Transparency International’s Pakistan chapter made a clarification regarding Pakistan’s three spot slip stating that it did not reflect an increase of decrease in corruption. A statement quoted TI Pakistan Chairman Advocate Sohail Muzzafar as saying that the score falling from 33 to 32 was “within the standard margin of error”. He pointed out that score lowered from 88 to 87 for Denmark, which was least corrupt country in 2018 and 2019.
An 18-year-old man was arrested in Gujranwala on Saturday for the rape of a seven-year-old boy at a madrassa in Majeed Colony. A case was registered against him at the Satellite Town police station. The child was found at the madrassa but the suspect initially managed to escape. He was found by the police later as the CCTV cameras in the madrassa recorded the rape.
Defence Minister Pervez Khattak has said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s health, revenue and sports ministers were fired over disciplinary violation . KP Governor Shah Farman issued a notification earlier on Sunday, removing Sports Minister Mohammad Atif Khan, Health Minister Shehram Khan Tarakai and Revenue and Estate Minister Shakeel Ahmed. He said talks with coalition partners had been successful and soon the agreement would be acted upon.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has announced scholarships opportunities of fall-2020 for PhD studies in top-ranked US universities under US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor Project. According to sources, the scholarships will cover living stipend, health insurance, settlement allowance and airfare. Under the project as many as 10,000 scholars will be sent to the US top-ranked universities till 2024 with the effort of the Government of Pakistan to train its faculty resources in identified subject areas.
Minar-e-Pakistan, the famous national landmark built in 1968, had a secret symbolic architecture which most Pakistanis have missed out on. Only recently a Facebook user, Tahir Mahmood Chaudhry revealed the aerial view of the Minar e Pakistan which depicts a genius geometry. The photographer’s eagle-eye view, Minar-e-Pakistan displays a flower nestled on a star embraced by two crescents, one white and one green.
As the threat of Coronavirus looms in Pakistan, there are no laboratories in the country equipped to diagnose the deadly virus. Special Assistant to the PM on Health DR Zafar Mirza has said that Pakistan has approached the authorities in China and The Netherlands to help confirm suspected cases of passengers arriving in the country. Pakistan has already started screening passengers at four airports of the country.
In a bid to make Pakistan pollution free in future, the government is planning to convert 3,000 CNG stations across the country into Electric Vehicle charging stations. With launch of its first fully-electric three-wheel vehicle, the government is aiming to manage power consumption because, in the future, large numbers of EVs being charged at home especially during peak hours could overload local power transformers.
Internet services are likely to be partly restored in Indian occupied Kashmir from Saturday, ending a five-and-a half-month government-imposed blackout in the disputed valley. According to the local authorities, social media will stay offline in the said region. Internet access will be restored later Saturday but only to 301 government-approved websites that include international news publications and platforms such as Netflix and Amazon.
The last episode of the hit TV show Meray Paas Tum Ho is set to air without any hurdles on Saturday night after a civil court in Lahore dismissed a petition against the screening of the finale. After statements and documents from representatives from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority and ARY Digital were examined, the show received clearance from the censor board of Punjab to screen in cinemas proving that there was nothing inappropriate in it
Amid the coronavirus outbreak in China, Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has halted flights of China Southern Airlines to Pakistan until January 31. The decision was made in a meeting of the Lahore airport management with the Chief Operating Officer Chaudhary Nazir in the chair. The meeting decided that a fully equipped medical staff will check all the passengers coming from China with thermal scanners. A medical expert from Meo Hospital will oversee the operations.