Author: Ali Qasim

PAK President, PM and the Army Chief congratulated the Pakistan cricket team

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Political leaders, including President Arif Ali, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, have congratulated the national team on historic win and defeating India.

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa Sunday congratulated the Pakistan cricket team over their convincing victory by 10 wickets against India in the Twenty20 World Cup match, ARY NEWS reported quoting Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).

According to the ISPR, COAS General Qamar Bajwa congratulated Pakistan cricket team for outstanding performance and comprehensive win against India in ICC T20 World Cup match.

“Pakistan Cricket Team has made us all proud” the army chief was quoted as saying by the military’s media wing.

Prime Minister Imran Khan also witnessed a stunning victory of Pakistan against India in the Twenty20 World Cup during his visit to Saudi Arabia along with members of the federal cabinet.

The prime minister congratulated the Pakistan team and especially to Babar Azam who led from the front, as well as to the brilliant performances of Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi.

“The nation is proud of you all,” he said in a message from his Twitter handle.

The scenes of the prime minister witnessing the victory of the national cricket team were shared by Hammad Azhar from his Twitter handle.

 

Pakistan change history, beat India in a world cup match for the first time

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan registered a historic 10-wicket win against arch-rivals India in the T20 World Cup group stage fixture at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

It is the first time that Pakistan has beaten India in a world cup match. Babar Azam won the toss and invited India to take guard.

India made 151 at the loss of seven wickets with captain Virat Kohli being the top scorer with 57 runs from 49 balls after hitting five fours and a six. He was supported by wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant who made 30-ball 39 with two boundaries and two sixes to his name.

Shaheen Shah Afridi was the pick of the bowlers as he got three wickets including that of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.

Pakistan dismantled the Indian bowlers with openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan scoring unbeaten half-centuries and put on a 152-run winning partnership. Vice-captain Mohammad Rizwan was the top scorer with 79 from 55 balls after hitting six fours and three sixes.

The skipper made 52-ball 68 with six fours and two maximums to his name.“We’ll look to take early wickets and put pressure,” Babar had said at a noisy stadium filled with fans of both the teams.

“We have had good practice sessions and I am confident about our preparations. Pakistan’s bowlers are known to trouble other teams but I am confident about our batting too.”

Senior all-rounder Shoaib Malik was included in the team for the match, which both teams’ first of the tournament.

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Number of 3G, 4G users reaches 104.71m.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

The number of 3G and 4G users in Pakistan reached 104.71 million by end September 2021 compared to 103.12 million by end August 2021, registering an increase of 1.59 million, revealed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data.

The number of cellular subscribers in Pakistan increased by 0.82 million to 186.39 million by end September 2021 compared to 185.57 million by end August 2021.

Teledensity for cellular mobile increased from 84.67 percent by end August to 85.01 percent by end September. The total teledensity increased from 85.81 percent by end August to 86.15 percent by end September.

The Monthly Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) penetration stood at 47.47 percent by end September 2021 compared to 47.05 percent by end August 2021. Jazz’s total count for 3G users stood at 7.261 million by end September 2021 compared to 7.438 million by end August, registering a decrease of 0.177 million. Jazz 4G user numbers jumped from 32.767 million by end August to 33.676 million by end September.

Zong 3G subscribers decreased from 4.046 million by end August to 3.956 million by end September, while the number of 4G users jumped from 24.099 million by end August to 24.813 million by end September.

The number of 3G users of Telenor decreased from 4.777 million by end August to 4.575 million. The number of 4G users jumped from 18.333 million by end August to 18.767 million by end September.

Ufone 3G users decreased from 4.292 million by end August to 4.212 million by end September.The number of 4G users of Ufone increased from 6.246 million by end August to 6.324 million by end September.

The PTA received 16,366 complaints from telecom consumers against various telecom operators, including (cellular operators, the PTCL, LDIs, WLL operators, and ISPs) as of September 2021. The PTA said that it was able to get 15,873 complaints resolved, i.e. 97 percent.

According to the PTA data, Jazz leads the chart with 6,893 complaints and Telenor at the second position as the most complained telecom operator with 4,077.

Cellular mobile subscribers constitute a major part of the overall telecom subscriber base. Therefore, the maximum number of complaints belongs to this segment. The total number of complaints against CMOs by July stood at 15,244.

In terms of the segregation of complaints on an operator basis, Jazz stood first with 6,893complaints, i.e.45.21 percent of total complaints. A total of 4,077 complaints were received against Telenor, which is 26.74 percent of the total CMO-related complaints. Zong was third with 3,066 i.e. 20.11 percent of the total complaints were received against it.

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Apple tops list of world’s best global brands for ninth year in a row

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Interbrand, a New York-based management consulting company, on Thursday (October 21) announced its best global brands ranking for 2021. iPhone maker Apple, valued at $408,251 billion, retained the top spot in the ranking for the ninth consecutive year, while electric vehicle maker Tesla, was the highest gainer in the list with 184% jump in its brand value to $36,270 million. 

Despite this jump in brand value Tesla failed to occupy a spot in the top 10. Tesla’s ranking jumped to 14th place, up 24 places from 42nd last year. E-commerce giant Amazon occupied the second spot in the list with a brand value of $249,249 million. While Apple’s brand value jumped by 26% year-on-year, Amazon’s brand value increased by 24%. 

Microsoft, which occupied the third spot in the list, witnessed 27% jump in its brand value at $210,191 million. Google and Samsung occupied the fourth and fifth spot in the list respectively with brand values of $196,811 million and $74,635 million respectively. Coca-Cola #6 ($57,488 million), Toyota #7 ($54,107 million), Mercedes-Benz #8 ($50,866 million), McDonald’s #9 ($45,865 million) and Disney #10 ($44,183 million) were the other brands, that occupied a spot in the top 10.

Sephora, ranked 100th, is the only new entrant to the rankings this year, but its addition makes LVMH Group the biggest group entity in the table. LVMH group is the first to have five brands in the Best Global Brands table – Sephora, Louis Vuitton (13), Dior (77), Tiffany & Co. (92) and Hennessy (95).

The combined value of the top 100 brands increased from $2,326,491 million in 2020 to $2,667,524 million in 2021 – a jump of nearly 15%. The average brand value increase in 2021 is 10%, significantly larger than the 1.3% in 2020, owed largely to the economic disruption caused by Covid-19. Technology is the fastest growing sector, with an average brand value change of 23% year-on-year. It is also the most valuable sector by average brand value, followed by beverages and sporting goods.

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Pakistan look to end losing streak against India in blockbuster T20 World Cup clash today

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Former champions India and Pakistan will face off today (Sunday) in a T20 World Cup blockbuster in Dubai and the buzz around the game underlines the enduring appeal of the match-up between the sub-continent’s feuding neighbours.

India captain Virat Kohli and Pakistan counterpart Babar Azam have called it just another game, but that is clearly not the case.

The match will start at 7:00pm (PST).

The nuclear-armed neighbours have gone to war three times since gaining independence from British colonial rule in the mid-20th century and remain at loggerheads over Kashmir.

India last hosted Pakistan in a bilateral series in 2013 and the teams now meet only in global tournaments, the last being the 2019 ODI World Cup in England.

“I was involved in the games in 2014 and 2016. If you ask me, as a player, it was always a high-pressure game,” former India player Suresh Raina wrote for the International Cricket Council (ICC) website on Saturday.

“In the build-up, everyone is just telling you how big it is.”

“The fans have enjoyed this rivalry over the years and it is cricket at its best.”

The 17,500 tickets for the game were sold out hours after being put on sale and television channels in both countries are running special shows on the match.

“My inbox is flooded with requests for match passes,” Dubai businessman Anis Sajan, who owned a franchise in United Arab Emirates’ domestic T10 tournament led by England captain Eoin Morgan, told Reuters. “I’d say an India-Pakistan match is bigger than the Ashes.

“It may have become one-sided of late but emotions run high,” Sajan, vice president of the Dubai-based Danube Group, said referring to India’s 12-0 record against Pakistan in cricket World Cups.

Official broadcaster Star India, which has lined up an impressive array of sponsors for the tournament, acknowledges the commercial significance of Sunday’s match.

“The India-Pakistan clash is one of the biggest matchups in the world of sports,” Sanjog Gupta, Head of Sports at Star and Disney India, said in a statement.

“The clash at an ICC event attracts core and casual cricket fans as well as viewers who don’t watch any other cricket.”

For the first time in Pakistan, marketplace and retail platform Daraz is live-streaming the World Cup on its digital platform and the response has been overwhelming.

“We have seen a massive surge in installs and daily active users on our platform,” its managing director, Ehsan Saya, told Reuters.

“We are super excited to bring free streaming to Pakistanis and are confident our team will play their hearts out for our country.”

The timing of the game poses a dilemma for fans like Debasish Sarkar who does not want to miss Sunday’s other showdown between two arch-rivals, Manchester United and Liverpool in soccer’s Premier League.

“It’s a tricky choice for someone like me who’s equally mad about cricket and the Premier League,” Sarkar, a manager with a global cyber security software company, said from Kolkata.

“I’ll most probably have the India-Pakistan match on television and follow football on my mobile. I can’t afford to miss either.”

Babar Azam-led squad look to break World Cup jinx against India

The Pakistani team will look to end their losing streak against India at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup when the two rivals begin their title race in a Sunday blockbuster.

India have beaten Pakistan in all of their 12 matches at the T20 and 50-over World Cups.

However, Pakistan come into the Super 12s contest with 10 wins in a row in the UAE and former Pakistan all-rounder Mudassar Nazar believes the team has struck the right balance to challenge Virat Kohli’s India.

“A week ago I had apprehensions about the team but now they have made certain changes and they look a decent, well-balanced side now,” Nazar had told AFP earlier.

“Pakistan stand a very good chance as they have experienced players who have played a lot against India. India start as favourites and they have all the areas covered but in T20 anybody could beat anybody on their day.”

Azam, who is in top form with two T20 centuries this year, believes his team can break the World Cup jinx.

“Definitely we have played a lot of cricket in the UAE,” Babar had said when asked about his team’s dismal 0-5 record against India in T20 World Cup clashes.

“These conditions suit us and we know how to play here. We need to keep things simple in all the departments.”

The two teams last met in the 2019 ODI World Cup in England as India only plays Pakistan in multi-nation events after cutting off bilateral cricket ties with their neighbours following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Pakistan’s team

Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shahdab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and Haider Ali.

Sunny Leone dubs dating Russell Peters the ‘biggest mistake of my life’

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Sunny Leone is touching on her past relationship with famous Canadian comedian Russell Peters.

Speaking in a recent episode of Mic Stand season two, Sunny revealed that she dated Peters for a very short span of time. 

“I dated a comedian but it was like, for a hot second. It wasn’t for a very long time,” she said.

“We messed it up. I mean, we were friends for years, why the hell would we start dating? It was the worst thing ever that we could have ever done and I am still mad to this day, because we would be such good friends still,” she added.

The host then asked Sunny if Peters has ever referred to her in his jokes. “I have heard that I am in a couple of his jokes,” replied Sunny.

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Engin Altan’s wife Neslisah praises him for drama serial ‘Barbaroslar’

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Turkish superstar Engin Altan Duzyatan’s wife Neslisah Alkoclar heaped praises on her husband for his stellar performance in the latest drama serial Barbaroslar, saying she is so ‘proud’ of him.

Sharing a sweet photo of their hands in her Instagram Stories, Neslisah said “So proud of you @enginaltandzytn”.

She also showered love on Engin with a heart emoticon.

Earlier, Neslisah posted video clips recorded from their TV screen and admired her husband for his performance in the Barbaroslar.

She also liked Engin’s new look from the drama serial.

Engin Altan, who essays titular role in Dirilis: Ertugrul, is currently seen in another historical drama serial Barbaroslar in which he also plays the lead role.

He also took to Instagram and shared a behind-the-scene photo from the sets of Barbaroslar.

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Aditya Chopra announces Broadway debut with ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayege’

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Yash Raj Films owner, filmmaker Aditya Chopra, is all set to take Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge to Broadway musical.

Almost after 26 years when the movie first hit the theaters, Chopra has expressed his ambition to make it on to a musical.

In a statement written to the media, Chopra announced how “terribly nervous and incredibly excited” he is about the next project. “I feel like 23 again,” he wrote in his note.

Chopra continued, “I’m a hardcore cinema guy, I have never done theatre in my life and here I am trying to pull off the craziest ambition of my life.” 

DDLJ is one of the films that have defined Bollywood romance over the years. The movie released on October 20, 1995 and starred actors including Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol.

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Moammar Rana shares rare photo with Salman Khan before India-Pakistan match

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Actor Moammar Rana is sharing a never-before-seen photo with Indian superstar Salman Khan. Turning to his Instagram, the Toofan star shared a photo of himself hugging Bollywood’s bhai. The duo was also seen sharing a laugh together.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVVLaC0IWXG/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=d562ef08-5500-421e-b640-56b464efc328

“Bhai ajj dono hass lete hein phir InshaAllah 25 ko milte hein ( Bhai let’s both laugh today then InshaAllah we’ll meet on the 25th,” quipped Moamar Rana in the caption.

Moammar’s post comes ahead of Pakistan’s T20 World Cup 2021 clash with India in Dubai this Sunday.

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RE-IMAGINING CURRICULUM IN PAKISTAN discussed in Thaap Talk.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

LAHORE (NUT-DESK)

THAAP held a enlightening talk, in collaboration with Bazm-e-Alam, on RE-IMAGINING CURRICULUM IN PAKISTAN at Thaap secreteriat Gulberg Lahore. Speaking on the occasion Professor Dr Waseem Anwar, a person of vast teaching experience who spent long years at the FC College and FC University and is currently at the Kinnaird College for Women, emphasized the need for a fresh and unbiased look at Curriculum to be taught in Pakistan. In his opinion the curriculum has to have a humanistic base; it must be pluralistic and must be honestly implemented.

Dr Farooq Bajwa, Lawyer and Policy Planner, with a deep interest in the promotion of Punjabi emphasized the need to introduce education at all levels, in particular the Primary level in the mother tongue of the student. He informed the audience that all evidence shows that students learn and comprehend best in the language that they are most familiar with, which is the Mother Tongue. He gave the example of Patiala University where all subjects were taught in Punjabi.

Ms Baela Jamil, the CEO of Idara-e-Taleem o Aagahi(ITA) mentioned the issue of curriculum which lies at the heart of any education program of a country. Dr Baela Jamil has extensive experience in education delivery and management. She emphasized that every child is an individual and the attempts to make all students into a uniform mold is not desirable and even harmful for the children. She said we have inherited confusion and continue to live that state.

Mr Waqas Halim an expert in technology of education delivery elaborated on how technology is making delivery of education easier and faster. He said he felt optimistic because of the avenues being opened up by technology.

The session was moderated by Dr Hasnain Javed, who made very pertinent remarks and comments.

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