PM Imran Khan welcomes foreign investment worth $85m in Airlift

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Prime Minister Imran Khan welcomed  a recent investment worth $85 million by the world’s leading Venture Capitals (VCs) in a Pakistani tech start-up, Airlift. “We welcome the recent investment of 85 million USD by leading VCs of the world in Airlift, a company led by young Pakistanis,” the premier wrote on Twitter.

He said Pakistan had huge potential as the country is open for business. The premier expressed the government’s commitment to create opportunities for foreign investors. “My government is fully committed to creating opportunities,” the prime minister said.

Airlift, a Lahore-based online shopping delivery service, has raised $85 million in Series B financing, the largest single private funding round in Pakistan’s history. The financing is about twice the size of the largest private company IPO in the country’s history and the highest in the Middle East and North Africa region.

A pioneer in the recent wave of technology businesses, Airlift Technologies was started in Pakistan by local entrepreneurs for local populations in the recent wave of technology businesses.

Airlift operates a quick commerce service in eight cities including Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad in Pakistan. Users can order groceries, fresh produce, other essential items including medicines as well as sports goods from the Airlift website or app and have the items delivered to them in 30 minutes.

 

New helpline launched for dairy farmers.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

A new helpline has been launched for dairy farmers in Sahiwal to facilitate and provide them with a touchpoint for answering queries pertaining to dairy-related matters. According to a statement issued by FrieslandCampina Engro Pakistan Limited (FCEPL), the Farmer Helpline (03041111804) was inaugurated on Friday.

The helpline will be operational from Monday to Friday, from noon till 2pm and it will be managed by dairy experts available to guide existing and potential dairy farmers in pursuit of business excellence.

While inaugurating the helpline, Commissioner Sahiwal Division Ali Bahadur Qazi, who was also the chief guest of the ceremony, said that Pakistan is the fourth largest milk producer in the world, therefore, there is an utmost need for an ever-increasing number of dairy farmers to be educated in terms following the industry’s standard operating procedures (SOPs).

“Farmers must be able to maximise yield so that the dairy sector’s contribution to the economy is enhanced,” he said. “As a result of this, we will eventually be able to export our dairy produce and bolster the national exchequer.”

“We are certain that more farmers will be inducted in a formal dairy net across the country which will have a significant impact on the economy at large.”

Head of Agri-Business at Friesland Campina Engro Pakistan Limited Sohail Sawwar said that the helpline has been established considering the need of our dairy farmers and is now operational on a national level with experts well-versed in local languages, other than Urdu, to guide them.

“The company brings 150 years of world-class dairy knowledge that its dedicated team of professionals is facilitating the dairy farmers with, especially those who are unable to commute and don’t have access to the right expertise and training; the ‘Farmer Helpline’ has thus been launched keeping these factors in mind,” he said.

Friesland Campina Engro Pakistan Limited (previously known as Engro Foods Ltd) is a Pakistani dairy company that is a subsidiary of the Dutch multinational corporative FrieslandCampina. The company operates two processing plants in Sukkur and Sahiwal, with its head office based in Karachi, Pakistan.

 

WhatsApp launching public beta programme for web version

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

WhatsApp is working to improve support on multi-device for WhatsApp Web/Desktop, the company is also launching a public beta programme to get feedback. The WhatsApp Web’s public beta programme will allow users to test new features. Users can join the beta programme by installing the WhatsApp beta version, available both for Windows and macOS.

As a beta tester, users will receive all beta updates automatically, removing the need to manually reinstall the app every time there is a new update. The most updated beta is 2.2133.1 now.

The beta testers will be able to test new experiences while recording voice messages, for instance, the possibility to listen to the voice messages before sending them. The feature is already under development on WhatsApp for Android and iOS.

Sania Mirza highlights shrinking social circles during pandemic .

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Apart from her fame for being an international tennis star and Pakistan’s bhabi, Sania Mirza is quite well-known for being an active Instagram user with some very interesting posts.

In her latest Instagram activity, Mirza has come up with another cute video, again with two superhero toys, but this time representing how limited one’s social circle can be during the pandemic.

The video, bearing a caption, ‘When this is your only social circle’, features Mirza dressed in her PJs and lip-syncing to a Bollywood song, depicting the perfect lazy weekend at home.

Akshay Kumar’s BellBottom banned in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

BellBottom, an action thriller starring Akshay Kumar, has been banned from release in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait due to content “not fit for exhibition”.

“Although the film is inspired by a true event, it is not the replication of actual happenings,” a disclaimer states in the trailer.

BellBottom is inspired by the hijackings of Indian Airlines flights in the 1980s during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as prime minister.

Film shows Indian officials and Akshay Kumar’s character, an Indian agent by the code name Bell Bottom, as the hero of the entire episode.

Lara Dutta plays Indira Gandhi and her transformation had left fans and followers surprised. Vaani Kapoor and Huma Qureshi are part of the cast too. BellBottom was released on August 19, 2021.

“The second half of BellBottom shows the hijackers taking the aircraft to Dubai from Lahore. As per the actual incident that took place in 1984, UAE Defence Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, had personally handled the situation and it was the UAE authorities who had nabbed the hijackers.”

In the film, the UAE defence minister is shown to have been kept in the dark by Indian officials.“So there’s a strong possibility that the Censor Board in the Middle Eastern countries have taken objection to it and hence banned it,” the source said.

Fawad’s century, Shaheen’s early wickets put Pakistan on top.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-DESK)

Fawad Alam registered his fifth century while Shaheen Shah bagged early scalps to put Pakistan on top at stumps on day three of the rain-affected second Test of the two-match series against the West Indies on Sunday.

The hosts were teetering at 39/3 after Pakistan declared their first innings on 302 for nine with Fawad staying unbeaten on 124.

The 35-year-old Fawad returned to the crease to complete his fifth Test century, becoming the quickest Asian to score the aforementioned centuries. He reached to landmark in just 22 innings, breaking India’s Cheteshwar Pujara (24 innings) record.

When play did begin before lunch with Pakistan at 212 for four, only eight balls were bowled before the action was again halted as Jason Holder, who was operating from that troublesome southern end, and other West Indies bowlers highlighted their continuing concerns about the soft conditions underfoot.

When play finally commenced in the heat of the afternoon, Pakistan’s overnight pair of Mohammad Rizwan and Faheem Ashraf struggled to get going and the arrival of Jayden Seales and the second new ball started a clatter of wickets.

Seales trapped Faheem leg-before for 26. Then Holder grabbed two in two balls, earning an LBW verdict against Rizwan (31) before new man Nauman Ali edged a lifting delivery for wicketkeeper Joshua da Silva to take a good catch high to his left.

Fawad remained not out on 124 off 213 balls while skipper Babar Azam was the other notable run-getter, scoring 75 on Day one. Roach and Seales took three wickets each for hosts while Holder bagged two. Pakistan were provided early breakthroughs by spearhead Shaheen as he removed openers Kieran Powell and skipper Kraigg Brathwaite for just nine.

Powell (5) was trapped in front while Brathwaite (4) received a peach of a delivery, resulting in stumps flying behind. Close to the stumps, Faheem clean bowled Rostan Chase (10). Nkrumah Bonner (18*) and night watchman Alzari Jospeh (0) batted till the stumps with West Indies trailing by 263 runs.

Pakistan’s Syed Emad wins World Youth Scrabble Championship second time.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan’s Syed Emad Ali has made history today by winning the World Youth Scrabble Championship, becoming the only player to win the title twice. Emad Ali in the finals defeated his opponents in nine out of thirteen games while Pakistan’s Hisham Hadi Khan finished 7th after winning seven games.

Pakistan hosted the event for the second time in a row as the COVID-19 pandemic brought the championship online. The finals of the championship lasted two days in which the top 10 players played 13 games each. The Pakistani team finished first in the championship.

Syed Emad Ali became the World Youth Scrabble Champion again after previously winning the championship in Dubai in 2018. With his second win, Emad Ali has also become the first player in the world to win the title twice.

Syed Emad Ali has been regarded as the most successful scrabble player in Pakistan, with three world titles. He won the World Youth Scrabble Championship twice and the Junior World Championship once.

WHO looking for ‘greatest scientific minds’

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

The World Health Organization (WHO) have announced it was looking for the greatest scientific minds to advise on investigations into new high-threat pathogens that jump from animals to humans and could spark the next pandemic.

Launching a request for applications, it said that its Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens would also review progress on the next studies into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that emerged in China in late 2019.

“We need to bring in the best minds here. And it needs to be multi-disciplinary,” Maria van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, told Reuters.

The panel, announced by WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in July, will be composed of 25 experts expected to meet first virtually in late September, a statement said.

“In the last 20 years we’ve had many of these pathogens emerge or re-emerge: SARS, MERS, different avian influenzas, Zika, yellow fever and of course SARS-CoV-2,” van Kerkhove said.

Van Kerkhove, an American epidemiologist and WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, recalled that it took more than a year to establish that dromedary camels were the intermediary source of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) carried by bats.

The new group would draw up a global framework for studies into animals, humans, food, the environment, biosafety and protocols for lab audits when new pathogens emerge, she said.

“Given the geopolitics of all of this, we want to make sure that we have a very solid technical and scientific framework… for the next time, because there will be a next time,” she said.

A WHO-led team of experts spent four weeks in and around the central city of Wuhan with Chinese scientists and said in a joint report in March that the SARS-CoV-2 virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another animal but that further research was needed.

 

Angelina Jolie condemns US for its ‘betrayal and failure’.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Angelina Jolie strongly condemned the United States for its “betrayal and failure” in Afghanistan as Taliban regained control.

Writing for Time, the 46-year-old actress and humanitarian worried for the people of Afghanistan after America “lacked the will” to plan this transition in a managed way. The recipient of numerous accolades said she is ‘ashamed’ to be American after their withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“Giving up the idea of a peace agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban, appearing to cut and run, and abandoning our allies and supporters in the most chaotic way imaginable, after so many years of effort and sacrifice, is a betrayal and a failure impossible to fully understand,” she wrote.

Jolie penned: “…After all the bloodshed and effort and sacrifice and time, America seems to have lacked the will to plan this transition in a managed way. It was never going to be easy or perfect but could have been better, more decent and safer.”

Angelina Jolie, who recently posted letter by an Afghan girl, shared her thoughts on Taliban’s rapid advance across the country after foreign forces announced their withdrawal.

COAS Gen Qamar javed Bajwa attends funeral of Captain Kashif Shaheed.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-DesK)

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Sunday attended the funeral prayers of the martyred soldier, identified as Captain Kashif Shaheed, in Rawalpindi, a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations said.

Per the military’s media wing, Captain Kashif had embraced martyrdom last night when a security forces vehicle struck an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by terrorists in the Tobo area of Gichik in Balochistan.  During the incident, two soldiers had sustained injuries, the statement said, adding that the injured soldiers have been evacuated to a medical facility in Khuzdar.

Aside from the COAS, several other senior military officials, people from various walks of life, and relatives of the martyr offered the namaz-e-janaza. Captain Kashif shaheed has been buried will full military honour, the statement added.