According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), Pakistan’s import of mobile phones has decreased by 68.29 per cent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year (2022-23) compared to the same period last year.
The value of mobile phones imported from July to February (2022-23) was US $447.855 million, whereas it was US $1412.445 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.
In February 2023, the import of mobile phones decreased by 76.73 per cent compared to February 2022. The imports for February 2023 were valued at US $33.054 million, whereas the exports for February 2022 were US $142.033 million.
Furthermore, the data shows that the import of mobile phones witnessed a month-on-month decline of 36.39 per cent during February 2023, as compared to January 2023, with imports valued at US $51.960 million.
The Punjab School Education Department has banned mobile phones, junk food and energy drinks in all private schools across the province, ARY has reported. The notification issued by the education Department instructed administrators of all private schools to strictly enforce adherence to the new guidelines.
Monitoring teams will frequently visit private schools to check on the application of new policies.
Junk food and sodas are banned in schools in many countries, including some states in India.
Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan has said that “Agar PM house ko secure karna hai, toh mobile phones ko band karna hoga.” (If one wants to secure the Prime Minister’s (PM) house, the use of mobile phones should not be permitted within the premises.)
The minister’s remarks came after several audio leaks allegedly of PM Shehbaz Sharif have surfaced on the internet.
Dastagir was of the view that “These security necessities are important as high-level talks take place at the PM office”, adding that that’s why “we need to secure it”.
About his fellow party member Senator Ishaq Dar, Dastgir said, “Dar has remained finance minister twice in emergency situations. We hope that nation will benefit from his vast experience.”
An investigation has been initiated to probe the leak from the PM House, with one member each in the JIT to be included from the country’s intelligence agencies.
The premier also called a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) on Wednesday, September 27, to discuss the matter.
On Saturday, September 24, alleged audios of PM Shehbaz and other Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders, including some federal ministers and Vice-President PML-N Maryam Nawaz, appeared online.
With advancements in technology, the problems faced by the new generation are also increasing. A recent study published in a journal, Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, showed that younger parents are having trouble handling screen time of their children.
In a research conducted by a team at Edith Cowan University, most millennial parents admitted that their children use mobile phones a lot, which is leading to conflicts within family.
The findings from the study suggest that smartphone usage has become one of the prominent causes of arguments within families. A total of 281 Australian parents took part in the survey, 75 per cent of them reported that extra use of smartphones is causing conflicts and family disagreements.
Parents also reported that their children are more inclined towards gaming and are experiencing sleep problems because of extra screen time than usual.
The study concluded that parents should be educated on how to control the influence of mobile media on their children.
Additionally, researchers believe that a major cause was the lack of standard guidelines for parents. One in three never searched for any official guidelines on digital media use by children.
Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan has praised singer Abrar-ul-Haq recently in a video message while recording an interview with Bollywood Hungama.
“I want to say to Abrar that he sung the song so well, the original one,” the actor told the outlet. “It is amazing, outstanding and we loved it.”
He added, “Our music company, they bought the rights and now our song is doing so well, so thank you.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD474_Dvxes
Earlier this year, the Bheega December crooner took to his twitter handle to slam Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar for plagiarising his famous song Nach Punjaban in his latest film, Jug Jugg Jeeyo.
As soon as the trailer of the upcoming film was out, Abrar shared his statement.
“I have not sold my song Nach Punjaban to any Indian movie and reserve the right to go to court to claim damages. Producers like @karanjohar should not use copy songs. This is my 6th song being copied which will not be allowed at all,” Abrar tweeted.
After a series of unpleasant exchanges between the two entities, Abrar was given the credits for his iconic song Nach Punjaban used in Johar’s Jug Jugg Jeeyo.
Taking to Instagram Story, the well-acclaimed Indian director shared the track’s new version of The Punjaabban Song‘s poster which featured Haq’s name alongside Tanishk Bagchi.
This came after Haq publicly called out the filmmakers for using his famed song without taking his permission or right to it. Also the way they have credited him at the end of the list is also not fair. This should have been done earlier only.
Earlier Dhawan broke his silence on the controversy by stating: “T-series has put out an official statement about this they legally licensed the rights. I think when you have international companies like YouTube and Spotify… When they are playing music they have very strict laws about copyrights. It’s no joke. All the processes have been followed.”
Xiaomi, the global consumer electronics, and smartphone giant which recently become the world’s second-largest vendor by handset shipments in the second quarter 2021, has joined hands with Select Technologies (Pvt) Limited (SELECT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air Link Communication Limited (AIRLINK) as its manufacturing partner for Xiaomi smartphones in Pakistan.
Xiaomi shipped 53.1 Million units in the second quarter of 2021 that accounted for 17% of the global market. Xiaomi aims to be the world’s number one mobile phone company in the next few quarters.
AIRLINK is one of the leading manufacturers, retailers, and distributors of smartphones in Pakistan with all the major global brands as their partners in the smartphone industry.
AIRLINK recently executed the largest private sector IPO in the history of Pakistan and is the first company in this sector to have achieved this milestone. AIRLINK already has an established state-of-the-art mobile phone manufacturing facility working with leading global brands since the start of 2021.
Embracing their vision of “Make friends with users and be the coolest company in the users’ hearts”, Xiaomi continuously pursues innovations, high-quality user experience, and operational efficiency. With its motto of making quality technology accessible to everyone, the company has ventured into manufacturing devices in Pakistan with SELECT. The smartphone production facility is located at Quaid-eAzam Industrial Estate, Kot Lakhpat, Lahore and will be fully functional within the month of January, 2022.
Companies around the globe consider Pakistan’s mobile market as an emerging market with a plethora of opportunities for businesses. With the emergence of 3G/4G technology there has been a significant increase subscriber base of mobile operators. Locking on this opportunity mobile brands are providing consumers with a wider choice of smartphones at more affordable prices in the low tier range.
This initiative will help us in the creation of jobs, development of a higher level of skills, encouragement of R&D culture and innovation in the industry.
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials took the bag into their custody and later handed it over to customs officials. The bag contains 141 mobile phones.
ARY’s sources said a search operation has been launched to trace the passenger with the help of CCTV footage.
The Balochistan government has directed government officials to set the “Pakistan Zindabad” ringtone on their mobile phones, Geo News reported.
A statement issued by the Balochistan government stated that it was decided in a meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary that the administrative secretaries, additional secretaries, deputy secretaries and heads of relevant institutions should set the ringtone of “Pakistan Zindabad” on their mobile phones networks.
The notification also added the procedure to set the caller tune for different mobile networks.
Ex-computer intelligence consultant at the United States (US) National Security Agency (NSA) Edward Snowden has said that smartphones are “worse than a spy in your pockets”, reports Geo News.
Snowden urged governments to impose a global delay on the international spyware trade or face a world in which no mobile phone is safe from state-sponsored hackers, reported The Guardian.
In the wake of the revelations about Israeli NSO Group, whose software Pegasus was used to hack mobile phones for surveillance, Snowden said the consortium’s findings illustrated “how commercial malware had made it possible for repressive regimes to place vastly more people under the most invasive types of surveillance”.
“If you don’t do anything to stop the sale of this technology, it’s not just going to be 50,000 targets. It’s going to be 50 million targets, and it’s going to happen much more quickly than any of us expect,” he warned.
Snowden said commercial malware such as Pegasus was so powerful that ordinary people could in effect do nothing to stop it.
Asked how people could protect themselves, he said: “What can people do to protect themselves from nuclear weapons?”
“There are certain industries, certain sectors, from which there is no protection, and that’s why we try to limit the proliferation of these technologies. We don’t allow a commercial market in nuclear weapons.”
The federal government has imposed a tax of 75 paisas on phone calls that exceed the duration of five minutes.
This was announced by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin while concluding the budget discussion in the National Assembly on Friday.
Tarin said talking over the cellphone for more than five minutes will be taxed at 75 paisas, but there will be no tax on an SMS.
Tarin added that the government will take action against tax defaulters with the help of third party. “Arrest will be made after legal formalities.”
As per reports, the government has decided to decrease the taxes on 1000cc vehicles while tax imposed on milk and other items has also been fixed at 10 per cent, which was earlier proposed at 17pc.
The finance minister clarified that the federal government has not proposed any tax on flour or other items.
Property tax has been reduced to 20 per cent from the earlier proposal of 35 per cent.
Mentioning the government’s initiatives in the housing sector, Shaukat Tarin said now every citizen can avail bank loan to purchase or construct a house. Rs3 billion have been fixed for the payment of subsidies being offered by the government on housing loans, he added.
For Ehsaas Programme, the finance minister said Rs260 billion have been proposed for the financial grants in the upcoming financial year 2021-22.
