Pakistan-born scientist Asifa Akhtar has become the first international female vice president of the biology and medicine section at Germany’s prestigious Max Planck Society. The Max Planck Society is Germany’s most successful research organisation. During her term of office, Ms Akhtar will be in charge of the institutes of the sections and will also be the contact person for the Max Planck Schools.
Pakistan has launched its first underground water reservoir system to store water from seasonal rains and reduce flooding in Lahore. The project, titled “Monsoon Underground Water Reservoir”, took three months to be completed at Lahore’s Lawrence Garden. Built at the cost of Rs. 149 million, the water tank can hold up to 1.5 million gallons of water after a heavy downpour.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has cleared the licences of 18 Pakistani pilots working for Oman’s SalamAir after the Arab country’s civil aviation requested for the verification and clearance of the Pakistani pilots working in Oman’s airline company. The CAA also cleared three Pakistani pilots associated with Hong Kong airlines after it had asked for clearance of their licenses.
India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani has now become the world’s sixth-richest person with a worth of $72.4 billion. The chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd. has surged past Silicon Valley tech titan Elon Musk, Alphabet Inc. co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and Warren Buffett. Shares of the conglomerate have more than doubled since March after investments from Facebook Inc., Silver Lake and Qualcomm Inc.
The United Arab Emirates will make history on Wednesday by becoming the first Arab nation to send an interplanetary mission to Mars. “Hope” — or Al-Amal in Arabic — is expected to reach Mars’s orbit by February 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of unification of United Arab Emirates, an alliance of seven sheikhdoms. The UAE’s Mars probe will not land on the Red Planet.
Pakistani doctor in Saudi Arabia, Zia Ullah Khan Dawar, was awarded a medal by the Kingdom’s health ministry in recognition of his services as one of the “captains” of the COVID-19 team. Dawar has been living in the Kingdom for last four years and is currently working with the kingdom’s health ministry in Jeddah as part of a COVID-19 surveillance and data analysis team.
While expressing concern over recent safety issue with PIA, Omani Civil Aviation Authority warned Pakistan that the national flag carrier could be barred from using its airspace. The Omani authorities also asked Islamabad to explain what measures had been taken to ensure safety of flights. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) assured that credentials of all pilots had been scrutinised to ensure flight safety.
Authorities in Kazakhstan have denied a report published by Chinese officials that the country is experiencing an outbreak of “unknown pneumonia” potentially deadlier than the novel coronavirus. The Kazakhstan health ministry said that the “unspecified” pneumonia classification followed World Health Organization guidelines “for the registration of pneumonia when the coronavirus infection is diagnosed clinically or epidemiologically but is not confirmed by laboratory testing.”
Saudi Arabia has offered financial assistance for the construction of Pakistan’s first state-owned Quran complex in Islamabad. The government will be building the complex to preserve historical manuscripts of the Muslim scripture. The center will also oversee and set standards for the publication of the Quran in the country and would recycle worn pages of the holy book.
German fashion house Hugo Boss, has placed its first ever sportswear manufacturing order in Pakistan with Sialkot-based Rajco Industries for t-shirts for the German national soccer team. Earlier this week, Pakistan’s adviser on commerce Abdul Razak Dawood announced the Hugo Boss deal in a Twitter post, but did not reveal the name of the Pakistani company that had booked the order.