A pair of endangered humpback whales were spotted breaching off the coast of Gwadar, Balochistan. In footage that went viral on social media, the humpback whales were seen jumping. The whales were spotted by a group of local fishermen who were fishing near Pasni. The footage from Balochistan is being touted as the first-of-its-kind filmed by anyone in Pakistan.
A Pakistani born artist, Salman Toor, has sold his painting in the United States at a staggering USD 822,000, probably the highest ever for a Pakistani artist. Toor’s painting “Rooftop Party with Ghosts I” was sold at Christie’s post war & contemporary art sale at USD 822,000 against an estimate of $100,000-150,000 on Dec 3. Measuring at 46.5 inches by 66 inches, the oil on canvas painting was created by the artist in 2015.
In a bid to promote local tourism, recently Prime Minister Imran Khan shared beautiful pictures of autumn season in Gilgit Baltistan, but forgot to give credits to the photographer. After the pictures were widely shared, the photographer, Asmar Hussain, thanked the PM but wished the watermark hadn’t been removed from the snap. However, the PM’s office apologized to the photographer.
Three Pakistani entrepreneurs have made the nation proud by winning the Shell LiveWIRE Top 10 Innovators Awards in three different categories. The global competition rewards businesses that demonstrate excellence in innovation and gives entrepreneurs a chance to shine on a global platform. The winners from Pakistan include AquaAgro, EDVON Robotics Pakistan and Enent.
The Sindhi language has achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first language from Pakistan to be selected for digitization. The Universal Dependencies, a combined project of Stanford University and Google, is an ongoing project working to convert languages into machine-readable formats. It has, to date, selected 100 languages, including Sindhi out of the 6,000 human languages spoken globally.
Three Pakistani celebrities have made it to Forbes’ list of Asia’s 100 Digital Stars. Mahira Khan, Atif Aslam and Aiman Khan made it to the list along with renowned artists from across the continent like Bollywood biggies such as Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Anushka Sharma and others. Forbes Asia’s 100 Digital Stars list features 100 singers, bands, film and TV stars with a strong social media presence.
The Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health (SAPM), Dr. Faisal Sultan has said that the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be available in Pakistan by February or March 2021. Dr. Faisal revealed that the federal cabinet has allocated funds for the procurement of the vaccine. The frontline healthcare workers will be the first priority followed by the elderly population.
Volkswagen (VW) is set to begin the production of its vehicles in Pakistan in 2022. The automaker will initially produce the Amarok Pickup Truck and the Transporter Van in Pakistan. The Amarok will compete with the Toyota Hilux and the Isuzu D-Max, whereas the Transporter Van will go up against the likes of Kia Grand Carnival and Hyundai Grand Starex.
An unidentified illness has hospitalized more than 300 people in southeastern India, including one who has died. Patients in the city of Eluru, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, reported a range of symptoms including seizures, loss of consciousness and some nausea over the weekend. Some 168 of the patients have been discharged. The cause of illness is not known so far.
Among 600 entrepreneurs in North America, three Pakistanis made it to the Forbes’ 30 Under 30s 2021 list for the North American region. The Pakistanis who made it to the list are Asad J Malik, a 24 year old chief executive officer of Jadu AR, Danish Damani – co-founder of Oral AI and lastly Faizan Bhatty, co-founder of Halo Cars.