The Portuguese parliament passed a law on Friday and banned bosses from text messaging and e-mailing employees after working hours in order to improve work-life balance, reports BBC.
Companies with more than 10 staff members can face fine if they contact their employees outside their contracted hours.
The new law “right to rest” was introduced in response to an expansion of working from home in the country.
Under this, companies will allow staff with children to work remotely, the companies also may have to contribute to higher household bills.
Portugal’s Minister of Labour and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, hoped that the enhanced labour protections would attract more foreigners to the country.
Portugal already has a temporary resident visa scheme to attract entrepreneurs and freelancers.
In parliament, there were some elements in the bill, for instance, the “right to disconnect”, which allows staff to turn off all work devices out of hours. However, it didn’t get approved.
The Ministry of Law and Justice has reportedly been preparing a summary to send to the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan regarding the extension of sitting Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (redtd) Javed Iqbal, reported Malik Asad for Dawn.
The four-year term of Justice Iqbal as NAB chairman will expire this month. A senior official of the ministry has confirmed that they will send the proposal to the PM soon.
However, the government hasn’t taken a final decision yet. According to an official, in the proposal, the declaration of an ordinance for giving extension has been suggested.
“In case the PM decides to grant an extension to the chairman, the law ministry will draft an ordinance to amend the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) and forward it to the president,” the sources said.
If PM agrees, an amendment will be made in sub-section b of Section 6, which states, “There shall be a Chairman NAB to be appointed by the President in consultation with the [Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly] for a [non-extendable] period of [four] years on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the President and shall not be removed except on the grounds of removal of Judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan.”
Earlier, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said, “The government has decided not to consult Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif for the appointment of NAB chairman since he (Sharif) is accused in several corruption references filed by the bureau.”
Later, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari tweeted that PPP will forcefully oppose the illegal extension in the tenure of chairman NAB.
The investigation report of Islamabad police submitted to the trial court in Noor Mukadam case has revealed that Noor Mukadam missed six life-saving possibilities due to Zahir Jaffer’s accomplices’ active connivance, Dawn has reported.
“Her life could have been saved had the accomplices acted otherwise,” the challan stated.
Noor’s attempt to escape twice was failed due to the connivance of the security guard and a gardener.
The challan further stated that Zahir contacted his father 4 times on July 20, and Zakir Jaffer knew about the illegal detention and the situation at their home.
“You need not worry, I can handle this, I am sending people to rescue you and to dispose of the dead body,” Zakir said to Zahir after he beheaded Noor. Zahir was scheduled to fly to the US on July 19. The police today also submitted the list of 18 witnesses in the case.
The challan also stated that Zahir had confessed to killing Noor and a DNA report confirmed she was raped.
Referring to prime accused Zahir’s statement, the challan states: Noor came to Zahir’s house on July 18, and on July 20 they both got into a fight after Noor refused to marry Zahir, and Zahir then detained her in a room, and Noor warned him of consequences.
On the day of the murder, Zahir made calls to his parents at 2:21pm, 3pm, 6:35pm and 7:29pm.
Noor’s family was informed about her murder on July 20 at 10:00pm by Kohsar police.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to establish separate jails for women across the province, Dawn has reported.
Mr Shafiullah, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for prisons, said a proposal for women’s jails had been mooted as part of the jail reforms project.
He said that after the CM’s approval, the home department will conduct a feasibility study to determine potential locations for the separate jails. He added that that female convicts have challenges due to a lack of facilities in jails.
According to the CM’s aide, there are currently 160 female detainees languishing in various jails, with 35 of them having been convicted and 125 cases pending in various courts.
The representatives of media organisations have rejected the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) and termed the concept as an unconstitutional and draconian law against the freedom of press and expression and a step toward imposing state control to regulate all segments of media under over-centralised body.
The major stakeholders believe that the proposed PMDA is an attempt to tighten the government’s control over the media from one platform and ignores the fact that print, electronic and social media are separate entities, each with their own defined features.
A joint meeting of the members of the Standing Committee of National Assembly and Senate on Information and Broadcasting was held on August 11.
Talking to The Current, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said that a joint meeting of the Standing Committees on Information of both Houses — Senate and National Assembly— had been called by the Information Ministry to discuss the proposed media authority bill.
“PML-N had boycotted the meeting as it was being held at the Information Ministry instead of Parliament House. When I went to the meeting, I raised some legal and constitutional points regarding the meeting,” said Khokhar.
“I asked the government for signed permission by Chairman Senate and Speaker National Assembly as it is required by law if such meetings are called outside parliament. The government could only produce a permission letter from Chairman Senate but not Speaker National Assembly. So I raised the point that this meeting is illegal,” said Khokhar.
“I also pointed out that since Mian Javed Latif, who is the chair of the NA Standing Committee on Information, is not present due to PML-N’s boycott, the NA Standing Committee cannot be part of this meeting. I was overruled by the government. Thus, the PPP also decided to boycott the briefing,” added Senator Khokhar.
The agenda before the Committee was one of a comprehensive briefing on the proposed PMDA by the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry.
As per the last known draft, the PDMA has been described in the Ordinance as “an independent, efficient, effective and transparent” Authority, which will regulate all forms of media, including digital media.
Under the Ordinance, print and digital media will also need a license to establish and operate in the country.
The draft describes digital media as online newspapers, web TV channels, OTT content platforms, online news channels, video logs, and YouTube channels, Netflix, Amazon Prime.
As per the drafted Ordinance, the government could issue directives to the Authority on matters of policy, and such directives will be binding on the Authority.
For a media organisation to operate in the country, it will be required to not broadcast, distribute or make available online any programme inciting violence or hatred or any action prejudicial to maintenance of law and order or content which defames or brings into ridicule the Head of State, or members of the armed forces, or legislative or judicial organs of the state or is obscene or vulgar.
As per the draft, the president will set up media tribunals. An aggrieved person can file an appeal with the media tribunal within 30 days. Only the Supreme Court will have jurisdiction to question the legality of a decision taken by the media tribunals.
Local clerics in the Tirah Valley in Khyber district have issued a new set of restrictions for tourists. The new set of rules include a prohibition on taking photographs and videos in the area, Samaa has reported. In addition, tourists will not be allowed to hold any musical progamme in Tirah Valley and will not be allowed to carry a music system.
These rules have been issued by clerics belonging to the Afridi Tribe.
“If any harm comes [to people] in case of any violation, you will be responsible for it,” the letter issued by the clerics state.
As per Samaa, “Journalists in the area said that the letter was not fake, but the clerics do not own it because they want to avoid legal action.”
Waseem Riaz, the district police officer, told Samaa that he had called the clerics to the police station but they all distanced themselves from the directives.
Earlier, a case was filed against the people who organised a music and dance event in Hunza’s Gojal for spreading obscenity.
A man has been punished under Parents Protection Ordinance, 2021, Geo News has reported. The man was sentenced to one month in jail with a fine of Rs50,000 for maltreating his parents.
He is the first person to be punished under the new law. According to details, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Muzaffargarh Amjad Shoaib Khan took action after a complaint was filed by the parents of the accused for beating and evicting them from their home last year.
“A year ago, Mukhtar forced us to leave home and since then we have been managing by doing domestic work at people’s homes,” said Ghulam Fatima in the complaint.
DC summoned both the parties at his office to resolve the matter but the parents refused to forgive the son after which the DC took action against him under the law.
“The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has provided a credible protection shield to elderly parents by virtue of this law,” said PTI MPA Sardar Abdul Hayee Khan Dasti.
A food delivery boy was robbed in Lahore, on Wednesday. The robbers took cash from the delivery boy. As per details, the robbers fired bullets at the delivery boy but he remained unhurt, ARY News has reported.
Police officials confirmed that an investigation has been launched and a magazine and bullets have been found from the crime scene.
Earlier this year in January, robbers looted burgers from a delivery boy in Gujranwala. As per reports, a group of six men riding on two motorcycles robbed the delivery boy as he was on his way to deliver the burgers to customers. The unidentified but armed men stopped the boy and snatched six burgers and mobile from him and escaped from the scene.
An FIR (first information report) has been registered against Mufti Aziz-ur-Rehman at Lahore’s North Cantt Police Station. Mufti Aziz-ur-Rehman’s video went viral on social media in which he can be allegedly seen sexually assaulting one of his students. The victim got admission to the Jamia Manzoorul Islamia in 2013, as per the FIR.
The victim in his statement said that Mufi Aziz-ur-Rehman accused him of cheating on his exams after which he was banned from giving exams at the Wafaqul Madaris for three years. Mufti then asked the student to “make him happy” in order to get the ban lifted.
After the video went viral, Mufti Aziz issued a video statement on social media in which he says he was intoxicated, adding, “This video is fake as you can’t even see me moving.”
In a landmark judgement, The Lahore High Court has acquitted a Christian couple who was on death row for seven years on the charges of alleged blasphemy.
A 2-member bench of Lahore High Court orders release of a Christian couple of Toba Tek Singh who were sentenced to death by a local court on charges of #Blasphemy in 2014
