In a move similar to what Toyota did earlier, Honda Atlas Cars (Pakistan) Limited announced on Wednesday that it is reducing the prices of its vehicles, especially the popular Honda City lineup.
This decision was made due to the significant strengthening of the Pakistani rupee (PKR) against the US dollar.
Through an official circular, Honda Pakistan disclosed the updated ex-factory prices for all its car models, reflecting reductions of up to PKR 300,000.
This substantial price drop is expected to make Honda vehicles more affordable for a broader consumer base.
After these adjustments, the price of the most budget-friendly Honda car in Pakistan, the City MT 1.2L, now stands at Rs4.699 million following a reduction of Rs100,000.
Moreover, the top variant, the Aspire CVT 1.5L, is now available for Rs5.849 million after a cut of Rs130,000.
The most significant price changes have been applied to the popular Honda City lineup, generating excitement among potential buyers.
In the 24th match of the ICC ODI World Cup, Australia won the biggest victory in the history of the tournament by defeating the Netherlands by a huge margin of 309 runs.
Australia scored 399 runs for eight wickets in the given 50 overs, with David Warner scoring 104 runs and Glenn Maxwell scoring 106 runs. Steve Smith scored 71 runs and Labuchin scored 62 runs.
On behalf of the Netherlands, Logan van Beek gave 74 runs in 10 overs and dismissed four players, Bass De Lede took two wickets.
Chasing Australia’s target of 400 runs, the entire Netherlands team was bowled out for 90 runs in 21 overs.
For the Netherlands, Vikramjeet Singh scored 25 runs, Tejanda Munro scored 14 runs, Sybrand 11 and Colin Ackerman scored 10 runs while Logan van Beek, van der Meerwe, and Paul van Meekerman were out for zero.
Adam Zampa dismissed four players for eight runs in three overs, Mitchell Marsh took two wickets while Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins took one wicket each.
Glenn Maxwell was declared player of the match for his brilliant batting.
Israel has refused to issue visas to United Nations officials after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres obliquely condemned Israeli orders to evacuate Gazans from the north to the south. Above all, he also said Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 did not happen “in a vacuum” as the Palestinians have been “subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation”.
According to Al Jazeera’s reporter Gabriel Elizondo, Israel was “furious” and its officials called on the UN chief to resign.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who was at the debate, “was so upset”, said Elizondo, “that he cancelled a meeting with the secretary-general that was supposed to happen Tuesday afternoon”.
Additionally, the UN had been raising concerns over the lack of fuel in Gaza and the potential pause in its operations. In response to one of the UN’s posts on Tuesday, the Israeli military suggested the UN should approach Hamas for fuel supplies.
The Israeli military claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that Hamas has more than 500,000 litres of fuel in tanks inside Gaza.
“Ask Hamas if you can have some,” the military wrote.
Increasing Israeli raids since October 7 in the occupied West Bank have resulted in 103 deaths.
Syrian army attacked by Israel
The Israeli military claims to have targeted Syrian army infrastructure and mortar launches, asserting that it was a response to Syrian aims at Israel.
“Lebanon was never an aggressor”: Ambassador
During the UN Security Council meeting, Lebanon’s ambassador, Hadi Hachem, stated that his country “is exerting every effort to disassociate” from this “bloody conflict”.
He added that Lebanon was never an aggressor.
“It has always been a victim of aggression by Israel since the [1960s].”
Referring to Gazans, he said “There is no law or doctrine that justifies the systematic killing of a population that lives in an open-air prison for more than a half a century.”
Hachem also shed light on the killings of 13 journalists in Gaza (including the killing of Lebanese journalist Issam Abdallah in southern Lebanon) because of Israeli attacks, “proof” of Israel’s “policy to suppress freedoms”.
Earlier in the debate, the US accused Iran and its proxies of destabilising the region, claims the Iranian ambassador categorically rejected.
600,000 Palestinians displaced
The UN is reportedly sheltering nearly 600,000 Palestinians who have been internally displaced in 150 facilities whereas at least 40 UNRWA installations have been affected following Israeli attacks.
“Our shelters are four times over their capacities. Many people are sleeping on the streets as current facilities are overwhelmed,” the agency said in a post shared on X.
The Pakistani rupee experienced a 0.16 per cent depreciation against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Wednesday, settling at 279.88, marking a decrease of Re0.45, as reported by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The previous day, the rupee had depreciated by 0.11 per cent, closing at 279.43 against the US dollar. In a related development, the SBP anticipates an increase in remittances to Pakistan due to a notable rise in labour migration.
In fiscal years 2022 and 2023, Pakistan observed a significant surge in labour migration compared to the preceding two years, with around 0.8 million Pakistani workers registered through the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BEOE) and Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC) during FY23.
Internationally, the US dollar gained strength on Wednesday, supported by robust US economic data. Meanwhile, the euro faced challenges due to a dimming growth outlook in the Eurozone. US business output showed improvement in October, signalling a recovery from a five-month contraction, as reported on Tuesday.
In contrast, data from the same day indicated an unexpected downturn in business activity in the Eurozone. The euro, against the dollar, was up 0.05 per cent at $1.0595 but had declined by 0.75 per cent the previous day. This shift boosted the dollar index, which steadied at 106.23, moving away from a one-month low of 105.35 recorded in the previous session.
Furthermore, oil prices remained above $88 on Wednesday, driven by concerns about escalating conflicts in the Middle East, which offset worries about reduced demand due to the gloomy economic prospects in Europe.
In a bid to ensure transparency and fairness in the upcoming electoral process, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) extended invitations to international observers and media, signaling its intention to conduct nationwide polls tentatively scheduled for the last week of January 2024, as reported by Nausheen Yusuf for Geo.
In a two-page invite, sent under Section 238 of the Elections Act, 2017, the ECP explained the process for international observers and media to avail accreditation cards and visas to enter the country for the nationwide polls.
“The Election Commission has announced General Election is tentatively scheduled in the last week of January 2024. The Election Commission of Pakistan, has an Open Door Policy for accreditation of any national and international Observer subject to the fulfillment of codal formalities (Section 238 of the Elections Act 2017),” said the ECP.
The commission laid out a detailed procedure for obtaining necessary visas, directing interested parties to the Pakistan Online Portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Alongside the visa application, applicants were instructed to submit the accreditation application form accessible on the ECP’s official website.
For the visa process, the ECP has explained that it may be obtained via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “Pakistan Online Portal”. Along with the visa application, those wishing to come to the country for the polls will also need to attach the “accreditation application form” that is available on the ECP’s website.
“After completion of codal formalities as per law, ECP will issue accreditation cards to security cleared international observers/media and arrange briefings for observers in ECP Secretariat,” added the commission. It also advised them to follow the advisories of the Foreign Office and the interior ministry.
“We believe that the presence of international observers will add a valuable dimension to the electoral process, ensuring its transparency and impartiality while lending credibility to our electoral process. In this connection, all necessary arrangements will be made available for international observers to carry out their duties effectively and independently,” said the ECP.
Pakistan has been embroiled in a state of political flux since the removal of the Imran Khan government through a no-confidence motion in April 2022. Subsequently, the coalition government that took over, dissolved the National Assembly on August 9, leading to the necessity of holding elections within 90 days, as per constitutional requirements.
However, the ECP faced obstacles in meeting the deadline due to the need to establish new electoral boundaries following the approval of the census by the Council of Common Interest (CCI). Notably, the major political parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), had urged the ECP to expedite the electoral process to quell the prevailing political uncertainty in the country.
The Kangaroos took the Netherlands bowlers to task, with first David Warner scoring a century, after which Glenn Maxwell came to the crease and rained fours and sixes upon the ground.
Maxwell scored the fastest century in World Cup history with the help of 8 sixes and 8 fours in 40 balls. He played an innings of 106 runs off 44 balls.
Rania, the Queen Consort of Jordan, talked to CNN about the situation in Gaza on Tuesday evening. Right now, Al-Jazeera reports, the death toll in Gaza, where airstrikes have bombed homes, hospitals and bakeries in the South, has reached almost 6000.
Queen Rania, who is also of Palestinian descent, criticised the silence of the West as the violence in Gaza goes on: “The people all around the Middle East, including in Jordan, we are just shocked and disappointed by the world’s reaction to this catastrophe that is unfolding.”
Addressing the bias in the media, she pointed out that Palestinian deaths are not acknwoledged as war crimes committed by Israel:
“For the last couple of weeks, we have recieved silence around the world. Countries have stopped expressing concern over the casualties, always with a preference of declaration of support for Israel. Are we being told it is wrong to kill a family at gunpoint, but its oaky to shell them to death? There is a glaring double standard here, and it is just shocking to the Arab world.”
“This is the first time in modern history there is such human suffering and the world is not calling for a ceasefire. The silence is deafening, and to many in our region, it makes the Western world complicit through their support and coverage they give to Israel.” Further Queen Rania added how her people shocked to see this act as the West aiding and abetting the violence.
Speaking on the violence of October 7, Queen Rania responded Jordan reiterated its position by being against the killing of any innocent civilian, whether Palestinian or Israeli. “But why isn’t there equal condemnation to what is happening now?”
Queen Rania went on to slam the one-sided narrative of the Western media by emphasising how the war did not begin with the Hamas attacking out of the blue on October 7th, but because of the 75-year-long history of oppression of the Palestinians by Israel. She stressed on Israel’s history of documented crimes over Palestinians is missing from the narrative.
“This conflict did not begin on October 7th, although it is being portrayed as that. Most networks are covering the story under the title of ‘Israel at war’. But for many Palestinians on the other side of the separation war, on the other side of the barbed wire, war has never left. This is a 75 year old story. A story of overwhelming death and displacement for the Palestinian people. It’s the story of an oppressed people under an apartheid regime that occupies land, demolishes houses, confiscates lands, night raids.”
“Is the word terrorist reserved solely for Muslims and Arabs,” Queen Rania questioned when speaking about the way Israeli’s are protected under the claim of ‘self defense’ when Palestinians are murdered, but Palestinians are blamed as terrorists while trying to protect their homeland. “There are no two equal people in the conflict. One is an occupier and one is the occupied. One has a military force that is one of the mightiest in the world and the other doesn’t have a military at all.”
An Islamabad court has issued perpetual arrest orders for nine Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) leaders due to their alleged involvement in a violent incident outside the Federal Judicial Complex.
The list includes prominent figures like Hammad Azhar, Shibli Faraz, Murad Saeed, Omar Ayub Khan, Ali Amin Gandapur, Ali Nawaz Awan, Hassaan Khan Niazi, Umer Sultan, and Muhammad Asim.
The decision came out after the suspects failed to appear despite summons, prompting their declaration as proclaimed offenders.
The incident dates back to March, during a hearing of the Toshakhana case when clashes broke out between the police and PTI workers.
Both sides resorted to aggressive measures, with PTI supporters reportedly using rocks and petrol bombs, leading to injuries sustained by 25 officials.
Several cases were filed against Imran Khan and other PTI leaders, with Parvez Elahi also being arrested in connection with the case.
Elahi’s judicial remand was extended till November 21 following his initial arrest in September, despite a temporary release granted earlier by the Islamabad High Court.
The court has urged the authorities to apprehend the suspects and bring them to justice.
In a separate case, the district and sessions courts, Islamabad, have once again issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for PTI leader Shahbaz Gill in a sedition case.
Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra heard the case on Wednesday and directed the SHO to arrest the proclaimed offender and produce him before the court.
The court ended the trial of co-accused Ammad Yousaf following the Supreme Court’s direction.
This recent issuance of arrest warrants stems from the PTI leader’s continued absence from court proceedings, leading an additional district and sessions court in Islamabad to declare him an absconder on July 26, 2023.
Despite multiple summonses, Shahbaz Gill had failed to appear before the court, prompting Additional Sessions Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra to issue arrest warrants. Furthermore, the court had instructed relevant authorities to post an absconder notice at Gill’s residence in Faisalabad.
This is the second instance of non-bailable arrest warrants being issued against Gill, with the first set being issued on June 7, 2023, in connection with the same case.
Shahbaz Gill is in USA now a days.
Dr Shahbaz Gill, Salman Ahmad, and Dr Moeed Prizada addressed the community members who participated in the Solidarity with Imran Khan Cricket Event in Virginia, USA.
The event helped create awareness about the human rights situation and the state of democracy in Pakistan among… pic.twitter.com/qs03wAmEcO
Rana Mujahid has elected secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).
The decision to elect the Secretary and Joint Secretary of PHF was taken unanimously in a general council meeting.
According to the unanimous decisions, Rana Mujahid was elected as Secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation in place of Haider Hussain and Colonel retired Asif Khokhar as Joint Secretary.
According to sources, the Secretary and Joint Secretary will perform duties in the Pakistan Hockey Federation till October 2026.
Civilians around the world and human rights activists are staging protests outside US and Israeli embassies demanding an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where the death toll is now about to reach 6,000 — with 2,000 among them children. At protests, the rallying cry is: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’. What does this phrase mean and why does it hold so much significance for the Palestinian civilians? We’ll decode it all here.
The phrase ‘From the river to the sea’ was officially endorsed by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in 1964, which called for a liberated Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, former Palestinian territories that are currently under forced occupation of Israel.
Since then, the chant has been widely used in pro-Palestinian protests as a demand for the end to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel and also that they are handed back their land. However, Zionists have consistently tried to paint it as ‘Anti Semite’ chant by claiming it calls for the genocide of Israeli Jews. A tube driver of the London Underground Train was suspended from his position after a viral video showed him leading the chant ”Free Free Palestine”. Similarly, UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman claimed the chant was ‘anti semitic’, and was “widely understood” to call for the destruction of Israel.
Along with this phrase, another common thing spotted among Palestinian protests is the symbol of a watermelon, which is plastered on flags and posters as protestors condemn the growing death toll in Gaza.
In a few decades, future generations will come across a photo of German protesters sketching a slice of watermelon with “Free Palestine” written on it. What does watermelon have to do with Palestinian freedom? They will ask. The explanation will be that certain authoritarian… pic.twitter.com/Zao5dZnZGy
The watermelon became a powerful symbol of resistance during 1967 when Israel seized control over the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, during which the public display of the Palestinian flag was considered a criminal offence.
The symbolic relevance of the watermelon began in 1980 when Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour was arrested by Israeli officials along with Nabil Anani and Issam Badrl as well as their works, because they featured the colours of the Palestinian flag.
“They told us that painting the Palestinian flag was forbidden, but also the colours were forbidden. So Issam said, ‘What if I were to make a flower of red, green, black and white?’, to which the officer replied angrily, ‘It will be confiscated. Even if you paint a watermelon, it will be confiscated,’” Mansour revealed to The National in 2021.
Watermelons were also a popular fruit exported around the world before the Nakba, as Palestinian controlled valleys like the Jordan Valley, Jenin and Arabet Al-Batouf were well known for growing enormous watermelons. Hyperallergic writes after Israeli defence forces drove out Palestinians from their neighbourhoods and brought in their own seed companies, Palestinian watermelons still remained popular due to their size in countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
Since then, Palestinian artists used the watermelon as a symbol of Palestinian independence to protest against Israel’s illegal occupation. Artists like Khaled Hourani crafted a silkscreen series titled ‘The Story Of The Watermelon’ (2007), which is a series of watermelon slices in front of a white background.
Hourani later went on to co-found the International Art Academy of Palestine along with Mansour and Anani. Speaking about the growing resurgence of the political symbolism behind the watermelon, he was happy at how the Palestinian cause was receiving attention:
“For me, it was kind of sudden. This is just one of my projects, which was not as successful or widespread as it is right now. It’s a unique kind of solidarity… It’s very powerful. I honestly don’t know how to deal with it. Some people are getting it as a tattoo, some are making patterns for clothes, putting it on flags, different mediums. I’m happy that it brings attention to the Palestinian cause.”
Speaking on the rise of social media support for Palestine, Hourani said:
“People around the world are standing up and saying that the occupation has to come to an end. This is a historical moment. As an artist, as a human being, I feel honoured that my work is being used as a tool or is a part of this driving force.”
