was also based on the proportion of overseas travellers in quarantine in Australia, who have contracted the infection in India, according to Health Minister Greg Hunt.

    Three Australian players left the IPL before the travel ban came into force. The ban is due to end on May 15.

    Meanwhile, as many as 14 Australian players are playing in IPL.

    The competition has also been heavily hit by the virus. Earlier, Monday’s match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) was suspended after KKR’s Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier tested positive for coronavirus. Three members of the Chennai Super Kings’ IPL contingent – chief executive officer K Viswanathan, bowling coach L Balaji and a bus cleaner – have also tested positive for the virus.

    Furthermore, five Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) ground staff have tested positive. DDCA will be hosting IPL 2021 matches until May 8.

  • Bill, Melinda Gates part ways after 27 years of marriage

    Bill, Melinda Gates part ways after 27 years of marriage

    Bill and Melinda Gates have parted ways after 27 years of marriage. The couple was one of the world’s wealthiest couples, with an estimated net worth of some $130 billion,

    In an official statement posted on social media, the Microsoft co-founder and his former wife announced the news, saying: “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage.”

    “Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” said the couple further adding that they will continue to work together at the foundation.

    “We no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives,” continued the statement.

    The family has requested for privacy and space to “navigate this new life”.

    Bill and Melinda met in 1987 when Melinda joined Microsoft as a product manager. The two were unexpectedly seated next to each other at a work dinner and instantly hit it off. After two weeks when Gates asked Melinda out on a first date, she initially rejected him because he was not “spontaneous enough.” Bill called her two hours later and asked for a date that night. They later tied the knot in 1994.

    The couple have three children: Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe.

    The announcement comes two years after the divorce of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, another of the world’s wealthiest people, and his wife MacKenzie.

    Gates, 65, was a geeky teenager when he started what would become the world’s most valuable company, and was for a time the world’s richest man and most prominent philanthropist.

    He stepped down as Microsoft chief executive in 2008 to devote more time to philanthropy and later left the board, keeping only the title of “founder and technology advisor.”

  • Man caught torturing lion cub on camera

    Man caught torturing lion cub on camera

    A man has been caught beating a lion cub on camera. In a video that is being widely circulated on social media, the man named Saad can be seen beating the young cub while dragging him with a chain. The cub’s heartwrenching cries can also be heard in the video.

    The video sparked outrage on social media with several prominent personalities including Fatima Bhutto demanding the cub be rescued by authorities. Lahore-based JFK Animal Rescue And Shelter has also urged the government to stop licensing wild animals to individuals privately, saying that every third person in Pakistan now owns a lion as a pet.

    The animal rescue service also initiated an online petition for this purpose and urged people to raise their voices for these animals. According to JFK, by owning a licence in Pakistan you can buy, sell or import lions and tigers and do whatever you want to do to them. In the recent past, multiple cases of animal abuse and violation have been reported.

    Read more – Wildlife dept recovers two lions from bathroom in a residential area in Multan

    The animal rights organisation also explained that lion and tiger owners, declaw them, beat them, cage them, take their teeth out and later use them for breeding where they open entire breeding farms and then sell the cubs for money.

    “Once anybody gets the license there is no check and balance, and every other person is allowed to do all sorts of evil things to these wild animals behind closed walls. Many also torture them for TikTok and social media videos,” reads the petition.

    “Many times lions are used as props and kept as slaves. People deprive them of their natural habitats and give them a miserable life. We have seen multiple cases of this abuse in a single year and now we want to deal with the root cause which is these licences, these licenses should be cancelled and there should be a complete ban on owning wild animals as pets,” it adds.

    Read more – Lion manhandled during Maryam Nawaz’s rally rescued by Punjab Wildlife Dept

    JFK also alleged that this is not the first time Saad tortured a lion. They claimed that there are other videos of his abusing his lions also.

    Fatima Bhutto also requested her followers to sign the petition and urged the government to rescue such wild animals from captivity.

    Meanwhile, lawyers Ahmad Pansota and Hassaan Khan Niazi have taken up the case and have promised to file a petition before the court on the matter.

  • Man walks into govt office wearing birds’ nest as he couldn’t afford a mask

    Man walks into govt office wearing birds’ nest as he couldn’t afford a mask

    As the deadly second wave of COVID-19 ravages India, authorities have made the use of face masks in public mandatory and announced that violators will be fined Rs 1,000.

    Read more – Mattress factory sealed for stuffing used face masks instead of cotton

    A shepherd hailing from Telangana, India who could not afford a face mask came up with an innovative solution to avoid getting fined.

    According to details, Mekala Kurmayya had to visit the government office to collect his pension but could not afford a face mask. Knowing he wouldn’t be allowed to enter the office without a face mask, the Telangana shepherd made a face mask from a bird’s nest and wore it on his his face before stepping into the office.

    While that doesn’t look very comfortable, it appears to have gotten the job done.

    India has reported 19,925,500  cases so far. As of Monday morning, 218,959 people had died in the country.

  • Pakistan is the next IT powerhouse, says JICA

    Pakistan is the next IT powerhouse, says JICA

    Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has said that Pakistan is the “powerhouse of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector” as the country tech exports climbed six times in one decade.

    In JICA’s official statement, digital Pakistan policy 2018 is the key driving factor behind the success of the IT sector in Pakistan. Besides, six-time growth is the highest growth rate in entire South Asia.

    The fundamental reason behind the IT growth is the competitiveness and the presence of a large number of freelancers that are willing to give quality services at affordable rates.

    The report published by JICA was a year-long researched based study that was conducted in collaboration with Pakistan Embassy Tokyo.

    The publication has also placed Pakistan as a new partner for Japanese IT companies. The report gives an overview of the ICT industry in Pakistan, its performance in IT exports, the support structure provided by the Pakistani government, a pool of skilled and young human resource and achievements of a growth-led ecosystem equally owned by public and private sectors.

    This study includes an “IT skills survey 2021”, which found that Pakistani ICT engineers are highly skilled in programming, software development, data processing and analysis, infrastructure architecture and cloud engineering.

    The report also includes feedback on Pakistani ICT engineers already working in Japan who consider Pakistan an untapped market for Japanese IT companies, encouraging them to know more about Pakistan and its collective potential in ICT.

    Ambassador of Pakistan to Japan Imtiaz Ahmad welcomed the project team in March 2020, offering them complete support of the Mission while thanking JICA for its continued support in export and development sectors in Pakistan.

    In the past, the same team of experts from JICA has rolled out various projects for human resource development; value addition in textiles; technical training and water and sanitation infrastructure in Pakistan.

  • Electoral reforms proposed for fair and transparent elections: Govt

    Electoral reforms proposed for fair and transparent elections: Govt

    Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Adviser to Prime Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan, in a press conference, shared details of the government’s plans for electoral reforms for free and transparent elections within the country.

    Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs has proposed 49 amendments to the Election Amendment Bill 2020. Awan said that the reforms shall be put forth before all stakeholders, including civil society, media and Bar councils.

    Fawad Chaudhry stressed that the government wants to get the reforms passed from parliament through consensus. Chaudhry said that if the opposition parties are not ready to support the proposal for the electoral reforms, it will delay both political and democratic development within the country.

    https://twitter.com/FawadPTIUpdates/status/1389146375192039426

    Yesterday, Shehbaz Sharif had spurned down the proposal of using an electronic voting system (EVS). He was responding to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s tweets on electoral reforms.

    PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif rejected PM’s proposal to use electronic voting machine. In a statement posted on Twitter, Shehbaz said, “Electronic voting system is rejected by the whole world. Pakistan Election Commission (ECP) has declared it unworkable. Such important national tasks cannot be performed at the request or order of an individual.”

    He further added that electoral reforms are a rather sensitive issue. “Electoral reforms can only take place after consultation of all parties, in the light of public opinion and through consensus.”

    “Instead of electronic voting, the government should worry about a ruined economy, skyrocketing inflation, unemployment and the ever increasing mortality rates,” Shehbaz Sharif added.

  • ‘PM had a good meeting with my friends’: Jahangir Tareen

    ‘PM had a good meeting with my friends’: Jahangir Tareen

     Disgruntled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Tareen on Monday said that lawmakers of the ‘Tareen group’ had a fruitful meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan. Tareen said his group expressed their concerns and were assured of justice. He said that PM has assured them that he would himself look into the case and justice will be done. Pro-Tareen lawmakers met PM Imran last week.

    Tareen also denied being in touch with either the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) or the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

    The Tareen group will decide on what course of action to take after Eid. Senator Ali Zafar was tasked by the PM to ensure that a fair inquiry is being conducted in Tareen’s case and there is no discrimination. Sources say that Senator Ali Zafar has met FIA and the investigating team as well as Tareen’s lawyers and accountants to hear their side of the story. After Eid, once Zafar completes his inquiry, the JKT group will decide how to move forward.

    The PTI leader and his son Ali Tareen were granted an extension in bail from a Lahore banking court in the sugar scandal case. The court ordered the FIA to complete its investigation as soon as possible and submit an inquiry report. Tareen said that the probe against him had been going on for a year and he has provided hundreds of thousands of documents to the court. He said he has never run away from investigation but believes that there is no truth to this case.