Blog

  • Pakistan or India: Shane Watson predicts who will win Asia Cup 2022

    Pakistan or India: Shane Watson predicts who will win Asia Cup 2022

    Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson predicted the winner of the upcoming Asia Cup 2022, which starts on August 27 (Saturday).

    There will be eight teams in two groups competing against one another in the upcoming Asia Cup 2022. The most awaited-match between Pakistan and India will take place on August 28 (Sunday).

    There are many strong contenders – India and Pakistan favoured most among them – but Watson picked India to win the tournament. 

    “My predicted winner is India,” said Watson in the latest episode of The ICC Review. “They’re so strong and depending on what the conditions are, they adapt easily to conditions.”

    “Pakistan,” said Watson when asked about the biggest threat to India’s success. He said the winner of the India-Pakistan clash on Sunday (August 28) would go on to win the Asia Cup.

    “That first game is going to be very special to watch because Pakistan have full belief now that they can beat this Indian team,” said Watson. “I think, really, whoever wins that game is going to go on and win the Asia Cup.”

    Pak-India clash

    “I’m sitting on the fence a little bit!” Watson laughed. “But I think Pakistan have a chance to win that game because of the confidence they’d have got out of winning for the first time in a long time against India.”

    Watson added that Pakistan’s “confidence is going to be flying high”.

    “India is hard to contain, especially their batting. But Pakistan, and as I’ve always known playing against them, when their confidence is high, they’re nearly unstoppable. And their confidence is high now that they know they can beat India in a big tournament.”

  • US firm to buy Pakistan’s Cloudways for $350 million

    US firm to buy Pakistan’s Cloudways for $350 million

    Cloudways, a Pakistani company that offers small and medium-sized businesses cloud hosting and software as a service (SaaS) capabilities, will be acquired by New York Stock Exchange-listed company DigitalOcean Holdings for $350 million.

    A large amount of the consideration, according to a business statement posted on Wednesday, would be paid over a 30-month period after the transaction closes in September.

    According to DAWN, this will be one of the largest acquisitions in Pakistan’s history due to the hefty amount of the transaction. According to the company, this deal will make workflows simpler for small and medium-sized companies that are seeking less complicated ways to develop and grow their digital operations.

    The projected revenue for Cloudways in fiscal 2022 is more than $52 million, which would indicate a three-year compound annual growth rate of more than 50 per cent.

    Since 2014, DigitalOcean and Cloudways have been strong collaborators. About 50 per cent of Cloudways’ clients are currently powered by DigitalOcean infrastructure.

    Serving a clientele that is both global and expanding, both companies will service more than 124,000 clients who make monthly payments of over $50, or around 84 per cent of the pro forma company’s total revenue.

    For specific small and medium-sized enterprises wishing to outsource their on-ramp to the internet, Cloudways offers straightforward on-boarding and day-to-day management.

    The company assists such organisations in offloading the challenges of cloud infrastructure so they may focus more on managing and growing their operations.

  • Wife, boyfriend plan to kill husband, boyfriend commits suicide, husband survives

    Wife, boyfriend plan to kill husband, boyfriend commits suicide, husband survives

    Trigger warning: Suicide

    A woman in India planned to murder her husband with the help of her boyfriend but the plan backfired.

    The incident happened in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Police have identified the woman as Anupallavi and her boyfriend as Humavanath Kumar. They both put together a plan to kill her husband, Naveen Kumar.

    Anupallavi’s husband Naveen is a taxi driver. Her boyfriend and Anupallavi hired three contract killers to execute their plan.

    The contract killers kidnapped Naveen and took him to a house and kept him there. However, they could not muster the courage to kill Naveen. They befriended him and ended up partying with him.

    When Anupallavi and her boyfriend asked for an update on the plan of murdering Naveen, the contract killers poured ketchup on Naveen’s body to make it look like he had been killed. They sent a photo of Naveen with ketchup on his body to communicate that the plan had been executed.

    After receiving the picture of Naveen’s dead body, Anupallavi’s boyfriend committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

    After his safe return, Naveen narrated the whole incident to the police.

  • VIDEO: Babar Azam meets Virat Kohli in Dubai ahead of Pak Vs India clash

    Team India landed in Dubai on August 23 and went straight to the nets to prepare for India’s match against Pakistan on August 28 (Sunday). Ahead of the much-anticipated match, players from both the teams met each other in Dubai.  The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a video in which Virat Kohli could be seen meeting Pakistan skipper Babar Azam.

    In the video, Hardik Pandya and Yuzvendra Chahal were also chatting with Muhammad Nabi.

    Babar Azam retained his top spot in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20I rankings. He is at the top of the rankings with 818 points, whereas Kohli has been struggling of late.

    Comparisons between the two had started long back and gathers steam ahead of a match between the two rival sides.

    Read more: ‘This too shall pass’, Pakistani captain Babar Azam backs Virat Kohli to regain form

    Asia Cup is all set to start from August 27 and Pakistan will be playing its first match against India on August 28 in Dubai.

    Babar and Kohli’s video has drawn massive reaction of fans from both countries. Here are some tweets.

  • Neighbour kills 7-year-old, dumps her body in water tank

    Neighbour kills 7-year-old, dumps her body in water tank

    Trigger warning: Murder

    A seven-year-old minor girl was killed in the Karpa area of Islamabad by a female neighbour and her male accomplice.

    According to the girl’s father, his daughter was burnt and her body was dumped in a water tank. After the incident, the minor girl’s father lodged a complaint against his female neighbour and her unidentified young abettor.

    In the First Information Report (FIR), the complainant told the police that his mother and wife along with daughter Maira went to their neighbor’s house to participate in Quran Khawani.

    The minor went up to the roof. After some time, the visitors smelled something burning. When they went to the roof, they saw a burning mattress but no sign of Maira. Later, Maira’s burnt body was recovered from a water tank kept on the roof.

    The complainant said his family members saw their female neighbour and an unidentified man fleeing the scene.

    Islamabad Police Operations Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) has also taken notice of the incident and directed the related police officials to arrest the suspects.

  • Qatar to invest $3 billion in Pakistan following PM Shehbaz Sharif’s official visit

    Qatar to invest $3 billion in Pakistan following PM Shehbaz Sharif’s official visit

    The state-owned investment fund of Qatar plans to invest $3 billion in Pakistan, an official statement from the office of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said on Wednesday, August 24.

    The administrative office of Qatar’s emir released the statement as Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif held official talks with Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in Doha after a meeting with the sovereign fund official the day before.

    In the statement, the $450 billion Qatar Investment Authority announced its “aspiration to invest $3 billion in various commercial and investment sectors in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”.

    The PM thanked the Qatari Emir for his hospitality and the $3 billion investment in Pakistan.

    Shehbaz Sharif is returning to Pakistan today, August 25, after his two-day official visit to Qatar.

  • Pakistani rupee extends losses, nearing Rs219 against dollar

    Pakistani rupee extends losses, nearing Rs219 against dollar

    After closing at Rs218.38 on Wednesday, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) dropped further versus the US dollar on Thursday morning during the intraday trade.

    As of 11:00am, the rupee depreciated by Rs0.61 or 0.27 per cent against the US dollar to Rs218.99 during intraday trading.

    It is worth noting that the local unit has been witnessing a downward trend since the beginning of this week. PKR fell on Wednesday for the third straight session showing a decline of 0.33 per cent.

    The fall occurs amid news that Pakistan’s cash-strapped economy may receive support from an investment of $3 billion by the Qatar Investment Authority, one of the biggest sovereign funds in the world.

    Oil prices, a crucial factor in determining currency parity, increased on Thursday as supply fears mounted in the wake of delays to Russian exports, the potential for major producers to reduce output, and the partial suspension of a US refinery.

    US West Texas Intermediate crude increased 42 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $95.31 a barrel, while Brent crude increased 59 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $101.81 per barrel.

    On Wednesday, the PKR declined by Rs7 for both buying and selling against the USD on the open market, finishing at Rs227 and Rs229, respectively.

  • Pakistani internet users may face more disruption

    Pakistani internet users may face more disruption

    Internet users in Pakistan are expected to face internet disruption in the coming days, reports Kalbe Ali for Dawn. The internet services in the country were disrupted due to flood relief work in Sindh.

    Minister of Information and Telecommunications Syed Aminul Haque said that initial reports of previous internet outages that happened this month indicated that the situation was severe and that more such incidents could be expected in the near future.

    “Due to extensive flooding, most of the pathways of underground cables have been submerged, as relief workers or locals were trying to divert flood water by digging trenches on roads and footpaths.”

    “The ministry has directed PTCL to declare an emergency so that repair work could be initiated when any such incident is reported in the system, while the PTA is constantly monitoring the quality of service,” the minister added.

    According to a technical report submitted on Wednesday by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) to the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom, the repeated internet outages were caused primarily by flood relief efforts in the Sukkur division, where fibre-optic cables were damaged by the use of heavy machinery used to drain out flood water in Sindh.

    Read more- Here’s why the internet was down in Pakistan last night

    The internet services in Pakistan suffered two major disruptions this month on August 19 and August 22.

  • Electric current was used on my penis and testes, says Gill

    Electric current was used on my penis and testes, says Gill

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill told journalist Matiullah Jan that electric current was used on his genitals. He was responding to a question on the alleged sexual abuse.

    “Yes, it is true. Electric current was used on my testes and penis. This is the sexual abuse I was talking about. I was tortured as electric current was used on my penis and testes so that I could give a statement against someone,” said Gill.

    Earlier, Gill confirmed that he was sexually assaulted in police custody.

    “Yes, it’s true”, said Gill. His statement came after PTI Chairman Imran Khan claimed that Gill was sexually abused while in police custody.

    Read more: ‘Yes, it’s true’: Shahbaz Gill confirms he was sexually assaulted in police custody

    In a series of tweets Khan said, “All the pictures and videos show clearly Gill was tortured both mentally and physically, including sexual abuse — most too gruesome to relate.”

    Read more: Islamabad court rejects plea to send Gill on physical remand

    It is pertinent to mention here that a district and sessions court in Islamabad on Wednesday, August 24, rejected a request by the Islamabad Police for an extension in the physical remand of Gill.

  • ‘Stupid, Insensitive, left Alia flabbergasted’: Fatima Khan blasts Ranbir Kapoor

    ‘Stupid, Insensitive, left Alia flabbergasted’: Fatima Khan blasts Ranbir Kapoor

    Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor landed in a controversy recently when his comment on his wife Alia Bhatt went viral on social media. Netizens felt Ranbir body-shamed Alia when he said that she has ‘pheloed’. The Raazi star is expecting her first child with Kapoor. The comment went viral on social media and the actor was slammed left, right and centre.

    Ranbir has now clarified his comment and issued an apology to fans who were hurt by his words.

    The actor, at an event on Wednesday, said that he loves his wife and that comment was a joke that didn’t land. He also clarified that it wasn’t his intention to hurt anyone. “Yes, absolutely. Firstly, let me start with, I love my wife with everything that I have in my life. And what happened on that, I think it’s a joke that didn’t turn out to be funny. I really want to apologize if I have triggered anyone. It was not my intention. So I want to say sorry to people who got offended or triggered,” said the actor. Ranbir also said that he spoke to his wife about it and she really laughed it off. “She didn’t mind it. But I do have a bad sense of humour and sometimes it falls flat on my own face. So I am sorry if I have hurt anyone about it,” the actor said at the event.

    However prior to Ranbir’s apology, actor Ahmad Ali Butt’s wife and former model Fatima Khan slammed Ranbir for his derogatory remarks.

    Fatima posted on her Instagram stories, “Stupid joke by an insensitive jerk. Poor girl was flabbergasted and speechless because of being embarrassed. Don’t know when will men understand the stress, insecurities and vulnerabilities, a woman go through during pregnancy.”

    Khan concluded by mentioning, “If such an educated man can be so ignorant, I have no hope left.”