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  • Donors pledge more than $10 billion for Pakistan flood recovery at Geneva conference

    Donors pledge more than $10 billion for Pakistan flood recovery at Geneva conference

    Pakistan has secured over $10.5 billion in pledges from international creditors at the one-day International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan in Geneva, which will help the cash-strapped country recover from last year’s devastating floods.

    By the end of the first plenary session, Pakistan had received pledges totaling $8.57 billion, and in the second session, it had secured more than $2 billion.

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the international community to help Pakistan build climate-resilient infrastructure and to grant access to the knowledge and resources needed to survive future catastrophes.

    The delegations recalled their support for the emergency relief operations during the conference and reaffirmed their commitment to Pakistan’s people in support of a strong recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.

    All donations pledged at the Geneva conference

    • Islamic Development Bank: $4.2 billion
    • World Bank: $2 billion
    • Asian Development Bank: $1.5 billion
    • Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: $1 billion
    • Saudi Arabia: $1 billion
    • France: $384 million
    • China: $100 million
    • United States: $100 million
    • EU: $93 million
    • Germany: $88 million
    • Japan: $77 million
    • United Kingdom: $10 million
    • Azerbaijan: $2 million

    The attendees voiced their solidarity and pledged financial support for the ongoing humanitarian activities as well as the achievement of the goals and key areas. The meeting was co-hosted by Pakistan and the UN.

    The World Bank has pledged $2 billion, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has pledged $1 billion, and the Islamic Development Bank Group has pledged $4.2 billion over three years.

    Furthermore, Asian Development Bank has pledged $1.5 billion, while the European Union has offered $93 million, Germany has pledged $88 million, China has pledged $100 million, Japan has pledged $77 million, and so on. The French government has committed $345 million, and the United States Agency for International Development has offered $100 million.

    Saudi Arabia has also committed $1 billion to assist Pakistan in reconstruction efforts.

  • Khan will share all information with Elahi, Moonis says they have become best friends

    Khan will share all information with Elahi, Moonis says they have become best friends

    Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader, Moonis Elahi has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has assured his father, Chief Minister (CM) Punjab, Pervaiz Elahi, that he would share whatever information he gets with the CM first, reports Dawn.

    Offering details on his father’s meeting with Khan, Moonis said, “Instead of any ill feelings, they have become best of friends today.”

    Pervaiz Elahi assured Imran Khan that the former prime minister was his leader and he would stand by him. “Our alliance is stronger than before,” Moonis asserted.

    It was reported in the media that Khan on Monday expressed distrust in Elahi, saying allegations of corruption worth billions against the PML-Q leader were affecting his popularity.

    According to the news report, Khan in a meeting with the party’s senior leaders said, “I cannot bear to have such allegations against my coalition government in Punjab.”

    Reports said that the former premier insisted that all PTI legislators in the Punjab Assembly should persuade Elahi to take a vote of confidence and dissolve the assembly.

    According to media reports, Khan and his party leaders were trying to convince Elahi to take the trust vote before the next hearing at the Lahore High Court on January 11.

  • Cross-border affection between Bollywood singer Badshah and Pakistani actress Hania Amir is too wholesome to ignore

    Cross-border affection between Bollywood singer Badshah and Pakistani actress Hania Amir is too wholesome to ignore

    It’s rare to witness Pakistani and Indian artists sending love and support to one another. We have to cherish what little content we receive. As Mahira Khan had put it, Pakistani and Indian artists are similar, “because we’re artists, and we’re connected by that thread of art, we actually get each other.”
    Now the internet had a glimpse of a wholesome interaction between actress Hania Amir and Bollywood singer Badshah. It started when Amir shared a clip of herself trying to pronounce french words.

    The Indian rapper had left a comment on her post ‘por favor?’ to which Amir had responded ‘thora spanish bhi?’

    Later, the rapper did an Instagram live where a fan asked him about his friendship with Amir. Badshah responded with praises for the actress and gushed about how she is a ‘mood uplifter’.

    “Yes I follow her she’s a very funny person. My mood uplifts every time I see her posts, and I think its also just her personality. I think she’s a very bright human being.”

    Amir later shared the clip on her Instagram stories where she also praised Badshah

    “Aap bhi bohat mast ho @badboyshah”

  • Pakistan jumps to 2nd position in ICC Super League standings, India at top

    Pakistan has jumped to the second place on the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League table after beating New Zealand in the first One-Day international on Monday. Pakistan defeated the Kiwis by six wickets in the opening ODI.


    India is on top of the list with 139 points.

    What is the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League?


    The Super League is a brand new ODI competition, which takes place across two years. In its first edition, the Super League will help decide which teams feature in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.


    Thirteen teams are taking part in this competition. These are the 12 Full Member nations, along with the Netherlands.

  • Kubra Khan to record statement before FIA in defamation case against Adil Raja

    Kubra Khan to record statement before FIA in defamation case against Adil Raja

    Actor Kubra Khan announced last week on social media that she had officially filed a case with the Sindh High Court against Youtube blogger Adil Farooq Raja for making degrading and malicious comments against her and three other actresses. In her social media post, the actress said she was motivated to make this decision after realizing that its necessary to protect hard working, young women out there who are easily turned into a target by insecure men.

    Today as reported by Dawn, the ‘Hum Kahan Kay Sachay Thay’ actresss has been directed by Sindh High Court to appear before an inquiry officer from the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) to provide a statement for trial proceedings.

    In the last hearing, the SHC ordered FIA and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block all forms of malicious content being spread about Khan on social media.
    After that hearing, IO Shagufta Shahzad had filed a report confirming that a probe has been registered at the FIA cybercrime circle in Karachi. She further stated that on the order of the SHC, a direct was also sent to the PTA to block social media accounts regarding the same person. The IO further made a request to the SHC for the petitioner to visit her office in order to record her statement for the trial to proceed.
    The bench had adjourned the hearing till January 26 while a notice was sent to PTA for the next meeting.

  • Trouble for Imran Khan, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry as ECP issues arrest warrants for all three

    Trouble for Imran Khan, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry as ECP issues arrest warrants for all three

    The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued bailable arrest warrants for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, along with two party leaders, Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry.

    The warrants were issued by ECP’s four-member bench headed by member Nisar Durrani hearing a contempt case against the electoral body and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Sikander Sultan Raja.

    The bench, while rejecting the PTI leaders’ pleas for exemption, directed them to appear before it on the next hearing which is scheduled for January 17. The commission had reserved the verdict on their pleas on January 3.

    During the hearing today, the ECP rejected the pleas of PTI leaders seeking an exemption from appearing before the commission and issued arrest warrants for them against surety bonds worth Rs50,000 each.

    The bench, subsequently, adjourned the hearing till January 17.

    Both Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry took to Twitter and showed their disapproval towards the the issuance of the bailable arrest warrants.

    In August last year, the ECP had issued a contempt notice to PTI leaders for insulting the election commission during various public meetings, press conferences and several interviews.

    The notice charged that they insulted and passed unparliamentary, intemperate and contemptuous remarks against the electoral body on various occasions.

  • We got our first meme for 2023 thanks to the drama ‘Bepanah’

    We got our first meme for 2023 thanks to the drama ‘Bepanah’

    Pakistani dramas are the gift that keeps on giving. We never know what kind of bonkers content our writers will churn out and so far every single item on our bingo has been ticked off. Last year we got a case of Fiza Shiza mix-up, razai behn bhai and a dude orgasming during a phone call with a girl. This year has brought us a woman enjoying the book Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler.
    A few days ago, a twitter user took a screenshot from the Hum Tv drama ‘Bepanah’ where the character played by actress Kanwal Khan, is seen sitting outside on the porch reading a book with a smile. On the surface it doesn’t seem odd, but when the user took a screenshot and did a close up, the book the character happened to be reading blew the internet’s mind away.

    Since two days ago when the post went up on Twitter, it has reached more than 21.2 K likes, with both Pakistani and international fans having hilarious reactions to the picture.
    Many are just concerned about what part of ‘Mein Kampf’ would make someone smile.

    https://twitter.com/waleeeeeeed124/status/1612561581044387846?s=20&t=jbDBRDMxen4AY6I8Q_RunQ
    https://twitter.com/bluengrylife/status/1611946090563244032?s=20&t=jbDBRDMxen4AY6I8Q_RunQ

    Even filmmaker Mehreen Jabbar had to jump in on the joke, sharing the picture on her Instagram stories with the caption ‘Laugh, cry or tear one’s hair out?’, as shared by Instagram account Galaxy Lollywood.

  • Saudi Arabia will host pre-pandemic numbers of Hajj pilgrims in 2023

    The number of people participating in this year’s Hajj will return to pre-pandemic levels, Saudi Arabia’s ministry of Hajj has announced in a tweet

    About 2.5 million pilgrims participated in the religious journey in 2019. To stop the spread of COVID-19 , numbers were significantly reduced for the following two years.

    Prior to reopening its doors to one million international pilgrims in 2022, the kingdom only permitted small numbers of its citizens to perform Hajj in 2020 and 2021.


    In 2022, nearly 900,000 pilgrims, including some 780,000 from abroad, were welcomed in the Kingdom.

  • Saudi Arabia mulls increasing investments in Pakistan to $10 billion

    Saudi Arabia mulls increasing investments in Pakistan to $10 billion

    Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has directed the Saudi Development Fund (SDF) to study increasing the deposit amount in the State of Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to $5 billion.

    “His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, has directed to study augmenting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s investments in the sisterly Islamic Republic of Pakistan which have previously been announced on August 25, 2022, to reach $10 billion,” it said.

    “The crown prince also directed the Saudi Development Fund to study increasing the amount of the deposit provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in favour of the Central Bank of Pakistan which have previously been extended on December 2, 2022, to hit a $5 billion ceiling,” according to Saudi Press Agency.

    The move, according to SPA, confirmed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to assist Pakistan’s economy and its sisterly people.

    The development was reached within the framework of the ongoing dialogue between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Prince Salman.

    The announcement made today comes the day after Prince Salman and Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir met in Madina to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral ties between the two nations. Munir was on a week-long official visit to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

    The SBP and SFD entered into a contract in 2021 for the SBP to receive $3 billion, which would be deposited in the central bank’s account to increase its foreign exchange reserves.

    The SFD subsequently acknowledged the rollover of a $3 billion deposit for an additional year in September of last year. The deposit was supposed to maturity on December 5 but Saudi Arabia extended its term on December 2.

    Saudi Arabia had previously committed to restart its financial assistance to Pakistan in the final week of October 2021, providing $1.2 billion in oil deliveries on a deferred payment plan and around $3 billion in safe deposit boxes.

    The accord was made the same month when former prime minister Imran Khan visited Saudi Arabia.

  • Iqrar ul Hassan reveals he rejected proposal of Pakistan’s ‘top actress’ for third marriage

    Iqrar ul Hassan reveals he rejected proposal of Pakistan’s ‘top actress’ for third marriage

    Journalist Iqrar Ul Hassan has revealed how he rejected a proposal from a “top actress” who wanted to become his third wife. The newsman was a guest on Mansoor Ali Khan’s show where he talked about a proposal from a female superstar of Pakistan.

    The veteran crime reporter stated, “A lady decided to marry me, a few years ago. She was the most popular actress around four years ago, now she’s married but at that time she was so serious that she donned a bridal outfit and went to both my wives, seeking their permission to marry me. My wives allowed her if we both had agreed. First, she took permission from my wives, and then she came to me, I didn’t refuse because how can one refuse,” the journalist said during the extraordinary revelation.”

    Anchor Iqrar-ul-Hassan shares pictures of his both wives, son - Entertainment - Dunya News

    Iqrar ul Hasan is currently married to Farah Iqrar and Qurat ul Ain Iqrar.

    Continuing with the story, he told Mansoor Ali Khan that the famous actress then started “interrogating me”, asking how many days will he spend with her. “‘How many days will you be with me, how many clothes will be with me, how many books will be with me’, it was at that moment I realized the true worth of my wives Qurat and Farah, because there is nothing of the sort with them. I realized that Allah has given me the two best women,” he said.
    He disclosed that the said actress is now happily married and he is on good terms with her. “And I would not recommend anyone to marry for the second or third time, because not everyone can get wives like mine”, he said while talking about his domestic life.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=votNCjjDXxI&t=253s