KARACHI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has reached Karachi where he was briefed about flood situation in Sindh and Baluchistan and response measures to help flood victims. He will also visit army troops busy in rescue and relief efforts in Sindh and Baluchistan.
In collaboration with the Military Operations Directorate, an Army Flood Relief Centre has been formed at Headquarters Army Air Defence Command, Rawalpindi, to monitor and coordinate National Flood Relief efforts across the country.
Flood Relief Centers are being built throughout the country to help with the gathering, transportation, and distribution of flood relief materials to flood victims in various provinces. Army forces are relocating people to safer areas, offering shelter and meals, and providing medical attention to flood victims.
Bilawal reinforces need for union to overcome challenge
By Our Correspondent
SUKKUR: The Federal government will provide a grant of Rs 15 billion to the Sindh government to overcome the heavy losses of lives and infrastructure in the wake of the massive destruction caused by flash floods, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Friday. Talking to reporters flanked by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and federal ministers including Bilawal Bhutto and Syed Khurshid Shah here at Sukkur Barrage, the Prime Minister said the situation demanded rising above politics and helping the flood victims overcome their miseries.
PM Sharif, who earlier took an aerial view of the inundated areas of Sukkur, Rohri, Khairpur, Faiz Ganj, Kot Diji, and Thari Mir Wah, expressed serious concern over the loss of lives and infrastructure caused by floods.
The Prime Minister stated that the Federal government’s grant would assist the Sindh government in carrying out relief and restoration efforts. He stated that the coalition administration would make a concerted effort to ease the sufferings of flood victims, and that it would leave no stone unturned in assisting those who had suffered tremendous loss as a result of the floods. He stated that around 900 people have died as a result of floods in the last several months, and that the crisis has taken a tremendous toll on crops and cattle. He commanded that relief and rescue personnel are ready 24 hours a day, seven days a week to assist flood victims.
He announced the disbursement of Rs 25,000 per household through Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) starting Friday and onwards and said in one week, around Rs 28 billion would be given to the affected people. Also, medical camps are on the alert to extend treatment to patients in the flood-hit areas, he added.
He stated that Nestle Pakistan had provided 100 tonnes of pure drinking water, with 80 tonnes and 20 tonnes going to flood victims in Sindh and Balochistan, respectively. The Prime Minister acknowledged meeting with envoys from various nations this morning and urging them to support Pakistan in its hour of need. He stated that the Federal and Provincial administrations were conducting a joint survey to assess the losses.
PM Sharif lauded Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah for helping the flood-affected people across the province. He mentioned that he talked to the army and Naval chief who assured full support in carrying out relief and rescue operations. The Prime Minister said the grid stations in the flood-hit areas would be again switched on again after taking necessary measures. The power stations, after getting submerged in water, had been turned off keeping in view averting the incidents of electrocution of people. He instructed the Federal Minister for Power to remain available in Sindh to oversee the activities.
Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has encouraged the media to appropriately expose the plight of flood-affected individuals in order to inform international donor organisations of the genuine extent of the disaster. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the situation was a challenge for all Pakistani political parties to help the country’s people in their hour of need. He praised the Prime Minister for his announcement about the distribution of compensation funds to flood victims via BISP. He stated that tents were currently the most in demand commodity and urged philanthropists to contribute.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam’s General Secretary Sindh Rashid Mehmood Soomro stressed joint efforts of the Federal and Provincial governments besides the private sector to help the flood victims. The district administration of Sukkur and the representatives of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) briefed the prime minister about the ongoing work for the relief of the flood-stricken people and the rehabilitation of the infrastructure. The prime minister was informed that some flood-affected areas were without communication services due to catastrophic damage to infrastructure in urban and rural areas. It was reported that 43 food assistance camps had been established in Sindh, where people were given food and medicines. In an interaction with flood-affected people, the prime minister pledged to make every effort to assist them.
ISLAMABAD: TopCity, one of the most meticulously-planned housing project in the twin cities, has come forward with another one of its kind initiative.
The TopCity management has started a massive tree plantation campaign, in a bid to help the country in its efforts on the climate change front. Under the said campaign, thousands of plants and trees will be planted in the society which will massively increase the tree cover in the society.
According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF), only 5.7 percent of land, in Pakistan is under forest cover, the country’s deforestation rate is the second highest in Asia. Plantation initiatives are imperative to curb the deforestation in the country and TopCity has decided to play its part in this regard.
The society has also enhanced its anti-dengue efforts as the dengue season approaches. According to details, the society is conducting door-to-door anti-dengue spray and fogging activities. The anti-dengue measures also include an awareness campaign to inform the residents about precautionary measures.
Other than the plantation and anti-dengue campaign, TopCity is actively facilitation the on-going third nationwide polio campaign of the year. The society has urged all residents to ensure administering of vaccination drops to children.
Recently, the society also celebrated the country’s Independence Day with full zeal. The whole society was decorated in the colors of the national flag and building were decorated as well. A car rally on pakistan independence was also arranged
In the coming days, TopCity management is also considering launching a campaign to help the flood affectees of the recent flooding in the country.
ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Capital territory police have arrested 22 outlaws including five members of dacoit gang from various areas of the city and recovered, drug, seesha’s, flavour and weapons with ammunition from their possession during the last 24 hours, a Police Public Relation Officer said. He said that DIG (Operations) Sohail Zafar Chatha had categorically ordered all zonal officers to curb the crime in their respective areas and arrest those involved in looting innocent people and involved in illegal activities.
Following these directives, Nilor police team apprehended five members of of dacoit gang namely Johar Ali, Jan Sher, Ramzan , Abbas Ali and Raisat Ali and recovered two pistols 30 bore and two 12 bore gun with ammunition from their possession. Similarly, Secretariat police team arrested an accused namely Shahzad and recovered one pistol with ammunition from his possession. Bani Gala police team arrested an accused namely Abdul Rehaman and recovered 1521 gram hashish from his possession.
Likewise, Aabpara police team apprehended two drug peddlers namely Bakhtawar Khan and Muhammad Naeem and recovered 310 gram heroin and 1240 gram hashish from their possession. Pulghran police team arrested the accused namely Khuram Mehmood and recovered one 30 bore pistol with ammunition from his possession.
Moreover, Koral police team arrested two accused namely Fahad and Touheed Ali and recovered four seesha’s and Flavour from their possession. Shahzad Town police team arrested two accused namely Malik Ali Aziz and Muhammad Shafique and recovered 1160 gram heroin and one 9mm pistol from their possession. Furthermore, Kirpa police team arrested an accused namely Muhammad Ali and recovered 1244 gram heroin from his possession. Sabzi Mandi police team arrested an accused namely Muhammad Nadeem and recovered one 30 bore pistol from his possession. Cases against all the nominated accused have been registered and further investigation is underway. While, during a special crackdown against absconders, police teams nabbed six proclaimed offenders from various areas of the city. Islamabad capital police intensify the ongoing crackdown against criminal elements in order to reduce crime and arrest the culprits involved in it.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has said on Friday that cellular services had been disrupted due to damage caused by monsoon rains and flash floods in Balochistan.
The PTA spokesperson said the services had been affected in Quetta, Ziarat, Khuzdar, Loralai, Pishin, Chaman, Panjgur, Zhob, Qila Saifullah and Qila Abdullah because of damage to optical fibre cables.
Efforts are being made to resolve the issue of voice and data services. PTA is monitoring the situation and further updates will be shared.
This is the third time in less than a week that cellular and internet services have been disrupted in the country.
They were also disrupted on Aug 22 and 23, which the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) said was due to multiple cuts in Ghotki, Khairpur and Sukkur districts amid the ongoing rains.
ISLAMABAD: The vigorous dollar is not showing any signs of receding as its value continues to appreciate and is up by 59 paisa in the interbank trading.
According to the forex dealers, with the start of Friday morning activity, the greenback kept up its upward trajectory in the interbank trading and added 59 paisa to its value and was traded at Rs220 by 11am.
Yesterday, the Pakistani rupee suffered a depreciation of over Rs1.03 and closed at Rs219.41.
This whole week, the Pakistani rupee is constantly under the pressure and has been enduring a spell of depreciation for the last few sessions.
This week the US dollar has been appreciated by Rs5.35.
It’s quite a strange phenomenon that there is more than Rs8 difference between the rate of dollar in the interbank market and the open market.
Speaking to Mettis Global, Zafar Paracha, President of Exchange Companies of Pakistan said on Thursday, “The notable difference of Rs8.5 between the rates being offered by the interbank market and open market indicate the element of smuggling.
He said most citizens were not currently selling their foreign exchange holdings in the open market, as “a strong grey market” had emerged, which was buying the dollar at a much higher rate of Rs235 while “we are buying at 227.50”.
The money dealers have cited dollar’s flight to Afghanistan as the American currency is being sold there for about Rs240, attracting smugglers to earn profit.
Besides this, the dearth of dollar has also been attributed to the newly enforced law by the UAE for Pakistani travelers who are required to have 5,000 dirhams along with a valid work visa and a return ticket at the time of their landing in the gulf country.
As there is high demand for the UAE dirhams in the open market and when the buyers can’t get it, they start buying the US dollars thus increasing its rate in the market.
Some forex dealers also hold government responsible for this mess saying that its decision to lift ban on the import of luxury items is also contributing to the appreciation in the value of American currency.
During the last 52 weeks, Pakistani rupee lost 24.52% against the greenback while reaching its lowest at 239.94 on July 28, 2022, and the highest at 165.62 on August 27, 2021.
Meanwhile, the total liquid foreign exchange reserves held by the country decreased by $92million to stand at $13.5 billion during the week ended on August 19, 2022, compared to $13.6bn in the previous week, weekly data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday showed.
Data further revealed that reserves held by the central bank during the week went down by $87mn to clock in at $7.8bn compared to $7.9bn in the outgoing week.
On the other hand, reserves of commercial banks dropped by $4mn to $5.7bn.
It is important to note here that the current level of foreign currency reserves is barely enough to cover 1.11 months of import bills.
ISLAMABAD: Dr. Asif Mahmood Jah, Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) along with his team visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) and gave a presentation to the business community about the 6 months achievements of his organization. Dr.ArslanSubuctageen Advisor (Customs), Ms. SarwatTahira Habib Advisor (Media & Awareness) and Almas Ali Jovindah Advisor Legal FTO accompanied him at the occasion.
Addressing the business community, Dr. Asif Mahmood Jah said that FTO received about 3000 complaints from January 2022 to June 2022, out of which 2650 complaints were addressed. He said that the complaints redressal time has been reduced from 68 to 40 days while 75 suomotu cases were taken up during the 6-month period. He said that on the orders of FTO, customs authorities collected over Rs.5 billion by auctioning pending vehicles and goods. Similarly, on the intervention of FTO, FBR cleared refunds of about Rs.8 billion of taxpayers. He said that FTO has set up 5 new regional offices to expand its network for the facilitation of taxpayers. He assured that FTO would continue to act as an advocate of taxpayers to address their grievances and stressed that the business community should take benefit of its services for redressal of their tax complaints. He also nominated Ms. Naima Ansari, President, Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry as Honorary Business Coordinator of FTO and presented a nomination letter to her at the occasion.
Speaking at the occasion, Muhammad ShakeelMunir, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry lauded the 6 month achievements of FTO that showed its good performance and said that FTO was providing speedy justice to the taxpayers by addressing their tax complaints, which deserved great appreciation. He said that FTO’s model of public private partnership by nominating Honorary Business Coordinators from the private sector was making a good contribution towards solving the grievances of taxpayers. He said that the current tax system of Pakistan was quite complicated and stressed that the government should make tax reforms to develop a tax system that should facilitate the promotion of business and investment activities, which would ultimately increase the tax revenue of the country.
Muhammad Faheem Khan, Vice President and Khalid Iqbal Malik, former President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry also lauded the role of FTO for providing speedy and free of cost justice to the taxpayer and added that FTO’s interventions were improving the confidence of taxpayers on its facilitative role.
The representatives of various markets and sectors including marble, restaurants, jewellery, overseas employment promoters and bakery etc. highlighted various tax issues and sought the assistance of FTO in addressing them. Dr. Asif Mahmood Jah asked them to send these complaints in writing to FTO and assured to look into them for redress.
ISLAMABAD: The flood water, originating from heavy monsoon rains, continues to decimate the population and infrastructure in Sindh and other areas of the country on Friday.
The flood situation persists in Khairpur Nathan Shah as another 200 villages have been submerged, and more than 300 houses have been destroyed.
Collectively, as many as 466 villages have been affected while more than 1,000 houses have been destroyed.
According to the locals, no one of the authorities concerned has come for their aid. “The flood has washed away everything,” they said.
Besides, urban flooding threat to Khairpur Nathan Shah and Mehar has increased as flood water has entered both the cities.
Flood water was already accumulated all around the two cities. There is two feet high rain water accumulated on Sindh-Punjab National Highway.
In Lower Dir, the flood has wreaked havoc on the local population, leaving three children dead and many with critical injuries.
The flood water has destroyed crops, hotels, bridges, communication roads and markets. The administration has issued an alert regarding the flood threat.
In Kot Diji, the local district and tehsil administration and the elected representatives are absent from the scene as the flood is playing havoc with the population of Bapho Union Council.
More than 100 villages and their inhabitants have been affected by flood, but the elected representatives and the administration have not yet responded to the disaster.
Besides, a wide breach also occurred in Mirwah Canal, and the locals had to plug that breach on a self-help basis. The flood-hit people of Bhapo Union Council are forced to live under the open sky.
They have been waiting for help by the government for the past several days, but the administration is yet to come for their aid.
Various diseases diarrhea, malaria, fever, etc. have also broken out among the people affected by rain and flood.
No measures for the health of the people have yet been taken; the flood-hit people have announced protesting against the negligence of the government and the administration.
In Tangwani, the flood water has started to enter the city. The administration has failed to keep the flood water from entering the city despite repeated warnings.
The panic-stricken citizens of Tangwani city have started migrating to safer places. Due to the rains, more than 6,000 mud houses collapsed in Tangwani tehsil.
Besides, standing crops over thousands of acres have been destroyed, and fish farms have also been washed away in flood. In Qambar Shahdadkot, devastation due to rains continues as more than 500 houses have collapsed, and the affected people are forced to live the life of nomads. A temporary camp has been set up on Rice Canal where people are struggling to get meals and tents.
ISLAMABAD: The National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) connected the fourth 330MWs mine-mouth power plant built under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative at Thar coal Block II with the national grid.
“We successfully provided back feed supply/seller’s interconnection facility for Thal Nova power plant through 500kV Thal Nova-Matiari transmission line,” NTDC said according to a report published by Gwadar Pro on Friday.
The back feed supply energized the power plant for testing its electrical equipment, the statement added. After completion of the testing, the power plant will start contributing cheaper electricity to the national grid, NTDC said.
Thal Nova is one of the four 330MWs mine-mouth power plants installed at Thar Block II under CPEC. Engro Powergen Thar is already producing 660MWs electricity from its 2*330MWs power plants since 2019 while the 330MWs Thar Energy Ltd. started power generation recently.
The Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) will supply coal to the Thal Nova power plant together with the other three power plants. China Machinery Engineering Corp. (CMEC) is the EPC contractor and minority shareholder of the project. The power plant will utilize 1.9 million tons of coal to generate 2.24 billion units of electricity per annum. The project has been financed by Habib Bank as well as Chinese banks.
NTDC further said that it has connected all five power plants at Thar coal Block I and Block II with the national grid to evacuate cheaper electricity.
ISLAMABAD: China’s Hangeng Agricultural Group, which is building an agricultural industrial park in Gwadar, received the first container of raw medicines from Africa, a senior official told Gwadar Pro on Thursday.
“We will process the medicines in our facility in Gwadar for onwards shipment to China”, the official said. “We are basically a supply chain management company and aim to process pharmaceutical and agricultural goods in our Gwadar facility for onward export to China”, the official further stated. “Presently, we are in the construction stage at Gwadar Free Zone.” he said.
Hangeng Agricultural Group aims to industrialise agriculture and animal husbandry in Pakistan. The group is also looking for procurement of agriculture goods and livestock from other parts of Pakistan for processing in their Gwadar facility and exporting to China.
The Group is expected to create multiple employment opportunities for Pakistani youth in Gwadar and the rest of the country.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif performed ground-breaking of the Hangeng Agricultural Industrial Park in Gwadar during his visit to the port city in June.
The arrival of the first container of raw medicines will open a new chapter in Pakistan’s pharmaceutical processing sector and Pakistan’s exports to China.
ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. ShirwaAbdullahi Ibrahim called on H.E. Dr. HathalHomoudAlotaibi, President, International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) at his office at Faisal Masjid campus. During the meeting issues pertaining to mutual interests including promotions of education and enhancement of educational ties between higher education institutions of both countries were discussed. The Somalian Ambassador lauded IIUI for its services to promote higher education and also appreciated the university’s vision of disseminating peace and tolerance. He assured that he will be happy to strengthen bilateral educational ties between IIUI and Somalian universities. He said IIUI is a source of attraction for a large number of students in Somalia. He thanked the IIU President for taking a very good care of the Somalian students at IIUI. IIU President apprised the Ambassador of the university’s scope, vision, new strategic plan, international students, recent activities and history. He said IIU is eager to welcome and facilitate more Somalian students at IIUI. He opined that IIU has a diversified cultural environment where a large number of countries being represented by foreign students. Dr. Hathal also briefed honorable Ambassador about the role of IIUI in maintaining peace and quality higher education.
ISLAMABAD: IG NHMP Khalid Mahmood convened a meeting with Chairman OGRA Masroor Khan and representative from the Department of Explosives at NHMP (HQs) regarding safe movement of oil tankers, LPG bowsers, and other vehicles carrying hazardous material on national highways and motorways. Discussions revolved around building a robust policy that ensures that aforementioned vehicles avoid any untoward incident and safely move across the country.
It was mutually agreed that joint team shall conduct checking on Motorways and Highways to ensure that all such vehicles abide by the safety laws and regulations. It was decided that other stakeholders like All Pakistan Oil Tankers associations shall be taken on board for use of latest technology in oil tankers for safety.
IG NHMP also briefed on recent initiatives taken to ensure safety of commuters on national Highways and Motorways. He appraised that NHMP has increased safety briefing for oil tankers, LPG bowsers, and other vehicles carrying hazardous material on National Highways and Motorways. .
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has dismissed a contempt petition filed against PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, JUI Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and others, declaring it non-maintainable.
Islamabad High Court
The IHC upheld the registrar’s objection regarding that it was not the relevant forum to file the petition.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani heard the plea with the objection raised by the registrar on Friday.
Local lawyer Ali Ijaz Buttar requested the court to start the contempt proceedings against the coalition leaders.
Justice Kiyani asked the lawyer what was his petition?
He replied that Maryam, Rana Sanaullah, Fazlur Rehman and others made contemptuous remarks about the judiciary on social media.
Justice Kiyani
Justice Kiyani asked the lawyer if this court was mentioned in those remarks. He advised him to take his petition to either Supreme Court or the Lahore High Court.
Why the petitioner who belongs to Lahore has filed his plea in the Islamabad High Court, the judge objected saying nobody bothered to take notice of the contemptuous remarks at the time when they were uttered then why the filing of petition now.
Kelly Clarkson officially discusses her divorce from Brandon Blackstock and her children’s response.It has obviously been a difficult couple of years, so it was extremely important to me to shut down for a minute, she acknowledged as she started by talking about how her kids are reacting to her divorce from their father Brandon Blackstock.
In the highlands, I actually four-wheeled. My sister, my nephew, and I spent the entire summer in the mountains because my property has a lot of water.For those who are unaware, Clarkson and Blackstock divorced in March after being married for almost seven years.
River Rose, 8, and Remington Alexander, 6, were present, Clarkson said when asked if they were, adding, “The kids were with me and their dad.”Because of our distance, they frequently had to travel, so the fact that we were both in Montana was pleasant. I noticed that for the first time, my children too seemed a little more in the moment.
Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are examples of social media sites that do fact gather user information and track users’ whereabouts.A social media post warning users that a recent update to Apple’s operating system, iOS, has allowed thieves to access customers’ direct information has gone viral.
Users may now choose how much of their location they wish to share with an application, even though they provide microphone, contacts, images, camera, and GPS access to many applications.
Apple modified how customers could manage their location information with the release of iOS 14 in 2020. rather than enabling apps to view your precise whereabouts.
Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, has reaffirmed its strict stance on user privacy and stated that it does not sell user information.Jimenez informed the journalists of the company’s guidelines for safeguarding user information and privacy on its platforms.
According to the Meta spokesperson, preserving people’s personal information is essential to Meta’s goal, which is why privacy controls are built into its products with advice from authorities in public policy, security, interface design, engineering, and data protection and privacy law.
Through specialised tools and features, she claimed, Meta allows users “greater control over their privacy and security choices.”
Recently, scientists found a stunning ocean, but it is not on our planet. Only 100 light-years separate our world from the exoplanet TOI-1452 b, which is entirely formed of water and may be home to life.The planet has a similar appearance to Earth but is significantly larger and more massive.
It is situated at the ideal distance from its star, just like Earth is. As a result, the planet is just right—not too hot, nor too cold.Scientists think life can exist in the ocean, but they’re not sure what kind of life can endure there.
But this is not the first time that researchers have discovered a water-rich planet. Scientists have long been fascinated by the water bodies on some of Jupiter’s moons.
WASHINGTON: The geology of the gaping crater, which scientists believe may have once supported microbial life billions of years ago, is being revealed by core samples taken from the Martian surface by NASA’s Perseverance rover.
These samples also include surprises regarding the type of rock that is found there.The samples from four spots inside Jezero crater revealed that the rock is igneous, or created by the cooling of molten material. They were collected by the car-sized, six-wheeled robotic rover and kept for later delivery to Earth for more research.
Another indication that warm, wet Mars once existed on the cold, dry planet Mars is the presence of evidence of modification in the rocks from exposure to water.The estimated 3.5 billion-year-old rock was initially assumed by the scientists to be sedimentary in origin.
Now widely known, American companies outsource their call centre jobs to developing nations like Pakistan, the Philippines, and India in order to reduce costs and shield themselves from American labour restrictions.
Jobs in the telecommunications industry can be particularly taxing due to the poor compensation, long hours, and frequently hostile customer encounters.
A startup is launching an AI that will make call centre agents seem “American” in an effort to alter how domestic customers engage with those agents and improve the wellbeing of non-native English speakers.However, detractors think it can have the opposite effect.
KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee’s wild decline against the US dollar resumed on Friday, and a number of different factors continued to put pressure on the local currency in the interbank market.
The rupee increased from yesterday’s finish of 219.41 to 220.6 versus the dollar after losing 1.25 or 0.57%, continuing its week-long weakening trend.The local currency fell in each of the five trading sessions for the week ending August 26, losing a total of 6.01 versus the US dollar.
The rupee will continue to decline, according to analysts and experts, until the International Monetary Fund (IMF) distributes Pakistan’s $1.17 billion tranche during its executive board meeting on August 29.
K-Electric (KE) has announced that it will issue non-time-of-use (Non-ToU) residential customers with revised electricity bills for the month of August if their electricity usage is equal to or less than 200 units after the federal ministry of energy issued a notification about the modification of June’s Fuel Charges Adjustment (FCA).
The updated bills will be available on August 26 and can be picked up at any of the KE’s operating customer centres located throughout the city, according to a press statement published by the KE on Thursday. In KE territory, agricultural customers are also qualified for FCA relief from the government.
According to the announcement made by Pakistan’s government’s ministry of energy (Power Division) on August 25, “XWDISCOs and K-Electric are instructed to put the following into practise right away: Consumers who are Non-ToU Domestic (Protected) and have 200 units of consumption would only pay Rs3.8972/unit in the billing month of August 2022.
Private agribusiness consumers and Non-ToU Domestic (Non-Protected) consumers with 200 units of consumption in the billing month of August 2022 are exempt from FCA.” XWDISCOs are public utilities that provide electricity.
In a terrible event, an elephant in Thailand “went insane” from the heat and tore its handler to pieces.The incident took place at a rubber plantation in the province of Phang Nga, according to the local police.
Pom Pam, the powerful animal, is said to have been enraged and frustrated after hauling rubberwood in the heat.Supachai Wongfaed, the victim, was 32 years old. The male elephant tore his corpse in half and stabbed him with its razor-sharp tusks.
According to the investigations, Pom Pam, a 20-year-old dog, snapped and attacked its handler.In order to calm the animal and remove the mahout’s body, officials had to use a dart gun.
ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan, the former prime minister, would not apologise to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in a case involving contempt of court, according to PTI senior leader Fawad Chaudhry.When asked about Khan’s comments on the female judge, Fawad questioned whether or not the court should be ashamed of the incident.
Khan received a show-cause notice earlier this week on Tuesday after a larger bench of the IHC initiated contempt of court proceedings against him for threatening Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry at an open gathering.
Till September 7, Gill is being held without bail in connection with cases involving sedition and the seizure of weapons. The PTI leader’s detention has been prolonged three times since his arrest on August 9.
The capital of Balochistan, Quetta, was shut off from the rest of the nation on Friday due to the relentless rains; however, after about 24 hours, contact was restored in the city.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) tweeted that the affected voice and data services in Balochistan have been restored.Earlier, the telecommunications regulator said that the company’s optical fibre line had suffered damage as a result of flash floods and excessive rainfall.
Voice and internet services have reportedly been affected in Quetta, Ziarat, Khuzdar, Loralai, Pashin, Chaman, Panjgor, Zhob, Qila Saifullah, and Qila Abdullah, according to the PTA.Rescue operations were delayed by the heavy overnight rains, which also disrupted mobile and internet connection.
It is still one of Europe’s most Catholic countries but Poland is seeing a rapid secularisation — particularly among younger generations.
“The children on my courses barely know who Adam and Eve were,” said Dawid Gospodarek, a journalist from the Catholic press agency who teaches ethics and religious culture at a school in Warsaw.
According to the latest polls by the CBOS institute, 84 percent of Poles say they are Catholic and 42 percent say they are practising.
Among 18-24-year-olds, only 23 percent say they are practising — compared to 69 percent in 1992.
Theologian and anthropologist Stanislaw Obirek says the Church has lost relevance for young people because of a refusal to move with the times.
“The Polish Church played a crucial role in the liberation from the Communist regime in the 1980s,” said Obirek from the University of Warsaw.
“It retains a superior attitude and a frozen hierarchy that rejects modernisation,” he said.
“Poles who have grown up in an open society no longer recognise themselves in it.”
‘Spiritually empty’ Young people are increasingly turning away from an institution often perceived as being in crisis, damaged by revelations of sexual abuse and accusations of interlinkage with political authorities.
A symptom of this trend is mockery of the late pope John Paul II, an emblematic figure of Polish Catholicism whose statues dot the country.
The number 2137 — the exact time of his death in 2005 at the age of 84 — has become an ironic code on social media for making fun of the Polish pontiff.
For young people who do go to church, talking about faith is no longer seen as normal.
“It is impossible for me to talk about religion with my friends because they make fun of me,” said Weronika Grabowska, a 25-year-old economy student.
Grabowska remembers “spiritually empty” masses from her childhood with old-fashioned sermons.
“If a priest reproached me for living with my partners without being married, I would be sad. Then I would go look elsewhere,” she said.
Sexuality and reproductive rights are one of the points of tension between the Church and society.
“In the 1990s, homosexuality was seen as an invention of the decadent West,” said Robert Samborski, a former seminarian who lost his faith.
Like many, Samborski was sent to a seminary “like other young men not interested in women”.
“LGBTQ+ people have been more visible in recent years which makes the homophobic discourse of the Church unacceptable” said Samborski.
Staff work to end outage at Ukraine nuclear plant as inspection prepared
Kyiv (Ukraine) – Staff at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant occupied by Russian soldiers were on Friday working to reconnect its reactors to the national power grid, the state energy operator said.
The plant — Europe’s largest facility — was cut off from Ukraine’s power network for the first time in its history on Thursday due to “actions of the invaders”, Energoatom said.
Zaporizhzhia has been cause for mounting concern since it was seized by Russian troops in the opening weeks of the war.
In recent weeks, Kyiv and Moscow have traded blame for rocket strikes around the facility in the southern Ukrainian city of Energodar.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Thursday the cut-off was caused by Russian shelling of the last active power line linking the plant to the network.
“Russia has put Ukrainians as well as all Europeans one step away from radiation disaster,” he said in his nightly address.
Early Friday, Energoatom said on Telegram that all reactors remain “disconnected from the electrical grid” as of 9 am local time (0600 GMT).
However a severed power line — the cause of the outage — has been “restored” and “work is ongoing to prepare the connection” of two of the plant’s six reactors.
Inspection scheduled The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has previously said the situation at the plant is “highly volatile” and “underlines the very real risk of a nuclear disaster”.
“We can’t afford to lose any more time,” the organisation’s Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Thursday.
“I’m determined to personally lead an IAEA mission to the plant in the next few days.”
Ukraine energy minister adviser Lana Zerkal said the inspection “is planned for the next week, and now we are working on how they will get there”.
But in an interview with Ukraine’s Radio NV on Thursday evening she was sceptical the mission would go ahead, despite Moscow’s formal agreement.
“They are artificially creating all the conditions so that the mission will not reach the site,” she said.
Zelensky has said “the IAEA and other international organisations should react much quicker”.
Energoatom said the plant outage was caused by a power line being twice disconnected by ash pit fires in an adjacent thermal power plant.
The three other power lines “were earlier damaged during terrorist attacks” by Russian forces, the operator said.
Energoatom did not disclose whether there were blackouts as a result of the power cut.
However the mayor of the city of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov said on Thursday “Russian occupiers cut off the electricity in almost all occupied settlements of Zaporizhzhia”.
Italy’s far-right Meloni launches campaign riding high in the polls
Giorgia Meloni is expected to become Italy’s next prime minister in the September 25 general elections as her far-right Brothers of Italy party rides high in the polls, capitalising on widespread disillusionment with the status quo.
Brothers of Italy has seen its support increase sixfold over the past five years, and Meloni has supplanted League leader and ex-interior minister Matteo Salvini as the standard-bearer of the Italian hard right.
Meloni’s party has benefitted from being the sole opposition to technocratic PM Mario Draghi’s grand coalition since February 2021.
She launched her campaign on safe ground on Tuesday, in the Marche region, part of Italy’s central belt that used to vote for the centre-left but has gone over to the far right.
One new Brothers of Italy member, Vincenzo Mancini, a town councillor in the Marche’s Ascoli Piceno, said Meloni would bring stability to Italy’s famously turbulent politics: “In Italy we have seen so many governments come and go,” he said. “I think that this time could perhaps be different. We need to try something new.”
James Webb telescope finds CO2 for first time in exoplanet atmosphere
The months-old James Webb Space Telescope has added another major scientific discovery to its growing list: detecting for the first time signs of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system.
Although the exoplanet would never be able to support life as we know it, the successful discovery of CO2 gives researchers hope that similar observations could be carried out on rocky objects more hospitable to life.
“My first thought: wow, we really do have a chance to detect the atmospheres of terrestrial-size planets,” tweeted Natalie Batalha, a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz and one of hundreds who worked on the Webb project.
Their study of exoplanet WASP-39, a hot gas giant closely orbiting a star 700 light years away, will soon be published in the journal Nature.
“For me, it opens a door for future research on super-Earths (planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune), or even Earth-sized planets,” Pierre-Olivier Lagage, an astrophysicist with France’s Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), told .
The detection of CO2 will also help scientists learn more about how WASP-39 formed, NASA said in a press release. The exoplanet, which orbits its star once every four Earth days, has a mass one-quarter that of Jupiter but a diameter 1.3 times bigger.
The frequency of its orbit and large atmosphere made WASP-39 an ideal candidate for an early test of Webb’s state-of-the-art infrared sensor, known as NIRSpec.
Each time the exoplanet crosses in front of its star, it blocks out an almost imperceptible amount of light.
‘All dead’: a devastated farmer in southern China longs for rain
Chongqing (China) – For almost a decade, farmer Qin Bin, 50, has toiled his plot, growing peaches and dragon fruits for sale to visiting tourists at his orchard on the outskirts of the Chinese megacity of Chongqing.
But this year’s crop is devastated, another casualty of a blistering heatwave that has engulfed southern China in the country’s hottest summer on record and subsumed half its land in drought.
“This is absolutely the first time in my life encountering such a disaster,” he tells AFP.
“This year is a very miserable one.
“We should be harvesting fruits right now, but it’s all gone, dead from the scorching sun.”
Southern China has recorded its longest continuous period of high temperatures since records began more than 60 years ago, forcing power cuts that have hit agricultural workers hard.
The searing heat poses a “severe threat” to the country’s autumn harvest, the Chinese government has said, promising billions of yuan in fresh aid to farmers.
But for Qin, any help will come too late — his crop has dried up on the vine and with it his main source of income.
“It’s basically all dead,” he says. “The government has been making a huge effort to help us, but it can only bring trees to life, not fruits.”
He’s far from the only one suffering in his village, home to over a thousand acres of longans that are now ruined.
“If you take a walk around our town, you can feel the scale of the disaster,” he says.
The extreme heat has forced Qin and fellow farmers to work odd hours — it’s simply too hot to toil during the day as the mercury pushes past 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
Instead they work at night — from 10 pm until 4 am — and rest during the day.
“It’s impossible to work out in the orchard, because the ground temperature is around 60 degrees Celsius… we measured it the other day,” he explains.
But their efforts to save what they can may be in vain if the drought lasts into next month.
“If the heat lasts until September 4 as some of them said, probably more than half of the trees that we put day-and-night effort into rescuing will be dead,” Qin says.
“It’s too miserable to bear witness to.”
Qin is sceptical that much can be done to help his beleaguered community — with so much land affected, he says, authorities have a huge task on their hands.
“Those who can save themselves are doing it,” he says.
The effects of the drought will continue even into 2023, as his parched trees struggle to produce fruit.
“My trees won’t bloom well next season, the fruits will be greatly affected as a result.”
All they can do for now, he says, is wait for rain.
Macron trying to seize on year-long ‘warming’ between Algeria and France
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Algeria on Thursday for a three-day official visit aimed at addressing two major challenges: boosting future economic relations and healing colonial-era wounds. The visit comes less than a year after a monthslong diplomatic crisis between the two countries stirred up tensions 60 years after the North African country won its independence from France.
The war in Ukraine has reinforced Algeria’s status as a key partner to provide gas to the European continent. As Macron vies to improve the two countries’ still rancorous relations, joining FRANCE is William Lawrence, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at American University. Macron’s “official visit with 90 people in tow is a major thing,” explains Professor Lawrence. “I do not think Macron will be able to repair the wrongs of history […] but he can make gestures in the right direction.”
