The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that Saudi Arabia will host the 2025 Olympics esports games.
A 12-year partnership with Saudi Arabia has also been announced. IOC President Thomas Bach said, “Saudi Arabia has a lot of expertise in the field of e-sports with all its stakeholders.”
On the other hand, Saudi Sports Minister Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud said, “Saudi Arabia is excited to partner with the IOC and welcome a completely new era for international sports. Participating in the Olympic Games is a great honour for any athlete.”
Saudi Arabia is currently hosting the eSports World Cup in Riyadh. The event features 21 different video games and draws participation from various eSports teams representing different countries.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan has called for the invocation of Article 6 (Guilty of high treason) against the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) because they misinterpreted the Constitution, leading to the removal of the party’s electoral symbol—the bat.
His remarks came after the recent Supreme Court verdict granting PTI reserved seats for women and minorities—a right previously revoked by the ECP.
“I congratulate the entire Pakistan on this auspicious day and the entire legal team,” Ayub said, hailing the Supreme Court’s ruling in a press conference.
He also stated that the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan, Sikandar Sultan Raja, and four other members of the ECP should resign from their offices immediately.
Law minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has said on Saturday that Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa informed him that he doesn’t want to stay the top judge longer than his current term, Geo News reported.
Tarar said on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ that CJP told him in the presence of the Attorney and General that he doesn’t want an extension in his tenure.
“I told him (CJP) no such thing is happening at all,” Azam Nazeer said, adding that the CJP then praised him for clarifying the issue.
Tarar also said that he told the CJP about pension reforms, which comprised a recommendation to increase the age of retirement by two years, applying to all the sectors.
The National team fast bowler Naseem Shah did not receive a No Objection Letter (NOC) for The Hundred League.
Naseem Shah had a contract with Birmingham Phoenix in the league, for which an NOC was applied to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). However, his NOC was rejected by the board for workload management and as a precautionary measure against injuries.
The cricketer has been informed.
The bowler had faced fitness problems last year, and with the World Test Championship being a crucial match, he is a cricketer of all three formats.
Naseem Shah was included in the Hundred League’s most expensive category, with a price tag of 1 lakh 25 thousand pounds (4.5 crore PKR).
Meta said Friday it was lifting restrictions on US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, ending measures put in place after his supporters violently stormed the US Capitol in 2021.
It said that “former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties.”
Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended indefinitely a day after his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and it was determined he had praised people engaged in violence on social media.
His accounts were reinstated in February 2023 but with a threat of penalties for future breaches — an additional restriction that Meta lifted on Friday.
“In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis,” Meta wrote in a blog post.
It added that US presidential candidates “remain subject to the same Community Standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, including those policies designed to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence.”
Trump, the first former president to be convicted of a crime, was also banned from Twitter and YouTube.
While those restrictions were later lifted last year, Trump now mainly communicates on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
His Facebook profile, which has 34 million users, includes messages originally published on Truth Social as well as invitations to rallies and videos from his campaign.
In a significant political and symbolic win for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), a thirteen-member bench of the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the party has the legal and constitutional right to reserved seats.
It was Justice Mansoor Ali Shah who, with his announcement of the 8-5 majority verdict, dismissed the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order that had upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) ruling denying reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council, which was backed by PTI.
Geo News reported that eight Justices, Justices Athar Minallah, Shahid Waheed, Muneeb Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha Malik, Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi, and Irfan Saadat Khan supported the verdict.
The Supreme Court, in its verdict today, declared that a party’s lack of electoral symbol does not affect its legal rights to participate in an election.
The Supreme Court also stated that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ‘misinterpreted’ its January 13 verdict of taking away PTI’s bat symbol and they never ruled that PTI could not participate in the elections.
“PTI was and is a political party, which secured general seats in the national and provincial assemblies in the general elections of 2024,” emphasised the verdict.
The ruling said that PTI should present a list of eligible candidates for the reserved seats to the electoral body within 15 days after the verdict.
TIMELINE
On 13 January 2024, the Supreme Court upheld the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to revoke PTI’s electoral symbol ‘bat’. PTI leadership called the decision “unfair and damaging to democratic constitutionalism.”
Following this landmark decision, PTI members contested the general elections as the party-backed independent candidates with their own allotted electoral symbols.
Following the February 8 elections, PTI-backed independents won the highest number of seats, making history in the country.
To get the reserved seats according to proportional representation, PTI-backed independents joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) because the laws dictated that only a political party could be eligible for the allocation of reserved seats.
The SIC then approached the ECP on February 21 seeking allocation of reserved seats. However, the PTI suffered a setback after the electoral body, citing the party’s failure to submit its list of candidates, denied allocating the reserved seats to the SIC via its 4-1 majority verdict on March 4.
The party then approached the Peshawar High Court on March 6, which, in yet another setback to the party, upheld the electoral body’s decision on the matter in its March 14 ruling.
Subsequently, on April 2, the SIC moved the SC seeking to set aside the PHC verdict.
On Friday, the price of 24-karat gold in Pakistan increased by Rs2,200, bringing the total to Rs249,000 per tola. This rise follows the release of the US inflation report for June, which indicated the lowest price gains since 2021, sparking renewed interest in gold as an investment.
Currently, the local price is about Rs2,800 lower than its actual cost, a discrepancy attributed to the reduced purchasing power of consumers.
According to the Karachi Sarafa Association, the price of 24-karat gold is recorded at Rs213,477 per tola for a 10-gramme unit, reflecting a rise of Rs1,886 per tola. Meanwhile, the price of 22-karat gold has also seen an increase, now priced at Rs195,687 per 10-gramme.
In contrast, silver prices in the domestic market have remained stable, with 24-karat silver being sold at Rs2,900 per tola and Rs2,486 per 10-gramme.
On the global front, spot gold has levelled off after surpassing $2,400 per ounce, buoyed by the cooler-than-expected US inflation figures, which have raised hopes for an interest rate cut. On Thursday, gold closed 1.9 per cent higher, marking its most significant gain since March.
The recent inflation data revealed the slowest growth in core consumer prices, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure, since 2021.
This development has led traders to anticipate a September rate cut, with expectations for at least two quarter-point reductions in 2024, according to Bloomberg. Such lower borrowing costs are generally favourable for bullion, which does not yield interest.
Gold’s current rally, which has seen a 17 per cent increase this year, is supported by strong demand from central banks, geopolitical tensions, and increased purchases from Chinese consumers, as the metal approaches its all-time high of $2,450.07 set in May.
Socialite sisters Kim and Khloe Kardashian were among the global celebrities spotted in India on Friday to attend a lavish three-day wedding ceremony staged by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani.
Ambani’s youngest son Anant and fiancee Radhika Merchant, both 29, will tie the knot over the weekend in the financial capital Mumbai following months of pre-marriage parties that have set a new benchmark in matrimonial extravagance.
Earlier celebrations included a European cruise for 1,200 guests, a purpose-built Hindu temple at the Ambani family’s ancestral home and private performances by R&B star Rihanna and Canada’s Justin Bieber.
The Kardashians are the latest in a long line of famous foreign VIPs to make an appearance.
Elder sister Kim shared an Instagram story showing her car mobbed by Indian photographers shortly after her arrival and both siblings receiving flower garlands from staff at their luxury hotel.
Fellow celebrity guests including actor John Cena posed for cameras on the red carpet upon their arrival at the venue, a huge convention centre owned by the Ambani family’s conglomerate.
Former British prime ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair were also spotted by reporters arriving at Mumbai airport ahead of the party beginning later on Friday.
In June, the couple embarked on a four-day Mediterranean cruise, where singer Katy Perry performed at a masquerade ball at a French chateau in Cannes.
The Backstreet Boys, US rapper Pitbull and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli also provided entertainment.
Guests at earlier galas have included Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and former US president Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, along with a who’s who of India’s sporting and entertainment worlds.
This week’s opulent celebrations are set to raise the bar further, with even more celebrities, politicians and global business elites jetting into monsoon-hit Mumbai.
Several major roads around the venue have been closed off to the public by authorities for most of the weekend.
Friday will see the main formal ceremony at the 16,000-person capacity venue, with a separate “blessing ceremony” on Saturday and a grand reception on Sunday.
– $123 billion fortune –
Anant’s father Mukesh is chairman of Reliance Industries, a family-founded conglomerate that has grown into India’s biggest company by market cap.
The patriarch is the world’s 11th richest person with a fortune of more than $123 billion, according to Forbes, and is no stranger to making a statement when it comes to family marriages.
He held the most expensive wedding in India to date for his daughter in 2018, which reportedly cost $100 million and saw US singer Beyonce perform.
Ambani is also a key ally of India’s right-wing Hindu nationalist leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He inherited a thriving industrial enterprise spanning oil, gas and petrochemicals and grew it into a commercial behemoth.
Its lucrative interests include retail partnerships with Armani and other luxury brands, more than 40 percent of India’s mobile phone market and an Indian Premier League cricket team.
His 27-floor family home Antilia is one of Mumbai’s most prominent landmarks, reportedly costing more than $1 billion to build and with a permanent staff of 600 servants.
Merchant is the daughter of well-known pharmaceutical moguls.
Following the CCTV footage of three girls beating up a salesman in a shop in Lahore and the widespread criticism over the police’s handling of the alleged harassment case, local police are now actively finding out what happened.
In the viral video, the girls appear to have initiated the assault, with the boy at the receiving end of their blows. However, it was reported that the salesman was arrested on allegations of harassment posed by the girls. This instigated a debate on social media where netizens demanded the arrest of the girls for allegedly using the “woman card.”
DIG Lahore Operations Faisal Kamran, while talking to Dawn, said the CCTV footage was presented in court by the boys in their defence, led to the case being dismissed.
The DIG also stated that the police approached the young man to file a complaint against the girls, if they wish to proceed with legal action.
The Current talked to the Superintendent of Police (SP), Dr. Ayaz, who stated that women’s harassment laws require an immediate response from the police. He said the police responded to the complaint filed by the girls, took the boys to the police station, and booked them instantly. “It was the honourable court’s decision to decide the case,” he stressed. “The police is committed to performing their duties, and as per law, we have a time of 14 days according to which we are conducting our investigation,” he added.
SP Ayaz confirmed that the medical checkup of both the girl and boy has been done, and all aspects of the case are being investigated, including the harassment and assault allegations. This particular case is registered under Article 509-1 and will proceed under charges of ‘insulting modesty or causing sexual harassment’, Ayaz informed.
Addressing social media speculation about the girl being the daughter of a lawyer, DIG Kamran clarified that the girl’s mother informed the police that her husband had passed away.
THE GIRLS
One of the three girls, on condition of anonymity, talked to The Current and explained how she, along with her friends, went to the shop to have coffee and do some shopping. According to her, she was chitchatting with her friends when the salesman started passing lewd comments about them, asking the girls if they were on “night duty,” implying that they were prostitutes. The comments enraged her friend who told him to behave and as the situation escalated, they first got into a verbal brawl with two boys which eventually took the form of a physical fight. She claimed that they hurled curses at them and pulled the hair of the boy. He also struck a girl, causing her nose to bleed and tore her shirt.
She said that they stayed there until they called the police and got the FIR registered, an official copy of which is present with The Current. The man who made their video was asked not to do so because of their vulnerable condition, but he did not comply.
A digital copy of FIR shared by the girl.
The girl said that at the police station, the boy apologised, and a “raazi nama” was signed. She stressed that in police custody, the shopkeeper said that the CCTV footage was not available as it was deleted. However, it surfaced on social media, two days after the incident, in what she described as an effort to defame them. In a traumatised tone, she said that they are under extreme pressure and because of her public profile on Instagram, she has gotten rape and death threats after the video went viral.
The screenshots shared by the girl depict the threatening and abusive language used by men sliding into her DMs.
More than once, she said that the viral video does not present the whole version and lacks the actual audio. She stressed that if the audio was released, it would support her version of the story. “I don’t understand, how can people think that it could have happened without a reason. We are not mad that we just got up and started beating someone. There was a reason, and in all honesty, we are not ashamed of it,” she shared.
She made it a point to mention that she does not belong to an elite background but from an upper-middle-class household, and the criticism that the girls weren’t ‘dressed properly’ is sexist and violates their right to freedom of choice.
THE GUY’S VERSION
The viral footage showed only one boy being assaulted by the girls in the presence of the shop owner and other visitors who eventually intervened. Yasir Shami from Urdu Point was seen talking to the boy, Yousuf, who was beaten up by the girl. Yousuf vehemently denied any allegations of harassment. “I was laughing at something my colleague said, and the ladies misheard and started coming inside the counter area. I told them they couldn’t do that but she still made her way inside and started beating me,” he said. “I did defend myself as much as I could, but not much as she was a woman,” he claimed. He also denied any claim of cursing the girls.
Journalist Ahmed Faraz, while talking on the show Geo Pakistan, explained that only one FIR is registered in any case, and all elements are explored and investigated under that.
Car sales in Pakistan plummeted to their lowest level in 15 years during the fiscal year 2023-24, as reported by the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA).
The data reveals that sales of cars, including light commercial vehicles (LCVs), vans, and jeeps, declined by 18.2 per cent year-on-year, amounting to 103,826 units by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2024.
This marks the lowest sales figures since FY 2009.
In comparison, 126,878 units were sold in the previous fiscal year, while the average sales over the past five years stood at 188,030 units.
Furthemore, passenger car sales decreased by 15.7 per cent year-on-year to 81,577 units during the fiscal year, compared to 96,811 units recorded in the previous year.
Total production of passenger cars was 79,573 units in FY24, a 22.0 per cent decline from the 101,984 units produced last year.
The PAMA data also highlighted that the highest number of passenger car sales occurred in the ‘Below 1000cc’ category, with 38,657 units sold in FY24.
Within this segment, Suzuki Alto led with 35,883 units sold, followed by Suzuki Bolan with 2,774 units.
