Digital Scoop

20/01/2023

Pakistan has only two days’ worth of raw material left for the production of medicines – an office bearer of the manufacturers’ association warned on Thursday, lambasting the governor of the central bank and finance minister for their callous attitude towards the grave situation.
In a Senate Standing Committee meeting on finance, Arshad Malik, who represented the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA), said that the industry had a two-month inventory stock that is now almost finished.
After the pharmaceutical industry failed to get any support from the central bank, finance ministry and commercial banks, in opening new letters of credit (LC) for the import of raw material, the officials sought urgent help from parliamentarians to stop the breakup of the supply chain of medicines.
“The pharmaceutical industry is worth $6 billion and its reliance on import is around 93%,” said Malik, adding that several national banks have refused to issue LCs to the industry.

20/01/2023

As reported by management, MNA Asghar was enraged by the clothing rule and vehemently declared that the British had departed the country, but their legacies still followed them. Shalwar Kameez is the country’s national dress, and Dhoti is an article of cultural clothing, yet you don’t receive service at the club without wearing a suit.

The Islamabad Club’s Secretary indicated that the formal attire was applied in the formal dining hall and that the dress requirement was part of the club’s heritage. He explained that the administration did not serve and refused Sheikh Rohail Asghar service since the club is not a cultural club. Wearing a Dhoti, on the other hand, is proof of decency, according to Sheikh Rohail Asghar.

PAC directed the Islamabad Club administration to hold a board meeting to discuss the problem and examine the dress code.

20/01/2023

As the government scrambles to save every penny and introduce cost-cutting measures, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif added another special assistant to his cabinet.

The already hefty cabinet has now swelled to 77 with the induction of Fahd Haroon who was appointed special ass­i­stant to the prime minister.

“The Prime Minister … has been pleased to appoint Mr. Fahd Haroon, as Special Assistant to the Prime Mini­ster with the status of Min­ister of State, with immediate effect,” reads a notification issued by the cabinet division.

Mr Haroon, a prominent media personality, has the distinction to work with two rivals: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Dem­ocratic Movement (PDM).

He was appointed former prime minister Imran Khan’s focal person for information in March 2020. In Dec 2022, he was appointed Sindh chief minister’s special assistant for media affairs.

19/01/2023

An Islamabad sessions court on Wednesday granted bail to Bol News journalist Shahid Aslam, who was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from Lahore last week for his alleged part in leaking personal tax data of former army chief General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa.

In November, a report published by investigative news website FactFocus — which describes itself as a “Pakistan-based digital media news organisation working on data-based investigative news stories — accused the army chief and his family of amassing assets worth Rs12.7 billion over the past six years.

The report cited tax records and wealth statements of the Bajwa family to corroborate its claims about the alleged accumulation of assets by the family inside and outside Pakistan.

18/01/2023

Actress Minal Khan shared messages in which she was harassed by random strangers after Feroze Khan leaked her contact details in a post yesterday. Minal Khan vows to sue Feroze Khan for leaking her private information. Other actors such as Osman Khalid Butt, Sarwat Gillani and Yasir Hussain also came out against Feroze Khan for leaking private information.

18/01/2023

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cyber Crime Wing (CCW) has arrested a person in Karachi who scammed hundreds of people of millions of rupees in a bitcoin trading fraud.

Zafar Rana, the suspect, used to trick people on YouTube by convincing them to invest in bitcoin in exchange for large profits. He took 10,000-50,000 Euros per person under the guise of investment and laundered the money in Dubai and Turkey.

Following the victims’ complaints, Zafar fled Pakistan, only to be apprehended by the FIA when he returned. FIA also confiscated two smartphones, a laptop, a passport, nine debit cards, Bittrex and Bitcoin cards, dubious transaction documents, and a luxury car, from his possession.

It also has registered an FIR against him, while further investigation is underway to nab his facilitators.

16/01/2023

India’s agricultural sector has usually not kept pace with new technology, relying largely on traditional methods.

But start-ups specialising in drone technology are trying to change that - one farm at a time.

These companies are encouraging farmers to use drones to monitor the health of crops and spray them with fertiliser and pesticides. The trend comes amid the federal government's ambitious plan to make India a hub for drones by 2030.

16/01/2023

One thing that caught the eyes of fans was that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are not in the T20I team for the New Zealand series. This is the third consecutive series for India in the shortest format that the current captain and former skipper have not been picked for.

While the BCCI made it clear that KL Rahul and Axar Patel were missing the series due to family commitments, there was no statement on Kohli and Rohit's absence.

Many fans have taken this as a hint from the Indian cricket governing body that the duo have been dropped and not in India's future plans for the shortest format. In fact, there has been radio silence from the BCCI on the official front about whether the legendary duo have a place in India's plans going into the 2024 T20 World Cup.

16/01/2023

A Twitter user questioned actor Mehwish Hayat’s work ethic and commented on how he thinks that she has used political leaders as pawns for her gain in the industry and she is not staying quiet about it.

The tweet was in the context of the recent controversy regarding allegations levelled against female actors having intimate relationships with ex-army officers. It was under Hayat’s post on the bird-app about taking legal action against all false allegations maligning her name and character.

“It’s true our actresses get awards and roles because of having affairs with elite and high-class people or institutes. Why act all pure now? Just accept it and move on,” wrote the user. In 2019, Hayat received the prestigious national award Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for her services in promoting Pakistani cinema by President Arif Alvi.

Replying to it, Hayat requested the user to remove the tweet immediately or she’d take legal action. “This post falls under the Sindh High Court rulings yesterday of harassment/defamation. Unless it is immediately removed, we will be reporting your account to the necessary authorities for appropriate legal action,” she wrote.

15/01/2023

Despite the government’s announcements claiming it has made enough arrangements for foreign exchange, the fear of a shortage of essential items looms over the country as export issues continue to aggregate.
“A dire dollar crunch is likely, which may also hurt the import of essential items in the coming months and lead to a shortage of several food items, healthcare supplies and even petroleum oil and lubricants (POL) products,” according to a research report released by Ta**us Securities
A shortage of raw material, and other supplies, is affecting large-scale industrial activities, resulting in non-production days as well as a substantial hike in product prices. This includes major industries like automobile, steel and textile.
According to the report, passenger car sales are down 38% year-on-year during the first six months of FY 2023, whereas, both long and flat, steel manufacturers have increased product prices by around Rs23,000 per tonne and Rs14,000 per tonne, respectively, in one month alone. Although the government has assured the public of a sufficient stock of wheat in the country, hoarding and smuggling have been affecting its supply causing a spike in the price for the commodity. Additionally, banks are hesitant to open letters of credit (LCs) for the oil and gas industry, which may result in a shortage of POL products.

15/01/2023

Pakistani athlete Arshad Nadeem who won a gold-medal in Javelin throw, celebrates his 26th birthday.

15/01/2023

Qasim Ali Shah, a known face for youth, recently shared a clip on his social media interviewing former premier Imran Khan in the provincial capital.

In the clip doing rounds on the internet, Qasim Ali Shah can be seen expressing his desire to contest the upcoming elections. When Shah asked Imran Khan about getting a ticket for upcoming elections, PTI chief responded positively, saying It will be your call to choose the constituency.

15/01/2023

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday announced that fuel prices would remain the same for the next fortnight which ends on January 31.

“We are not changing the prices. The price of petrol will remain at Rs214.80, diesel will remain at Rs227.80, price of kerosene oil to remain at Rs171.83 while light diesel oil will remain at Rs169,” he said during a televised address.

Earlier this month, the government announced to maintain the prices of petroleum products at current levels to provide some relief to the masses.

15/01/2023

Sri Lanka will drastically slash its military, the Ministry of Defence has announced, as the country tries to cut costs in the face of its worst economic crisis in decades.

The bankrupt nation will cut the number of army personnel by a third to 135,000 by next year and 100,000 by 2030, the state minister of defence said on Friday as the government works to overhaul its finances.

The island nation of 22 million people is reeling from months of food and fuel shortages and spiralling inflation. The government cut back on expenditures after the country slid into a deep economic crisis last year when its foreign exchange reserves dried up.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has hiked taxes and imposed harsh spending cuts to smooth the approval of an expected International Monetary Fund bailout following a government debt default.

15/01/2023

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said that it really embarrassed him to ask for further loans and also lauded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the financial support
Addressing the passing out ceremony of probationary officers of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), he opined that it was a not a right solution to their economic challenges as the loans would be returned back.
H urged the civil servants to serve the country and nation with their utmost capacities and expressed the hope that they were capable of steering the country out of the current challenges.
The prime minister reminded them that they would be confronted with issues like unemployment, poverty, disease, lack of education and delayed response to public problems.

15/01/2023

An aircraft with 72 people on board crashed in Nepal on Sunday, Yeti Airlines and a local official said.

“There are 68 passengers on board and four crew members… Rescue is underway, we don’t know right now if there are survivors,” the airline’s spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula told AFP.

He said the plane crashed between the old and new Pokhara airports in central Nepal.

The wreckage was on fire, and rescue workers were trying to put out the blaze, said local official Gurudutta Dhakal.

14/01/2023

Only in the past two years has the U.S. fully grasped that semiconductors are now as central to modern economies as oil.

In the digitizing world, power tools commonly come with Bluetooth chips that track their locations. Appliances have added chips to manage electricity use. In 2021, the average car contained about 1,200 chips worth $600, twice as many as in 2010.

The supply-chain crunch that created a chip shortage brought the lesson home. Auto makers lost $210 billion of sales last year because of missing chips, according to consulting firm AlixPartners. Competition with China has stoked concerns that it could dominate key chip sectors for either civilian or military uses, or even block U.S. access to components.

Now the US government and companies are spending billions on a frenetic effort to build up domestic manufacturing and safeguard the supply of chips. Since 2020, semiconductor companies have proposed more than 40 projects across the country worth nearly $200 billion that would create 40,000 jobs, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

14/01/2023

A local court on Saturday approved a two-day physical remand of journalist Shahid Aslam, who was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) earlier in the day for his purported part in the leaks of former army chief General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa’s personal tax data.

In November 2022, the tax information of Gen (retd) Bajwa’s family was leaked. The image of the tax returns was taken from a deputy commissioner’s computer.

14/01/2023

China said almost 60,000 people died at medical institutions from Covid-related causes since early December.

A total of 59,938 deaths were reported at hospitals across the country between Dec. 8 and Jan. 12 linked to Covid-19, according to the National Health Commission on Saturday. Of these, 5,503 died from respiratory failure, and 54,435 died from other diseases but were infected with Covid.
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12/07/2022

After a video of journalist Maira Hashmi went viral on social media in which she could be seen slapping a boy during live coverage, netizens wondered what had caused her to react in such an aggressive fashion.

Soon afterwards, speculation regarding the incident ran rife across social media platforms, with netizens showing a mixed reaction.

Responding to all the queries, Hashmi took to her Twitter account and clarified why she had to slap the boy.

In her tweet, Hashmi wrote that while she was conducting an interview on the streets for her show, the boy in question was constantly bothering a family standing there.
"This guy was bothering a family during the interview, which made the family upset. I first tried to nicely tell him that his behaviour was not good, but it fell on deaf ears and he resorted to bothering the family even more. I, therefore, decided that the boy's behaviour should no longer be tolerated," she said.

Reacting to Hashmi's tweet, Twitterati showed a mixed reaction. While many people appreciated her move and opined that the boy "deserved it," others condemned the act and called the journalist out for her "lack of tolerance."

30/06/2022

TikTok, the world's most downloaded app of 2021, has a total of billion-plus global users and is growing daily. With this pace, the tech company is projected to hit a $12 billion mark this year in terms of revenue.
If it’s able to do so, the social media app will be bigger than Twitter and Snapchat combined.

30/06/2022

A record 1,400 foreign mountaineers are slated to summit some of the world’s highest peaks in Pakistan this year, which is a huge jump from the 550 foreign climbers who visited the country for adventure tourism last year.
This number comprises climbers from China, Japan, Europe, (including Norway, Poland, and Russia), the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, who are determined to summit various peaks such as five ‘eight-thousanders’ (mountains above 8,000 m) and 20 ‘seven- and six-thousanders’.
DAWN reported that Gilgit-Baltistan’s (GB) Tourist Department has issued 700 permits to international mountaineers, including the first female Arab climber. Additionally, 40 Pakistani mountaineers, including Sajid Ali Sadpara, Abdul Joshi, Sirbaz Khan, Sheroze Kashif, Samina Baig, and Naila Kiani, are taking up the challenge to scale the peaks this summer.

30/06/2022

The two-day Pakistan Mango Festival 2022 will be held in Dubai on July 1 and 2, where a wide variety of mangoes will be showcased to traders and visitors from different countries.

The first day is an invite-only event, where senior government officials from the UAE and Pakistan, dignitaries, ambassadors, business council members and trade missions will be shown over a dozen popular varieties of Pakistani mangoes; the second day is open to the public.

30/06/2022

Sri Lanka expects to run out of fuel in days, prompting the government to close schools in Colombo and order government employees to work from home, while troops handed tokens to people lining up for petrol to keep their places in the queue.
Sri Lanka is suffering its worst economic crisis in seven decades, with foreign exchange reserves at a record low and the island of 22 million struggling to pay for essential imports of food, medicine and, most critically, fuel.
Industries like garments, a big dollar earner in the Indian Ocean nation, are left with fuel for only about a week to 10 days.

29/06/2022

The Lahore High Court has approved the ruling that any man who marries for the second time without the first wife's consent will face a Rs. 500,000 fine and 6 months in prison.

29/06/2022

Youtube sensation and Agha Khan University student Abdullah Khattak dies in a road accident. He was in AKU Class of 2024. His funeral will be held in Peshawar at night.

29/06/2022

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa hailed the role of armed forces in tackling the national security challenges proficiently.
While addressing the participants, General Bajwa dilated on geostrategic environment, national security challenges and response measures.

29/06/2022

Former Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi on Tuesday was fined for overspeeding on a motorway while travelling to Karachi from Lahore.

The star cricketer was fined Rs1,500 by the motorway police for violating speed limits.

The former captain hailed the motorway police, saying law was equal for all and suggested that the speed limit should be increased over 120 kmph.

“Good to interact with a polite staff at and I found them very professional. Also my humble suggestion we have very good highways, the speed allowed should be more than 120kph!,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.

29/06/2022

According to the sources, Dar is likely to visit Pakistan in the second week of July.
They further stated that Dar will first take oath as a Senator after which he will take charge as the finance minister. The post is currently being held by Miftah Ismail.
In January, Dar was reinstated to the Senate by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
"In pursuant to the order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan dated December 21, 2021 in Civil Appeal No.352 of 2018 [...] the Election Commission of Pakistan hereby recalls the notification dated June 29, 2018 and the notification of even number dated March 9, 2018, to the extent of Mohammad Ishaq Dar, as returned candidate, is hereby restored," an official notification had read.

29/06/2022

According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan, the IT exports in Pakistan saw a sharp decline of 27% in May 2022 as compared to April 2022.

28/06/2022

According to figures shared by the State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan's Current Account Deficit has increased from $618M million in April 2022 to $1425 million in May 2022, recording a sharp 131% rise.

28/06/2022

The Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) collected a tax of Rs 6 trillion in the fiscal year 2021-22, exceeding the target of Rs5.8 trillion.
According to details, a total of Rs 6 trillion in tax was collected in the fiscal year 2021-22, an FBR spokesperson said.
Rs2.2 trillion was collected in income tax, while an amount of Rs2.7 trillion was collected as sales tax in 2021-22.
FBR spokesperson told that a total of Rs1,007 billion were collected in customs duty in 2021-22. While the FBR issued an amount of Rs305 billion in refunds.
Former spokesperson of the finance ministry Muzammil Aslam said that the FBR data is a ‘shut up call’ to all the people who were claiming that the tax collections for the fiscal year 2021-22 would not be met.
The PTI leader took to Twitter and said that income tax increased by 31%, while an increase of 28% was witnessed in sales tax. If the PTI has successfully implemented the Petroleum sales tax, the figure had gone up to Rs6.5 trillion.

28/06/2022

In a tweet, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif congratulated COAS General Bajwa on getting King AbdulAziz Medal from Saudi Arabia. He further added "We consider the security of Saudi Arabia as our own and are completely resolved to further cementing our multifaceted bilateral relationship including excellent defence cooperation."

27/06/2022

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday urged the Canadian government to take notice of the irresponsible statement of a Canadian parliamentarian against Pakistan and its institutions, Radio Pakistan reported.
He made these remarks during the National Assembly session that resumed at the Parliament House in Islamabad earlier today.
The minister said Canadian lawmaker Tom Kmiec targeted Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and talked about Pakistan's internal situation.

24/06/2022

Karachi has been named among the world’s worst cities to live in, according to an annual report released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on Thursday.
The EIU’s index rates living conditions in 172 cities based on more than 30 factors. These are grouped into five categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.
This is the second year in which the index incorporates indicators related to Covid-19; these assess how each city has coped with increased demand for healthcare facilities and with closures or capacity limits for schools, restaurants and cultural venues.
Karachi has been ranked 168 in the least liveable cities index, only managing to fare better than Algiers, Tripoli, Lagos, and Damascus.
Meanwhile, the Austrian capital Vienna has made a comeback as the world's most liveable city.

24/06/2022

According to a recent letter written by the Executive Director (ED) of HEC, Dr. Shaista Sohail, to all Vice-Chancellors and Rectors of public and private universities, the HEC has proposed to increase the consumption of locally manufactured traditional drinks such ‘Lassi’ and ‘Sattu.’

It will create employment opportunities and generate income for the people involved in this business, the letter added.

The HEC has further proposed to promote the production of tea at a local level. It will significantly cut the expenditure on tea in the national import bill.

24/06/2022

PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja while talking to the media said that every PSL franchise playing the 7th edition of the tournament earned 81 crores in profits.

24/06/2022

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) crashed on Friday minutes after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a 10 per cent tax on large-scale industries.

The bourse stayed flat until two hours after the opening bell. However, at 11:40am, the market witnessed a steep dip with the KSE-100 losing 1,598 points and sinking to 41,100. At 12pm, the benchmark KSE-100 index was down 2,053 points or 4.8pc.

As per the PSX Rulebook, if the index goes five per cent above or below its last close and stays there for five minutes, trading in all securities is halted for a specified period.

24/06/2022

23/06/2022

According to official statistics shared by the State Bank of Pakistan, the foreign reserves dropped $748 million in one week to $8.2 billion. The rupee has been in a free fall since March when reserves were at $16.4 billions.