Amid the coronavirus outbreak in China, Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has halted flights of China Southern Airlines to Pakistan until January 31. The decision was made in a meeting of the Lahore airport management with the Chief Operating Officer Chaudhary Nazir in the chair. The meeting decided that a fully equipped medical staff will check all the passengers coming from China with thermal scanners. A medical expert from Meo Hospital will oversee the operations.
The United Kingdom has allowed its citizens to travel to tourist spots in Pakistan’s northern areas, owing to the improved security situation of the country. The announcement was made by British High Commissioner to Islamabad Dr Christian Turner, who also praised the Government of Pakistan for providing improved security. The announcement is the result of a comprehensive review of UK travel advice for Pakistan, based on a wide-ranging assessment of the country’s security situation.
The Foreign Office has confirmed that US President Donald Trump will not visit Pakistan during his tour to India next month. President Trump “wants an exclusive visit to Pakistan which is not linked to any other visit in the region because Pakistan has its own distinct place,” FO Spokesperson Aisha Farooqi said at the weekly media briefing.
Pakistani team, headed by Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, has “defended country’s compliance report during the joint group of FATF meeting held at Beijing, China” and reportedly satisfied the global watchdog. The Indian side had to face embarrassment as the US and European countries did not extend their support to their “tough but mostly irrelevant questions” during the joint group meeting.
In a recent meeting with Prime Minister of Pakistan in Davos, Switzerland, the US President has assured him that he will visit Pakistan soon.The two leaders met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and discussed various important issues including bilateral trade, Kashmir, and Afghanistan. This development was announced by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Pakistan starts exporting furnace oil as Byco Petroleum refinery ship loaded with furnace oil left Karachi Port earlier today, according to a senior official the Karachi Port Trust (KPT).
Syed Bukhari, a British-Pakistani, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for trying to fake his own death to claim one million pounds from an insurance company. Bukhari, 39, impersonated his wife on the phone, claiming that he had passed away following a heart attack in Karachi. Bukhari “used a bogus death certificate”, medical certificate, and a trust document to progress his insurance claim.
Bangladesh batsman Mushfiqur Rahim has announced that he will not be joining his team on its tour to Pakistan due to his family’s concerns over security. He personally believes that Pakistan is a great place to play cricket but his family does not want him to go, the reason why he turned down the the offer to play in this year’s Pakistan Super League (PSL).
According to the latest survey by Numbeo, Lahore has improved its ranking by 56 points, to become safer than Paris, New York, Berlin and Chicago on the World Crime Index (WCI). Lahore was ranked 230th out of a total 374 cities of the world in the Numbeo’s survey for Jan 2020. An increase in a city’s ranking means a drop in its crime rate.
AirSial – a new domestic airline – is all set to launch in the country after getting approval from the federal cabinet. The domestic carrier – owned by the businessmen of Sialkot will run flight operations on all major domestic airports, with three A-320 Airbus aircraft. The flight operations will be based in Karachi mainly and will connect the port city with the provincial capitals of the country, as well as Sialkot and Islamabad.