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  • Facing crush of crises, Biden to take helm as president today

    Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, assuming the helm of a country beset by deep political divides and battered by a raging coronavirus pandemic.

    Biden, 78, will become the oldest US president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that has been largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due to both the coronavirus pandemic as well as security concerns following the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.

    With only a small number of attendees present, the Democrat will take the oath of office before US Chief Justice John Roberts just after noon (1700 GMT), placing his hand on an heirloom Bible that has been in the Biden family for more than a century.

    His running mate, Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, will become the first Black person, first woman and first South Asian to serve as vice president after she is sworn in by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina member.

    The ceremony will unfold in front of a heavily fortified Capitol, where a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building two weeks ago, enraged by his false claims that November’s election was stolen with millions of fraudulent votes. The violence prompted the Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives to impeach Trump last week for an unprecedented second time.

    Thousands of National Guard troops were called into the city after the siege, which left five people dead and briefly forced lawmakers into hiding. Instead of a throng of supporters, the National Mall will be covered by nearly 200,000 flags and 56 pillars of light meant to represent people from US states and territories.

    Biden, who has vowed to “restore the soul of America,” will call for American unity at a time of crisis in his inaugural address, according to advisers.

    In an early sign of his plan to reach across the political aisle, Biden has invited top congressional leaders, including House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, to join him at church on Wednesday morning.

    In a break with more than a century and a half of political tradition, Trump plans to depart the White House ahead of the inauguration, declining to meet with his successor and affirm the peaceful transfer of power.

    Vice President Mike Pence, former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and both McCarthy and McConnell are all expected to attend Biden’s inauguration ceremony.

    Trump, who has grown increasingly isolated in the waning days of his tenure, has still not formally conceded the Nov. 3 election. He will hold a sendoff event at Joint Air Force Base Andrews in the morning, although top Republicans, including Pence, are not expected to attend.

    TRUMP PARDONS 140 PEOPLE ON LAST DAY:

    President Donald Trump pardoned former chief strategist Steve Bannon as part of a flurry of clemency action in the final hours of his White House term that benefited more than 140 people, including rap performers, ex-members of Congress and other allies of him and his family.

    The last-minute clemency, announced Wednesday morning, follows separate waves of pardons over the past month for Trump associates convicted in the FBI’s Russia investigation as well as for the father of his son-in-law.

    Besides Bannon, other pardon recipients included Elliott Broidy, a Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty last fall in a scheme to lobby the Trump administration to drop an investigation into the looting of a Malaysian wealth fund, and Ken Kurson, a friend of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner who was charged last October with cyberstalking during a heated divorce.

    Among them were rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, both convicted in Florida on weapons charges.

    Other pardon recipients include former Rep. Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican who served three years for corruption, money laundering and other charges, and former Rep. Duke Cunningham of California, who was convicted of accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. Cunningham, who was released from prison in 2013, received a conditional pardon.

    Trump also commuted the prison sentence of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who has served about seven years behind bars for a racketeering and bribery scheme.

  • HRCP concerned over govt’s decision of asking private sector to import COVID-19 vaccine

    HRCP concerned over govt’s decision of asking private sector to import COVID-19 vaccine

    The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed serious concern over the federal government’s decision to ask provinces and the private sector to import the coronavirus vaccine.

    As per the details, with the Cabinet Committee on Procurement of COVID-19 Vaccine briefing Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on efforts being made to engage more pharmaceutical companies for procurement, HRCP has said that the government’s decision in this regard was not the right step.

    “It is the responsibility of the federal government to provide vaccines at heavily subsidised rates to the poor masses which form a majority of the country’s population,” read a statement by the rights watchdog.

    “The people of lower-income groups are struggling hard to survive the unprecedented economic crisis unleashed by misplaced priorities and pro-rich policies of the federal government. The foreign aid received and funding allocated for fighting the pandemic must be used transparently and spent on vaccinating the citizens,” the HRCP said.

    It also expressed concern after reports appearing in the electronic and social media that some of the agents in Karachi had started pre-booking of AstraZeneca vaccine for Rs 20,000 per dose.

    Earlier, the PM was informed that two vaccines had been registered for emergency use and efforts for fast-track registration of more vaccines were under way.

    He was also told that that the vaccine would be available within the first quarter of the current year.

  • ‘That’s why he prayed for Modi’s victory’: Imran accused of receiving funding from India’s BJP, Israel

    The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leadership has accused Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan of receiving funding from India and Israel, as Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has also drawn a link between the claim and the premier hoping Narendra Modi won the 2019 election to become his Indian counterpart.

    Ahead of the Indian general election, Imran had expressed his wish for Indian hardliner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win the election as “they were more prone to holding dialogue with Pakistan”.

    Addressing a protest demonstration in front of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday, Maryam demanded that PM Imran came clean if there were no skeletons in his closet.

    “Imran Khan received funding from India and Israel in his own and in the bank accounts of his friends, and through ‘Hundi’ also,” she added.

    Maryam further said that one of the BJP leaders, Andarjeet Dosal, and an Israeli person transferred funds to Imran’s accounts that he used to operate with his own signatures.

    She said that having received funds from the BJP, Imran prayed for victory of Narendra Modi in 2019 elections and was hopeful of his success.

    Now, she maintained, Imran was saying that he had no knowledge of transfer of funds and the same was done by some agents. “Either he is foolish or trying to make a fool out of the people.”

    The PML-N leader said that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) disclosed 23 secret accounts of Imran he used to operate with his signatures, and the same were kept secret from the ECP as well.

    PM Imran should also tell as to who were the agents who brought him in power and imposed him on 220 million people of Pakistan, Maryam said, alleging that the ECP scrutiny committee denied releasing facts about the case because Imran did not permit it. “The one who called us thieves turned out to be the biggest thief himself,” she added.

    She said that a long list of Imran’s crimes came to light before the ECP’s scrutiny committee, but it had been instructed to go slow on him and that was why the scrutiny committee had been investigating the matter for three years.

    Maryam said the shocking revelations should have prompted a decision within three days. “During the 80 hearings of the case, Imran sought a stay of proceedings 30 times, requested four times to keep the proceedings secret, and also moved the high court six times while challenging authority of the ECP,” she said.

    Maryam said the public knew who imposed him on the people. “Pakistan has changed now and you cannot commit dacoity on the votes of its people anymore,” she added.

    She said now that Imran had confessed to his crime, ECP should announce the punishment for him.

    PDM President Maulana Fazlur Rehman also severely criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership, and repeated the allegations levelled by the PML-N leader. “Imran Khan is an agent of Jews and he contested elections while using funding from India and Israel,” he claimed.

    Fazl said he had always told the people of Pakistan that Imran Khan was a Jew agent.

    Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the Imams of mosques in Islamabad had refused to receive Rs10,000 per month stipend from the government, adding those might be Indian and Israeli funds. “Those are Hindus and Jews who are supporting the Imran government,” he added.

    The PDM president said some institutions had brought the country to such a bad state of affairs, saying the ECP was facing severe pressure and was serving its own interests.”

    “Those powerful selected a fool person so that they should actually rule while sitting behind the scenes,” he added.

    Other leaders of the anti-government alliance also delivered fiery speeches against the current government setup.

  • Banigala police station staff removed on PM’s complaint

    At least 20 police officials, excluding the station house officer, of Banigala police station were removed by the Islamabad police chief after a complaint by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

    According to Dawn, there were several complaints against the staff of the police station. The cops were reportedly involved in facilitating land grabbers, drug dealers, and taking money from vehicles transporting construction material.

    In addition to over a dozen staffers, three sub-inspectors and three assistant sub-inspectors were also among the officials removed over misconduct.

    The development followed days after Islamabad IG Qazi Jamilur Rehman called on the PM. During their meeting, the PM had told the IG that the Banigala policemen extorted money from a truck driver. The driver was traced and but he couldn’t identify the policemen who extorted money from him.

    According to the newspaper, Banigala and three other police stations were declared Model Subdivision in Sept 2019 in line with the PM’s vision of the police reforms.

    As per the reforms aimed at effective administration of the police stations, assistant superintendents of police would work as station house officer for effective administration.

  • #WeMetOnTwitter: When trends break the internet with memes

    A Twitter user on Sunday announced her wedding using the hashtag #WeMetOnTwitter. She posted a screenshot from 2018 that shows a Twitter exchange between two users that resulted in their wedding.

    While the couple’s story is endearing in these challenging times, the trend has sparked a meme-fest with memes dominating our feeds compared to cute #WeMetonTwitter stories.

    https://twitter.com/Kritiii96/status/1351001067576823808?s=20

    https://twitter.com/prakash_prakkii/status/1350873246174830592?s=20

    https://twitter.com/The_DarkLord7/status/1351469003437469697?s=20
  • Moderna says possible allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccine under investigation

    Moderna says possible allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccine under investigation

    Moderna Inc said on Tuesday it had received a report from California’s health department that several people at a center in San Diego were treated for possible allergic reactions to its COVID-19 vaccine from a particular batch.

    The company’s response comes after California’s top epidemiologist on Sunday issued a statement recommending providers to pause vaccination from a specific batch due to possible allergic reactions that are under examination.

    “A higher-than-usual number of possible allergic reactions were reported with a specific lot of Moderna vaccine administered at one community vaccination clinic. Fewer than 10 individuals required medical attention over the span of 24 hours,” the epidemiologist said in a statement.

    The vaccine maker said it was unaware of comparable cases of adverse events from other vaccination centers which may have administered vaccines from the same lot or from other lots of its vaccine.

    A total of 307,300 doses from the lot remain in storage, vaccine said, of the total 1,272,200 doses that were produced in the batch.

    It was working closely with US health regulators to understand the cases and whether pausing the use of the lot was warranted.

    Nearly a million doses from the lot have already been distributed to about 1,700 vaccination sites in 37 states, said Moderna.

  • EXPLAINER: How NAB cost Pakistan billions over Broadsheet deal

    EXPLAINER: How NAB cost Pakistan billions over Broadsheet deal

    Pakistan paid Broadsheet, an asset recovery firm registered in the Isle of Man, Rs4.65bn after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) broke an agreement with it three years after it was signed in 2000.

    After its formation in 1999 by then military dictator Pervez Musharraf, NAB approached Broadsheet to recover overseas assets of at least 200 Pakistanis, particularly the Sharif family. However, the deal fell through in 2003, with NAB saying that the recovery firm had stopped investigations; Broadsheet had accused NAB of hampering its probe to locate the offshore assets of Pakistanis.

    The broken accord was the start of an 18-year-long legal battle between the two parties. In 2008, NAB reached a settlement with a former Broadcast LLC official, Jerry James. The bureau paid at least $1.5million to James to settle the case even though the company was being liquidated and the liquidator was not a party to the deal.

    Though NAB claimed it had reached a settlement with Broadsheet, the firm said James had nothing to do with it at the time of the signing of the agreement. The money paid to James didn’t reach the original Broadsheet, its CEO had claimed and filed a case in a UK court for arbitration in the matter in 2012.

    The UK judge decided the matter in favour of Broadsheet, the claimant. It said Broadsheet LLC was entitled to recover damages for the wrongful repudiation of the ARA [asset recovery agreement]. The award declared that James had no authority from the claimant after March 2005 to enter into a settlement agreement with NAB. The judge said the deal was “wrongful and deliberate to financially hurt the original Broadsheet LLC, Isle of Man”.

    The court held that while negotiating with the fraudulent company, NAB representative Ahmer Bilal Soofi was aware that the original company was in liquidation, and he signed the wrongful deal knowingly.

    Finally, the court ordered NAB to pay $21.58m plus interest to Broadsheet LLC in damages over the breach of the agreement. Due to interest rates, the award amount reached $28.7 million by December 2020.

    According to the judgement, a total of $21.58 million has to be recovered and given to Broadsheet of which $1.5 million had to be recovered from the Sharifs on account of Avenfield flats, $19 million for other assets ($802m worth assets are being attributed to Sharifs); $48,760 from Schon Group; $25,000 from Sultan Lakhani; $85,600 from Fauzi Kazmi; $381,600 from Lt Gen (r) Zahid Ali Akbar; Aftab Sherpao $210,000; and $180,000 from Jamil Ansari.

    WHY DID NAB PAY $1.5m MONEY TO JAMES?

    NAB deliberately tried to cheat Broadsheet LLC by paying $1.5m to James.

    According to the court, NAB made two payments to Jerry James, by then the unauthorized person who had incorporated another Colorado company which he had also named “Broadsheet LLC”. The actual company was Broadsheet LLC, an Isle of Man entity. The arbitration court said NAB tried to financially defraud the original Broadsheet LLC by paying James instead of the original company.

    Broadsheet had been in the process of liquidation since 2005. And Moussavi, who now owns the company, offered to rescue it in return for a 50 per cent share from the settlement and James agreed. He, however, went behind Moussavi’s back and made a deal with NAB by registering another company named Broadsheet LLC — based in Colorado. The deal was declared shady by the court that asked NAB to pay damages to the original Broadsheet.

  • Ikigai: A Japanese technique helping Pakistani children ‘find true purpose in life’

    Hasan Ikhlaqi and his team at Umungi, a career centre, are training Pakistani students with a Japanese technique called Ikigai. Umungi offers training to children by conducting different activities in schools. Parents of the children are also involved in the training process.

    The Japanese technique Ikigai is used to find the purpose of life. The origin of the word ikigai goes back to the Heian period (794 to 1185). The word ikigai consists of two Japanese words: iki, meaning “life” and kai, meaning “effect/result/worth or benefit.”

    Explaining the technique to BBC Urdu, Ikhlaqi, creative coach at Umungi, said: “We use Japanese technique to find the true purpose in life, and to find the true purpose you need answers to the following questions: Profession, Passion, Mission, and Vocation.”

    The Umunji creative team has been conducting creative festivals in different schools for the past three years.

  • Newsletter- 19th January 2021, Tuesday

    Newsletter- 19th January 2021, Tuesday









    *|MC:SUBJECT|*

    Good morning *|MERGE1|*. Today is the 19th of January. The sun will appear hazy in major cities across Pakistan. It’s Tuesday and it’s a sign that you have somehow survived Monday.

    Morning Meme

    #WesupportIqrar: Celebrities back Iqrarul Hassan after netizens demand apology for praising India

    Social media users are demanding an apology from television anchor Syed Iqrarul Hassan for praising India. The Sar-e-Aam host compared the public transport facilities of the two countries.

     

     

    Read on

    Zulfi Bukhari, DG ISPR stand out at Pakistani cinema celebration

    Hum TV on December 16 celebrated the 16th anniversary of its premier entertainment channel in Islamabad in a special show hosted by Ahmed Ali Butt and Shiffa Yousafzai.
    The anniversary was a star-studded event attended by prominent faces of the country’s entertainment landscape and dignitaries. While everyone enjoyed watching their favourite stars take the stage, it was DG ISPR and SAPM Zulfi Bukhari who Twitter couldn’t stop talking about.

    Read on

    Thief leaves apology note after stealing car tyres in Bani Gala
     

    An interesting incident of theft recently took place in Islamabad. A thief in Bani Gala, Islamabad took off the tyres of a citizen’s car and left a note apologising for his actions. See what he had to say. 

    Read on

    Pakistan Army ranked 10th strongest in world

    According to the Global Firepower index, 2021Pakistan has become the tenth most powerful country in the world in terms of military power.

    Read

    VIDEO: Is that Imran Khan on a rickshaw in Sialkot? 

    A viral video has shown a person with uncanny resemblance to a younger Imran Khan, riding a rickshaw in Sialkot.

    Read On

    EXCLUSIVE: Hareem Shah reveals why she slapped Mufti Qavi

    A video of Hareem Shah slapping Mufti Abdul Qavi has gone viral on social media. The Current se exclusively baat kartay huvay Hareem shared the reason for slapping him. Check out the story to know the reason.
     

    Read On

    Mohammad Amir will be available for Pakistan on one condition

    Mohammad Amir who recently took retirement from international cricket has now said that he will only make a comeback to play for the National team if Misbah-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis are removed from office. 

    Read On

    Current Baba’s prediction

    It’s time to buy a heater since yours is going to die on you by tonight. Sorry.

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  • ‘It was scary’: Sania Mirza recounts her COVID experience

    ‘It was scary’: Sania Mirza recounts her COVID experience

    Sania Mirza has revealed that she had tested positive for COVID-19 in the beginning of the year.

    In a note posted to social media, the tennis champion said that though she is fine and healthy now, she wanted to share her experience.

    “I was lucky to not have any major symptoms for the most part of it, but I was in isolation and the toughest part was to stay away from my 2-year-old and family,” Sania said, adding that she “can’t even imagine what people and their families are going through when people are sick in [the] hospital all alone and by themselves.”

    “It was scary as you aren’t very sure what to expect and hear so many different things and stories…you get a new symptom every day and the uncertainty of it is extremely hard to deal with, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well,” she shared further.

    “I just want to say after having been through it, I was fortunate to be more or less ok throughout it all, but to be away from my family was one of the scariest things – to not know when I’ll see them again.”

    “This virus is no joke,” she iterated, adding, “I took all the precautions as I could but still contracted it. We must do everything we can to protect our friends and family.”

    Sania and husband Shoaib Malik were recently in Dubai spending family time.