Tech and Telecom

19-year-old climber, Shehroze Kashif, has become the youngest Pakistani mountaineer to summit the world’s tallest peak, Mount Everest. On Monday night, Kashif began his journey to summit the 8848.86-meter mountain peak. He shared his tracker throughout with his friends and followers so that they can stay updated with his progress as he hoisted Pakistan’s flag on top of the world’s tallest mountain. ALSO READ SCO to Power K2 Base Camp with High-Speed 4G Before setting on this journey, Kashif posted on Facebook, After years of wait and prep, the moment has arrived finally so it is getting very hard to control…

Coronavirus vaccine will be available for all people across the province from 16 May, Sindh’s Health Minister, Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, has revealed. While briefing the media regarding the ongoing vaccination campaign, Dr. Azra said that the Sindh government has planned to vaccinate 70 million people by the end of 2021. ALSO READ HEC Offers Foreign University Scholarships for Pakistanis and Kashmiris She added that the provincial government will establish new vaccination centers all over the province as more Coronavirus vaccine doses reach Pakistan. She requested the public to avoid crowded spaces and unnecessary travel and adhere to COVID-19 SOPs.…

American Business Council (ABC) of Pakistan has proposed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to maintain a tax holiday on exports of IT and IT-enabled services, as withdrawal of exemption will discourage global tech companies with offices in Pakistan to bring their money to the country. According to the budget proposals of the ABC for 2021-22, the proposed removal of the tax holiday on exports of IT and IT-enabled services in the finance bill demonstrates the inconsistency of Government policies and large organizations will find it very difficult to make any long term investments if they believe that GoP is…

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin chaired the meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) at the Finance Division today. The NPMC reviewed the price trend of essential commodities especially wheat flour, sugar, edible oil/ghee, pulses and chicken during the last week. While briefing the NPMC about weekly SPI, the Finance Secretary apprised that prices of 07 basic commodities registered a decline whereas 26 items remained stable during the week under review. Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam updated the NPMC about the wheat procurement drive of the Provinces and PASSCO to…

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has reduced sales tax from 17 percent to 15.44 percent on Kerosene oil and from 17 percent to 7.56 percent on Light diesel oil from May 1, 2021, to adjust sales tax rates for maintaining prices of the petroleum products unchanged during May. The FBR has amended S.R.O. 57(I)/2016 (sales tax on petroleum products) through a notification S.R.O. 557 (I)/2021 issued on Monday. According to the notification, the standard rate of 17 percent would remain applicable on Motor spirit and High-speed diesel oil from May 1. The federal government had kept the prices of…

Pakistan is aiming to improve trade with neighboring country Afghanistan as well as other countries in Central Asia, as it plans to diversify commerce, Bloomberg reported Abdul Razak Dawood as saying. Adviser to PM on Trade and Commerce Dawood said in an interview that Pakistan is seeking to finalize a new trade accord with Afghanistan by June 2021. Pakistan plans to grow trade with five landlocked Central Asian nations – Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The plan is to improve the multilateral trade to $1.5 billion annually, from less than a billion in the past decade, he said. Pakistan…

To mark its 135th anniversary, Coca-Cola announced to pledge a sum of PKR 5 billion for new global initiatives, whereby top priority was marked on Covid-19 – Stop the spread initiative, for which PKR 3 billion will be spent on partnering with credible local not-for-profit entities to support those who have been impacted the most during this pandemic. The Company’s Covid-19 relief efforts have been ongoing in Pakistan – from the timely distribution of life-saving ventilators to assisting the Government in disease prevention by distributing protective equipment to front-line health workers. Given the deadly rise of the third wave, The…

Recently, a South Korean publication, Yonhap News Agency, published a report disclosing that Samsung is launching new phones in August this year. The company is currently in talks with local network carriers related to the launch of its new smartphone models in the coming months, including the Galaxy S21 FE, Galaxy Z Fold 3, and Galaxy Z Flip 3. If the report is true, the company will be launching the smartphones earlier than usual. The launch is most likely being pushed forward to fill the gap of the Galaxy Note series that is usually launched in August. The company has…

The total cost of a Grade 21 civil servant officer is estimated to be 12 percent higher than that of a United Nation’s (UN) national officer, a study carried out on “Civil Service Compensation: Incentives, Dissatisfaction and Costs” by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) revealed. In addition to direct monetary remunerations, the civil servants also enjoy in-kind benefits worth billions of rupees. These include housing, vehicles, job security, and medical allowances. The public-owned houses have a minimum market value of Rs. 1.45 trillion and can generate an annual rental income of Rs. 10.75 billion. The report also outlined that…

Flamboyant wicket-keeper batsman, Kamran Akmal, believes that his younger brother, Umar Akmal, should be reinstated to the national T20I line-up to solve the middle-order woes of the men in green. ALSO READ Babar Azam Gets ICC Player of the Month Award Kamran believes that Umar is the best available option for Pakistan in the T20Is, and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should work to reintegrate Umar back into the national setup. Kamran said that Umar has already served his punishment for failing to report corrupt advances to the ICC anti-corruption board, and PCB should start his rehabilitation process sooner rather than…