Tech and Telecom

Sindh government and Gerry’s Visa Service have entered an agreement to streamline the COVID-19 vaccine administration in the province for overseas travelers. The agreement was signed between the Sindh government and Gerry’s Visa Service earlier today in the presence of provincial Health and Population Welfare Minister, Dr. Azra Pechuho. ALSO READ NIH Successfully Produces 2nd Batch of PakVac Vaccine Under the agreement, which will come into effect from 28 June, the country’s leading visa services agency will be responsible for providing internationally approved Coronavirus vaccines, including Pfizer and AstraZeneca, to citizens who intend to travel overseas. Gerry’s Visa Service will…

The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has warned that water shortage in the country could increase by 30 to 35 percent as national water supplies have decreased by more than half in the last week. The official data shows that the national river flows on Monday dropped from 456,000 cusecs to 223,000 cusecs last week. The biggest plunge, from 225,000 cusecs to 97,800 cusecs, was witnessed in the River Indus. ALSO READ 50% of Police Staff in Kasur Tests Positive for Drug Use IRSA spokesperson, Khalid Idrees Rana, said that the river system authority has started drawing additional water supplies…

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, chaired a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet in Islamabad on Wednesday. The ECC approved the Technical Supplementary Grant of Rs. 300 million for allocation from PSDP for the establishment of Joint Border Markets at Mand, District Kech, Gabd, District Gwadar, and Chedgi, District Panjgur, against Rs. 100 million each. The ECC further approved a technical supplementary grant for COVID-19 Response and Other Natural Calamities Control Program (Sindh Component), worth Rs. 9393.226 million. The ECC, during its meeting held on Wednesday, approved a technical Supplementary grant of Rs.…

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to acquire four new modern fuel-efficient aircraft to add them to its fleet. According to the PIA spokesperson, the national flag carrier will purchase narrow-body planes on a six-year dry lease. ALSO READ Multiple Karachi Airport Flights Rescheduled Airbus-320, the first of the four aircraft acquired by PIA will be part of the airline’s fleet by next month, the second aircraft will be added in August while the remaining two aircraft will be added by PIA to its fleet by September and October respectively. The airline is planning to induct the two A320-200 aircraft…

Sony launched the SRS-XB13 wireless speaker a while back, but it is now making its way to more markets across the globe. The Sony SRS-XB13 is one of the most compact wireless speakers that is easy to carry around thanks to a strap. ALSO READ Sony WF-1000XM4 Earbuds Launched With Better Noise Cancellation and Battery Life Despite being so small, the speaker delivers loud and excellent sound quality thanks to Sony’s Extra Bass Sound Diffusion processor. It is an upward-firing mono speaker, but it can easily be paired with other speakers to create a stereo setup. You can use Bluetooth…

With the common goal of empowering the people of Pakistan to achieve self-sufficiency through e-commerce and digital skills, Dukan.pk has partnered with Extreme Commerce to help local businesses sell online. Extreme Commerce is the largest online selling community of Pakistan with approximately 700,000 members. It has trained and helped thousands of people to sell online and generate over $100 million in sales through Amazon, eBay, and other platforms. Led by a team of industry veterans, Dukan has helped create over 60,000 online stores, growing 350% month on month. It provides local sellers with a free, easy, and effective platform to…

Jazz has secured a Rs. 50 billion syndicated credit facility from a banking consortium led by HBL. This 10-year facility will be used to finance the company’s ongoing 4G network rollouts and technology upgradation. This is the first of its kind facility extended to the telecom sector in terms of the amount and tenor. The facility is fully subscribed by HBL, the consortium’s investment agent and mandated lead arranger. Other banks who are also acting as the mandated lead arrangers and advisors on this deal include: United Bank Limited, National Bank of Pakistan, MCB Bank, Bank Alfalah, Allied Bank Limited,…

In a bid to bring reforms in the police department, the Punjab Police is conducting drug tests of all of its officials across the province. In this regard, drug tests were conducted on 48 officials in the Kasur district on the first day of the drive. Out of these, 24 officials were found positive for drug use. In the first phase, police officials of up to ASI rank were selected for the test on the directives of the Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP), Inam Ghani. ALSO READ Finance Ministry Rebuffs Fake FATF News Reports However, Dawn reported that IG…

The federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCOP) on Wednesday (23 June). The attendees discussed the proposal for the divestment of the federal government’s shares in Mari Petroleum Company Limited. After comprehensive deliberation, the chair directed the Privatization Commission and the Ministry of Petroleum to further examine the issue in light of today’s discussion and to come up with a comprehensive proposal during the next meeting of the CCOP. ALSO READ Iran Confiscates More Than 7,000 Bitcoin Mining Computers In Tehran They discussed the proposal for the privatization of…

Research led by investigators at the Saint James School of Medicine has revealed that increased screen time among young adults during the pandemic is leading to a rise in pandemic-related distress. The study correlated the increase in time spent viewing entertainment on a screen prior to and during the pandemic with changes in anxiety scores. ALSO READ AstraZeneca Vaccine is Very Effective Against Indian COVID-19 Variant Compared to non-students, students scored higher in stress-induced because of the pandemic. This research will be presented at the World Microbe Forum that is taking place online between 20 to 24 June. ALSO READ…