Category: Information Technology

The Huawei R&D team has been working on a complete solution for this pandemic and is finally ready to launch its new product, Huawei IdeaHub, in Pakistan — a solution that can effortlessly turn conference rooms, executive offices, classrooms, homes, and open areas into smart digital spaces.

Huawei has been working towards making lives more convenient with its products and solutions and to transform surroundings into a fully connected intelligent world.

Huawei started its video conferencing journey in 1993 by launching China’s first 1080p HD Video Conferencing System. Now after 27 years of R&D, Huawei is bringing the IdeaHub, a product that will bring a revolution to the workspace, a product which is designed for the fully connected intelligent world.

Huawei IdeaHub is a revolutionary product that redefines conventional office space. With its core capabilities of Interactive Whiteboard, Professional Video Conferencing, and Prosperous Cloud Ecosystem, the Huawei IdeaHub can flexibly adapt to the Smart Offices, Smart Education, Finance, and Healthcare industries.

Its 4K Video, Data Sharing, Speaker Tracking, and Handwriting Precision make it the end-point of the next generation of Intelligent Digital Workspace.

Huawei Pakistan will unveil the product to its esteemed customers & partners on the 3rd of December 2020 and will give them a chance to actually feel the live-environment scenarios of this latest innovative product. They will elaborate on how this product is useful in the current pandemic situation and how it can make life easier and more productive.

All the top CXOs across Pakistan will be joining the event. Anyone can join the live stream on Huawei Pakistan’s official Facebook page.

Continue Reading

Pakistani players breaching the COVID-19 protocols set by the New Zealand government has sparked a controversy between the fans of the two countries. Many fans believe that New Zealand Cricket overreacted to the incident, while others say that they had every right to give such harsh statements.

ALSO READ

New Zealand Cricket Warns of More COVID-19 Cases in Pakistan Team

New Zealand fans have gone a bit further than that and have demanded that ‘an example should be made out of the Pakistani team’.

A radio broadcaster in New Zealand, D’Arcy Waldegrave, commented that the Pakistani team is ‘astonishingly arrogant’ and called for strict action against the breaching of protocols.

Similarly, Kiwi broadcaster, Chris Lynch, called for a punishment for the Pakistani team in his column in the famous newspaper, New Zealand Herald.

Lynch wrote,

It is a privilege, not a right, to be granted access to New Zealand. There are plenty of Kiwis unable to return home because managed isolation facilities are fully booked. Pakistan shouldn’t be granted any special exemptions in the first place, either they’re in managed isolation or they’re not.

ALSO READ

Shoaib Akhtar Lashes Out at New Zealand for Disrespecting Pakistan

“I feel grateful to live in a country where COVID-19 has not taken a foothold. If others are unclear about their responsibilities during the global pandemic, the threat of a plane ticket home should help ease any confusion,” he added.

The reaction seems a bit over the top, especially since none of the players left the hotels or interacted with people from outside the isolation facility.

Previously, some West Indies players were also in violation of the protocols set by the New Zealand government, but it did not garner a lot of attention from the broadcasters.

Continue Reading

Explosive middle-order batsman, Khushdil Shah, has suffered a personal loss as his father passed away in Pakistan. Khushdil is currently on national duty with Pakistan for their tour of New Zealand.

According to reports, Khushdil will not be traveling back home to attend the funeral of his father as the current pandemic situation will make it difficult for him to travel back.

ALSO READ

New Zealand Cricket Warns of More COVID-19 Cases in Pakistan Team

Suffering the loss of your father is already tough and being so far away from home will surely make it tougher for him. Adding to his misery, the Pakistan cricket team has been spending the required quarantine period in New Zealand confined to their rooms.

ALSO READ

Shoaib Akhtar Lashes Out at New Zealand for Disrespecting Pakistan

Other Pakistani players have also been unable to meet and console Khushdil as the quarantine rules in the isolation facility are too harsh. The condolences were made over a phone call.

Pakistani players have been under a lot of pressure in New Zealand as six players tested positive for COVID-19 on the first day and several team members were found violating the COVID-19 protocols. Players have termed the quarantine period as a ‘prison sentence’.

Pakistan are scheduled to take on New Zealand in three T20Is and two Tests starting from 18th December.

Continue Reading

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has floated multiple tenders to procure petroleum products to ensure adequate fuel availability in the next year.

According to a report by a national daily, PSO has invited bids for the supply of three motor gasoline cargos of 45,000 tons each, along with one standard size cargo of high Sulphur fuel oil and low Sulphur fuel oil, in January 2021. The state-owned petroleum company will reportedly also receive one cargo of jet fuel in January.

PSO’s stock position sits at a comfortable level, and no imminent threat reportedly exists that could hamper supplies across the country. PSO has substantially scaled back its crude oil imports since the end of 2017, with the country moderately converting to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to fuel Pakistan’s power sector.

ALSO READ

PSO And PLL Under Scrutiny For Excess Payments of Rs. 6.28 Billion To LNG Suppliers

Domestic oil sales during October touched a two-year high, with 1.7 million tons of petroleum products being sold in the country. This statistic reflects an 11 percent increase, backed by a sharp 43 percent upwards movement in high-speed diesel (HSD) demand.

The strong demand for retail fuels stands sufficient to compensate for the 22 percent sequential decline in demand for furnace oil (FO).

Cumulatively for MFY21 (July-October 2020), petroleum products sales increased 9 percent, clocking in at 6.4 million tons as compared to 6 million tons in the same period last year.

Continue Reading

Mohammad Hafeez, known for his witty and funny replies, said that he is the weirdest player in the world. His comments came after stats revealed that he is the only batsman in the world to have a better record in 2020 than in previous years.

Hafeez is in the form of his life, scoring loads of runs at a high strike rate in the limited over formats. The 40-year old has been a force to reckon with in Pakistan’s batting line up.

ALSO READ

Babar vs Kohli: Mohammad Amir Reveals Who’s Tougher to Bowl

Hafeez has played 25 matches this year, scoring 844 runs at an average of 49.6 and a strike rate of 141. The highest numbers of his career.

Hafeez, also nicknamed Professor, has always been known to possess the talent but his numbers did not justify his talent previously.

Hafeez revealed that a change in his mindset has helped him improve his batting. He said that practicing power-hitting in the nets and trying to play aggressive cricket has helped him transform his limited-overs game.

ALSO READ

ICC Awards or Indian Awards: These Pakistanis Performed Better Than the Nominated Players

Hafeez also attributed his improvement to golf. He said that he relaxes by playing golf, which gives him calmness while on the cricket pitch. He added that the golf swing has also helped his bat swing.

Hafeez will be in action in the T20I series against New Zealand scheduled to start from 18th December.

Continue Reading

To facilitate exporters of footwear products, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has enhanced customs duty drawback rates on the export of leather, canvas, or textile footwear from Nov 26, 2020, onwards.

The FBR has amended the duty drawback notification S.R.O. 210(I)/2009 on Friday through the issuance of SRO.1268(I)/2020.

The duty drawback has been enhanced on the export of canvas or textile footwear with rubber sole (all varieties and sizes) from 1.00 percent of the Freight on Board (FOB) value to 4.11 percent of the FOB value.

The duty drawback has been raised on the export of leather footwear, including chappals and sandals with the leather upper and leather sole from 1.21 percent of the FOB value to 4.62 percent of the FOB value.

ALSO READ

Taxpayers Will Now Be Able to File Appeals Electronically

Similarly, FBR has enhanced the duty drawback on the export of leather footwear with leather upper and PU or PVC or TPR or rubber or leather insert sole from 1.82 percent of the FOB value to 4.70 percent of the FOB value.

Under S.R.O. 210(I)/2009, the FBR has authorized repayment of customs–duties to the extent specified paid on the importation of the raw materials used in the production or manufacture of the goods and exported during the period specified.

The manufactured goods are exported out of Pakistan and an application for repayment of customs–duties is presented to the proper officer of Customs within two hundred and ten days of such exportation, or within one hundred and eighty days from the date of realization of foreign exchange as shown on Bank Credit Advice issued following the current directive of the State Bank of Pakistan, and the exporter makes a declaration on the goods declaration filed under section 131 of the Customs Act, 1969 (IV of 1969), and on other export documents for his claim for repayment of the customs–duties paid on the imported raw materials used in the production or manufacture of the goods being exported.

Continue Reading

A local court in France has sentenced an imam of Pakistani origin to 18 months in jail for the propagation of extremism on social media. Luqman H, a part-time imam of the Quba Mosque in the Villiers-le-Bel commune in the Val-d’Oise department of ​​France, now faces a lifetime ban on his entry into France.

On Thursday, a criminal court in Pontoise (a suburb of Paris) sentenced the imam to one-and-a-half years in prison and placed a definitive ban on his entry into French territory.

ALSO READ

CAA Bans Meals & Hot Beverages in Domestic Flights

The court’s president, Stephen Bult, found Luqman H guilty of the charges against him and declared that the imam would have to return to his native country, after which he will never be able to set foot on French soil again.

“It is impossible for the republic to consider keeping you on its soil because of your statements,” he said.

Luqman H, 33, was accused of posting three videos inciting extremism via TikTok on 9, 10, and 25 September. His videos also celebrated the knife attack outside the old office of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

ALSO READ

K-Electric to Invest $1.5 Billion in Distribution Network

The imam had claimed in one of the videos: “The faithful Muslim is ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of the Prophet of Islam.”

In the other video, he has paid tribute to the man who had carried out the terrorist attack.

During the court hearing, the accused apologized several times and told the court that he was a follower of Sufi Islam which conveys the ‘message of peace and love’.

Local French media reported that being unable to speak French, Luqman H told the court via a translator that he had been unaware of the law, and that he received many likes on the social media platform for his message. He added that his other two videos intended to create a buzz.

Continue Reading

Taking another step towards digitization, the Punjab government has introduced an e-license framework for the registration of private schools in the province.

Education Minister Punjab, Dr. Murad Raas, formally launched the framework in a ceremony that was held earlier today in Lahore.

ALSO READ

Dutch Company Offers to Invest $1.3 Billion for Desalination & Power Plants in Karachi

While addressing the ceremony, Dr. Raas said that e-licenses will allow private school owners to register schools with the provincial government without having to face the bureaucratic rigmaroles.

Under the e-license framework, the provincial government will also be able to regulate matters concerning private schools in accordance with the law, noted Dr. Raas.

ALSO READ

KP to Get Country’s First-Ever Sports City

Besides, the Punjab government is also working to introduce legislation to regulate private educational institutions in the province that will primarily restrain them from increasing the fees on unjustified grounds.

Once signed into law, the new legislation will accord protection to parents against the exorbitant fee hikes and will cover uniforms, books, harassment, and other issues in private institutions.

Continue Reading

MediaTek, the world’s 4th largest global fabless semiconductor company, today announced its G-series chipsets that will power the next wave of gaming devices from leading Smartphone brands in Pakistan.

The gaming-focused MediaTek Helio G-series family consists of the new MediaTek Helio G95, aimed at premium users, G90 series, G85, G80, G70, G35, and G25 chips. MediaTek expects the first Smartphones powered by the G-series chips to be launched early in 2021.

The powerful MediaTek Helio G95 offers gaming enthusiasts faster performance and high-end features like advanced multi-camera photography – up to 4 cameras, with an inbuilt AI processing unit (APU). It provides dual wake-up word support and enables HDR10 standard display, which can be enhanced to approach HDR10+ quality in real-time.

The chip is equipped with an ultra-low-power, always-on DSP that supports dual wake-up word detection, ensuring seamless concurrence between two parallel Voice Wakeup (VoW) functions. The ultra-low-power DSP minimizes power consumption of applications such as the always-on Google Assistant and supports multiple keyword triggers and virtual assistants.

“Pakistan is a young and rising global market with many multinationals including MediaTek seeing potential growth in it regarding Mobile phones, Consumer Electronics, and other Smart Products,” said Rami Osman, Director MEA, MediaTek. “Pakistan has a great growth potential accelerating migration from 2G Feature Phones to 4G Smartphones with a population of over 200M and around 12M unit smartphone market annually. In the coming days, we will work to support this Smartphone acceleration on two fronts.”

“First to bring more flagship phones in the market with the help of Smartphone brands such as Xiaomi, RealMe, Infinix, and others with our Helio G-Series focusing on Mobile Gaming. Secondly, we would work with Mobile Operators on network support for the latest 4G technology such as Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and KaiOS Digit 4G Smart Feature Phone running on our entry 4G SOC,” he added.

Globally, the year 2020 has been significant for MediaTek, with a strong focus on 5G, gaming, Wi-Fi 6, and AIoT capabilities. MediaTek has a well-adjusted portfolio across smartphones, smart homes, and other segments.

MediaTek smartphones and tablets contribute about 43%-48% of the total revenue, while 28-33% revenue covers VAD, AIoT, Power Management, Connectivity Solutions like Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. The remaining 20-25% of the revenue from other categories including Digital TVs, DVD Players, Optical Storage, and Feature phones, etc.

With the cutting-edge gaming performance enhancements, AI camera features, and advanced connectivity, and multimedia features, the MediaTek Helio G series chipsets are bringing consumers around the world superior smartphone gaming experiences.

For details on MediaTek Helio G Series, click here.

Continue Reading