Day: January 8, 2022

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Cold kills 16 stuck in cars in heavy snow at Pakistan resort

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Al-Araby

Temperatures fell to minus 8 degrees Celsius amid heavy snowfall at Pakistan’s mountain resort town of Murree overnight, killing at least 16 people who were stuck in their vehicles, officials said Saturday. Atiq Ahmed, an Islamabad police officer said eight of the 16 fatalities were from the family of fellow Islamabad police officer Naveed Iqbal, who also died. All 16 died of hypothermia, officials said. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said thousands of vehicles had been pulled from the snow but more than a thousand were still stuck in the area Saturday. Located 45.5 kilometres north of … Continue reading “Cold kills 16 stuck in cars in heavy snow at Pakistan resort”

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Facebook Owner Meta is Testing a New Privacy Center

Facebook’s parent company, Meta is testing new privacy features and how it updates users regarding their privacy options. Meta will soon be centralizing privacy FAQs and controls across its family of applications.

Meta’s new Privacy Center test app is currently available for some desktop users across the United States. The centralized system will soon be available for “more people and apps in the coming months”.

Beta users of the app can access the new privacy feature in the Settings and Privacy section on the desktop version of Facebook. Improved privacy controls have been categorized into Facebook’s Privacy Shortcuts and Privacy Checkup menus.

Meta’s official documentation divides the current version of the Privacy Center into five different modules: Security, Sharing, Collection, Use, and Ads.

In the past, Facebook has been known to offer difficult-to-navigate privacy controls to users, with the most important settings buried deep in menus. Despite Meta’s new privacy controls, the company is still interested in acquiring the data of its users. Meta’s recent objections to Apple’s iOS ad tracking changes that limit the ability to track user behavior across different apps have cleared Meta’s stance on the matter.

For now, Meta wishes to continue updating the Privacy Center, and add further modules and controls, pushing the idea of ‘privacy education.’ Meta further states:

As we expand Privacy Center, we will add more ways to access it in places where you may have privacy concerns.

Source: Pro Pakistani

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Pakistan, Iran working for joint border markets to boost trade activities: Iran’s Ambassador

Pakistan and Iran are working together to establish two new border crossings and six joint border markets to boost the trade activities between the two countries.

Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Mohammad Ali Hosseini in an interview with News and Current Affairs Channel of Radio Pakistan said both countries are committed to enhance the existing trade volume of one point four billion dollars to over five billion dollars in the next couple of years.

He said currently one border crossing at Taftan border is operational for trade while new new border crossings are being established at Pak-Iran border in Pashin and Rimdan.

The Iranian Ambassador said both countries are working to establish six joint border markets and priority work is focussed on three markets.

He said Pakistan and Iran have commonalities in all aspects particularly religion, history and culture and frequent high level visits have increased cooperation in all sectors for mutual benefit and development.

The Iranian envoy expressed full confidence that both countries have the potential to increase trade and economic cooperation besides security collaboration.

He said fencing of over 900 kilometers long border will prevent the miscreants and smuggling of goods.

In reply to a question, Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Tehran is extending full cooperation to the International Atomic Energy Agency regarding its peaceful nuclear program and fully committed to international obligations.

On Afghanistan, the Iranian Ambassador said the OIC Foreign Ministers’ recent meeting in Islamabad was a good initiative of Pakistan in highlighting the humanitarian issue in the war-torn country and currently over five thousand refugees are daily entering Iran.

He further said European countries should extend help to avert the catastrophe in Afghanistan.

The Ambassador said Iran is fully committed to peace and stability in Afghanistan as the instability in Kabul will directly affect all regional countries particularly Pakistan and Iran.

He said Pakistan and Iran have regular consultation and interaction for the security on the common border and in the region and institutional level mechanism exists to prevent miscreants.

The weekly program “Diplomatic Session” was hosted by renowned journalist and columnist Javed Siddiq while Producer of the program was Rana Ghulam Mustafa and Executive Producer Abdul Raoof Khan.

The weekly program “Diplomatic Session” is being broadcast from News and Current Affairs Channel and FM 101 networks of Radio Pakistan on Saturday at 1815 hrs.

The show is also available on Radio Pakistan’s official website “www.radio.gov.pk”, Social Media Platforms and Radio Pakistan’s Podcast “podcast.radio.gov.pk”

Source: Radio Pakistan

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Promotion of e-sports to help attract foreign investment in country: President

President Dr Arif Alvi says promotion of e-sports will help attract foreign investment in the country.

In a virtual message at the opening of e-sports tournament in Islamabad on Saturday, he expressed satisfaction that investment is taking place in the special technology zone, including in the fast growing industry of video gaming.

The President said Pakistan has huge talent in software and e-sports development.

Meanwhile, a documentary, released by the Presidency, has highlighted the dynamic and leading role played by the President Dr Arif Alvi, for resolving various national and international issues during the last one year.

The documentary, on activities of 2021, provides a brief insight into the activities of the President on an array of issues, including Covid -19, economy, women education, skills development, IT education, Kashmir issue and Islamophobia.

Source: Radio Pakistan

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Haris Rauf Receives Signed Jersey from Former Indian Captain

Pakistan and India may be arch-rivals both on and off the cricket field, but the cricketers from both sides of the border share a good camaraderie. Former Indian captain, MS Dhoni shared a goodwill gesture as he gifted his signed Chennai Super Kings (CSK) jersey to Pakistan’s star right-arm pacer, Haris Rauf.

Haris, who is currently one of the most feared fast bowlers in limited-overs cricket, took to Twitter to thank MS Dhoni for his kind gesture and expressed delight at receiving the jersey from one of his favorite players.

Haris tweeted, “The legend and captain cool, MS Dhoni has honored me with this beautiful gift. The ‘number 7’ is still winning hearts through his kind and goodwill gesture”. He also tagged CSK team manager, Russell Radhakrishnan in the tweet and thanked him for the support.

Haris’ tweet has since gone viral as it garnered over 53,000 likes and 5,600 retweets as the cricketing fans from both countries appreciated the gesture and the respect between the two cricketers.

While the two cricketers have never played against each other on the same field, the two did meet during Pakistan’s victory over India in the 2021 T20 World Cup match. MS Dhoni was instated as India’s team mentor for the tournament while Haris was influential for Pakistan as they qualified for their first semi-final since 2012.

Source: Pro Pakistani

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PSL 7 Mini-draft To Take Place Today

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022 supplementary and replacement draft will take place on Saturday evening through a virtual session.

Fourteen cricketers, who will not be available for the first few matches due to their other international commitments, will be partially replaced by their franchisees. Quetta Gladiators will replace Naveen Ul Haq (Silver category) for the entire event after the fast bowler opted out of the event, while Tom Abell is unlikely to be available for the duration of the tournament, due to an injury.

Separately, in the supplementary draft, each franchisee will be allowed to pick two players with a maximum of one foreign player either from the Diamond or Gold or Silver or Emerging Categories.

The players who will be partially replaced are – Chris Jordan (Karachi Kings, Platinum), Faisal Akram (Karachi Kings, Emerging), James Vince (Quetta Gladiators, Platinum), Jason Roy (Quetta Gladiators, Platinum), Liam Livingstone (Peshawar Zalmi, Platinum), Noor Ahmed (Quetta Gladiators, Supplementary), Odean Smith (Multan Sultans, Diamond), Phil Salt (Lahore Qalandars, Gold), Qasim Akram (Karachi Kings, Emerging), Reece Topley (Islamabad United, Silver), Rovman Powell (Multan Sultans, Silver), Saqib Mahmood (Peshawar Zalmi, Gold [Brand Ambassador]), Shepherd Romario (Karachi Kings, Supplementary), and Zeeshan Zamir (Islamabad United, Emerging)

PSL 2022 will be held from 27 January to 27 February. Karachi will host 15 matches from 27 January to 7 February, while Lahore will hold matches from 10-27 February, including the four play-offs.

Source: Pro Pakistani

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Will PSL 7 Be Played Without Crowds?

The provincial governments across the country are considering implementing restrictions as the Omicron variant rapidly spreads across the country. An alleged notification by Sindh Health Department was circulated around social media which stated a number of restrictions including the seventh edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) to be played in empty stadiums.

While the notification went viral on Twitter, the official account of the Sindh Health Department reported that the notification was ‘photoshopped’ and termed it fake. They stated that no such notification has been issued and no decision regarding any restrictions has been made as of yet.

As things stand, PSL 7 will be played in front of passionate cricket fans at the National Stadium Karachi and Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. According to details, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) has already allowed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to hold the PSL 7 matches in front of a full capacity crowd and it is likely that no restrictions will be placed. Only fully vaccinated people will be allowed to enter the stadium according to the Covid-19 SOPs shared by the NCOC.

According to PCB chairman, Ramiz Raja, the fans are the most important aspect of the sport and he has stated multiple times that he will implement new and exciting ideas in PSL 7 to enhance the experience of the fans in the stadium. It is reported that special fan booths will be put in place outside the stadiums where the fans can indulge in fun activities including commentating on previous PSL matches. With the tournament just a few weeks away, it will be interesting to see what further activities will be put in place for the fans.

PSL 2022 is scheduled to take place in two phases, the first phase will commence from 27 January in Karachi while the second phase will be played in Lahore including the play-offs and the final, which is set to be played on 27 February.

Source: Pro Pakistani

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Punjab govt declares Murree calamity hit area

Punjab government has declared Murree a calamity hit area in view of the situation arising there because of heavy snowfall.

In a statement, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar announced to impose emergency in Murree.

In view of the situation emergency has been declared in all the important departments including police, administration, rescue 1122 and hospitals.

Usman Buzdar said that evacuating the stranded tourists is our top priority. He said that rest houses and other public sector places have been opened in Murree and adjoining areas. He said the tourists are being provided with necessary relief items including food items.

The Punjab Chief Minister has also given his helicopter for rescue activities.

Source: Radio Pakistan