Category: Uncategorized

  • Pakistan Twitter mocks Indian PM over parrot snub

    Pakistan Twitter mocks Indian PM over parrot snub

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being trolled by the Pakistani Twitterati for getting an embarrassing reaction from a macaw in Kevadia Zoological Park, during his two-day visit to the Indian state of Gujarat.

    Recently, the Indian PM went to Kevadia for the inauguration of the Sardar Patel Zoological Park, which is also known as Jungle Safari. During his visit, the employees of the park tried to get a Macaw to sit on the PM’s arm. But the now infamous parrot refused to comply and was repeatedly seen rejecting the advances of the prime minister.

    The parrot has shot to fame, as Twitter gets flooded with comments by those who were cracked up by the parrot’s reaction to the strongest man in the country.

    Here are some of the comments:

    https://twitter.com/tweetbyali/status/1323164410416893960?s=20

  • Suzuki increases bike prices for the fourth time in 2020

    Suzuki increases bike prices for the fourth time in 2020

    Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited (PSMC) has increased the prices of its bike for the 4th time this year.

    The first price increased in January and the second came in July. The third one happened a few months ago and the recent one happened to be the fourth.

    The automakers said that depreciating local currency and the COVID-19 has impacted the sales of bikes. The cause of the recent price increase is to meet the operational expenses of the company.

    Though business has started getting normal in recent months after the ease of lockdown, and the rupee has also shown strength against the dollar, prices continue to increase.

    It is pertinent to mention here that PSMC has recorded a quarterly loss in the 3rd quarter of 2020, marking it to be their 8th consecutive quarterly loss.

    It bears mentioning that PSMC has recorded a quarterly loss in the 3rd quarter of 2020, marking it to be their 8th consecutive quarterly loss.

    In the bike segment, Atlas Honda remains the undisputed king in terms of sales figures, whereas Yamaha is also faring well, although official sales figures are not yet known. PSMC, with its limited product lineup and sky-high prices, continues to struggle to establish itself as a strong competitor for Honda and Yamaha.

  • 830 COVID-19 hot-spots sealed in Punjab

    830 COVID-19 hot-spots sealed in Punjab

    Provincial authorities have sealed numerous areas in Lahore under the micro-smart lockdown strategy. 

    As per reports, the Punjab government has sealed 830 areas across the province after a rise in COVID-19 cases. A total of 1416 coronavirus cases were reported in these areas.

    The micro-smart lockdown has been imposed in 435 spots in Lahore, 37 hot-spots in Bahawalpur, 35 places in Bhakkar, 17 areas in Dera Ghazi Khan, 34 places in Faisalabad and 14 in Gujranwala district.

    Moreover, 44 places in Multan, 29 in Gujrat and many areas in Sahiwal, Sargodha, Shekhupura, Sialkot and other districts of Punjab have been sealed under the micro-smart lockdown.

    Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Planning and Development and NCOC Chairman Asad Umar has stressed for strict implementation of SOPs to control the COVID-19 spread in the country.

    Read more – COVID-19: Pakistan’s positivity rate exceeds 3% after 70 days 

    NCOC has also recently launched a helpline to report COVID-19 related violations by the public.

     People can report the violation of COVID-19 SOPs like non-wearing of the mask, non-adherence to Social distancing, over-crowding at public places, etc, at 03353336262 (0335333NCOC) along with a picture and the following details:

    Location Name:

    Tehsil/district/city:

    Date and Time:

    Event:

    Coronavirus seems to be gradually spreading again across the country as 1,078 new cases have reported over the past 24 hours. According to the NCOC, the total number of confirmed patients of coronavirus has risen to 332,186. 20 people succumbed to the infection during the past 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 6,795.

  • Who will win the US presidential race?

    Who will win the US presidential race?

    Voters in the United States (US) will decide on November 3 whether Donald Trump remains in the White House for another four years.

    The Republican president is being challenged by Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden, who is best known as Barack Obama’s vice-president but has been in US politics since the 1970s.

    As election day approaches, polling companies will be trying to gauge the mood of the nation by asking voters which candidate they prefer.

    Biden is currently leading Trump in the national polls. The 10-poll average indicates that just over half of Americans intend to back Biden while Trump’s support trails this by around seven or eight points.

    BUT WHO WILL WIN?

    Trump triumphed in 2016 despite losing the popular vote, and pollsters misjudged the size of his support, so despite Biden’s lead, it is still difficult to predict who will win the keys to the White House.

    However, according to the latest polling averages, Biden’s lead over the incumbent is remaining solid despite a slight downfall in the wake of the US presidential debates and Trump’s diagnosis with coronavirus, The Telegraph reports.

    Who do you think will win the US presidential race?

    Donald Trump
    Joe Biden

    Biden’s polling average has remained above 50 per cent since October 4, and the Democratic nominee has consistently polled in the lead since the race began.

    If state polls are close to the final result, it suggests Biden is on course for gains in at least two swing states — Michigan and Wisconsin — and Arizona, which has been more likely to vote Republican in recent years.

    WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    In American politics, the term swing state refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican presidential candidate by a swing in votes. These states are usually targeted by both major-party campaigns, especially in competitive elections.

    While Florida and Texas are too close to call — carrying 67 electoral college votes between them — Pennsylvania and its 20 votes for the presidency are leaning Democrat according to the latest polls.

    The electoral college is a process and not an actual place. To become president, what really counts is winning a majority of electoral votes. Each state has been allotted electoral votes based on the size of its population and whoever wins a particular state is expected to bag all the electoral votes allotted to that state.

    There are 538 electoral votes in total which means that a candidate needs to secure 270 to win.

    To put it simply, when the US public votes in the election, they are not voting for the president. Instead, they are voting for a group of people who will then choose the president and vice president.

    The word “college” here simply refers to a group of people with a shared task, BBC says. The electoral college meets every four years, a few weeks after election day, to carry out that task.

    Of the states that could go either way based on the latest polls, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida all flipped to Donald Trump from the Democrats in the 2016 election, and his chances of retaining the presidency could rest on reclaiming victory here and holding on to Texas.

    Having voted Republican in every election since 2000, Texas is now a toss-up and could be pivotal to the final result.

  • Court orders police to recover teenage Christian bride Arzoo Raja

    Court orders police to recover teenage Christian bride Arzoo Raja

    The Sindh High Court has asked the Karachi police to recover and produce Arzoo Raja — a teenage Christian girl allegedly abducted and forced to marry a man thrice her age after conversion to Islam– in the court on Nov 5.

    Sindh Chief Minister’s spokesperson Murtaza Wahab confirmed this development. He said the high court ordered the police to recover the teenage girl in response to an application filed by the SHC. The girl is supposed to located within five days and then moved to a shelter home, he tweeted.

    The CASE:

    On Oct 27, a two-member bench of SHC had admitted a petition filed on behalf of Arzoo Raja that claimed that she was 18 years old and had married Ali Azhar and converted to Islam with her free will, according to a report in Newsday Pakistan.

    The petition also sought protection against alleged harassment of the girl’s family. Underage girls in such cases in Pakistan come under intense pressure, including threats to them and their families, to give false statements in court.

    Azhar allegedly abducted Arzoo in Karachi’s Muhalla Railway Colony West Camp Road locality on Oct. 13, according to the family, which registered a kidnapping case on the same day. On Oct. 15 police summoned them to the local station and showed them documents claiming that Arzoo was 18 years old and had willingly converted to Islam after marrying Azhar.

  • Pakistan rejects Indian statements on Gilgit-Baltistan status

    Pakistan rejects Indian statements on Gilgit-Baltistan status

    Pakistan has rejected the Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ irresponsible and unwarranted statement regarding Gilgit-Baltistan.

    A Foreign Ministry statement said India has no legal, moral or historical standing on the issue.

    “For more than 73 years, India has been in illegal and forcible occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir. Regurgitation of false and fabricated claims by India can neither change the facts nor divert attention from India’s illegal actions and continuing humanitarian crisis resulting from the perpetration of the worst human rights violations in Indian illegally occupied valley,” the statement said.

    Pakistan’s position on the Jammu & Kashmir dispute remains firmly anchored in the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions, it said, adding that the final resolution of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute was only possible through the exercise of the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination by holding free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the UN.

    “Administrative, political and economic reforms are a long-standing demand of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. The envisaged provisional reforms reflect the aspirations of the indigenous populace of Gilgit-Baltistan,” it said.

    Pakistan called upon India to immediately end its illegal and forcible occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir and “comply with its international obligations by allowing the Kashmiris to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”

    India had earlier rejected what it called an attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a “disputed territory”, after Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan declared the provisional provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan.

  • Cracks in PML-N ranks over party’s ‘anti-establishment’ stance

    Cracks in PML-N ranks over party’s ‘anti-establishment’ stance

    The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is in quandary for taking an anti-establishment stance, as a number of its leaders from Punjab and Balochistan have distanced themselves from the “anti-state” narrative of the party.

    Amid these reservations, PML-N leader Abdul Qadir Baloch has also decided to bid goodbye to the Nawaz league for allegedly speaking against the army.

    The decision to quit the party was taken after the PML-N leaders refused to invite former chief minister Sanaullah Zehri to the Quetta rally over his feud with Akhtar Mengal, the chief of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M). However, Qadir said he was leaving the party with “heavy heart” over “anti-army” rhetoric of the PDM leadership.

    “I am product of the army and cannot stand by the narrative of disobedience since it would be extremely injurious to the country. I have taken the decision of parting ways with heavy heart,” said the retired general who had served as Corps Commander in Quetta.

    This resignation was followed by several leaders of the PML-N going public with their reservations over the rhetoric employed by the PDM leaders against the state institutions of Pakistan.

    The statement of Ayaz Sadiq, wherein he said Indian pilot Abhinandan was released by Pakistan because it feared an Indian attack, also irked some PML-N leaders, who decided to disown the statement and the party line.

    PML-N MPAs Nishat Daha and Younas Ansari said that their heads hang in shame because of MNA Ayaz Sadiq’s controversial statement.

    “The entire nation was hurt by the statements of Nawaz Sharif and Ayaz Sadiq, what they are doing is not good for the country,” Daha added.

    Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, Younas Ansari said, “Our family has been in politics for 35 years but I am ashamed at what is happening in the National Assembly. Ayaz Sadiq should be remorseful at his statement.”

    The party leaders in Attock district also disagreed with the leadership over its so-called anti-state remarks.

    At separate press conferences in different towns of the district on Sunday, PML-N MPA Jehangir Khan­zada, former MNA Malik Itabar Khan and former MPA Shahwaiz Khan criticised the recent remarks of Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Ayaz Sadiq.

    Khanzada termed Ayaz Sadiq’s statement “anti-state”. “He should not have talked in such a way while speaking in parliament,” the MPA said while highlighting sacrifices rendered by the armed forces.

    Itabar Khan said he could not support the “anti-national narrative”, adding that Maryam Nawaz, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman had made statements which did not “serve the interest of the country”.

    Shahwaiz Khan, former MPA from Hassanabdal, said he did not support the party leadership’s recent “anti-state” stance and condemned their criticism of state institutions.

    PML-N MPA from Shakargarh Allama Ghiyasuddin has also condemned the statements of the opposition parties against the Army. Former PML-N MNA Sardar Mansab Dogar has also announced to quit the party over what he said the “anti-state” statements of the party leadership.

    RELEASE OF ABHINANDAN:

    Sadiq, a former National Assembly speaker, is under fire for accusing the government of taking the decision to release the India pilot under pressure.

    Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi had “begged the opposition to release Abhinandan, otherwise, according to the FM, India would have attacked Pakistan at 9 pm that day,” the lawmaker had said during a session of the National Assembly.

    In response, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major General Babar Iftikhar held a press conference to set the record straight about the events surrounding the capture and release of the Indian wing commander.

    “Yesterday such a statement was given in which facts were attempted to be twisted surrounding the events that day,” the military spokesperson said during the media briefing.

    On Friday, Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz hinted at legal action against Ayaz Sadiq for accusing the government of releasing Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of the Indian Air Force (IAF) under pressure. “What Ayaz Sadiq said is not forgivable,” he tweeted, adding that law will take its course now.

  • Inspired by ‘Crime Patrol’, 17 -year-old kills father

    Inspired by ‘Crime Patrol’, 17 -year-old kills father

    A 17- year-old boy from India’s Uttar Pradesh reportedly murdered his father and then watched Indian TV series Crime Patrol to destroy the evidence of his crime.

    According to Indian media reports, the incident took place on May 2 when the boy got upset at his father who yelled at him. He reportedly killed his 42-year old father, Manoj Mishra, by hitting him on the head with an iron rod and then strangling him to death as he lay unconscious.

    Later, the same night, the boy with the help of his mother, carried the body on his scooty to a forest area about five kilometers away and burnt it with petrol and a toilet cleaner to destroy the identity.

    On May 3, police found the partially burnt body that remained unidentified for almost three weeks as no missing person report was filed in any police station.

    The family, finally, lodged a missing person complaint on May 27 under pressure from ISKCON officials since Manoj Mishra worked there as a donation collector.

    Some of his colleagues identified that the body was of Manoj from his spectacles. The victim’s colleagues at ISKCON said that they did not doubt his prolonged absence since Manoj often used to travel to preach Bhagavad Gita.

    Mathura Superintendent of Police Udai Shanker Singh said that whenever police called Manoj’s son for questioning, he would evade coming and would instead ask the police under what provisions of the law they were trying to interrogate him.

    However, when police checked his mobile phone, they found a history of the boy watching Crime Patrol episodes at least 100 times. Police said after several rounds of questioning, the boy finally broke down and admitted to his crime.

    The police arrested the boy and his mother Sangeeta Mishra, 39. They have been booked for murder and destroying evidence.

    The 11-year-old sister of the accused has been handed over to the grandparents.

  • Prince William reportedly contracted COVID-19 in April

    Prince William reportedly contracted COVID-19 in April

    Britain’s Prince William reportedly contracted COVID-19 in April at a similar time to his father Prince Charles, British media reported late on Sunday, citing Kensington Palace sources.

    William, grandson of Queen Elizabeth and second-in-line to the British throne, kept his diagnosis a secret because he did not want to alarm the country, The Sun newspaper reported.

    “There were important things going on and I didn’t want to worry anyone,” William was quoted by the newspaper as having told an observer at an engagement.

    He was treated by palace doctors and followed government guidelines by isolating at the family home Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, the newspaper said, adding he still carried out 14 telephone and video call engagements during April.

    “William was hit pretty hard by the virus – it really knocked him for six. At one stage he was struggling to breathe, so obviously everyone around him was pretty panicked,” a source told The Sun.

    BBC News also confirmed the news from sources late on Sunday, with Kensington Palace and the office of Prince William refusing to comment officially to the news outlet.

    According to royal reporter Chris Ship, Kate and the couple’s children did not test positive for the virus.

    The residence of William’s father, Prince Charles, had said on March 25 that Charles tested positive for the coronavirus. The heir to the throne had self-isolated at his residence in Scotland for seven days with mild symptoms.

    Britain has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and has reported 46,717 COVID-19 deaths – defined as those dying within 28 days of a positive test. Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday ordered England back into a national lockdown after the United Kingdom passed the milestone of one million COVID-19 cases and a second wave of infections threatened to overwhelm the health service. The one-month lockdown across England will kick in at a minute past midnight on Thursday morning and last until December 2.

  • Pakistan’s decision to lift lockdown early helped boost exports: report

    Pakistan’s decision to lift lockdown early helped boost exports: report

    Pakistan’s decision to loosen pandemic restrictions early has helped the country’s exports emerge stronger than its South Asian peers, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.

    Bloomberg reported that outbound shipments have grown at a faster pace than Bangladesh and India as textiles, which account for half of the total export, led the recovery.

    The country saw total shipments grow 7 per cent in September, compared with New Delhi’s 6pc and Dhaka’s 3.5pc.

    It stated that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s administration was the first in the region to ease pandemic restrictions, allowing export units to reopen in April, a month after locking them down to stem the spread of Covid-19. This helped draw companies from the South Asian nation.

    “Pakistan has seen orders shifting from multiple nations including China, India and Bangladesh,” the report quoted All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Secretary General Shahid Sattar as having said. “Garment manufacturers are operating near-maximum capacity and many can’t take any orders for the next six months.”

    Even as lockdown curbs disrupted trade in India and Bangladesh for at least two months beginning late March, Pakistan was already making face masks and personal protective gear for export.

    The South Asian nation also gained some orders from companies looking to diversify their supply chains amid the trade war between the U.S. and China, the world’s top textile exporter, despite factories there reopening as early as April.

    “This war between two giants has given us new opportunities in polyester-cotton products,” the report quoted the nation’s largest textile maker, Nishat Mill’s Garment and Home Textile Operations Head Khalid Mehmood having said. “So there is a six-month slot for Pakistan now to capture the maximum number of customers who were China-based.”

    Executives from Nishat Mills and Interloop Ltd, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of socks that counts Nike Inc. and Adidas AG among its clients, said they have seen some orders diverted to them from China.

    Meanwhile, Gadoon Textile Mills Ltd. received orders redirected from Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest apparel exporter, and India, the third-largest textile exporter.

    “The orders we were exporting to Europe and the US have not recovered,” Gadoon Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Muhammad Imran Moten said during an analyst briefing. “But the diversion of orders from China and Bangladesh is the compensating factor.”