Health & Medicine

National Institutional Facilitation Technologies (NIFT) (an existing Payment System Operator/Provider (PSO/PSP) offering nation-wide cheque clearing services) and Haball (a B2B FinTech and Corporate Aggregator) sign an Institutional Aggregation Agreement for enabling B2B payments through NIFT’s Digital Financial Services platform under the brand name “NIFT ePay”. The strategic agreement is aimed to promote digitization of B2B and Supply Chain payments through a contextual railroad designed for B2B payments that is deeply integrated with businesses’ ERP / Supply Chain platforms and offers capturing of complete context throughout various stages in B2B payments lifecycle while creating interoperability for business payments. Since the last decade, great focus has been made by the financial industry in Pakistan for digitization of payments, however, the majority of the efforts revolve around consumer payments. B2B payments have largely been neglected due to inherent challenges posed by s..

The management of Dolmen Mall Clifton has waived off 100 percent rentals for tenants including stores, sales centers, restaurants, and retail outlets by 15 May 2020. The decision was taken by the management of Dolmen City REIT in compliance with directives of the Government of Sindh to contain the spread of COVID-19 across the province of Sindh, according to the notification issued to PSX. Banks and supermarkets providing essential services do not fall under this exemption. Moreover, the management also provided a 50% rental waiver to the tenants of “The Harbour Front” for the month of May 2020. This measure will provide cost and cash flow relief to tenant partners whose business is affected by the pandemic. The mall will continue to engage with the tenants and monitor the situation closely and may extend the aforementioned dates based on a decision by Government, the notification added. The management said: We fully support the efforts of Sindh and Federal Governments to contain..

The Government of Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank have signed a concessional loan agreement of $15 million for Punjab urban development projects. This concessional loan is a Project Readiness Financing Facility for engineering and designing urban development projects in seven (7) major cities across Punjab, as identified by the provincial government. Dr. Syed Pervaiz Abbasi, Secretary, Economic Affairs Division (EAD) signed the Loan Agreement with Xiaohong Yang, Country Director, ADB. The Local Government & Community Development Department, Government of Punjab is the executing agency for the project. The PRF is expected to be completed by 31st October 2022. The PRF shall prepare readiness for ensuing projects across seven major cities in Punjab province, which are: Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan, Rawalpindi, and Sargodha. The activities under the PRF include: Preparation of Spatial Land Use Plans; Updating surveys and studies, and invest..

Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG) — the parent group of Zameen.com with operations in GCC, Pakistan, Thailand, Bangladesh, Morocco and Tunisia — and OLX Group, Prosus’s global classifieds business, have announced their merger in Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon and the UAE. The agreement includes a US $150 million investment round, led by OLX Group along with existing EMPG shareholders, which values EMPG at US $1 billion after the transaction. As part of the deal, OLX Group will contribute its operations in the four countries into EMPG and will become EMPG’s largest single shareholder, owning 39% of the company. EMPG will use the new capital to develop a range of new services, creating a more seamless user experience, enhancing data transparency, and deepening market intelligence for both consumers and business users. In Pakistan both the groups will continue to operate through their well-known local brands, however, for Egypt and Lebanon EMPG will operate the existing OLX platforms, ..

Pentagon has formally released 3 short videos comprising unidentified aerial phenomena that had been leaked by a private company between December 2017 and March 2018. According to Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough, Pentagon is officially releasing the videos to clear up misconceptions among the general public on whether the videos are real or not. One video was recorded in 2004 while the other two were recorded in 2015. After a thorough review, the Pentagon has determined that the authorized release of these unclassified videos does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems. It also does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena. In September 2019, the US Navy acknowledged the authenticity of the videos released by To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences. Here are the videos recently corroborated by the Pentagon: From 2004 From 2015 In the video from 2004, F-18 Super Hornet’s sensors lock on an unidentified ..

In a study published on Wednesday in a special issue of the journal ZooKeys on the coronavirus; it was announced that four new species of African leaf-nosed bats have been found and they are related to the bats that are the host for COVID-19 –horseshoe bats. It is crucial to identify all the species of bats as it will help in our understanding of diseases like COVID-19. While the main focus has been on how they spread diseases but the bats also pollinate crops, disperse seeds and eat insects. Sadly, they are still unknown to us and as per experts, humans have only identified 25% of all bat species in the last 15 years. Bruce Patterson, lead study author and Macarthur curator of mammals at Chicago’s Field Museum said, Bats are small, nocturnal and use high-frequency sound and smell to identify their species to other bats. Because we are large, diurnal, and reliant on vision (and lower-frequency sounds), we can’t read their signals very precisely. The real diversity of bats has really..

According to reports, two local businesses have been granted licenses by the government to establish solar power plants of up to 100 megawatts at an estimated investment of $100 million. The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) approved generation licenses to two solar power plants of 50MW each. They have been given to Artistic Solar Energy (Private) Limited for a plant in Sukkur district worth $45 million and $55 million will be invested by Siddiqsons Kohat Solar Limited for their plant in Kohat district. NEPRA said that these projects will help utilize untapped renewable energy optimally and increase the share of the pollution-free electricity. In a document, NEPRA said, There is a global trend of reduction in the prices of PV cells, which results in lower tariffs as is evident from various determinations of the authority. These lower tariffs will result in a reduction of the overall basket price which will be beneficial to the public at large. NEPRA said that all..