Tech and Telecom

Portugal no longer allows foreigners to enter Portugal and then apply for a residence permit. Earlier this week, the Portuguese government announced plans to toughen immigration rules, including the formation of a structure to settle an estimated 400,000 pending residency cases, international media reported recently. Under the new rules, foreigners with tourist visas will no longer be able to apply for legalization in Portugal. Prime Minister Luis Montenegro emphasized in a statement that the change aims to address what he described as excessive abuse of Portugal’s willingness to receive immigrants. These announcements come just days before millions of Europeans head…

Pakistan men’s national football team’s departure to Tajikistan is still unresolved FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers Round 2 as the national team’s flight got cancelled which was scheduled for Friday from Faisalabad for Dushanbe. PFF Normalisation Committee approached PIA for a chartered flight to take the team to Tajikistan after the flight was delayed twice before its cancellation. According to multiple reports, all the PIA jets were booked already and consequently, the airlines refused to provide a plane to the team so that they could go on board. https://x.com/FootballPak/status/1799614553459994638 Reportedly, eight members of the Pakistan team have already reached Dushanbe…

In a historic move, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has launched its first-ever Women’s University Tournament across various cities in the country. This ambitious initiative aims to provide a competitive platform for university players to perform at higher levels, heralding a transformative era in Pakistani women’s cricket. The primary objective of the tournament was to encourage more girls to take up cricket. This university tournament is particularly significant for institutions where women’s cricket is either not played or the women’s teams are new and inexperienced. These tournaments will not only help young players gain invaluable experience but also motivate universities…

Babar Azam’s Men in Green will take on arch-rivals India at the Grand Prairie Stadium in New York in their second match of the T20 World Cup campaign in their Group A tie. Pakistan lost to the co-hosts USA in the Super Over at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas while Rohit Sharma’s men defeated Ireland by 8 wickets in New York. Mohammad Rizwan and skipper Babar Azam are both expected to open the innings while Usman Khan might play at one-down alongside Fakhar Zaman at no.4. The middle order will feature players like Shadab Khan who is going through…

Historically, whenever Pakistan’s backs are against the wall, they tend to punch above their weight. Harsha Bhogle put it perfectly, “Every time you make Pakistan favourites, they find a way to lose; you rule them out, and they’ll come out and play wow cricket.” For this reason alone, despite all the pessimism, beating India on Saturday would be the most Pakistan thing ever. Enough has been said about the USA game over the past couple of days. It’s time to move on to new opponents and a new pitch. At Eisenhower Park, winning the toss will be crucial for gaining…

The new week promises to be eventful for Pakistan, especially for the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) and gold markets. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is all set to announce arguably its most important interest rate update on Monday, ahead of the federal budget 2024-25 presentation on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a trader last night told ProPakistani in an email that the rupee could rise to 260-270 as dollar demand eases following departure of majority of Pakistani pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj. However, such a level of growth is possible only if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announces staff-level agreement…

The latest round of talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ended without an agreement on a new bailout package as both sides failed to find common ground on higher income tax rates for salaried/non-salaried class and an 18 percent sales tax on agriculture and health sectors. The key issue is whether to impose a 45 percent income tax on monthly salaries of over Rs. 467,000, a significant increase from the current maximum rate of 35 percent on incomes over Rs. 500,000, reported Express Tribune. Both parties agreed on increasing the tax burden on exporters, who paid Rs.…

President Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Atif Ikram Shaikh has said that in the budget, zero rates should be restored for industries, while electricity and interest rates should be reduced. Inflation has reduced to 11.8 percent. 22 percent interest rate is unjustified. By reducing the interest rate, the government can save Rs. 3 trillion in interest payments. Talking about the textile sector, Atif Ikram said that for the last four months, cotton imports from the US and Brazil have been blocked at the port, which has led to a significant financial burden due to the increase…

The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to China. The MoU aims to enhance bilateral cooperation in the field of competition law and policy, marking a significant milestone in Sino-Pakistani relations. SAMR, a ministerial-level agency under China’s State Council, is responsible for enforcing anti-monopoly laws and regulating markets. The MoU signifies a new era of collaboration in anti-trust activities between the two nations. On October 19, 2023, a high-profile Chinese delegation led by Dr. Gan Lin, Vice Minister of SAMR visited…

Pakistan’s exports are expected to register over ten percent growth and reach around $31 billion in the current fiscal year 2023-24, compared to $27.735 billion in the last fiscal year 2022-23. Sources in the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) told this correspondent that the country’s exports were $4.434 billion during the first two months (July-August) of the current fiscal year and registered -6.32 percent growth when compared to $4.733 billion, however, exports turned into positive trajectory after that from September 2023. The country’s exports increased by 10.65 percent ($2.702 billion) to $28.070 billion during the first eleven months (July-May) of…