Google has just announced that it’s buying wearable company Fitbit for $2.1 billion. In a blog post announcing the news, Google SVP of devices and services Rick Osterloh said that Fitbit purchase is “an opportunity to invest even more in Wear OS as well as introduce Made by Google wearable devices into market.” Under the deal, Fitbit will be joining Google itself.
Two major opposition parties — the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) — have announced they would not become a part of the sit-in announced by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The leaders of the two parties said they had already told Maulana in categorical terms that they would only attend public meeting and would not support any sit-in.
Airlift, a ride-hailing startup which connects passengers with buses on fixed-rate, just raised $12 million for their Series A financing. This funding is the largest ever for a Pakistani startup and so far one of the largest raised by any startup within the South Asian region. Currently, Airlift is operating in Lahore and Karachi only.
Hascol Petroleum faced a massive loss in terms of earnings in the year 2019. The company earned a profit of Rs 15 billion in the same period last year faced a loss of Rs. 13.87 billion this year. The major reason for this decline was the shortage of working capital to obtain product which also lead to the decrease in company’s volume from 646,000 Metric Tons to 210,000.
Mercantile Pacific, Singapore, a leading mobile phone distribution company, has been appointed as the official regional distributor in Pakistan and Afghanistan by Apple. Mercantile, in order to expand its network has signed up with Airlink Communication. Due to the strict tax policies the prices will be a litter higher relatively but users will get a full Apple product experience, which was lacking in Pakistan.
The government has increased the price of petrol by Rs. 1 per liter and that of high-speed diesel (HSD) by 27-paisa for November on the recommendation of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA). The revised price of petrol at Rs114.24 per litre and HSD at Rs127.41 per litre were announced through a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance. However, the price of light diesel has been decreased by Rs6.56 while that of kerosene by Rs2.39 per litre.
Pakistan Army is all set to generate electricity for its garrisons and establishments across the country to cut their expenditure on power which is estimated to be around Rs 15 billion for 240 MW. As electricity payments act as a huge burden on Army’s budget, Pakistan Army is planning on harnessing renewable energy through solar park and aims to establish 1-5MW solar parks in each garrison, the pilot project will generate 40MW energy.
Beloved Indian YouTuber Narayana Reddy, known as Grandpa and for his mega-sized outdoor cooking, has died at the age of 73. Reddy built an audience of more than 6 million subscribers on YouTube where he uploaded videos of himself and his grandchildren preparing vast meals for the local orphans and other underprivileged people living on the outskirts of Hyderabad, in southern Telangana state. His fans are extremely upset about the news and posted tributes on Twitter.
Pakistan’s opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad has been charged with ball-tampering with an unidentifiable object during a match in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. The incident took place during the first innings of Sindh against Central Punjab on Day 2 of the match. Field umpires noticed that the ball condition was altered during the initial overs of Sindh’s first-inning but they failed to identify how it happened.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced in a Tweet two special waivers for Sikh pilgrims who arrive from India to visit Kartarpur. The visitors will no longer need a passport to cross over into Pakistan as long as they have a valid identity. The condition for pilgrims to register 10 days before their arrival to the Kartarpur shrine also be waived.