Japanese trend-setters can now protect against the coronavirus in luxurious style with opulent masks adorned with diamonds and pearls for a cool million yen ($9,600) each. Cox Co’s Mask.com chain began selling the hand-made masks last week, with the aim of cheering up people and spurring sales in a fashion industry depressed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for chemical castration and death penalty for convicted rapists during a meeting of the federal cabinet. The PM has instructed the law ministry to draft an ordinance within a week to curb violent sexual crimes that mostly target women and children. The federal cabinet has approved in principle the rape law.
A special permit by the Pakistan government has allowed Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai Mohammad bin Rashed Al Maktoum to “export” 150 falcons of rare species from Pakistan to the UAE. The permission was issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and delivered to the UAE’s embassy in the federal capital.
Two talented Pakistani women, Sania Nishtar and Mahira Khan have been featured in BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2020. Sania is the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection and Mahira is a globally renowned Pakistani actor. Sania has been featured under the knowledge category and Mahira under creative.
The federal government has finally issued a permit to transfer Pakistan’s only Asian elephant, Kaavan, to Cambodia. Kaavan, the 35-year-old bull elephant was brought in Pakistan back in 1985 as a gift from Sri Lanka when he was one-year-old. However, after international condemnation due to the woeful state of Islamabad’s zoo, all animals were ordered to be moved.
Following the release of Parwaaz Hai Junoon in China, more Pakistani films and dramas are expected to be released in the country. The Pakistani films and dramas will be screened in China next year during celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan. Parwaaz Hai Junoon has become the first Pakistani movie that has been premiered in China in the last 40 years.
A short film about a Pakistani construction worker at the Dasu Dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has won an award at the second Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Short Video Competition in China. The contest aims to share the stories of builders and communities involved in BRI — Beijing’s multibillion dollar push to develop geopolitical ties through infrastructure and ports.
In the conservative region of Gilgit-Baltistan, the Shimshal village is home of opportunities for talented young girls from remotest areas, who love sports and want to showcase their skills. Gilgit-Baltistan Girls Football League, found by two teenage college going Shimshali sisters Sumaira Inayat and Karishma Inayat, is a football league for senior school girls, of ages between 12-16 of the region
Four genius students of the Usman Institute of Technology’s (UIT) electrical engineering department have designed an equipment can generate power from storm water drains. The project can significantly help alleviate Karachi’s power woes by sharing the burden of K-Electric, the city’s sole power supplier. The cost-effective, low-maintenance electricity generation and distribution equipment, or their final-year project, is named Burraq.
The Education Ministry of Pakistan signed an MOU for the launch of the country’s first radio school. A joint venture of the government and Radio Pakistan, the radio school will help educate over eight million children across the country. It will run educational programmes for four hours every day from 10am to 12pm.