US State Department released a statement on Dec 18, designating Pakistan and eight other countries as “Countries of Particular Concern (CPC)”. Under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, countries on the CPC list are classified as “having engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations of religious freedom”. The list also includes Myanmar, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Former university lecturer in Multan, Junaid Hafeez, was sentenced to death on blasphemy charges by a district and sessions court on Saturday. Hafeez was booked on blasphemy charges and was arrested by police on March 13, 2013 and the trial began in 2014. Hafeez, who was also in the process of getting a graduate degree in English Literature, was charged with blasphemy over Facebook uploads.
A biochemist, Camille Schrier from Virginia has been crowned Miss America 2020 after she performed a live science experiment on stage. The 24-year-old won a $50,000 scholarship, defeating 50 other women during the pageant final She hoped to break stereotypes about what it means to be Miss America in 2020. She has two undergraduate degrees in science and is currently completing her doctorate in pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University.
National Highways & Motorways Police has announced new fine rates that come into effect from 1st January, 2020 on national highways and motorways under the revised Schedule XII of National Highway Safety Ordinance (NHSO) 2000. The fine for over speeding has been increased to Rs. 2500 while the fine rate for driving without a license will be Rs. 5000. Pakistan is among the few countries where, despite revision after nineteen years, fines for traffic violations are the lowest.
Facebook, in an attempt to become self-sufficient, has announced that the company is working on an operating system (OS) of its own- built completely from scratch, according to the company’s executive, Ficus Kirkpatrick. The social media giant has kept the release date of the OS under the wraps for now, however, Facebook might also be working on some hardware running the new OS in the near future.
Nestlé Pakistan, District Council Hunza, Gilgit Baltistan Waste Management Company (GBWMC) and Karakoram Area Development Organization (KADO) have signed an MoU for “Clean Hunza Project”. The project shall focus on infrastructure development for a waste segregation, management and recycling system for Hunza. Segregation of plastics as well as paper packaging at the waste site will be the project’s focus, after the compressing and bailing process, it shall be brought down the country for recycling.
The northern areas of the country were jolted by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake on Friday, according to the National Seismic Monitoring Centre in Islamabad. The earthquake struck with the epicentre being a sparsely populated , remote mountain area in Badakhshan province in the northeast of Afghanistan with a depth of 210 kilometres. The effected areas include Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad, Murree, Mansehra, Battagram, Chiniot, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Researchers have found that eating chilli peppers regularly can cut the risk of death from heart disease and stroke. In recent times, scientists have focused on capsaicin, the compound that gives chilli their unmistakable punch. According to the authors of the latest study, capsaicin has been observed to favorably improve cardiovascular function and metabolic regulation in experimental and population studies. It might be useful in the fight against neuropathic pain, arthritis, gastrointestinal disorders, and even cancer.
China uses pig’s bones to create tasbeeh; which is then sold to Saudi Arabia. According to a recent video released, the prayer beads sold in Saudi Arabia are manufactured by China. But, the material used by the Chinese to create them is from the pig. There are various factories in China producing prayer beads for the Muslims from the bones of a haraam animal.
A new library has been set up inside a container at Gwadar beach, providing book-lovers the perfect ambience for some good, old-fashioned reading. It is an initiative of a group of NGO volunteers, the seaside container library is 40-feet long and 10-feet wide, located at the city’s western seashore. It can accommodate at least 10 people at one time and avid readers can enjoy a whopping 5,000 books on science and technology, law, and literature.