Day: October 25, 2021

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Saudi pledges more than $1 bn in ‘green era’ initiatives

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Al-Araby

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler pledged more than $1 billion for new global environmental initiatives on Monday, taking further steps to bolster the green credentials of the world’s top oil exporter. Two days after targeting carbon neutrality by 2060, and ahead of next week’s COP26 global climate change summit, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced two initiatives to fund the “circular carbon economy” and provide “clean fuel” to help feed 750 million people worldwide. The two initiatives were targeted to cost 39 billion riyals ($10.4 billion). Saudi Arabia will contribute 15 percent and see… Continue reading “Saudi pledges more than $1 bn in ‘green era’ initiatives”

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Facebook knew about, failed to police, abusive content globally – documents

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Reuters

By Elizabeth Culliford and Brad Heath (Reuters) – Facebook employees have warned for years that as the company raced to become a global service it was failing to police abusive content in countries where such speech was likely to cause the most harm, according to interviews with five former employees and internal company documents viewed by Reuters. For over a decade, Facebook has pushed to become the world’s dominant online platform. It currently operates in more than 190 countries and boasts more than 2.8 billion monthly users who post content in more than 160 languages. But its efforts to p… Continue reading “Facebook knew about, failed to police, abusive content globally – documents”

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Thousands stranded as Afghan-Pakistan border crossing stays closed

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Reuters

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Hundreds of trucks and other vehicles waited at one of the main crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Monday as the border closed again after a brief opening the day before, despite promises that it would reopen, traders said. The Chaman border crossing, the second-largest commercial border point between the two countries after Torkham in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, links with Spin Boldak in the Afghan province of Kandahar, and is regularly used by thousands of labourers and traders from both countries. The crossing, a vital source of customs revenue for the cash-s… Continue reading “Thousands stranded as Afghan-Pakistan border crossing stays closed”

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Unique Network Raises $11.3 Million For Next-Generation NFT Infrastructure

The first NFT chain for Polkadot and Kusama offers greater flexibility for anyone who wants to build their own gallery or video game

LONDON, Oct. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Unique Network, a next generation NFT chain for Polkadot and Kusama, announced today that it has raised $11.3 million in the second round of its pre-sale, bringing its total raised to $16M. The investment round was led by Web3 investment pioneers Outlier Ventures, who were joined by some of the most well-known NFT investors, including The LAO, Flamingo, Nalu Capital and over 200 other investors, including a number of follow-on investments from the previous round his funding round, especially with the quality and quantity of investors involved, has positioned Unique Network well for the upcoming launch of Quartz, its NFT chain for Kusama.

“Unique Network are trailblazing a new path for NFTs within Polkadot and Kusama’s ecosystem and we are incredibly excited to back them in their pursuit to increase the design space of NFTs.” – Chris Cable, FlamingoDAO

“Despite all the current buzz around NFTs, there is still a massive barrier to entry,” said Unique Network co-founder and CEO Alexander Mitrovich. “Gas fees, the need to purchase cryptocurrencies, storage, and even the fact that NFTs have limited features for artists to express their vision, all hold the industry back. Unique Network and our Kusama chain, Quartz, are built to solve the economic and storage problems with Ethereum-based NFTs and create new levels of interaction and malleability that will take NFTs to the next level.”

Unique Network will participate in the upcoming parachain auctions for Kusama, during which they aim to secure a parachain slot for Quartz, their new canary network for Kusama. Beginning on Wednesday October 27th, interested parties can participate in the crowdloan to help Quartz win the auction.

Quartz will be the first NFT infrastructure on Kusama, and is designed to enable the most powerful and advanced NFT functionality on the Kusama network. Quartz parachain on Kusama will allow anyone to build NFT marketplaces and experiences with interoperability between different blockchains, like Ethereum and EVM Based Chains and other notable NFT blockchains.

In the five months since its first investment round, Unique Network has announced various partnerships including with the UN-led DigitalArt4Climate Campaign with GloCha, RMRK, Art Curators Grid, Forever Has Fallen, and more. With the impending launch of Quartz, Unique Network will be able to help even more projects and artists develop their NFT marketplaces and experiences.

For more information, please visit Unique Network, and join us on Twitter and Telegram.

About Unique Network

Unique Network is a framework for the next generation of NFTs. The first NFT chain for Kusama and Polkadot, it offers developers independence from network-wide transaction fees and upgrades. The Unique Network team built Substrapunks, the first NFTs on Polkadot, won Hackusama in 2020, and created Substrate’s pallet for NFTs. Unique Network launched in July 2021.

For media inquiry, please contact: [email protected]

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NASR Esports secures TikTok partnership

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Esports Insider

Middle Eastern esports organisation NASR Esports has announced a partnership with short-form video social media platform TikTok. As a result of the deal, TikTok branding featured on the team’s newly redesigned jersey. Moreover, the partnership will include content collaborations aiming to engage both parties within MENA’s gaming community. RELATED: Galaxy Racer announces $100,000 esports event following Pakistan expansion Thajudeen Abdul Kadhar, Head of Marketing, Growth and Influencers for NASR Esports, spoke on the announcement in a release: “TikTok is today’s most influential platform for a… Continue reading “NASR Esports secures TikTok partnership”

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Pakistani Lecturers Caught Publishing Substandard Researches in Clone Journals

It has come to light that several Pakistani university lecturers are committing academic fraud by publishing substandard research papers in clone research journals for a few hundred dollars.

The indifference of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan and other educational institutions to such dubious teachers getting awards and promotions on the basis of their substandard ‘research papers’ is a cause for concern.

It is not difficult for concerned authorities to identify and act against these academics as reliable global research watchdogs, including Beall’s List and the Retraction Watch Database, and the indexing agencies Scopus and Web of Science have cut the latter’s work out for them by exposing the journals in which numerous Pakistani researchers have published substandard papers.

HEC’s apathy and detachment are also affecting honest researchers who are unknowingly citing these fake researches in their work and are publishing genuine research papers in the clone journals.

Retraction Watch Database has claimed that more than three dozen faculty members of a number of Pakistani universities are involved in fake reviews, duplications, and other malpractices, as a result of which their papers were retracted from reputed research journals.

Beall’s List has also listed two groups of potential predatory publishers — the websites Pakistan Science Mission and Pak Insight, both of which have published nearly 60 journals, and the HEC Journal Recognition System has not included any of them in any category of recognized journals.

Despite this, no action has been taken against misleading websites publishing questionable journals that are destroying Pakistan’s international academic repute.

Source: Pro Pakistani

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PM Urges Saudi & Pakistani Private Sectors to Realize Untapped Potential of Trade

Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged the private sectors of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to take full advantage of the close and cordial relations between the two countries by realizing the untapped potential in the spheres of trade, business, and investment.

Addressing the Saudi-Pakistan Investment Forum hosted by Saudi Minister of Investment Engr. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih on Monday, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of engaging the private sectors to fortify the economic relationship.

The event was attended by a large number of Saudi investors and businessmen, key Pakistani business leaders, investors from the Pakistani diaspora, and stakeholders from Pakistan’s private sector based in the Kingdom.

The leading Saudi firms including SABIC, ACWA Power, Ma’aden, SALIC, Al-Zamil Group, Al-Bawani Group, and Riyad Bank attended the Forum and affirmed their resolve to build deeper business engagement with Pakistan.

The Prime Minister emphasized that Pakistan offered a strong and large consumer market of over 220 million, with an ever-expanding middle class. He highlighted that the Government of Pakistan followed liberal and investor-friendly policies. He underlined that the government was committed to providing an enabling environment to strengthen the investor-friendly dispensation in the country.

Highlighting the significance of Pakistan as a gateway to the Asian markets and beyond, the Prime Minister underlined that the geostrategic position offered Pakistan distinctive opportunities to stimulate intra-region trade by building regional connectivity on modern lines. To realize that potential, the Prime Minister underscored the historic shift in Pakistan’s strategic focus from geo-politics to geo-economics.

He stressed Pakistan’s proximity to the two biggest markets, noting that Pakistan had excellent relations with China and that there could be further economic dividends if the unresolved dispute of Jammu & Kashmir was peacefully resolved with India.

Reaffirming Pakistan’s longstanding, deep fraternal relations with Saudi Arabia, the Prime Minister underscored the reverence Pakistanis had for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and expressed gratitude for Saudi Arabia’s support to Pakistan at every juncture.

The Prime Minister thanked Engr. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih for his invaluable role in successfully organizing the Investment Forum. He also warmly welcomed the investors to the Forum and expressed the hope that tangible outcomes would be achieved for the benefit of the two countries.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin, and Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar also spoke at the event. Separate presentations were made on the investment opportunities in Pakistan in the housing and hydropower sectors.

In his keynote address, the Saudi Minister underscored the longstanding relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. He reiterated the resolve to further deepen bilateral trade, investment, and business links.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi focused on Pakistan’s shift from geopolitics to geoeconomics.

Adviser on Finance Shaukat Tarin highlighted the economic resurgence of Pakistan, while the Minister for Energy outlined the vast opportunities in the key sectors like energy, agriculture, and livestock.

The participants of the Forum were informed that all sectors of Pakistan’s economy were open for foreign investment without any restrictions on remitting capital, profits, and dividends. Elaborating on the opportunities, the Prime Minister elucidated that the country had tremendous opportunities for foreign investors in particular in renewable energy, food and agriculture, infrastructure development, housing, health, and tourism sectors. The Prime Minister especially highlighted the Ravi City and Central Business District projects.

The participants were assured of the Government of Pakistan’s support for their investment and business endeavors in Pakistan. The Forum was also preceded by the inaugural meeting of the Pakistan-Saudi Business Council.

Source: Pro Pakistani