Category: Uncategorized

  • Turkey to have runoff elections for first time in history

    Turkey will have a runoff for the first time in its history, as none of the presidential candidates could secure an absolute majority in elections.

    The second round of voting will take place on May 28.

    Tayyip Erdogan received 49.51 per cent of the vote, while his main rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, came in second at 44.88 per cent.

    The third presidential candidate, Sinan Ogan, a nationalist politician, finished third at 5.17 per cent.

    Erdogan needs to win this election to extend his 20-year rule.

    “I wholeheartedly believe we will continue to serve our people in the coming five years,” said Erdogan on Monday.

  • Solve Asia Cup issue amicably if you want to become ICC chief in the future: Najam Sethi advises Jay Shah

    Solve Asia Cup issue amicably if you want to become ICC chief in the future: Najam Sethi advises Jay Shah

    Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Management Committee Chairman Najam Sethi has shown concerns about the biased attitude of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Chairman Jay Shah who is also the secretary of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

    Sethi said that if the ACC chairman wants to become the head of International cr Cricket Council (ICC) than he has to solve Asia Cup’s issue amicably.

    Jay Shah is the secretary of BCCI and also son of powerful BJP leader Amit Shah. He has refused to send the Indian team to Pakistan to play Asia Cup 2023, saying that the Indian Government is not allowing them to play in Pakistan.

    The excuse is childish and hypocritical because India has sent many other sports teams to Pakistan. If the Indian cricket team has security concerns then why is Indian government allowing other teams to travel in Pakistan, asked Najam Sethi in a BBC podcast.

    He advised the ACC president to be neutral and solve the matter amicably.

    “I think Jay [Shah] is a young man, he aspires to be the head of the ICC,” Sethi told Associated Press (AP). “My advice to my young friend would be if you want to be a leader, you have to keep the herd together, keep the flock together.

    “Don’t let it be said that when you were in the chair in the ACC, the ACC broke up.”

    Najam Sethi also said that we will always be on the helping side for Asian countries.
    “When Aussies pulled out against Afghanistan, we said to them that we will play a series with you and you will get some money from the series,” Sethi remarked.

    We do not have any issues with any team in Asia neither they have any issues with us, he said, adding that its just India.

    He also spoke about the hybrid model for the Asia Cup, which would allow India to play their matches at a neutral venue while the rest of the tournament takes place in Pakistan.

    “Until India is ready to play Pakistan bilaterally and in Pakistan, let’s have a hybrid solution,” he said.

  • Pakistan to travel to Australia at year end for Benaud-Qadir Trophy

    Pakistan will take a trip Down Under later in the year to take on Australia for the Benaud-Qadir Trophy. Three Tests – part of the third World Test Championship cycle – will be played at Perth, Melbourne and Sydney in December and January.

    The tour will open at the Perth Stadium on 14 December and it will mark the first instance of Pakistan playing a Test at the venue. The two teams will face off in the Boxing Day Test at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground from 26 till 30 December and the third and final match will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground from 3 January, 2024. Pakistan has played 10 Tests at the MCG and eight at the SCG – at both venues they have won two matches each.

    In the lead-up to the series, Pakistan will play a four-day warm-up to acclimatise to the conditions Down Under.

    This will be Pakistan captain Babar Azam’s third Test tour of Australia. The prolific stroke-maker previously landed on the Australian soil in December 2016, under Misbah-ul-Haq’s captaincy, and November 2019, when Azhar Ali was the captain of the side.

    The right-hander has 278 runs – including a century – in five Tests. On the 2019 tour, Babar scored a century in the second innings in the first Test in Brisbane and followed it up with a 97 at Adelaide.

    Naseem Shah made his Pakistan debut at Brisbane in November 2019 and since has evolved as a mainstay in Pakistan’s bowling line-up across all formats. The right-arm speedster has 80 wickets in 42 matches.

    Pakistan last toured Australia for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and finished as the finalists.

    The Benaud-Qadir Trophy was launched in 2022 when Australia arrived in Pakistan after 16 years for a three-Test series. Pat Cummin’s side bagged the first iteration as they bagged the series 1-0 after defeating Pakistan in Lahore in the third and final Test.

    Schedule

    14-18 Dec: First Test, Perth Stadium

    26-30 Dec: Second Test, Melbourne Cricket Ground

    3-7 Jan: Third Test, Sydney Cricket Ground

  • Inquiry launched in girl’s alleged rape at Okara railway station

    Inquiry launched in girl’s alleged rape at Okara railway station

    Trigger warning: rape/sexual violence

    An inquiry has been ordered into an alleged rape incident that took place at Okara Railway Station earlier this month.

    The incident happened on May 10. The prime suspect offered the rape survivor a free ticket, suggesting that he would help her travel all the way to Karachi from Okara for free.

    He later took her to the parcel branch of the railway station where he allegedly raped her. The rape survivor informed the police after reaching Karachi.

    Karachi Cantt Station Police have registered a case against the prime suspect Haseeb.

  • Naila Kiani becomes second Pakistani woman to scale Mount Everest

    Naila Kiani becomes second Pakistani woman to scale Mount Everest

    Naila Kiani has successfully scaled world highest mountain Everest (8848.86 m) on Sunday morning, becoming the second woman to do so.

    She scaled the mountain with Nepali climber Pasang Temba Sherpa.

    Samina Baig was the first woman mountaineer from Pakistan to scale Everest in 2013.

    Before this, she climbed Annapurna I in Nepal, K2, Gasherbrum I and II.

    As per media reports, Naila Kiani is the first Pakistani woman climber to summit five peaks over 8,000m.

  • Here is the new schedule for postponed board exams

    Here is the new schedule for postponed board exams

    The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Peshawar (BISEP) on Saturday announced new dates for exams that were postponed due to the law and order situation of the country.

    As per the new schedule, the exam for 10th-grade mathematics will be held on May 19, 9th-grade mathematics on May 20, 10th-grade chemistry on May 22, and 9th-grade chemistry on May 23.

    The rest of the exams, including biology and Pakistan studies, will be held as per schedule.

    On the other hand, schools In Punjab that were closed due to countrywide protests against the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, were reopened on Saturday.

    The former Prime Minister reached his Zaman Park residence in Lahore late on Friday night from the capit

  • ‘Agr Sharif family money laundering me beqasoor hai to mein ajj se Mahira Khan hun’: Rabya Kulsoom

    ‘Agr Sharif family money laundering me beqasoor hai to mein ajj se Mahira Khan hun’: Rabya Kulsoom

    Following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, many celebrities have come forward to voice their opinion on the matter.

    Actor Rabya Kulsoom too took to Instagram stories to voice her opinion in a rather sarcastic way.

    “Aagr MQM ko Karachi mein fasad hone par afsos hai, aur agr Zardai ne 27th December (Bibi kay qatal) par aman qayem rakha huwa tha aur aagr Sharif family money laundering me beqasoor hai to mein ajj se Mahira Khan hun, Jao jo karna hai kar lo,” she wrote on Instagram.

  • ‘Went from one relationship to another’; Priyanka Chopra opens up about her dating life

    ‘Went from one relationship to another’; Priyanka Chopra opens up about her dating life

    Priyanka Chopra recently appeared in “Call Her Daddy” podcast, in which she opened up about her dating life among many other things. Chopra revealed that she jumped from one relationship to another before taking a break.

    “I did not give myself time at all between relationships… I think I worked a lot and I always ended up dating the actors that I worked with. And I think that I just thought I had an idea of what a relationship should be like, and I kept seeking that and trying to fit the people that came into my life, into my idea of that relationship,” said Priyanka.

    She said that before meeting her now husband, Nick Jonas, she took two years off, adding that she did not date Nick at that time because she did not want to keep repeating mistakes.

    Talking about her past relationships, Priyanka said that she had normalised the idea of “giving the power in such a skewed way” that she never stood up for herself. “I literally would become like a doormat and I was like, ‘okay, that’s fine.’”

    The actor further said that she came to the realisation that getting into a new relationship soon after one ended wasn’t good for her.
    “I reached a point in my life where I was like, what the f**k are you doing? Like, this is getting self-destructive at this point when I had to choose me, I had to be like I don’t owe no one anything except my family and myself, the people who truly love me.”

    “When you are in relationships where you stop recognising who you are, you stop having your own identity, or you stop knowing what it is, what you want for yourself, what your goals are, then you are invisible. And, I just started feeling invisible in my relationships,” she added.

  • All educational institutes reopened in Punjab

    All educational institutes reopened in Punjab

    All educational institutes across the province have been reopened on Saturday, The Punjab Education Department said in a notification.

    The notification said that all educational institutes, including schools, colleges and universities have been reopened. However, medical colleges and universities will remain closed on May 11 and 12.

    On the other hand, Cambridge exams in Pakistan will be resumed from May 15 (Monday) onwards, the British Council announced on Friday.

    Schools were closed due to countrywide protests against the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan.
    The former Prime Minister reached his Zaman Park residence in Lahore late on Friday night.

  • Pakistan moves forward with budget planning despite delayed IMF programme

    Pakistan moves forward with budget planning despite delayed IMF programme

    The government is expected to present an overall budget deficit of 5.1 per cent of the GDP for the fiscal year 2023-24, as stated in the delayed Budget Strategy Paper (BSP) to be presented before the federal cabinet. A recent report by The News highlighted that the paper will be tabled amid the government’s failure to revive the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

    The budget-making process has already been affected by uncertainty on both the IMF and political fronts. Nonetheless, the government has decided to present the next budget on June 9. Despite failing to reach a staff-level agreement with the IMF, the government will present the BSP for a medium-term period of three years. The proposed federal government budget deficit stands at 6.4 per cent of the GDP, while the overall deficit of the country is estimated to be lowered to 5.1 per cent of the GDP for the next financial year.

    In addition, the BSP for the upcoming fiscal year has proposed an allocation of Rs1.7 trillion for the defence budget compared to Rs1.56 trillion in the outgoing fiscal year. The overall primary surplus of budget deficit is estimated to be 0.3 per cent of the GDP for the next fiscal year, up from the previous projection of 0.2 per cent for the outgoing year.

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has been set a target of Rs9.2 trillion for the next budget, and the finance ministry suggests this is on the higher side. The FBR estimates that it could collect Rs7.2 trillion in the outgoing fiscal year against the targeted Rs7.64 trillion. In the next budget, the FBR could collect up to Rs8.6 trillion, subject to import restrictions being lifted, which could boost revenue collection. The government is projecting a GDP growth rate of 3.4 per cent for the next fiscal year, while inflation is expected to hover around 21 per cent.

    According to the IMF’s latest press briefing, the country may experience stagflation, which means low growth and higher inflation rates. If stagflation continues, it could lead to rising poverty and unemployment in Pakistan. The current account deficit is estimated to be approximately $8 billion for the next budget, and there is hope that import restrictions will be gradually lifted during the next financial year.

    The BSP has to be approved by the federal government under the Public Finance Management Act, which states that the paper must contain quantified macroeconomic and fiscal projections for the medium-term, be approved by April 15 of each year, and published on the Finance Division’s official website. Upon approval, the Finance Division will issue indicative budget ceilings to ministries and divisions.

    The minister for finance will also discuss the budget strategy paper with the Standing Committees for Finance and Revenue in the Senate and the National Assembly. The government may extend the deadline mentioned in Sub-section (1) of the PFM Act in case of an extreme requirement.