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  • Pakistan’s forex reserves inch up to $17.05 billion

    Pakistan’s forex reserves inch up to $17.05 billion

    The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign reserves saw inflows of $36 million in the week ending April 16, 2022, representing a 0.3 per cent increase week over week.

    According to the SBP weekly update posted on Thursday, the country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves increased by $16.9 million (+0.1 per cent) to $17.045 billion on April 16, 2022, up from $17.028 billion the previous week. SBP reserves rose by $36.1 million to $10.88 billion (+0.3 per cent), up from $10.85 billion the week before.

    Likewise, commercial banks’ net foreign reserves stood at $6.1 billion, down $19.3 million (-0.3 per cent) on a weekly basis.

    Read more: Pakistani rupee plunges by Rs1.05 against the US dollar

    In the interbank market on Thursday, however, the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) resumed its downward trend versus the US Dollar (USD). It fell by Rs1.04 to the dollar, Rs1.15 to the Australian Dollar (AUD), Rs2.04 to the Canadian Dollar (CAD), Rs2.42 to the Pound Sterling (GBP), and Rs2.96 to the Euro (EUR).

  • PM Shehbaz plans grand jirga over NWA situation

    PM Shehbaz plans grand jirga over NWA situation

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he will soon convene a grand jirga of North Waziristan tribal elders in Islamabad to find a way out of the prevailing situation in the tribal region.

    “Restoration of lasting peace in North Waziristan tribal district is the top most priority of my government.”

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was speaking during a daylong visit to Miramshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan on Thursday. The prime minister addressed a gathering the elders of Uthmanzai tribe. Earlier, senior civil and military officials and elders of the area received the prime minister.

    Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, Minister for Religious Affairs Mufti Abdul Shakoor, PM’s adviser Amir Muqam and MNA Mohsin Dawar accompanied the PM. According to officials, Peshawar Corps Commander Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed briefed the prime minister on the prevailing law and order situation in the area.

    Addressing the jirga, PM Sharif said the people of North Waziristan had suffered miseries and rendered matchless sacrifices for the motherland, adding that the government would not ignore their sacrifices.

    On the demand of Mohsin Dawar, the prime minister announced the establishment of a university, a medical college, a mobile hospital and Danish school in North Waziristan. The prime minister said he would soon announce more development schemes for the district.

    He expressed gratitude to the tribal elders for their support in the war against terrorism for a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan and assured them that the government would do all to bring comfort in local populace and ensure socio-economic development as dividends of the fight against terrorism.

    On arrival in Miramshah, PM Sharif was received by Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. The prime minister laid floral wreath at the Shuhada monument and offered fateha for valiant sons of the soil who rendered supreme sacrifices while defending the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan.

  • ‘Disturbing’: The negativity is destroying Sahiba and family’s mental health, son Zain opens up

    ‘Disturbing’: The negativity is destroying Sahiba and family’s mental health, son Zain opens up

    Actress Sahiba Afzal’s youngest son Zain Khan has shared his response to the on-going controversy in an Instagram story. The aspiring musician has shared that the negativity is affecting his mother and the entire family’s mental health.

    While he understands that the usage of words could have been better but the way his mother’s remarks are being portrayed are ‘disturbing’ for them.

    Actress Saboor Aly liked his stance on a portal’s feed.

    Get all the exclusive scoops in the show Maslay Aur Masala:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFNj1w3fcII

    Celebrity couple of Afzal Khan aka Rambo and his wife Sahiba Afzal appeared on Nida Yasir’s sehri show with their sons Ahsan and Zain.

    Yesterday Sahiba has come under the scrutiny of netizens for stating misogynist comments on the show regarding not wanting daughters. The Kaanpien Tang Rahi Hain star said that she never wanted to have a daughter, she is thankful that she doesn’t have one and instead only has two sons.

    Rambo was quick to intervene her stance and said that when he sees his contemporaries like Shaan Shahid and Saud Yousuf sharing a beautful bond with their daughters, he feels like he wants to experience that bond too and hence always wanted a daughter.

    Sahiba then added that she doesn’t want a daughter because women have no autonomy on their choices in this world and that their remains a fear about their luck.

    Sahiba Rambo sons

    Recently Sahiba’s friend and actor Moammar Rana’s wife Mehnaaz has took to her Instagram handle to share her stance on the on-going controversy of actress Sahiba.

    Mehnaaz stated that daughters are a blessing and not burden after a clip of her husband’s co-star has gone viral.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAZabelu5Jw&t=6s

  • Had an excellent relationship with Nawaz Sharif: Former Afghan President hopes for good ties with Pakistan

    Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has expressed his hope for a cordial relationship with Pakistan under the administration of the newly-elected Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif.

    In an interview with BBC, Karzai said, “I can tell you that when I was in the last year of my office, I had an excellent relationship with Mian Nawaz Sharif, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, who I found to be very willing to engage fruitfully with Afghanistan. I hope that Shehbaz Sharif [Nawaz’s brother] would follow the same path.”

    “Afghan people would respond to them very very positively. We do wish a good relationship with Pakistan.”

    Responding to the airstrikes [allegedly made by Pakistan] in bordering Khost province, the former president condemned the airstrikes and termed it clear violations of Afghan sovereignty.

    He called the recent attacks on Afghan education institutions as an “attack against Afghanistan’s efforts for educating its young, its peace and movement towards stability and progress.” Hamid Karzai emphasised the need for allowing girls above sixth grade to return to school.

    Hamid Karzai has served as the President of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. He still lives in the country under the the rule of Taliban who gained power in August 2021.

  • ‘Local mosques refused to announce that she was missing because of sectarian issues’: The Minor’s mother makes revelations

    ‘Local mosques refused to announce that she was missing because of sectarian issues’: The Minor’s mother makes revelations

    The case of the mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl from Karachi’s Al-Falah area is yet to be solved, as police continue to search for her.

    The police also raided a house in Sanghar, but could not find the missing girl. The owners of the cell phones from which the calls for ransom were made had been taken into custody by the police.

    On April 16, 14-year-old The Minor had gone missing from the Golden Town area of ​​Al Falah. Police registered a case and launched an investigation. In this regard, SSP Anti-Violent Crime Cell Zubair Sheikh said that the police were working diligently on the matter.

    Police raids are continuing in Karachi and other cities of inner Sindh. Police first raided a house in Sanghar on Wednesday, but found nothing. Thereafter, another house was raided. The Minor could not be found during the raid, but during the action, police found another girl who is from Karachi.

    In response to a question, the SSP said that the numbers which called to demand ransom were provided by The Minor’s father to the police. They were traced by law enforcers and the suspects were also taken into custody.

    Now the girl’s mother has revealed on Waseem Badami’s show that the local mosques refused to announce her daughter being missing due to sectarian issues.

    Her father has also said that if his daughter is not recovered then he and his family will attempt suicide in front of the Governor House.

    “My daughter wasn’t even going to school for the past one and a half years,” her father told the publication.

    The girl has been missing for nearly a week, but there has been no clue about her whereabouts since she had stepped out of her home to dispose of garbage.

    The father said that they lived on the first floor, explaining that his daughter had gone down to the ground floor to dump garbage, but she never returned.

    After the case was highlighted on social media, Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon visited the girl’s home to assure her family of complete cooperation on part of the law enforcement agency.

    “We’re doing our best,” the police chief told journalists after visiting the family. “Three special police teams have been formed to find the girl. Soon the girl will be with her family. We have no objection if someone from the family wishes to join the investigation team.”

    A team of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) also met the girl’s father. AVCC chief Zubair Nazir Shaikh said they have formed three teams, and they are working on getting CCTV camera footage to trace the girl’s whereabouts.

    “We’re taking all measures to find the girl and are in touch with her family to gather all information regarding her disappearance,” he said. “A case has already been registered at the Al-Falah police station.”

    A police official said that an investigation into the incident had been launched, with the footage from the CCTV cameras installed in the area being examined to trace the whereabouts of the girl.

  • Google to ban call recording apps in the next update

    Google to ban call recording apps in the next update

    From May 11, a new policy of the Google Play Store will prohibit third-party call recording applications from being downloaded.

    Modifications to the Google Play Policy mean that developers’ access to the Accessibility API will be restricted even more. This has been used as a workaround for remote call audio recording, however starting May 11, Google will no longer allow apps on the Play Store to use the Accessibility Service.

    In addition, Google clarified potential misunderstandings about the change in policy through a recent developer webcast.

    Numerous apps allow recording audio from a call without the other party knowing. As a result, this policy change only affects third-party apps on the Play Store. On some devices, several default dialer apps, such as Google Phone, Mi Dialer, and others, have a native call recording feature built-in. The update would not affect the default dialer apps on devices like Pixel and Xiaomi handsets.

    “Remote in this sense refers to call audio recording where the person on the other end is unaware that the recording is taking place,” said Moun Choi, Google content operations lead, during the special developer webinar.

    “Accessibility capability is not necessary to get access to the incoming audio stream if the app is the phone’s default dialer and also pre-loaded”. As a result, there would be no infringement. Because this is a clarification of an existing policy, the new language will take effect on May 11th for all apps”.

    Read more: Netflix loses 200,000 subscribers in Q1 2022, projects deeper losses in Q2

    In other words, you won’t lose functionality if you can record calls using your pre-installed dialer programme. Call recording may not be possible in the future if you use an app downloaded from the Google Play Store.

  • Former envoy to US Asad Majeed to brief National Security Council on ‘letter-gate’

    Former envoy to US Asad Majeed to brief National Security Council on ‘letter-gate’

    Former Pakistani ambassador to the United States Dr Asad Majeed Khan will brief the National Security Committee (NSC) members during a meeting on Friday about the diplomatic cable he gave to the PTI government last month, according to sources.

    According to sources, the Pakistani diplomat has arrived in Islamabad and will join the National Security Council meeting convened by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the PM Office to review the situation in the aftermath of “letter-gate” and other regional issues.

    According to sources, the meeting will be held today at the Prime Minister’s Office at 2:00pm. The members of the meeting will discuss the security situation in the country.

    Top civil and military leadership including federal ministers, services chiefs will attend the meeting

  • Ilhan Omar visit to Pakistan not govt-sponsored: US State Department

    Ilhan Omar visit to Pakistan not govt-sponsored: US State Department

    US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price on Friday declared that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who is currently on her maiden visit to Pakistan, was not visiting the country on US government-sponsored travel.

    The senior official made the statement during a press briefing today in response to a question from a journalist.

    “As you are well aware that Imran Khan is still blaming US for his ouster from PM’s office while he’s also asking his supporters to keep protesting outside the White House. But yesterday Congresswoman Ilhan Omar met with Mr. Khan in Islamabad. It was kind of an hour-long meeting. Close associates of Mr. Khan claimed that United States trying to clear the air with Mr. Khan. Is it true that Ilhan Omar is representing Biden government there in Islamabad,” the journalist had asked.

    “Well, as I understand it, Representative Omar is not visiting Pakistan on US government-sponsored travel, so I’d need to refer you to her office for questions on her travel,” Price replied.

    Omar, who made history as one of the first two Muslim women elected to the US Congress, arrived in Islamabad earlier this week on a visit to Pakistan. The Congresswoman will stay in Pakistan till April 24.

    She met a host of important figures including President Dr Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Foreign Office officials, as well as PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

    According to official sources, the Congresswoman was also flown to the Line of Control (LoC) in the Chakothi sector, where she was briefed on the situation before and after the fresh understanding between the Pakistani and Indian armies to respect the 2003 ceasefire agreement.

    Some residents, who had been affected by Indian shelling prior to the ceasefire, had also gathered there and shared their tales of horror with the visitors.

    According to PTI’s Shireen Mazari, Omar had discussed Islamophobia and other related issues in the meeting with Khan at the PTI chairman’s Bani Gala residence.

    Politicians and social media users immediately questioned the PTI chairman about the meeting with the American legislator and reminded him of his criticism of US officials meeting opposition figures. Newly elected Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah led the charge by asking Khan if his meeting with Omar was “a conspiracy or interference”.

    Mazari, subsequently, fired back at the critics by saying that Omar was not a part of the US administration.

  • Global oil prices rise amid supply concerns

    Global oil prices rise amid supply concerns

    Oil prices increased on April 20, swamped by fears about tightening supply as the European Union (EU) considers a possible ban on Russian oil imports, which would further impede global oil commerce.

    After reaching a high of $109.80, Brent oil futures finished up $1.53 to close at $108.33 a barrel. After earlier reaching a high of $105.42, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures ended up $1.60, or 1.6 per cent, at $103.79.

    Consumers also reacted to continued disruptions in Libya, where blockades at major fields and export terminals have resulted in a loss of about 550,000 barrels per day of oil supply.

    Brent has climbed about 8 per cent in the last seven days of trading, but the advance has been calm and steady, unlike the frenzy that surrounded Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February and again in mid-March.

    Last week, US crude exports increased to more than 4 million barrels per day, slightly countering Russian crude losses caused by US and European bans.

    Read more: Pakistani rupee plunges by Rs1.05 against the US dollar

    The oil market is still constrained, with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its affiliates, led by Russia, striving to achieve output commitments and US crude inventories plunging dramatically in the week ending April 15.

  • Priyanka-Nick lock baby girl’s ‘unusual’ name, what does it mean?

    Priyanka-Nick lock baby girl’s ‘unusual’ name, what does it mean?

    Actress Priyanka Chopra and singer Nick Jonas’ baby girl has been named Malti Marie Chopra Jonas, as per the birth certificate obtained by TMZ.

    Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas Reportedly Spent “Months Renovating” Their Home to Prepare for Baby | Vanity Fair

    The hit duo had welcomed Malti Marie via surrogate on January 15 at a hospital in San Diego, California, the certificate also revealed. The couple announced her birth on January 22.

    According to TMZ, the document states that Malti was born just after 8 pm on January 15 in San Diego, California. While the couple hasn’t made any confirmation yet on the baby’s name, it seems the name could have a special meaning for the duo.

    The couple continues to honour both their traditions with their baby daughter’s name as well and hence have chosen a Sanskrit name as well as the middle name Marie is Christian.

    Malti generally means small fragrant flower or moonlight in Sanskrit.

    While speaking to close friend Lilly Singh in an interaction recently, Priyanka spoke about wanting to raise a child without putting any limitations on their dreams and aspirations.

    The Dostana diva recently praised Netflix’s Bridgerton 2 in her Instagram stories the actress penned a note about how she had to face anomaly when she entered the film industry, but now things have changed. The Citadel diva shared a still from the show and appreciated the makers.

    Her note read, “I have to say.. it’s so wonderful to see desi representation on mainstream TV. It was such an anomaly when I started. Love the show and the Sharma sisters (sic).”

    In the second season, we were introduced to the Sharma sisters which include Charithra Chandran as Edwina Sharma and Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma.

    Earlier this year the Don 2 star reacted to the ongoing Ukraine crisis, which has affected the lives of innocent residents of the European countries.

     She has called the situation ‘terrifying’ and has asked for contribution on behalf of Unicef to help them. 

    Priyanka posted a video of news coverage showing how individuals have turned subway stations into underground bunkers to stay protected during the Russia-Ukraine war.

    The Dostana actor wrote, “The situation unfolding in Ukraine is terrifying. Innocent people living in fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones, while trying to navigate the uncertainty of the immediate future. It’s difficult to comprehend how in the modern world this could escalate to such a catastrophic point, but this is a consequential moment that will reverberate around the world.”

    Asking people to reach out for help, Priyanka added, “There are innocent lives living in this war zone. They are just like you and me. Here is more info at the link in my bio about how to assist the people of Ukraine.” Priyanka was appointed as Global Unicef Goodwill Ambassador in 2016. 

     Thousands of people have fled the country as the Russian military launched a full scale invasion via land, sea and air.