Author: Ali Qasim

Pakistan records highest daily COVID-19 cases in more than three months

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan has recorded the highest number of coronavirus infections — 2,074 — in the last 24 hours since September 24, 2021, more than three months ago, the National Command and Operations Centre’s (NCOC) data showed Wednesday morning.

Following the detection of new cases, the positivity ratio has reached 4.70% and overall infections have jumped past 1.309 million, while the recovery ratio stands at 96.2% as 1.26 million people have recovered from the virus.

Pakistan also registered 13 deaths in the last 24 hours, the highest since December 15, 2021, pushing the death toll to 28,987, official figures showed.

The country’s partial vaccinations, as of Tuesday, moved up to 163.65 million after 811,901 more people received the jab, according to the NCOC.

Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, Karachi’s coronavirus positivity ratio has moved past 20.22%, with the Sindh Health Department mulling over a 14-day “special vaccination programme” in several cities of Sindh.

Despite rising cases, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said a day earlier Pakistan would not go another lockdown and dismissed reports of schools’ closure.

The information minister, addressing a post-cabinet press conference, said the federal cabinet was informed that the COVID-19 positivity ratio had doubled in the country.

“But despite this, it is our resolve that we absolutely not impose a lockdown in Pakistan. Our economy cannot bear the burden [of another lockdown],” he said.

The information minister said “an excellent” vaccination campaign was underway and the government had invested $2 billion into the vaccines.

“Pakistan has a success story of dealing with coronavirus. We will not impose a lockdown. We will, however, monitor the situation. We urge everyone to wear masks,” he said.

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50 students of Government College University will do internship under Punjab Police Internship Program. IG Punjab

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Inspector General of Police Punjab Rao Sardar Ali Khan has said that Punjab Police is working with educational institutions to eradicate intolerance in the society and promote community policing.  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Punjab Police and Government College University Lahore was signed by IG Punjab and Vice Chancellor Government College University. Under the MOU, 50 students of Government College University will do internship in Punjab Police Internship Program.  Rao Sardar Ali Khan said that in 10-week internship program, students would be attached in various branches including investigation, operations, legal so that they could complete their research work as well as secure practical experience about police working.  

IG Punjab said that under the MoU, children of police martyrs would be admitted in Government College University on priority basis.  Rao Sardar Ali Khan said that Government College University is my alma mater, a culture of research is being promoted in police with collaboration of educational institutions.  In this regard, opportunity of internship in police offices is being given to students of different universities and educational institutions.   IG Punjab said that earlier, students from LUMS, NUST and Punjab Universities have completed police internship program.  Punjab Police is undertaking MoUs with all major universities of the province in phases.  Students of educational institutions will also be given the opportunity of internship in police offices.  He expressed these views while talking at the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Internship between Punjab Police and Government College University at Central Police here today.   IG Punjab Rao Sardar Ali Khan and Vice Chancellor Government College University Prof. Dr. Asghar Zaidi signed the MoU.

Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chancellor Government College University Prof. Dr. Asghar Zaidi appreciated the sacrifices and services of the Punjab Police.  He said that police officers and officials who protect lives and properties of people are revered by all nation.   Vice Chancellor GC University said that all possible facilities would be provided to the children of Martyred Police in Government College University.  The ceremony was attended by Additional IG Training, DIG Research and Development and AIG Training and R&D while faculty members of Government College University were also present on the occasion.

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Pakistan cricketer Yasir Shah cleared in rape case

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan test cricketer Yasir Shah has been declared innocent in a rape case registered at Islamabad’s Shalimar police station.

According to the police, the cricketer’s name has been dropped from the first information report (FIR) after the complainant admitted that his name was wrongly included in it.

The victim woman said test cricketer Yasir Shah’s name was added to the FIR due to misstatement.

The SHO Shalimar police station said that the cricketer has nothing to do with the assault case.

In December last year, the Islamabad police registered the case against Yasir for his alleged involvement in aiding the rape and harassment of a 14-year-old girl. The complainant alleged that Yasir’s friend, Farhan, raped her at gunpoint and also filmed her obscene video.

“The national cricketer and his friend also threatened her to share the video on social media,” the FIR said.

She claimed that Yasir also warned of embroiling her in a case if she approached the police. The FIR further stated that Yasir also used his influence to coerce the minor to marry his friend, Farhan.

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Aiman Khan stirs controversy with her ‘marriage’ comment

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Actor Aiman Khan has dropped a rather questionable statement while advocating early marriages in her recent interview.

Prominent actor of Pakistan’s drama industry, Aiman Khan has been in the news for the past week over her blunt statements in the latest interview.

After her Internet war with TikToker Jannat Mirza, another statement of Aiman Khan is creating headlines, where the host asked Aiman to comment on “whether all actresses should get married early because of a lack of eligible guys”, to which she replied, “Yes, they should get married. When it is time, get married”.

Aiman further added, “I think the longer you take to get married, it just doesn’t happen then. I mean, there are so many actresses who are still unmarried”.

Earlier this week, a clip from the recent appearance of the ‘Baydardi’ actor on a digital show went viral on social media, which sees the actor voicing a few words of wisdom for the fellow celebs. Though what came as a shocker for the audience was her unapologetic statement for TikTok star, Jannat Mirza to ‘wear less makeup’.

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Pakistani short film “The Painterist” wins the Buddha International Film Festival Award

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan’s short film “The Painterist” was awarded “The Best Experimental Short Film” from the fifth annual Buddha International Film Festival, held in Pune, India. The festival commemorates the universal principles of Gautama Buddha, whose humanitarian message is wisdom, kindness, patience, generosity and compassion.
The film stars Adnan Bashir Khan, Kainat Munir and Aliza Javed. The story of The Painterist is about a poor artist whose paintings being sold by the curator of an art gallery, under a different name. This short film deals with reality of credit-stealing from an artist. The Story is written by Zahid Rai. The Painterist has been produced by Azim Ahmed and directed by Khalid Hasan Khan.

The Painterist is a short experimental film dealing with a concept, which is an unfortunate reality in today’s world; of depriving an author, artist or broadly speaking, the creator from his or her credit and compensation or both, by stealing his or her work. This fictional biopic story is about the life of a fine artist, whose name was Shahid. Being an unknown painter, he had been selling his artwork to a dilettante lady, Tanya, for a fistful of money. One day he comes to know, he was selling his soul! Intellectual piracy is motif of this micro-short film. “The Painterist” acknowledges and appreciates the artistic ardor of those creators who have been ripped off by art-stealing pirates, credit-hijackers in this bandit territory, but their passion is unpoachable.

Khalid Hasan Khan, the filmmaker of The Painterist told that “he coined the word “Painterist” by blending painter with artist; an award from the Buddha International Film Festival is an honor for the Pakistani nation. Our country is the cradle of thousands of years old Buddhist art and culture. The ancient icons of the Gandhara civilization in Peshawar, Swat, and Taxila are part of our glorious cultural legacy”.

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Gamers Galaxy: Pakistan’s Biggest Esports Festival Ends on a High Note

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Gamers Galaxy, Pakistan’s biggest esports festival with a grand prize pool of 20,000,000 Pakistani Rupees, presented by Mountain Dew and organized by Galaxy Racer, concluded after two days of activities, tournaments, meet & greets and panels with the country’s most popular content creators, entertainment and much more.

Held at Pak-China Friendship Centre in Islamabad from Saturday, 8th of January, the all-inclusive esports festival was inaugurated by His Highness, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum of United Arab Emirates (UAE). President Dr. Arif Alvi also virtually graced the occasion with his presence.

The esports festival featured Valorant, HER Galaxy Valorant Spike Rush 2v2, FIFA 22, and Tekken tournaments finals, apart from a spectacular performance by singer Shamoon Ismail.

Organized by Galaxy Racer Pakistan, the festival was supported by Special Technology Zones Authority, as a part of its strategy to drive the development of esports industry in the country.

Mountain Dew Gamers Galaxy Finals commenced on the second day and excited fans gathered to catch Pakistan’s best esports action. Team Exploit Storm took the title of Mountain Dew’s Valorant champion with 2,500,000 Pakistani Rupees, while Salman Haider Syed and Arslan Ash were crowned FIFA 22 and Tekken champions. The former won a cash prize of 500,000 Pakistani Rupees while the later walked away with 600,000 Pakistani Rupees.

16 teams of PUBG Mobile Gamers Galaxy were awarded with 200,000 Pakistani Rupees each for their participation. The finals will be announced next week where the winning team will walk away with a cash prize of 5,000,000 Pakistani Rupees.

Thrilling esports action was on display in the HER Galaxy Valorant Spike Rush 2v2 tournament. Team Joon-He took home Pakistan’s first-ever female esports tournament champion title with a cash prize of 250,000 Pakistani Rupees.

Mountain Dew Gamers Galaxy also welcomed an incredible line-up of popular influencers such as Taimoor “Mooroo” Salauddin, Khaqan Shanawaz, Junaid Akram “Ganjiswag” and gaming star Brownlad who discussed the Path of Content Creation during a panel discussion moderated by Haroon Tahir. While industry experts including Abdul Haseeb Khan aka HSB (Professional Esports Athlete), Khawar Naeem (Country Head Pakistan for Tencent Games), Walid Singer (Chief of Staff for Galaxy Racer) and Hina Nasir (Head of Marketing and PR for Special Technology Zones Authority) discussed the Evolution of Esports. The panel discussions attracted considerable interest from the visitors eager to learn about the future of content creation and esports in Pakistan.

On top of a wide array of activities and open tournaments, the world-renowned toy manufacturer L.O.L. Surprise! was at the festival for its first-ever appearance in Pakistan. Mountain Dew Gamers Galaxy’s closing day was topped off by a spectacular headline performance by singer Shamoon Ismail.

Following the conclusion of Mountain Dew Gamers Galaxy,  Fakhr-e-Alam, Galaxy Racer’s Country CEO and Partner, said: “I am speechless about the huge turnout. I have never witnessed a gaming tournament of this level in Pakistan. The passion of the gamers was exceptional and we wish to continue hosting such events in the future.”

Following the success of Mountain Dew Gamers Galaxy, Galaxy Racer is launching Pakistan’s first professional esports league titled ‘Supreme Galactic League’ which will comprise of 8 teams out of which two were already committed, as announced by Fakhr-e-Alam. He also announced a nationwide inter school and collegiate esports championship titled ‘ Scholars Galaxy’. 

The event was televised in partnership with Ten Sports for the first time in the country’s history and live streamed on https://www.youtube.com/c/GalaxyRacer.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter to know more.

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PM Imran Khan honoured with international sports award

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday was awarded the  “International Sports Personality Award,” at the 11th edition of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Awards ceremony held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

According to The Khaleej Times, the awards were distributed by the Crown Prince of Dubai Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the Chairman of Dubai Sports Council and Mattar Al Tayer Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at the Dubai Exhibition Centre.

It should be noted that PM Imran Khan was announced as a winner back in November 2021 for dedicating his life to sports.

During his illustrious 21-year cricket career, Imran Khan made numerous contributions to Pakistan cricket including leading the green shirts to the 1992 World Cup title.

After making his debut in 1971, he went on to unleash several records, becoming one of the greatest players ever to grace the game.

In his stellar career, Imran represented Pakistan in the 88 Test matches and scored 3807 runs with six centuries as well as took 362 wickets at an average of 22.81.

While in the ODIs, he represented his country in 175 matches and took 182 scalps at an average of 26.61, along with 3,709 under his belt as well.

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Sana Javed, Umair Jaswal receive coveted Golden Visa from the UAE .

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

After Humayun Saeed, celeb couple Sana Javed and Umair Jaswal are the latest Pakistani celebs to receive the coveted Golden Visa from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Sana took to Instagram on Friday to share the news with a snippet from a Khaleej Times article announcing the same. “Thank you, UAE!” she captioned the post.

Talking to City Times, the Khaani star shared her excitement about being honoured by UAE, saying, “We are very thrilled and honoured to get this Golden Visa. We are very grateful to the UAE.”

Her husband, singer-songwriter Umair, also described the honour as “an amazing feeling.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYbxOq5vwB-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

“UAE has always been a second home to us, and we meet so many of our loved ones here, so being honoured with this visa is absolutely fantastic,” he said.

With a golden visa, foreigners can live, work and study in the UAE without the need of a national sponsor and with 100 per cent ownership of their business on the UAE’s mainland.

Other stars who have received the prestigious golden visa include Cristiano Ronaldo, Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty etc.

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Green Line Bus service becomes fully operational

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

The wait is over for Karachiites as the Green Line bus service has become fully operational from today (Monday).

According to details, 80 buses will cover a track of 21 kilometers from 6 in the morning till 10 at night. 22 bus stations have also been completed. The administration of the project said a bus will arrive at the station after every three minutes.

The door of the bus will remain open for the passengers for 20 seconds at every station, the administration added.

The green line bus service will be made fully operational from January 10 and its duration will be from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm.

The bus service will start from KESC Powerhouse Chowrangi in Surjani Town and terminate at Municipal park after passing through Nagan Chowrangi, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad and Gurumandir, with 25 stations along its route. The bus service will cater to 300,000 passengers on a daily basis.

80 buses will be operated by 200 drivers who have completed their training. Around 22 stations between Surjani Town and Numaish Chowrangi have been completed. Another three stations to extend the service to Municipal Park are yet to be constructed.

Ticket prices

The government has yet to announce the ticket prices for the Green Line BRT project. However, according to experts, the government will set Rs15 minimum and Rs55 maximum prices for bus service.

The Green Line project

Karachi’s Green Line BRT project with intersections is 22 km long which includes 12.7 km elevated, 10.9 km at grade, and 422 meters underground, and has 25 stations.

The phase-II common corridor from Gurumandir up to Municipal Park with a length of 2.5 km has two underpasses at M.A Jinnah Road.

The state-of-art underground bus terminal with a parking facility and the commercial mezzanine floor was also constructed at Numaish intersection. The construction work on Phase-I of the project was started in 2016.

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Newlywed Saboor Aly & Ali Ansari dance their heart out at shendi event

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Celebrity couple, Saboor Aly and Ali Ansari officially tied the knot in an intimate wedding ceremony, held on Friday.

The newly wedded couple recently held a fun night, shendi event – a combination of shaadi and mehndi event and enjoyed with their showbiz industry friends and family members.

Pictures and videos form the fun event took the internet by storm, as fans can’t stop gushing over the beautiful couple.

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