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  • Govt decides to restore departmental cricket structure

    Govt decides to restore departmental cricket structure

    The newly formed coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to restore the departmental cricket structure, which has been dysfunctional as a result of the implementation of the 2019 constitution, ARY News reported on Monday citing sources.

    The departmental cricket was banished in 2019 under the then patron-in-chief of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Imran Khan, leaving thousands of players and officials jobless.

    Sources privy to the development told ARY News that the new government has also decided to restore first-class cricketers fired from government departments under Mani’s tenure as a result of new PCB constitution.

    It is pertinent to mention here that departmental cricket, which has played a pivotal role in the promotion of the sports in the country for last 45 years, was ended with former prime minister Imran Khan’s approval in 2019.

    According to the new domestic structure, only six teams eligible to play the First Class Cricket in the country, two from Punjab and one each from Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces and the federal territory.

    On the other hand, reports are circulating regarding the resignation of the current chairman of the PCB – Ramiz Raja, who was nominated by the ex-PM Imran Khan. Reports further suggest that former PCB Chairman Najam Sethi is a strong candidate for the position.

  • Social media influencers share first glimpse of Twitter’s edit button

    Social media influencers share first glimpse of Twitter’s edit button

    Social Media influencers have shared the first glimpses of the social microblogging site, Twitter’s edit button which is under testing progress. Earlier this month, Twitter announced that they are working on the edit button’s feature.

    Social media influencer, Alessandro Paluzzi shared a screenshot of Twitter’s edit button which is in progress.

    Another social media influencer, Matt Navara shared a video of the edit button feature.

    Twitter announced on April 1 that they are working on the edit button but many users thought that its a prank. However, on April 6, Twitter confirmed that they are currently testing a new feature of the edit button for Twitter.

    https://twitter.com/TwitterComms/status/1511456430024364037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1511456430024364037%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.samaaenglish.tv%2Fnews%2F2022%2F04%2Ffirst-glimpses-of-twitters-edit-button%2F

    Twitter’s Vice President of a consumer product, Jay Sullivan said that editing has been “the most requested Twitter feature for many years”

  • Pakistani govt seeks help for balance of payments: IMF

    Pakistani govt seeks help for balance of payments: IMF

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has confirmed that the new government in Pakistan has reached out to it, seeking support for the country’s balance of payments. It said a delegation of the country would be in Washington this week for a follow-up meeting.

    “The IMF looks forward to continuing supporting Pakistan’s authorities on economic policies and reforms to ensure macroeconomic stability in the country amidst the current challenging global economic environment,” IMF’s Resident Representative in Islamabad Esther Perez Ruiz told Dawn News.

    She also confirmed that as part of the IMF’s “continued engagement with Pakistan” she last Friday met with finance minister-designate Miftah Ismail, ahead of the visit of Pakistan’s delegation to Washington during Spring Meetings.

    Top government sources confirmed that a delegation also comprising Secretary Hamed Yaqoob Shaikh and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Reza Baqir would be meeting the new IMF mission chief to Pakistan Nathan Porter on Monday evening, besides other fund officials.

    Pakistani delegation likely to meet fund officials this week

    Efforts were on to ensure that Mr Ismail also joins the Washington meetings physically and hopefully take this opportunity to call on IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and seek her support for the revival and completion of the stalled fund programme. These sources said former finance minister Shaukat Tarin had sought to arrange a meeting with Ms Georgieva during these meetings as negotiations with the fund staff had stalled following Feb 28 fuel subsidies and tax amnesty announced by former prime minister Imran Khan.

    The new finance minister would be more eager to seek blessings of the IMF’s top management at the outset for smooth engagements with the staff to put the programme back on track and ensure foreign inflows for the direly needed balance of payment support. There are, however, at least three issues that the authorities are trying to resolve as the spring meetings (April 18-24) are opening today.

  • ‘We still want immediate elections,’ Maulana Fazl tells the new govt

    ‘We still want immediate elections,’ Maulana Fazl tells the new govt

     Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has demanded immediate elections.

    Addressing his party workers in Islamabad, Maulana said that the maximum time this new government would be in power for is a year.

    “In this new setup, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam has its own identity and we are telling them [new government] that we still want immediate elections.”

    READ MORE: Zardari, Nawaz, Maulana have all been ruined by one man: Saleem Safi

    Maulana said that continuing to stay in power unnecessarily is not his party’s stance. The new government, he added, can take some time for electoral reforms but Maulana said that Imran Khan was ousted so that the people of Pakistan could be given their mandate back.

    “Now it is our responsibility to give back the nation what we promised.”

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has also been demanding early elections. However, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that elections cannot be held before October as it needs four months to complete the process of delimitation of constituencies.

  • Global oil prices climb to highest in three weeks

    Oil prices increased on Monday as fears of limited global supply intensified, with the developing crisis in Ukraine raising the risk of more penalties from the West against Russia, the world’s leading exporter.

    Brent futures were up $1.50, or 1.3 per cent, at $113.20 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures were up 98 cents, or 0.9 per cent, at $107.93 per barrel. Both contracts surged more than 2.5 per cent on April 14, ahead of the Easter weekend holidays, on news that the European Union would phase in a ban on Russian oil imports.

    Last week, EU governments said that the bloc’s executive was working on ideas to ban Russian oil, but officials said Germany was not actively backing an immediate ban.

    Those remarks came before the Ukraine situation escalated over the weekend, with the Ukrainian military defying a Russian demand to lay down arms in the pulverised port of Mariupol on Sunday. Moscow, which refers to its efforts in Ukraine as a “special operation,” said its soldiers had nearly entirely captured the city, with no sign of a truce in sight.

    Read more: Oil prices jump following Russia’s biggest production decline

    Due to sanctions or importers voluntarily rejecting Russian shipments, the International Energy Agency has warned that around 3 million barrels per day (BPD) of Russian oil might be shut in from May onwards.

  • Disheartened: PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat might quit politics

    Disheartened: PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat might quit politics

    Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has been reportedly considering quitting politics after being shocked by the aggressiveness and hooliganism staged during the Punjab Assembly session on Saturday, reports Geo News’ sources.

    According to the news outlet, Jamaat-e-Islami Central Vice-Chief Liaquat Baloch visited the residence of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi to enquire about his well-being where he also met Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

    During the conversation, Baloch urged Ch Shujaat to suggest effective steps for the elimination of aggressiveness and extremism from politics. The PML-Q chief, however, in a dispirited tone expressed that he was now considering whether or not to stay in politics.

    Baloch also suggested to Ch Shujaat to tell people that aggression and violence is in nobody’s interest and will benefit no one in any form. The report quoting sources said that Ch Shujaat told Baloch that he will speak to him about his future line of action after making up his mind.

    Chaudhry Shujaat’s cousin Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, who was a candidate for the slot of CM Punjab, was injured during a fight in Punjab Assembly.

  • Five injured in mosque shooting in Canada

    Five injured in mosque shooting in Canada

    According to police sources, five individuals were injured in a mosque shooting in Toronto, Canada reports TRT.

    As per details, a group of men, who had finished midnight prayers were randomly attacked on Saturday in a drive-by shooting in the Scarborough district.

    According to Toronto Police Department spokesperson David Rydzik, at least six rounds were fired, although the number of suspects engaged in the incident is unknown.

    “We are unable to say whether the victims were targeted because of their religious beliefs,” said Rydzik.

    Meanwhile, Scarborough Muslim Association board member Nadeem Sheikh is concerned and has expressed alarms about the shooting.

    He urged authorities to do their best to bring the perpetrators before authorities and said more steps should be taken to curb gun violence.

  • National awareness campaign launched to protect children against cybercrime

    National awareness campaign launched to protect children against cybercrime

    The Federal Ombudsman’s nationwide public awareness campaign aimed at educating the wider populace and relevant groups about the skills and methods needed to combat cybercrime against children is now in full swing.

    On Sunday, a representative for the Federal Ombudsman Office said that as part of the program, state-run broadcasting stations broadcast informational messages and programmes about the prevention and control of cyber-crime against children in Urdu and regional languages.

    The strategic goal of the awareness campaign, according to Commissioner for Children Syeda Viqar un Nisa Hashmi, is to raise public awareness about the effects of cyber-crime abuse and exploitation of minors, as well as to educate children so that they could protect themselves from such situations.

    He went on to say that politicians were encouraged to bring legal amendments to the issue as part of the protection drive. The FIA Cyber Crime Cell is also conducting operations to apprehend the remaining suspects. 

    Read more: Lahore Police arrested 648 dacoits, recovering more than Rs27 crore in three months

    Earlier, the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Cell also nabbed a gang in Lahore that was allegedly making money from the dark web through juvenile crime.

  • Textile exports soared 25pc to $14.3b: PBS

    The exports of Pakistan textile commodities soared a 25.43 per cent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (2021-22) as compared to the corresponding period of last year, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) report.

    As per PBS data, the textile exports were recorded at $14,242.623 million in July-March (2021-22) against the exports of $11,355.465 million in July-March (2020-21), showing growth of 25.43pc.

    The textile commodities that contributed in trade growth included cotton yarn, the exports of which increased by 25.97 per cent from $721.216 million last year to $908.487 million during the current year.

    Likewise, the exports of raw cotton increased by 1009.03 per cent, cotton cloth by 26.51 percent, from $1,419.181 million to $1,795.457 million, cotton (carded or combed) by 100 percent to $1.632 million from $0.064 million exports last year, yarn (other than cotton yarn) increased by 104.53 percent, from $23.560 million to $48.188 million whereas exports of knitwear increased by 34.12 percent, from $2,780.896 million to $3,729.683 million.

    Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the textile exports increased by 19.90 percent during the month of March 2022 as compared to the same month of last year. The exports during March 2022 were recorded at $1,625.253 million against the exports of $1,355.542 million during March 2021.

    On month-on-month basis, the exports of textile from the country however witnessed a decrease of 3.51 percent during March 2022 when compared to the exports of $1,684.313 million in February 2022.

    As per report, the country’s total merchandise exports increased by 24.98 percent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year. The merchandise exports during July-March (2021-22) were recorded at $23.355 billion compared to the exports of $18.687billion during July-March (2020-21).

  • ‘Because of you, a little orphan girl dared to dream’: Edhi orphan girl pens emotional tribute for Bilquis Edhi

    ‘Because of you, a little orphan girl dared to dream’: Edhi orphan girl pens emotional tribute for Bilquis Edhi

    Rabia Bibi Osman shared an inspirational and successful journey that has an impactful contribution of philanthropist, Bilquis Edhi. She wrote her full story on a professional platform, Linkedin after the demise of Bilquis Edhi.

    “Twenty-eight years ago I was abandoned in a baby carriage at the Edhi Orphanage located in Karachi, Pakistan. You found me, you named me after your mother Rabia Bano, you forged my identity, then you gave me a home. Because of you today…I am a somebody, I have an identity, and I have loving parents to call my own,” Rabia wrote.

    She also admired the activism of late Bilquis for women’s rights and empowerment. She dedicated her success journey to the late philanthropist. She had given an opportunity to Rabia to lead an independent life and aspiration to become a successful woman.

    She continued, “Because of you, a little Pakistani girl orphaned at birth dared to dream. Because of you, I am an independent woman with graduate-level education and a place in the world to call my own. You gave me an opportunity. You awarded me a chance to dream, and you presented me with freedom.”

    She studied in college on scholarships and got a chance to get an internship in New York State Assembly, Bronx District Attorney’s Office, U.S Congress, and U.S Senate. She pursued her Master’s degree in Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Law.

    She closed the post with an emotional note, “I want you to know who she was to me, and to all of Pakistan. Bilquis Edhi was a hero, she was a mother to so many orphans (like me) and a powerhouse for humanity.   Losing Bare Abbu (Abdul Sattar Edhi) was tough, but your loss has made me feel orphaned again today…   My name is Rabia Bibi Osman, and I will forever be a proud Edhi baby.”