India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on August 30 that the era of “uninterrupted dialogue” with Pakistan is over while Pakistan extended an invitation to its neighbouring country for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in October.
Jaishankar also stated that New Delhi will respond to developments from Pakistan, whether positive or negative.
“So far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, Article 370 is done. The issue [now] is what kind of relationship we can contemplate with Pakistan,” he stated at a private event in India.
Continuing to crib about slights real and imagined, Jaishankar warned Pakistan, saying, “Actions have consequences,” referring to alleged support for militant organisations.
Pakistan downgraded its ties with India in 2019 after it altered the special status of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in August 2019 and has since linked the normalisation of ties between the two countries to reversing the egregious change.
Pakistani cinema continues making waves in global art circles. Shoaib Sultan’s film ‘Gunjal’ has been selected for the 12th Indian Cine Film Festival-24 in Mumbai, India. This script is written by Nirmal Bano, Ali Kazmi, and Shoaib Sultan while the film is directed by Shoaib Sultan.
Gunjal will be screened in Mumbai on September 15th, another milestone the film and its makers will have achieved. On April 30, Shoaib won the debut director award for Gunjal at the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival in New Delhi, India.
The film’s cast includes Ahmed Ali Akbar, Resham, Amna Ilyas, Ahmed Ali Butt, and Omair Rana.
The story revolves around the acquittal of the man accused of murdering teenaged activist Iqbal Masih, as journalist Shahbaz Bhatti identifies glaring loopholes in the verdict, and begins a quest for justice. But each lead he follows contradicts the one before, and the twisted story reveals the ugly truth of child labor in 1990’s Pakistan. The film has an 8.5 rating on IMDB.
A block on Elon Musk’s X social network in Brazil started to take effect early Saturday after a Supreme Court judge ordered its suspension, according to AFP.
Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes on Friday ordered the platform’s suspension following a months-long standoff with the tech billionaire over disinformation in South America’s largest nation.
Moraes handed down the ruling after Musk failed to comply with an order to name a new legal representative for the company.
Early Saturday access to X, formerly known as Twitter, was no longer possible for some users in the South American country. They were presented with a message asking them to reload the browser if they were unable to log in successfully.
Musk, who also owns Tesla and SpaceX, reacted with fury to the judge’s order, branding Moraes an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge” and accusing him of “trying to destroy democracy in Brazil.”
“Free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and an unelected pseudo-judge in Brazil is destroying it for political purposes,” the billionaire, who has become increasingly aligned with right-wing politics, wrote on X.
The two have been locked in an ongoing, high-profile feud for months as Moraes leads a battle against disinformation in Brazil.
Elon Musk has been locked in a months-long feud with the judge, Alexandre de Moraes, who is leading a battle against disinformation in South America’s largest nation.
Musk has previously declared himself a “free speech absolutist,” but since he took over the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022 he has been accused of turning it into a megaphone for right-wing conspiracy theories.
He is a vocal supporter of former US president Donald Trump’s bid to regain the White House.
Moraes ordered the “immediate, complete and comprehensive suspension of the operation of” X in the country, telling the national communications agency to take “all necessary measures” to implement the order within 24 hours.
He threatened a fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) to anyone who used “technological subterfuges”, such as a VPN, to circumvent the block.
The judge also demanded that Google, Apple, and internet providers “introduce technological obstacles capable of preventing the use of the X application” and access to the website, though he later rescinded that order.
The social media platform has more than 22 million users in Brazil.
Musk shut X’s business operations in Brazil earlier this month, claiming Moraes had threatened the company’s previous legal representative with arrest to force compliance with “censorship orders.”
On Wednesday, Moraes told Musk he had 24 hours to find a new representative, or he would face suspension.
Shortly after the deadline passed, X said in a statement that it expected Moraes to shut it down “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”
– ‘Who does Musk think he is?’-
The standoff with Musk began when Moraes ordered the suspension of several X accounts belonging to supporters of Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who tried to discredit the voting system in the 2022 election, which he lost.
Brazilian authorities are investigating whether Bolsonaro plotted a coup attempt to prevent current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from assuming office in January 2023.
Online users blocked by Moraes include figures such as far-right ex-congressman Daniel Silveira, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2022 on charges of leading a movement to overthrow the Supreme Court.
In April, Moraes ordered an investigation of Musk, accusing him of reactivating some of the banned accounts.
On Thursday, Musk’s satellite internet operator Starlink said it had received an order from Moraes that froze its accounts and prevented it from conducting financial transactions in Brazil.
Starlink alleged that the order “is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied — unconstitutionally — against X.”
The company said on X that it intended “to address the matter legally.”
Musk is also the subject of a separate judicial investigation into an alleged scheme where public money was used to orchestrate disinformation campaigns in favor of Bolsonaro and those close to him.
“Any citizen from anywhere in the world who has investments in Brazil is subject to the Brazilian Constitution and laws,” Lula told a local radio station on Friday.
Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Pakistani wrestler Ali Asad has been banned for four years for using prohibited drugs.
Pakistan won eight medals, including one gold, in the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham. Ali defeated his Indian opponent in wrestling in 55 seconds to win the bronze medal in the 57 kg category.
Asad’s urine sample was taken on August 6, 2022. The International Testing Agency granted him an appeal and a B-sample test, but the wrestler has been banned for four years due to non-contact.
The four-year ban will begin from October 31, 2022, as the athlete has already been under provisional suspension since 2022.
The wrestler had remained adamant that he had not use any stimulants despite the positive dope result.
Tamasha Season 3 is currently at its peak, with each contestant giving their all to win. Among them, one participant, Emaan, seems to be emulating Shehnaaz Gill’s style.
Shehnaaz, a popular contestant from Bigg Boss Season 13, was known for her mischievous antics and won over everyone’s hearts, including Salman Khan’s. Although she wasn’t the season winner, her charm and innocence made her a fan favorite. She was also close to Sidharth Shukla, the eventual winner of that season.
However, Emaan’s attempts to copy Shehnaaz’s mannerisms seem limited to just her speech, and so far, she hasn’t been able to win over the audience or her fellow contestants. But the season is far from over, and it’s possible that Emaan might still manage to cast her spell on the audience and the show’s host, just like Shehnaaz did. Only time will tell if Emaan can truly replicate Shehnaaz’s magic
A woman from Shadbagh, Lahore, was allegedly tortured and thrown off the roof of her house by her husband and in-laws.
Geo News reported that Laiba was pushed off from the house’s roof.
Police say that after the incident, Laiba was shifted to Kot Khawaja Saeed Hospital in a critical condition.
Police have registered a case on the complaint of Laiba’s father, in which it is said that the 24-year-old woman was married to Bilal Khan of Shadbagh around six years ago. Bilal is said to be a drug addict.
In the FIR, the victim’s father also accused his son-in-law Bilal and his father, Umar Daraz, of assaulting Laiba.
Police have arrested Umar Daraz, too.
Police say that raids are being conducted to arrest the other suspects involved in the act.
A video of Pakistan’s left-arm fast bowler Muhammad Amir predicting Shaheen Shah Afridi’s career trajectory all the way back in in 2021 is going viral on social media.
His predictions seems true today.
Shaheen was injured and out of Asia Cup 2022. He was also ruled out of a three-match ODI series ahead of the Asia Cup after suffering a knee injury during the first Test against Sri Lanka. Despite not being included in the squad, Shaheen left for the Netherlands tour, delaying his recovery in time for the Asia Cup.
The left-arm fast bowler is considered one of the most dangerous bowlers in world cricket, especially in the T20 format.
He is one of the permanent players of the Pakistan team. Former cricketers have been demanding that he be given rest to reduce his workload.
After being ruled out of the Asia Cup 2022, the team’s star fast bowler, Muhammad Amir, ‘s 2021 interview went viral, in which he specifically warned the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) management about Shaheen possibly getting injured.
He said, “India prepared their bowlers and used them to their best. Look at bowlers like Bumrah, Shami, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who are bowling at speeds of over 140 in domestic. Today, India has different teams, such as batsmen and bowlers, in different formats. They have prepared and included such players in the team according to their needs.”
“In Pakistan, a person wins the lottery and then he continues to play in all three formats. I am not against it, but you should have a rotation policy. Look at Cummins, Hazlewood, and Starc; you will never see them playing all the matches in all formats of the series. If someone plays Tests, he won’t play the first 2 ODIs; if he plays ODIs, he will rest in T20 format. Thus, they can play cricket for a long time,” he further added.
Amir said, “Shaheen is playing more and more. He is still young, but once he crosses 26 and continues to bowl in all three formats, you will surely take back my point that what I was saying was right.”
Pakistan is currently playing a Test series against Bangladesh, and Shaheen has not been included in the squad for the second Test match. Earlier in the first match, his average bowling speed was 127-130 Kilometers per hour (KPH).
The government of Pakistan has formally confirmed the installation of the Web Monitoring System (WMS) for content management on the Internet.
According to the Cabinet, Pakistan Telecommunication (PTA) has installed WMS to manage content on the Internet, and the process of blocking websites and applications within Pakistan is underway.
PTA has blocked 2369 URLs and 183 mobile applications as of yet.
Earlier, PTA clarified that the ongoing internet slowdown across the country was mainly due to the failure of two of the seven international submarine cables connecting Pakistan to the outside world. The fault in the submarine cable is likely to be fixed by early October 2024.
Last week, the PTA told the Senate Standing Committee that Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) were overloading internet services in the country.
The famous French footballer Kylian Mbappe’s X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked on Wednesday night. The hackers took control of the account and shared controversial posts.
The hackers posted posts for the liberation of Palestine, denouncing Israel, and also calling Cristiano Ronaldo better than Lionel Messi in a post on Mbappe’s account.
Later, the French footballer’s account was recovered and all controversial posts were deleted.
This is not the first time that Mbappe’s social media account was hacked. His X account was also hacked in 2019.
Pakistan’s headline inflation is expected to ease further in August 2024, settling between 9.5 per cent and 10.5 per cent, with a continued downward trend anticipated in the coming months, according to the Finance Division’s statement on Friday.
The Ministry of Finance, in its ‘Monthly Economic Update and Outlook’, highlighted that the inflation rate could drop even further to between 9 per cent and 10 per cent by September 2024, attributed to the stabilisation of key economic indicators.
July 2024 saw headline inflation at 11.1 per cent year-on-year, a decrease from 12.6 per cent in June 2024. This marks the lowest Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure since November 2021, when inflation was recorded at 11.5 per cent, as per data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The Finance Ministry’s report also pointed to positive trends in external indicators such as exports, imports, and workers’ remittances, which are on an upward trajectory.
A brokerage house noted that August’s inflation figure is expected to dip into single digits for the first time in nearly three years.
Looking ahead, the report projects that exports will range between $2.5 billion and $3.2 billion, imports between $4.5 billion and $5 billion, and remittances between $2.6 billion and $3.3 billion in August 2024.
The stable outlook for the external sector is contingent upon factors including a stable exchange rate, revived domestic economic activities, improved agricultural output, lower domestic and global commodity prices, and increased foreign demand.
In the industrial sector, the Ministry of Finance anticipates that the Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) sector will maintain its positive growth trajectory in FY2025, driven by improved external demand, a stable exchange rate, declining inflation, and a more accommodating monetary policy.
