Tech and Telecom

The government of Punjab has decided to relax the COVID restrictions in the province from July 1st, following a decline in coronavirus cases. The provincial government has allowed cinemas, indoor dining, shrines, amusement parks, and swimming pools to be reopened from the first of next month. The health department stated that cinemas would be allowed to operate until 1 am. However, according to the health guidelines by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), everyone visiting the cinemas must be vaccinated and should carry their vaccination cards as proof. ALSO READ FIA to Investigate Schengen Visa Stickers Controversy Similarly, the provincial…

Pakistani Fintech startup Creditfix has announced that it has secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding in a round led by the venture capital fund, Insitor Partners Pte. Ltd. The Singapore-based impact investment firm confirmed this as their inaugural investment into Pakistan. The landmark deal is the first-of-its-kind in Pakistan’s startup ecosystem, marking the first-ever convertible loan financing from an international investor into a Pakistani company to be approved by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). ALSO READ The Urgent Call for Boosting Entrepreneurial Culture in Pakistan The unsecured convertible loan facility also has onboard local investors, ACT Group, and…

A circular from Atlas Honda began making rounds on social media during the past few days, indicating that the company is planning to introduce a price hike for the 5th time within the span of 6 months, since January 2021. Upon reaching out to the automaker, it came to our knowledge that the company has not yet issued any official notification for price revision in July 2021. That being said, though, there have been a lot of price hikes from Atlas Honda this year, which explains why people would believe the said news. The first price hike was announced on…

Zoom has become one of the most popular video-chatting apps in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Naturally, the app has been introducing new features every now and then and the streak still continues. ALSO READ Zoom is Reportedly Leaking Your Private Data Zoom is now acquiring a German startup called Karlsruhe Information Technology which specializes in machine learning-based real-time translation. Zoom will be using this to bring real-time translation to its own platform. The German startup is also called Kites and it consists of a dozen researchers related to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Zoom has not mentioned any…

The Coronavirus vaccine developed by a Chinese pharmaceutical company, Sinovac, has proven to be safe and effective among children and adolescents, early-stage clinical trials have shown. According to details, 552 children and adolescents aged between 3-17 years participated in the clinical trial. More than 96% of the participants developed antibodies after receiving the two doses of Sinovac’s vaccine, CoronaVac. ALSO READ IHC Orders to Dismiss National Bank’s President and Chairman BoD No major differences in immune response were detected among children and adolescents. However, adolescents developed higher levels of neutralizing antibodies than children because they received higher vaccine dosages. Overall,…

By Hashim Jadoon The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) is an acronym that almost everyone in finance has heard about, and those who have been following the local news will be sure to link the ‘grey list’ to the FATF. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a task force is “a temporary grouping under one leader for the purpose of accomplishing a definite objective,” which clarifies the meaning of the FATF — it has the definite and ‘temporary’ policy-making task of fighting against money laundering globally. However, it seems like the FATF does a little more than just temporary policy-making.…

Pakistan’s e-commerce industry has seen tremendous growth in the last one year, and now more and more people are inclined towards learning the drill of setting up their businesses online and leveraging the power of digital and e-commerce. Some of the key factors that have contributed to this growth include 3G/4G penetration and data connectivity, Pakistan’s growing startup and investment ecosystem, the boom in logistics and supply chain management, and an increasing number of mobile wallets. A lot of work that has been put into establishing the foundation for this ecosystem is credited to people who have tirelessly worked on…

The government of Punjab is hiring intern teachers for 13,736 vacant seats for only one academic year instead of hiring either permanent or contractual teachers. According to the details, the total expenditure on the recruitments is expected to be Rs. 130.4 million, while the hiring will be completed in six phases. Six districts have been shortlisted in the first phase, after which six more districts will be added in each phase. ALSO READ Summer Vacations Announced for Islamabad’s Schools Applicants can apply for the post until 15 July, and the lists of the submitted applications will be displayed on 19 July.…

In response to the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) verdict against TikTok, the Minister for Information, Fawad Chaudhry, has warned that the country will never be able to escape economic obstructions if the judiciary continues to intervene in matters of digital growth. While expressing his perspective in a tweet, the minister seemed “baffled after reading yesterday’s verdicts on the suspension of TikTok”. He blamed “judicial activism” for causing losses worth billions in the technology sector, something that could worsen if the judicial reforms are not introduced soon. عدالتی اصلاحات نہ کی گئیں تو ملک اقتصادی بحران سے کبھی باہر نہیں نکل…

The Punjab Excise and Taxation Department has successfully collected taxes from citizens by employing khawaja siras for the task in Dera Ghazi Khan. Based on the unprecedented success of this experiment, the department has decided to employ them to collect taxes all over Punjab. Discussing the achievement with reporters in an interview, the DG Excise and Taxation, Saleha Saeed, confirmed that the department will soon recruit more khawaja siras to its workforce to collect taxes across the province. ALSO READ Islamabad’s School Students to be Promoted Without Annual Exams On a separate note, it was learned that the Excise and…