Online Ustad

05/01/2022

Another year has come to a close and with it, alarming statistics of street crimes have been shared.

Sindh in general but Karachi, in particular, has been faced with lawlessness in various realms over the past several months, resulting in a sharp rise in crimes of various dimensions.

While police continue to toot their own horn and claim that the law and order situation has improved in the city, the truth remains that a large number of people have fallen prey to various crime circles.

As the year 2021 drew to a close, many officials were found to be complaining about a lack of diesel and petrol, due to which the patrolling of police mobiles was affected.

Moreover, the issue of disrupted telephone lines of many police stations remained unresolved, with the respective departmental heads claiming to have written to the departments concerned for restoring the phone lines, but the requests continued to be pending.

The officials also claimed that despite winter already having started, they were still waiting for their jackets and sweaters.

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04/01/2022

Mini-budget to worry infants: domestically manufactured infant formula, baby food to be taxed 17%*
Pakistan’s malnutrition problem is far from getting addressed, as recent minibudget will tax locally produced infant formulas and baby cereals with 17% GST. According to nation-wide food consumption surveys done, 40 percent of children in Pakistan are underweight and over half of the children are affected by stunting, while vulnerable young mothers are anemic with other micronutrient deficiencies.

30/12/2021

CC has announced four nominees for the Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year 2021.
Apart from the number 1 ODI batter, the other three names listed are Shakib Al Hasan, Janneman Malan, and Paul Stirling.

29/12/2021

Japanese Consul General in Karachi Toshikazu Isumora visited the newly-inaugurated Green Line Bus Rapid Transit Service (BRTS) and enjoyed a ride with ordinary passengers.
According to sources, the Japanese consul general paid a surprise visit to the BRTS Numaish Chowrangi station and lined up to buy a ticket.
He travelled with ordinary passengers from Numaish to Golimar neighbourhood of the metropolis and inspected the different features of the rapid bus service.

28/12/2021

The Supreme Court has ordered the return of the 17-acre Askari Park to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).
The petition regarding Askari Park was heard on Monday before a bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed at the Supreme Court Karachi Registry.
The counsel appeared on behalf of the Army’s Five Corps. He argued that the vegetable market was relocated in 2001. A request was made to restore the park under Musharraf. “The defence agency was given the park under the agreement. The report said that marriage halls have been closed.”
The chief justice remarked that the park was given to the army for non-occupation. “You have been asked to protect the whole of Pakistan. Were you given a park for commercial activities?” the CJP asked.

27/12/2021

The telecom operator Jazz has the largest user base in Pakistan, specifically after its merger with Warid. However, with such a tremendous user base, more maintenance and customer is required. Contrarily, if you are not able to keep up with maintenance more complaints also arise. It is evident by the data released from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) which depicts that Jazz is leading the chart with the most number of complaints. According to PTA, Jazz topped the PTA complaint charts with a total of 6,407 complaints. It was followed by Telenor with a total of 5,149 complaints. Zong came at the third spot with a total of 2,701 complaints, while Ufone stayed the least complaint network with a total of 1,043 complaints.
Furthermore, according to the data, the national telecom operator received 15,863 complaints from users against different telecom operators, which include cellular operators, PTCL, LDIs, WLL operators, and other ISPs in November 2021. PTA claimed that it was able to fix 96 percent (15,270) of the complaints.
Cellular mobile subscribers form a major part of the entire telecom subscriber base. Thus, the maximum number of complaints were lodged against this segment. The total number of complaints lodged against Cellular Mobile Operators by November stood at 15,311. As mentioned above, Jazz is the largest cellular operator with a huge user base, consequently, the number of complaints lodged against it was higher.

21/12/2021

Deep underground in an exploratory drill hole in a mining region of Australia, scientists have discovered a "marvel of evolution," a remarkably elongated blind millipede possessing the most legs - 1,306, to be precise - of any known animal.
The threadlike pale-colored millipede reaches about 3-1/2 inches (95 mm) long and about four-hundredths of an inch (0.95 mm) wide, with a conical head, beak-shaped mouth and large antennae - likely one of its only sources of sensory input because it lacks eyes, scientists said.
"Previously no known millipede actually had 1,000 legs despite the name millipede meaning 'thousand feet,'" said Virginia Tech entomologist Paul Marek, lead author of the research published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The creature is called Eumillipes persephone. The handful of individuals discovered lived up to almost 200 feet (60 meters) underground. Females had more legs than males.

16/12/2021

𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐃𝐀𝐘
𝟏𝟔 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟒
𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐧

09/12/2021

Pakistan would earn around $7 billion through the Information Technology sector in the next two to four years, Secretary Board of Investment (BoI) Pakistan Fareena Mazhar elaborated in a seminar held at the Pakistan Pavilion in Dubai Expo 2020.
The Board of Investment (BoI) organized an Investment Promotion seminar to apprise the potential foreign investors of investment policies and potential in Pakistan. The theme of the seminar was Investment Opportunities in Pakistan in the field of Education and Innovation Technologies.
The secretary apprised the audience of the Information Technology sector being one of the fastest-growing sectors of Pakistan, contributing around 1pc to the GDP of the country at about $3.5 billion. She added that it doubled in the past couple of years, and experts expect it to grow further at 100pc in the next two to four years to $7 billion.

08/12/2021

The United States (US) dollar once again hit an all-time high against the Pakistani rupee in the interbank market.
According to foreign currency dealers, the value of the greenback surged by 0.31 paisa today in the interbank market and closed at Rs176.79.
The rupee had ended 0.16 per cent or 29 paisas higher against the dollar the previous day after Pakistan received a $3 billion deposit from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under a support package.

07/12/2021

WhatsApp has added new disappearing messages tools, as it looks to make conversations more private.
The new options will allow people to turn on disappearing messages for all their chats at once, meaning that no conversations will stick around any longer than they need to.
Users can also choose from a variety of options for how long messages should last. Previously, they were limited to seven days – but that can now be set at 24 hours or 90 days, after which the conversations will be destroyed.

06/12/2021

The relatively private life of Facebook's founder -- or at least a fictionalized version of it -- is about to get much more public.

A movie called "The Social Network," based on the life of Facebook's sweatshirt-wearing co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg, hits theaters on October 1.

Truly biographical or not, the film is sure to thrust the 26-year-old Zuckerberg further into the spotlight, making him a household name if he's not already. His site, after all, is used by a half-billion people around the world.

We searched the Internet for info about Zuckerberg and created this list of six fun and little-known facts about the man behind Facebook. Much of it is pulled from a notable profile of Zuckerberg in The New Yorker, which has had the Internet buzzing since it published online earlier this month.

04/12/2021

The federal government announced that a new enactment to reward whistle-blowers was being promulgated to check hoarding and profiteering, by which, a maximum of Rs 5 million will be given to those who will provide credible and actionable information about urea hoarding of fertilisers to the government.

In an official statement, Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar stated that Sindh-based fertiliser dealers had purchased an extra 1,25,000 tons urea as compared to last year. Similarly, dealers from peripheral areas of Punjab (adjacent to Sindh) bought 50,000 tons of urea extra as compared to last year for hoarding purpose. He regretted that unfortunately due to severe negligence of Sindh government, these stocks couldn’t be moved to food-bowl areas of Punjab; thus threatening the Rabi farming season which is matter of our national food security. He reiterated that Sindh government should take measures against hoarder on basis of data of suspected hoarders in Sindh provided by the federal government.

03/12/2021

Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) is in danger after authorities issued a verdict against the company in a recent General Sales Tax (GST) collection case.
According to information, the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to ensure that Pak Suzuki returns the amount of GST collected from vehicle customers over the predetermined rate of 12.5 percent announced in the current auto policy.
Prior to the implementation of the new car policy, the GST rate for autos was 17 percent. As per government documentation, some clients purchased vehicles from authorized Suzuki dealerships after the new policy was enacted on July 31, 2021, whereby the GST rate was officially reduced to 12.5 percent. However, the Customer’s purchase invoices continued to show that the company had been charging GST at the same old rate of 17 percent.

02/12/2021

01/12/2021

The government has approved a donation of 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan in the absence of any major assistance from the world community for the cash-starved neighbour.

Pakistan has earlier granted a one-time approval for India to send wheat aid to Afghanistan. It has now matched a similar offer but the delivery of the Indian wheat remained pending because of the non-resolution of logistic issues between Islamabad and New Delhi.

The Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet on Monday approved the proposal for the donation of 50,000 Metric Tons of wheat to Afghanistan. The meeting presided over by Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan also recommended relaxation of ban on exporting wheat/wheat flour to Afghanistan.

30/11/2021

The US scientists who created the first living robots say the life forms, known as xenobots, can now reproduce -- and in a way not seen in plants and animals.
Formed from the stem cells of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) from which it takes its name, xenobots are less than a millimeter (0.04 inches) wide. The tiny blobs were first unveiled in 2020 after experiments showed that they could move, work together in groups and self-heal.
Now the scientists that developed them at the University of Vermont, Tufts University and Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering said they have discovered an entirely new form of biological reproduction different from any animal or plant known to science.
"I was astounded by it," said Michael Levin, a professor of biology and director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University who was co-lead author of the new research.
"Frogs have a way of reproducing that they normally use but when you ... liberate (the cells) from the rest of the embryo and you give them a chance to figure out how to be in a new environment, not only do they figure out a new way to move, but they also figure out apparently a new way to reproduce."

29/11/2021

Female Pakistani students from moderate to low-income households have been encouraged to apply for the “Sister2Sister Exchange Programme” to receive education in prestigious universities in the United States.

The programme is funded by the US Department of State and administered by a consortium of partners, including American University, International Education and Resource Network (iEARN-USA).

Candidates fluent in spoken and written English are encouraged to submit academic transcripts, achievement certificates, and reference letters along with the application to the link given on the website, said an official.

26/11/2021

Fawad Chaudhry, the Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister, revealed late Thursday that the All Pakistan Petrol Pump Dealers Association (APPPDA) has called off the countrywide strike.

Following approval from the Economic Coordination Committee, the government will now offer a profit margin of 4.4 percent (ECC).

On Thursday, the APPDA began an indefinite statewide strike in protest of the government's reluctance to enhance its profit margin. Long lines of cars were seen at gas stations in the days leading up to the strike on Wednesday, as locals were terrified.

24/11/2021

Oman’s Ambassador to Pakistan Omar Ahmed Al-Marhoon on Monday met Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and discussed with him the start of a ferry service between the two countries and ways to promote tourism, the Pakistani interior ministry said.
Pakistan has been considering a ferry service that would connect Middle Eastern seaports with Karachi and Gwadar. The country has long cherished the dream of initiating the service to link Pakistani ports with Dubai, Oman and Iran to facilitate people, who want to travel to these destinations by providing them alternate routes.
The South Asian country has also been encouraging the private sector to invest in this mode of transportation.
“Ferry service between Pakistan and Oman will start soon,” the Pakistani interior ministry quoted Ambassador Al-Marhoon as saying. “The service will boost trade and tourism between Pakistan and Oman.”

22/11/2021

All Pakistan Petrol Pump Dealers Association has on Sunday called for a countrywide strike on November 25 over government’s reluctance on hiking dealer margin to 6 per cent.
Until our demand is met there will be no talks, said APPPDA official noting that this time there will be no leniency until their margin of commissioned has been hiked.
Joining their hands will be the gas stations of Gilgit Baltistan who have also declared the strike across pumps of GB and Kashmir on the day.
The petrol pump dealers association had earlier announced to go on strike on November 5 following the call of the central organisation to demand the hike in commission but after their negotiations with government, they called the strike off.
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20/11/2021

Punjab government has imposed hefty fines against violators contributing to the smog situation in the province especially in Lahore, ARY NEWS reported.

The decision to impose fines was taken during a steering committee meeting on smog headed by relief commissioner Babar Hayat Tarar.

It was decided to impose a fine of Rs2000 on smoke-emitting motorcycles and four-wheelers besides also charging a fine of Rs50,000 against those involved in burning their harvest or smoke-emitting brick kilns.

Any factory found emitting smoke would also be fined Rs50,000 as the steering committee meeting also directed the provincial departments to minimize the use of official vehicles to 50 percent to counter the rising impact of smog.



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19/11/2021

جمعہ مُبارک❤

18/11/2021

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the government aims to construct 10 dams across the country by 2028.
Imran khan said that the government is initiating the Decade of Dams project.
He added that the Mohmand Dam will solve the water and electricity woes of the people in the region.
He said no attention was paid to the poor class by successive regimes in past. He said PTI is the first government, which is focussing on the welfare of the oppressed and neglected people through the provision of health cards and housing facilities.

17/11/2021

PROWIRE is an eCommerce platform aiming to commoditize professional services through a market network approach. Professional services space is around US$ 7.0 trillion globally and US$ 400 billion within MENA region; almost all of it is largely served offline. There is a huge gap to be filled for budding freelancers and mushrooming small and medium size businesses.

PROWIRE is currently delivering professional services over its web based marketplace and have carried out the ground work for the PROWIRE Network and a suite of SAAS tools to follow in the coming months that would be a game changer for professional service marketplace.

Initial investment of US$ 300,000 has been funded by Founders of PROWIRE and a close group of Angle Investors. Currently seeking US$ 1.5 million as Seed Funding for the Growth, Development and Marketing for the company; out of which partial soft commitments have been received from VC funds in the region.

The founders of PROWIRE comes with the right mix of experience with Arshad Gadit having more than 20 years of experience in delivering professional service and Aamir Saleem with more than 15 years of experience with Big tech companies and e-commerce startups. They are supported by Co-founders Asa dAftab, Ali Asghar and Sikander Gadit who bring along much needed mix of professional services, investments and operation management experience of more than 30 years cumulatively.

The project is also backed by athGADLANG, one of the leading consulting firms of the GCC region.
They have all the right ingredients to be the next big thing in the professional service. Watch the space!

16/11/2021

The Pakistan Railways has signed a deal with a Chinese defence and technology company to develop an artificial intelligence system that would allow passengers to plan and book door-to-door journeys using a single app.
Under the public–private partnership agreement, the China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco) will develop the service over the next 10 years.
Habibur Rehman Gilani, the secretary of Pakistan’s Ministry of Railways, said the deal would not involve any financing from the rail operator.
Norinco will get a share in ticket price, freight and value-added services.
The system is being called the Railway Automated Booking and Travel Assistance initiative. It will allow passengers to book and pay for each mode of transport on a journey using the app. They will also be able to check train status, choose seats, order car rentals and meals, as well as book a hotel.

15/11/2021

Prime Minister Imran Khan said that government was transforming the traditional techniques in minerals and gems sector by introducing the latest technology and for the first time in 74 years of country’s history, this sector was being restructured into export industry.
The prime minister was chairing a meeting of gems, jewelry and minerals task force here. The meeting was attended by Minister for Industries Makhdoom Khusru Bakhtiar, Special Assistant to PM Dr Shabaz Gill, Chairman Gems and Jewelry Task Force Engineer Gul Asghar Khan, Atif Khan, members of the task force and relevant authorities.
The prime minister was apprised of the restructuring of the gems, jewelry and minerals sector and the recommendations over the proposed mineral city. The meeting was told that Pakistan had the capacity of exporting precious gems worth 5 billion dollars annually which would have positive effects upon the country’s economy, besides generating huge employment opportunities.
About 99 different precious gems reserves were found in Pakistan, making it the eighth biggest country in the world in terms of its production, it was added. Moreover, according to an estimate, there was 200 tons gold consumption in Pakistan and through effective legislation and better arrangements, this sector could be turned into one of the biggest industry.
Moreover, gems and jewelry city would be established to bring all resources at one place, ensure resolution of issues through one window operation and provision of facilities to the investors.

10/11/2021

Angelina Jolie gains 4m followers in 24 hours as she joins Instagram; shares letter of teenage Afghan girl

Angelina Jolie joined Instagram on Friday to address the Afghanistan crisis. In her first post, the actress shared a letter of an Afghan girl amidst the Taliban takeover.

Angelina Jolie, who has been known to keep her private life strictly private, joined the social media platform Instagram on Friday. With 'Mom, filmmaker, Special Envoy for UN ' as her bio, Angelina shockingly gained 4.1 million followers in less than 24 hours of debuting on the photo and video sharing app. And the followers seem to grow by the minute.

Though one might think that her posts would be a way for people to get to know about her private life, the actress glaringly stated how her Instagram account is going to address the gripping Afghanistan crisis.

In fact, her first post was a letter from an Afghan teenage girl. Talking about the Taliban taking over the country in a matter of weeks after the US troops were called back, Angelina shared how she was at the Afghan border when the refugees had fled the Taliban 20 years ago after the 9/11 attack. She shared it was "sickening" to watch the people being displaced yet again out of fear and uncertainty.

"To spend so much time and money, to have blood shed and lives lost only to come to this, is a failure almost impossible to understand (sic)," her elaborate note read. She shared that she will continue to look for ways to help to address this humanitarian crisis.

Her note further read, "Watching for decades how Afghan refugees - some of the most capable people in the world - are treated like a burden is also sickening. Knowing that if they had the tools and respect, how much they would do for themselves. And meeting so many women and girls who not only wanted an education, but fought for it (sic)."

09/11/2021

𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫
𝐈𝐐𝐁𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐀𝐘

نہیں ہےنا اُمید اقبال اپنی کشتِ ویراں سے
ذرا نم ہو تو یہ مٹی بڑی زرخیز ہے ساقی

06/11/2021

𝗥𝗮𝗳𝗮𝘆 𝗪𝗮𝗾𝗮𝗿 has awarded the 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 & 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐄𝐎 Champ Award in 2021.
Rafay has on a mission to educate Pakistan on how to learn digital marketing and freelancing that’s why he offers FREE online courses that have the same passion to learn these digital skills.
Rafay Waqar - an enthusiastic growth-oriented digital marketing professional with 8+ years of industry experience managing multiple brands in the digital space while concurrently being involved in various business lines to help the company achieve strategic goals.
Rafay began his career after getting certified by the world's best universities like University of London, University of California, University of Pennsylvania, and Google Digital Garage. He has also received many awards in the digital field. Besides full-time work, Rafay is involved in offering SEO consultancy for startups and mid-level companies.
We wish him to very best of luck for this initiative.

05/11/2021

جمعہ مبارک 💐

04/11/2021

𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘀: 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗔𝗿𝗺 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝘀

Christmas shoppers who have not already bought all their devices may not get them in time, the boss of one of the world's top chip designers has warned.

03/11/2021

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.

01/11/2021

𝗖𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗱-𝟭𝟵 𝘃𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲: 𝗝𝗮𝗯𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝟭𝟮-𝟭𝟱-𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿-𝗼𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝟴𝟬𝟬 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀
More than 800 secondary schools in England will be visited by health teams from Monday to offer the coronavirus vaccine to children aged 12 to 15.

28/10/2021

𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐔𝐒 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥

The top US general has said China's suspected hypersonic missile test is close to a Sputnik moment, referring to the Soviet satellite launch that sparked the Cold War arms race.

26/10/2021

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐥 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐝 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐱 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐞
US comedian Dave Chappelle, whose latest Netflix special sparked a transgender backlash, has hit back at those he says want to "cancel" him.

25/10/2021

𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝑻𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒓, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 59, 𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒐𝒏 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆.

After the six main stars, Gunther was the character with the most appearances in Friends, cropping up in 185 episodes - more than Janice, Carol, Susan, Phoebe's husband Mike, and Ross and Monica's parents Jack and Judy put together.

22/10/2021

"𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮"

22/10/2021

جمعہ مبارک 💐