Category: Information Technology

The residents of Swat have threatened to stage protests if the gas outages in the locality do not end immediately.

People living in Gumbad Maira, Malookabad, Shahdara Watkey, and the adjoining localities have severe gas outages in the harsh winter because of which they are unable to cook meals and keep their rooms heated for their children and elderly.

ALSO READ

PSO Floats Tenders To Ensure Optimal Fuel Availability in 2021

They complained that they are helpless and have to use other expensive alternative sources like LNG to cook their meals and keep themselves warm.

“Since the winter started, the SNGPL has kept the gas supply suspended from our areas most of the time, due to which it is difficult for us to prepare meals,” a resident of Gumbad Maira said.

“The temperatures dip below freezing point during the night, and our children are unable to sleep without a heating facility,” another resident added.

ALSO READ

Govt Announces No Gas Loadshedding for Domestic Consumers and Export Sector

The residents of the adjoining locality Rahimabad said that there is no gas from 5 pm to 11 pm every day and that this is the peak time for people to use gas to heat their rooms and prepare their meals for the night. They added that there are gas outages early in the morning as well and that the situation causes a lot of hardships for them.

The locals also complained that gas loadshedding takes place every year and that they have to come out on to the streets and protest against it.

Continue Reading

Chinese Smartphone market leader Huawei is always looking to stay ahead of the competition when it comes to camera quality. This year, the company introduced a new free form lens that promises better results, and newer reports are suggesting that the Chinese brand is in the final phase of testing a new liquid lens.

This new liquid lens is expected to greatly improve image stabilization and focus times. According to a report from Chinese media, focus time will be reduced to a few milliseconds, which is on par with the human eye.

This technology will reportedly be implemented on telephoto cameras first so instead of moving the lenses, it will alter the shape of the moving liquid through varying voltage levels. The way this technology works is currently unknown, but it involves moving a motor, a camera placeholder, and electronic hardware to move the liquid lens.

Additionally, these new liquid lenses are also expected to be more durable and greatly immune to shock as compared to non-liquid camera lenses. Tipster Digital Chat Station believes that this lens will be paired with the unannounced Sony IMX782 sensor for excellent results.

We expect to see an official announcement for this new liquid lens sometime next year.

Continue Reading

The Ministry of Commerce has announced that a national database of women entrepreneurs will be developed to facilitate their integration into the trade of goods and services.

ALSO READ

Islamic Banking Has Potential for Financial Inclusion in Pakistan: Sima Kamil

During the second meeting of the consultative committee for the Women Economic Empowerment (WEE), Commerce Secretary Muhammad Sualeh Ahmad Faruqui suggested the creation of a national database of women entrepreneurs.

The official announcement was made during the meeting and Commerce Secretary Faruqui highlighted the importance of the participation of women entrepreneurs in the trade of goods and services.

He added that the women entrepreneurs should be considered a key aspect and that policies should be created with them as the focal point.

He also proposed developing an action matrix, keeping in view the stakeholders’ input.

“This will cover the creation of a national database of women entrepreneurs, business facilitation, ease of doing business, training, and access to finance,” Faruqui said.

The online meeting was attended by high profile names and companies including Facebook, i2i, [email protected], e-Commerce marketplaces, Women Chambers, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce, and leading fashion designers.

ALSO READ

ADB Approves $300 Million Loan For Pakistan’s Macroeconomic Recovery

The State Bank of Pakistan, the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (Islamabad), and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority also attended the meeting.

Representatives of the Pakistan-Regional Economic Integration Activity, USAID, and the Asian Development Bank also attended and spoke about the best practices regarding women entrepreneurs’ integration internationally, small and medium enterprises, and the e-commerce portal.

The e-commerce implementation strategy includes forming a one-window portal to facilitate and promote all the relevant stakeholders. The portal will provide useful information regarding e-commerce and will also help to highlight the women entrepreneurs working in Pakistan.

The committee will submit its recommendations to the Ministry of Commerce by next week.

Continue Reading

Korean tech giant LG has officially announced that it will spin off some of its affiliates into a new holding company next year. The decision comes as a move to restructure the company at a time conglomerates are growing in size.

According to a report from Reuters, LG’s affiliates will be officially spun off in May next year. Currently, the holding company of these affiliates is LG Corp, and it will reportedly hold assets worth 9.8 trillion won (~$8.9 billion). However, the new holding company will have assets worth 900 billion won (~$814 million).

The companies listed below will spin out from LG Corp.

LG International Corp
LG Hausys Ltd
Silicon Works Co Ltd
LG MMA Corp.
unlisted Pantos Logistics Co Ltd

Currently, LG Corp operates in several different businesses including batteries, display, cosmetics, household products, automobiles, and some of its clients include General Motors, Tesla, and Apple. Following the restructuring, LG hopes to focus more on its core business, including consumer electronics, chemicals, telecommunication & services.

This new holding company will likely be headed by Koo Bon-Joon, who is the son of one of the company’s founders and the nephew of the chairman at LG Group.

Continue Reading

Chairman Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee, Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman, has termed the newly-announced chemical castration as punishment for rapists “un-Islamic”.

While speaking with a local news channel, Mufti Muneeb remarked, “I am amazed at the collective wisdom of the federal cabinet that they have proposed such a solution to the problem of rape,” adding that “our parliamentarians do not know what kind of legislation they are making”.

ALSO READ

Hafeez Reveals the Weirdest Cricketer in the World

The Chairman said that instead of enforcing Islamic laws, the government has adopted a policy of enacting new laws.

He stated that Allah had prescribed stoning and flogging as the punishments for adultery and rape:

For a married individual, adultery is punishable by stoning, while for an unmarried individual, it is punishable by 100 lashes. The Holy Quran prescribes the harshest punishments for the perpetrators of rape.

Mufti Muneeb said that he has complete faith that the problem of rape can be tackled by adhering to the Islamic punishments as prescribed by Allah.

ALSO READ

Nokia Enters Smart TV Market With 7 New Models

He suggested that the government should follow Islamic laws, implement punishments under these laws, and abstain from enacting legislation contrary to Islam.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Imran Khan had granted assent to the Anti-Rape (Investigation & Trial) Ordinance 2020 that mandates the castration of rapists and pedophiles.

Continue Reading

The Government of Pakistan, represented by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Government of Germany, through the German Development Bank-KfW, has signed three grant-in-aid agreements with a cumulative value of €18.5 million.

Under these agreements, Germany will provide support to Pakistan for health facilities and to combat polio in the country, along with services for the mitigation of energy issues.

The agreements were signed by Noor Ahmed Secretary Ministry of Economic Affairs and Sebastian Jacobi Country Director German Development Bank-KfW Pakistan.

ALSO READ

KP to Launch Entrepreneurship Program For Women

Under the ‘Women Employment in the Private Health Sector’, KfW will provide a grant of €12 million exclusively for the establishment of women’s health clinics in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab to promote the self-employment of women in the health sector and for the training of qualified women to run clinics.

Furthermore, the Government of Germany, through KfW, will provide an additional grant of €5 million to augment the existing support for the eradication of polio in Pakistan.

This will help Pakistan finance polio vaccines and meet the costs for vaccination campaigns for the implementation of Pakistan’s National Polio Emergency Action Plan.

Under the climate change and energy component, Pakistan will receive a grant of €1.5 million to implement accompanying services for the Harpo Hydropower Project in Gilgit-Baltistan. These accompanying measures will be carried out at the project site in support of the main Harpo Hydropower Project to ensure the sustainability of the project.

The accompanying services will function to strengthen the power utility which is the Gilgit-Baltistan Power Department, and accompanying investments in the social infrastructure, as well as relevant consulting measures.

ALSO READ

Gilgit-Baltistan Signs Its First Ever Public-Private Partnership Project

Historically, Pakistan and Germany have enjoyed friendly relations since the establishment of their diplomatic ties in 1951. Earlier this year, the Government of Germany, through KfW, signed agreements with the Government of Pakistan to provide €27 million for Gharo Substation in Sindh, and €6 million for the Regional Infrastructure Project in KP.

Noor Ahmed thanked the Country Director of KfW for providing grant-in-aid assistance worth €18.5 million to Pakistan.

Continue Reading

The federal government has decided to provide the latest version of the e-Office to the provinces. The consensus was reached during a meeting regarding the implementation status of the e-Office chaired by the Federal Minister for Information and Telecommunication, Syed Amin Ul Haque.

The Federal Secretary Ministry of IT and Telecommunication, Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, and the CEO of the National Information Technology Board (NITB), Shabahat Ali Shah also attended the meeting.

ALSO READ

MediaTek Set to Power Premium Gaming Smartphones in Pakistan

During the meeting, the Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication was given a detailed briefing on the implementation status of the e-Office.

Addressing the meeting, Minister Syed Amin Ul Haque said that the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication is committed to the promotion of information technology in the country.

He added that steps are being taken for digitalization and that the provision of broadband services in the country is the topmost priority.

ALSO READ

Huawei Launching IdeaHub in Pakistan on 3rd December to Transform Workspace During Pandemic and Beyond

The minister also stated that the use of the e-Office will improve the performance of the government departments and ensure transparency in public services.

The attendees of the meeting also agreed to provide the latest version of the e-Office to the provinces.

Continue Reading

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan has constituted a Transition Committee with the representation of relevant stakeholders for a smooth transition to the regulatory framework governing medical and dental education under the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) Act 2020.

Pursuant to the promulgation of PMC Act 2020, the uniform minimum standards of basic and higher medical education, training and recognition of qualifications in medicine and dentistry will be formulated and implemented. PMC and the HEC will work together and closely coordinate to define the regulatory scope.

The Transition Committee has been constituted to ensure that there will be a gradual transition in terms of setting standards, devising mechanisms/policies regarding curriculum, faculty, and inspection of medical and dental colleges.

The Committee will ensure that there will be no abrupt change and existing standards shall remain in force till the adoption of new standards/policies.

Continue Reading