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Author: News Desk

  • Unemployed? Here are the reasons why

    Unemployed? Here are the reasons why

    Being unemployed is never easy – on the person, his family or on the society as a whole. Here is what you need to do to get viable employment. 

    To get a job and then to sustain it, a candidate must possess two types of skills: hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are basically the primary talents one can have like engineering, programming, designing, and so on so forth. On the other hand, soft skills are those that let you manage yourself and people around effectively; some examples are social skills, communication skills, emotional intelligence, time management and so on.

    A person who has both will have better employment opportunities. So what one should do to learn both, especially, if you cannot afford to go expensive university, or you do not have enough time due to personal reasons? 

    Edx.org is a platform created by the world best universities from where you can take many online courses for free. These courses are ranging from computer sciences to creative skills like graphics designing or content creation. There are hundreds of other courses that you can take to polish your hard and soft skills. 

    Be mindful of one thing that to grow professionally – you have to develop the habit of learning. As a famous American author Alvin Toffler rightly said:

    “Illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

    So 2020 is not far away – be comfortable with your anxieties, fears and above all uncertainties. Perhaps, millennials do not have many options to escape this reality. 

  • Rs 1 lakh worth shoes stolen from outside mosque

    Rs 1 lakh worth shoes stolen from outside mosque

    We have all heard of shoes being stolen outside of mosques while people offer their prayers but a new shoe theft has set a new record of sorts.

    According to ARY News, a pair of shoes worth Rs 100,000 were stolen from outside a mosque in Lahore during prayers.

    Police say that Sheeraz Bashir went to offer prayers in the mosque situated near Ganga Ram Hospital. When he came back from prayers, he found his expensive shoes had gone missing.

    Bashir, a resident of the Defence area of Lahore, came to Ganga Ram Hospital to visit an ailing relative.

    Sheeraz Bashir has asked the police to catch the thief with the help of CCTV footage and recover his shoes.

    Police say they are doing everything possible to recover the expensive shoes.

  • And the word of the year is…

    And the word of the year is…

    Climate change, gun violence, the very nature of democracy and an angsty little movie star called Forky helped propel existential to Dictionary.com’s word of the year.

    The choice reflects months of high-stakes threats and crises, real and pondered, across the news, the world and throughout 2019.

    “In our data, it speaks to this sense of grappling with our survival, both literally and figuratively, that defined so much of the discourse,” said John Kelly, senior research editor for the site, ahead of the announcement.

    The word earned “top of mind awareness” in sustained searches at Dictionary.com in the aftermath of wildfires and Hurricane Dorian, and mass shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, and El Paso, Texas. It also reared itself in presidential politics and pop culture.

    Oxford Dictionaries picked climate emergency as its word of the year, noting usage evidence that reflects the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year, the company said in a statement.

    Dictionary.com crunches lookup and other data to decide which word to anoint each year. The site has been picking a word of the year since 2010.

    The word ‘existential’ dates to 1685, deriving from Late Latin’s existentialis. Dictionary.com defines existential as of or relating to existence and of, relating to, or characteristic of philosophical existentialism; concerned with the nature of human existence as determined by the individuals freely made choices.

    Meanwhile, last year, Merriam-Webster had chosen “justice” as its 2018 word of the year while Oxford Dictionaries chose “toxic.” “Misinformation” was Dictonary.com’s word of the year in 2018.

  • 5 health benefits of shopping

    As it is the beginning of the month and a few brands are also offering a discount so it is the best time to shop. You might not know that shopping is also good for your health in many ways. Here are 5 health benefits of shopping.

    Exercise

    You might not walk for 30 to 40 minutes in your normal routine but while shopping you will happily walk for an hour or so. Walking through the streets of any bazaar or checking out all the stores at a shopping mall is interesting and also healthy at the same time as walk reduces the risk of heart diseases, increases muscle strength and benefits health in many more ways.

    Distraction

    If something is bothering you or you are stressed out due to some reason, shopping is a great distraction. It will temporarily distract you from your problems.

    Boosts Your Mood

    The fact cannot be held for denial that shopping has a lot to do with a sense of achievement. When you buy that shirt you have always wanted, the increase emotions of joy release endorphins. These are the chemicals in your brain that make you feel good deep inside.

    Makes you more creative

    When you go out shopping, you make experiments with patterns, styles and colors. Your mind becomes open to things, patterns and there’s a major creative wave that takes place in your head. 

    Social bonding

    Normally people go out shopping either with your family or your friends so one can spend some quality time with friends and family. So grab your friends and go out for shopping. 

  • Indian woman tried to escape Kartarpur with Pakistani boyfriend

    Indian woman tried to escape Kartarpur with Pakistani boyfriend

    Pakistani authorities last month thwarted an attempt by a Sikh girl to enter the country illegally.  

    According to reports, the girl came to Darbar Sahib Gurdwara in Kartarpur and entered Pakistan as a Sikh pilgrim in order to meet her Pakistani boyfriend at the Darbar Sahib.

    The girl, identified as Manjeet Kaur, met her boyfriend who was from Faisalabad. The guy had come along with a couple of friends including a woman.

    Kaur decided to stay in Pakistan and the woman who had accompanied the Faisalabad man gave the girl her visitor card. Kaur then discarded her pilgrim card in a dustbin in order to avoid being caught.

    However, Pakistani authorities hindered the plan and confronted the couple before the girl could escape into the country.  

    Following the incident, security around the Sikh holy site was tightened and visitors will now have to provide biometric verification when exiting the holy place as well. 

  • PM Imran requests PTV to air Turkish drama in Urdu

    PM Imran requests PTV to air Turkish drama in Urdu

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has requested PTV to air famous Turkish historical fiction series Dirilis: Ertugrul. The drama is popularly referred to as the Turkish ‘Game of Thrones‘ by fans.

    According to a report in Arab News, the drama will soon air on PTV after being dubbed in Urdu. PTV has gotten exclusive rights for dubbing and screening it in Pakistan and voice actors for the drama have been selected.

    The report said that PM Khan had recommended the popular TV opera to all Pakistanis as promoting the true Islamic values.

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the initiative has been taken at the behest of the prime minister to protect “our social, cultural and religious norms.”

    She said that the Muslim world has its own cultural heritage and values and that the drama can enlighten and broaden the understanding of the history of Islam, especially among younger generations.

    “It is also PM Khan’s vision to share media content to counter Islamophobia and improve understanding of Islamic values,” Awan added.

    Back in September PM Khan has shared that Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia will jointly launch a TV channel to fight Islamophobia. PM Imran had said that the English language TV Channel will be like BBC which will also highlight the issues faced by the Muslim world.

    Dirilis: Ertugrul is set in 13th century Anatolia, before the establishment of the Ottoman Empire. It illustrates the struggle of Ertugrul Gazi, the father of Osman I – the founder of the Ottoman dynasty.

    Since its premiere on state-run Turkish TV channel TRT 1 in November 2014, the serial has been telecasted in 60 countries.

  • Malik Riaz agrees to hand over assets worth £190m to UK crime agency

    Pakistani business tycoon, Malik Riaz has agreed to hand over cash and assets worth £190 million to National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom (UK).

    NCA in recent tweet disclosed the news about a settlement with a Pakistani businessman. The tweet said, “The NCA has agreed a £190m settlement with a family that owns large property developments in Pakistan and elsewhere after a frozen funds investigation”.

    The NCA has accepted a settlement offer in region of £190 million which includes a UK property, 1 Hyde Park Place, London, W2 2LH, valued at approximately £50 million and all of the funds in the frozen accounts.

    The agency also said that agreement had been reached with Hussain to hand over the cash and ownership of the exclusive address, which overlooks Hyde Park, adding that the assets will be given to the government of Pakistan.

    In August 2019 eight account freezing orders were secured at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in connection with funds totalling around £120 million.

    These orders followed an earlier freezing order secured in December 2018 linked to the same investigation for £20 million. All of the account freezing orders relate to money held in UK bank accounts.

  • No fuel for motorcyclists without helmets

    No fuel for motorcyclists without helmets

    Deputy Commissioner Peshawar Muhammad Ali Asghar has ordered that motorcyclists without a helmet would not be able to get petrol in Peshawar.

    As per reports, action will be taken against owners of petrol stations if they violate the rule.

    A similar rule was enforced in Rawalpindi a few weeks ago following the orders of the Lahore High Court. Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rawalpindi Dr Umar Jahangir had directed all petrol stations not to give petrol to bikers without a helmet.

  • Stock market surge in reality after Danish buys shares in ‘Mere Paas Tum Ho’, breaks Twitter

    The stock market in Pakistan has witnessed an increase by gaining 40,000 points after a gap of around 10 months, and netizens are thanking Danish from the popular TV serial ‘Mere Paas Tum Ho‘ for buying shares worth Rs7.8 million in the latest episode that aired Saturday.

    The TV serial took an unexpected turn after Danish purchased shares of Shahwar Chemicals — a company owned by his ex-wife Mehwish’s new lover Shahwar Ahmed — to further inflict damage to the company that is undergoing losses for the past few months.

    While Danish buying shares played a typical form of karma in the serial for his wife, people can’t help but laud the character for causing an actual stock market upsurge.

    Twitterati couldn’t help but notice how that moment in the serial coincided perfectly with a stock market rise in Pakistan in reality, and the microblogging website was soon flooded with memes.

    Actor Humayun Saeed, who plays Danish, is once again breaking the internet and here’s what social media users have to say about the coincidence:

    Many users are thanking danish for purchasing stocks from Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

    And some are trolling Mehwish — played by actor Ayeza Khan — for leaving Danish for being a middle-class government employee, for Shahwar.

    Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday crossed the 40,000 mark after a gap of around 10 months as the KSE-100 index closed at 40,122 points with a positive change of 836 points. A total of 361,655,400 shares were traded during the day, whereas the value of shares traded stood at Rs13.75 billion as compared to the previous day’s value of Rs11.9 billion.

  • Pakistan repays $1 billion Sukuk bonds issued by PML-N govt

    Pakistan repays $1 billion Sukuk bonds issued by PML-N govt

    Pakistan has successfully reapaid a foreign debt of over $1 billion, shaking up the country’s foreign currency reserves on the day Moody’s rating agency upgraded Islamabad’s credit rating outlook to from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’, Express Tribune reported.

    According to the details, Pakistan on Monday has paid back around $1 billion on maturity of five-year international Sukuk.

    “We paid over $1 billion including interest payment at the maturity of a Sukuk today (Monday),” reports quoted SBP’s official as saying.

    Pakistan had earlier launched a $-denominated Islamic bond worth $1 billion with a five-year tenure in the international bond market in November 2014, during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government’s tenure. The sovereign bonds were issued at a rate of 6.75%.

    The bond got matured in November 2019 and accordingly, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has repaid $1 billion, borrowed to build the foreign exchange reserves.

    A sukuk is an Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond in Western finance, also commonly referred to as “sharia compliant” bonds. Since the traditional Western interest-paying bond structure is not permissible, the issuer of a sukuk sells an investor group a certificate, and then uses the proceeds to purchase an asset, of which the investor group has partial ownership. The issuer of the sukuk bond must also make a contractual promise to buy back the bond at a future date at par value.

    The said payment from the SBP’s foreign exchange reserves will be reflected in the next weekly forex report. However, the reports reveal that with this repayment, the SBP’s reserves will most likely slip below $7 billion.

    Moody’s in its report has highlighted that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserve adequacy remains low, adding that that foreign exchange reserve adequacy will take time to rebuild.

    At the time of launching the Sukuk, the bond fetched bids amounting to $2.3 billion, five times higher than the actual target set by the government.

    The government had planned to raise $1-2 billion in fresh foreign debt before the Sukuk payment was made.  The floating of new Sukuk and Eurobond has remained pending for long.

    At the time of launching the Sukuk bond, it fetched bids amounting to $2.3 billion which is five times higher than the actual target set by the government.

    The government had planned to raise $1-2 billion in fresh foreign debt before the Sukuk payment was made. The floating of new Sukuk and Eurobond has remained pending for long.