Author: News Desk

Russian delegation will visit Pakistan tomorrow to discuss long-term oil and gas deal

The much-touted $3 billion Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline (PSGP) project, as well as a long-term trade agreement for oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), will be the topics of bilateral negotiations between Pakistan and a Russian delegation that will arrive tomorrow.

The team, which consists of 80 personnel, will land in Pakistan on Tuesday for three days of bilateral discussions through the Inter-Governmental Commission forum (IGC).

For the IGC negotiations, the Pakistani delegation will be led by Federal Minister Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. Both states must first negotiate the IGA (inter-governmental agreement), which was finalised and signed in the case of the Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline Project (PSGP), formerly known as the North-South Gas pipeline project, in order to import Russian oil and LNG on a GtG basis.

According to The News, the shareholding and facilitation agreement for PSGP was still in draught form on February 24, 2022, when former prime minister Imran Khan travelled to Moscow. Both parties wanted to sign the PSGP agreement during the Imran and Putin meeting, but it was not able to be done since the experts from both sides could not agree on several terms of the shareholding agreement.

Currently, the G7 nations have capped the price of Russian crude oil at $60 per barrel and forbade the use of Russian ships to carry oil. In exchange, Moscow promised to stop selling oil to nations who agree to a Western price restriction on its petroleum.

The Pakistani side will talk about the shipment costs, the premium by the shipping trader, the insurance coverage, and the payment options.

Agribusiness, energy, customs, industry, education, research and technology, information and communication technologies, communication, roads and postal service, railroads, and finance are all included in the IGC’s agenda as areas for cooperation in trade and investments. Additionally, Pakistan’s debt to Russia will be settled and discussed.

The potential for cooperation in the areas of electric power, hydropower, renewable energy sources, and oil and petrol production will also be discussed by the two sides.

In their response, the Pakistani team proposed to change the model of the PSGP project. The Russian side said that the model of the project under GtG (government-to-government) arrangement had already been settled, save for some clauses of the shareholding agreement, which would soon be finalized.

January 16, 2023
Earthquake of magnitude 6.0 strikes Indonesia’s Sumatra

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island early Monday, the US Geological Survey has reported.

The seismic activity occurred around 6:30 am local time (2330 GMT). There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage. In addition, no tsunami alert was issued.

“The earthquake caused people to panic. It was felt between 3-10 seconds in four districts in Aceh and North Sumatra province,” Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the BNPB disaster mitigation agency, said in a statement.

Earlier on 10 January, a powerful deep-sea earthquake of 7.6 magnitude had damaged village buildings in a lightly populated island chain in eastern Indonesia and was widely felt in northern Australia.

January 16, 2023
Prince Harry breaks silence about the deleted content from his tell-all memoir

On Tuesday, 10 January 2023 Prince Harry finally released his much-talked-about tell-all memoir titled Spare. The memoir not only offers details about the Duke of Sussex’s childhood, but it also includes vivid and controversial details about his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales and her death, his relationship with his brother, Prince William, and his father, King Charles III. In fact, the memoir also makes serious revelations about his controversial courtship and marriage to the American actress Meghan Markle and inside details on how and why the royal couple stepped back from their royal roles.

In a recent interview with Telegraph, Prince Harry made the revelation that while the released version of his book is just 416 pages long, he along with his ghost-writer J. R. Moehringer penned an initial draft for Spare that was 800 pages long. Prince Harry revealed that he cut plenty of content from his recently released memoir Spare that he could have easily released as a whole other book.

In the interview, the royal actually disclosed that while he could have shared so much more, plenty of stories in the first draft were actually to provide a backstory for the writer and not intended for publication. In fact, Prince Harry went ahead and said that he made the cuts according to “the scale of things (he) I could include for (his) family members.”

He explained, “Look, anything I’m going to include about any of my family members, I’m going to get trashed for. I knew that walking into it. But it’s impossible to tell my story without them in it, because they play such a crucial part in it.”

Prince Harry added, “But there are some things that have happened, especially between me and my brother, and to some extent between me and my father, that I just don’t want the world to know. Because I don’t think they would ever forgive me.”

The Duke of Sussex explained, “Now you could argue that some of the stuff I’ve put in there, well, they will never forgive me anyway. But the way I see it is, I’m willing to forgive you for everything you’ve done, and I wish you’d actually sat down with me, properly, and instead of saying I’m delusional and paranoid, actually sit down and have a proper conversation about this, because what I’d really like is some accountability and an apology to my wife.”

However, regardless of plenty of cuts, the book holds all the major details about the British royal family from Prince Harry’s own point of view which will definitely be a new perspective. Reportedly, the book spills details on how Prince Harry admits he actually experimented with cocaine, cannabis, and magic mushrooms. Other revelations in the book include, how he lost his virginity, how he killed over 20 people, how he discovered Queen Elizabeth’s demise from the BBC, and how he was pretty uncomfortable when he saw one of Meghan’s “love-making scenes” among several other things. Harry’s memoir titled Spare was officially released on January 10th, 2023, and has been in the tabloids ever since.

January 16, 2023
‘Us ne hmein test kiya, ab us ki bari’: Khan says vote of confidence will be tabled against PM Shehbaz

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, in an exclusive interview on Saturday, said that Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif will be tested through a no-confidence motion.

Speaking on Hum News’ programme Hum Meher Bokhari Kay Sath, Khan said, “Uss ne humein test keeya, abb uski baari” (He tested us, now it is his turn).

He said the party would hash out the details of the move in a meeting on Sunday (today) and carry out planning for not only the trust vote but also “other plans to fully thrust them in a testing situation now”.

When asked about the late-night voting on a confidence vote in Punjab Assembly, Khan said not many people knew this would happen at night, his party kept it secret. According to him, the party completed the numbers first without any bribes and horsetrading and then took the vote of confidence.

The PTI chief also praised the way Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) stood behind the PTI and supported it. “The way Elahi is standing with us, there was immense appreciation in the party. He was the chief minister and made a real sacrifice. We are recommending he merges the party with ours.”

About the KP assembly, he said that it will be dissolved within a week.

During the interview, Khan mentioned that he spent his three and a half years in power in difficulty because his government was a coalition. He said that’s why his party has insisted on a merger between PTI and PML-Q.

The former prime minister said that PM Shehbaz’s conference in Geneva was equivalent to making fun of Pakistan. He warned that there will be consequences to it in the future.

Opening up about the extension given to former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa, he termed it his “mistake”. He revealed that at the time Bajwa himself sent a message that if he doesn’t get an extension, it will be difficult for him [Bajwa].

He said that after securing the extension Bajwa changed as he begun asking Khan to give NROs to the Opposition.

January 15, 2023
Pakistan to immunise 44 million children against polio in 2023

Up to 44 million children would be immunised across Pakistan as a result of anti-polio campaigns in 2023, ARY has reported.

The federal government has created a schedule for the campaign through to 2023.

Six campaigns will be carried out nationwide to eradicate the polio virus in the future year 2023, with the first one scheduled to begin in January.
The rest of the immunisation efforts will be held in March, May, July, October, and December.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio has not yet been eradicated. To formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three consecutive years. Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in August 2020.

January 15, 2023
YouTube to launch free ad-supported TV channels

YouTube is testing new content on its platform with a hub of ad-supported TV streaming channels. The company is actively working with various companies in order to bring TV shows and movies to the platform. While it is currently just being trialed, there is the possibility that it could be offered to the public for free at a later date.

A YouTube spokesperson corroborated the report with The Wall Street Journal, stating that “a small experiment that lets a subset of viewers watch free, ad-supported channels” is currently in progress and that it is “using it to gauge viewer interest.” The addition of free and ad-supported channels could be a big one, adding to the already large amount of revenue that the platform generates from ads.

Similar to its agreement with content creators on its platform, YouTube is seeking to collect a 45 per cent cut of the ad revenue while talks are still in progress. Despite the fact that this would be an uncharted area for YouTube, businesses like Roku, Samsung, and others have long provided free, ad-supported TV channels through their own platforms. The ability for YouTube to seamlessly provide consumers with simple access to a range of other material on its platform might differentiate the user experience.

The recent multi-year agreement that was signed to provide NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels starting in 2023 is just one example of the extensive work that YouTube has done in recent years to enhance its content.

Additionally, the company has grown by introducing YouTube TV, a distinct online TV streaming service that offers over a hundred TV channels much like your local cable or satellite provider. The platform has expanded to include short-form user-created videos in addition to more traditional user-generated content.

It launched Shorts last year in an effort to take on TikTok, and it appears to be succeeding. As YouTube has begun the process of sharing ad revenue with Shorts producers by altering the conditions of its YouTube Partner Program, this year might be even better. This might be a significant step over the coming year that puts TikTok and its neck and neck. Things might get hotter for YouTube in 2023 if it is successful in integrating free ad-supported channels into its platform.

January 15, 2023
Dur-e-Fishan Saleem celebrates birthday in style, gets surprised

Actor Dur-e-fishan Saleem is currently riding high on the success of her blockbuster drama serial Kesi Teri Khugarzi costarring Danish Taimoor. The Dilruba star celebrated her birthday recently with her close friends in Karachi.

Dure’s friends hosted multiple surprises for her in the city.

Saleem made sure to serve unique looks for all her birthday outings.

Two years back Fishan’s birthday pictures with friend and co-star Omer Shahzad went viral on social media.

January 14, 2023
Virat Kohli opens up about his ‘cranky, frustrated’ phase, being unfair to wife Anushka Sharma

Indian star-cricketer Virat Kohli in his recent interview revealed that he was ‘unfair’ with his wife Anushka Sharma and loved ones when he was going through a bad spell in his life.

He revealed that due to frustrations slowly creeping into his life, he wasn’t able to stay as energetic as he was. Which is why his relationships were being affected. In an interview with bcci.tv, he said, “In my case, in denial, frustration was creeping in. I was very cranky, very snappy in my space. It was not fair on (wife) Anushka (Sharma), my closed ones, its not fair on the people who support you. So I had to take responsibility and kind of put things in perspective.”

He further added, “I was far off from my cricket. My attachments, my desire, had totally taken over. That’s when I realised that I can’t be away from who I am. I have to be true to myself. Even when I am vulnerable, I am not playing well, I am the worst player around, I have to accept it. I can’t be in denial.”

Virat and Anushka got married in Italy back in 2017. They have a daughter named Vamika.

January 14, 2023
Bitcoin price surpasses Rs4.5 million for the first time in 2 months

On Saturday, Bitcoin surpassed $20,000 (Rs4.5 million) for the first time in more than two months. The strongest and most popular cryptocurrency in the world gained $922 from its previous closing to appreciate 4.6 per cent to $20,853 at 1:00 GMT on Saturday.

Since January 1’s low of $16,496 for the year, the cryptocurrency has increased by 26.4 per cent.

On Saturday, the price of Ether, the digital currency linked to the Ethereum blockchain network, rose by $85.90 to $1,536.3.

Both traditional and cryptocurrency investors were pleased with the report’s findings. But it also occurs at a moment when Washington has a revived interest in cryptocurrency.

Legislators are on high alert after FTX’s fall in November. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, was detained last month and charged with eight offenses, including wire fraud and violations of campaign financing laws.

While many on Twitter are happy with Bitcoin’s recent gains, $20,000 is still 71 per cent below the cryptocurrency’s previous record high of just over $69,000.

January 14, 2023
Miss Thailand wears gown made with can tabs, in tribute to garbage-collector parents

As the Miss Universe pageant kick-started this week, Miss Thailand Anna Sueangam-iam began trending on the internet when she made her debut on stage wearing a gown made with soda tabs.
The gown, also called the ‘Hidden Precious Diamond Dress” was designed by the brand Manirat and is made out of the aluminium soda tabs of cans with Swaovski crystals embedded into it.
On Instagram, the post featuring the dress has reached over 150,000 likes. Sueangam-iam explained that her gown was designed as a tribute to her parents who were garbage-collectors, as a way to honor her upbringing.

“This gown was inspired by the familiar surroundings of my childhood. Growing up with garbage collector parents, my life as a child was among piles of garbage and recyclables. This unique gown was purposefully tailor-made with discarded and recycled materials, namely the ‘Can Tab’ to present to the UNIVERSE that what’s considered worthless by many actually possesses its own value and beauty. Thank you all for seeing it, hearing it, and hopefully being that message of self-worth.”

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January 14, 2023