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  • ‘Successful implementation’: Hammad Azhar says FATF blacklisting off the table

    ‘Successful implementation’: Hammad Azhar says FATF blacklisting off the table

    After the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decided to keep Pakistan in the grey-list till February, Minister for Revenue Hammad Azhar congratulated the nation for successfully implementing the major points of the FATF.

    “Out of 27 points, we have implemented 21 points given by the authorities concerned regarding FATF, ” he stated while talking to a private television channel. Except India, every country had appreciated the efforts of Pakistan for satisfying the people dealing FATF, he added.

    Pakistan was placed on the grey list during the period of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz last government, he said. In reply to a question, he said the remaining six points had partially implemented. He also termed the decision that was taken without voting a “diplomatic victory”.

    BLACKLISTING OFF THE TABLE:

    In a statement, FATF urged Pakistan to complete an internationally agreed action plan by February 2021. FATF said Pakistan had now reached 21 targets out of 27 set for it in 2018 when Pakistan was placed on FATF’s “grey list” of countries with inadequate controls over terrorism financing.

    But Pakistan still needs to demonstrate that law enforcement agencies are identifying and investigating the widest range of terrorism financing activity, FATF said.

    The watchdog also asked Islamabad to demonstrate that terrorism financing probes resulted in effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.

    “FATF acknowledged that any blacklisting is off the table now,” Pakistani federal minister Hammad Azhar tweeted.

    Azhar, who leads Pakistan’s delegation at FATF plenary meetings, said the forum’s discussions were focused on how Pakistan could be supported in meeting its targets before a formal review in the middle of next year.

    Last February, Pakistan secured an extra four months to complete the plan after missing 13 of the 27 targets that FATF had set for it in 2018 when it put Pakistan on its “grey list”.

  • PM finds abduction of Sindh IG funny, says can’t stop laughing

    PM finds abduction of Sindh IG funny, says can’t stop laughing

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has termed the kidnapping of Sindh Police IG Mushtaq Mahar by the Sindh Rangers to get Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Capt (r) Safdar arrested a “comedy”.

    Referring to the IG House incident, the PM said: “I believe it is a comedy. When I think about that, I laugh. What is happening? It is unfortunate that all the enemies of Pakistan, including India and Israel, are with them.”

    The PM made these comments in an interview with the ARY News. The PM, who didn’t comment on the much controversial till now, blamed media for creating “hype” over the incident. He said: “Kidnapping [of Sindh police chief] was a non-issue, yet media houses were creating hype.”

    The prime minister was referring to the incident, wherein the army coerced the Sindh IG to issue arrest warrants against Safdar, who was arrested from his hotel room.

    The humiliating treatment meted out to the police chief led to the senior officials asking the government for 60 days leave.

    Subsequently, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman demanded army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to hold an inquiry into the incident. At this, Gen Bajwa ordered the Karachi corps commander to hold “immediate probe” into the incident.

    ARREST OF CAPT SAFDAR:

    Safdar was arrested from his hotel room in the early hours of Monday from his hotel room for raising slogans at the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and jumping over the grill surrounding the grave. The Sindh government led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had distanced itself from the matter soon after the arrest.

    Afterwards, the Sindh police tweeted that the arrest was lawful, but the tweet was deleted soon after it was put up. But after a few hours, the tweet was updated again, wherein the police said that Safdar was arrested as per law.

  • Minal Khan clarifies that she is not getting married

    Minal Khan clarifies that she is not getting married

    Along with setting our screens on fire with Jalan, Minal Khan is also teasing fans by sharing glimpses of her personal life (read: love life) on social media. Though the actor has not officially confirmed her relationship, rumours are rife that she is in a relationship with budding actor Ahsan Mohsin Ikram.

    The two have been posting loved-up pictures of their hangouts on social media without sharing any details. They have also been leaving cute comments on each other’s Instagram posts only to delete them later.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CGNSgKylY3X/
    https://www.instagram.com/p/CDB0DIBFLfg/

    All this has given rise to speculations that Minal and Ahsan will soon be tying the knot. However, Minal while replying to a follower clarified that she is not getting married.

    She also said that she aspires to be “a woman who wakes up and loves what she does for a living everyday, travels often, spiritually secured and mentally and financially stable”.

    Have any thoughts? Share your comments.

  • UFC: Hira Mani supporting MMA’s Khabib in fight against Justin Gaethje

    UFC: Hira Mani supporting MMA’s Khabib in fight against Justin Gaethje

    Pakistani actress Hira Mani is supporting Russian Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov in his upcoming match against America’s Justin Gaethje.

    The Mere Pass Tum Ho star announced her support for Khabib Nurmagomedov in an Instagram post.

    For the caption of the post, she wrote a famous quote of the Russian fighter which goes as follows: “I don’t fight for the money. I fight for my legacy. I fight for history. I fight for my people.”

    Mani added, “You will, win my motivation my hero.”

    Khabib will face Gaethje on October 24 (today) at the Flash Forum on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.

    The Russian fighter is known to have never officially lost a fight, having recorded 28 wins so far.

    If he wins this fight, it will be his 29th consecutive win.

  • Journalist, who released footage of Capt (r) Safdar’s arrest, goes missing

    A reporter who released the footage of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Capt (r) Safdar’s arrest from his hotel room has been missing since last night.

    Ali Imran Syed, a journalist based in Karachi, left his home between 7pm and 8pm after telling his family he would be back home in half an hour. He has not returned home since, said Geo News.

    According to the wife of the reporter, his car was parked outside the house and he had left his mobile phone at home.

    According to the report, the Geo News administration has approached the Karachi police over the disappearance of the journalist. The family had also submitted a report to Sachal police station, it added. However, Dawn quoted a police official saying that a case has yet to be registered.

    Meanwhile, Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab said Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has taken notice of the incident.

    Reacting to the disappearance of the reporter, the human rights organisations have called upon the government to ensure the release of the journalist.

    Amnesty International stated that Imran was “feared to have been subjected to an enforced disappearance for his reporting”. “The authorities must establish his whereabouts immediately,” the human rights group said.

    The Human Rights Commission Pakistan also demanded “immediate release” the Geo News reporter.

    PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz also condemned the reporter’s disappearance. “I have heard that he has been picked up for allegedly sharing CCTV footage of [retired Captain Safdar’s arrest]. This is unfortunate,” she said while speaking to reporters in Lahore.

    Safdar was arrested from his hotel room in the early hours of Monday from his hotel room for raising slogans at the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and jumping over the grill surrounding the grave.

    The Sindh government led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had distanced itself from the matter soon after the arrest.

  • Jordanian princess adopts Islamabad Zoo’s brown bears

    Jordanian princess adopts Islamabad Zoo’s brown bears

    Islamabad’s Marghazar Zoo’s two Himalayan brown bears are all set to fly to Jordan in 10 days, while Kaavan, the zoo’s lone elephant, is expected to leave for Cambodia by the end of November.

    According to reports, Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) Chairman Dr Anisur Rehman has said that the two bears, including their import and export permits, are ready. He said that he is confident that the bears will receive better psychological and physical treatment in the sanctuary abroad.

    “The bear sanctuary is looked after by the (Jordanian) king’s aunt, Princess Alia, and she has given us an import permit within a day,” shared Dr Rehman.

    Dr Rehman also shared that they have also received the import permit for Kaavan which means the Cambodian government is willing to accept and introduce the 45-year-old elephant into one of its sanctuaries.

    “This is the first time that animals from Pakistan are being taken abroad for rest and recreation and health recovery,” Dr Rehman shared, adding: “The government realises that animals need first-class attention, which these captive animals will receive.”

    Suzi

    However, the bears are not being moved to Jordan permanently. According to Dr Rehman, the bears will be flown back to Islamabad once they have fully recovered and their enclosures at Islamabad Zoo are ready. Animals at the Islamabad Zoo are being relocated to temporary sanctuaries after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled that the zoo is not fit enough for them and lacks the necessary facilities.

    Both the Himalayan brown bears suffer from psychological problems due to living in a substandard enclosure, with the female undergoing major surgery due to her critical condition. This was also the reason why sanctuaries within Pakistan refused to take them in.

    Dr Frank Goritz, head veterinarian at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research Berlin, treats Suzi on Sept. 22

    Meanwhile, Friends of Islamabad Zoo (FIZ), who have been campaigning for the animals, appreciated the decision to move the bears to Jordan. In a note posted to social media, they addressed those who said that the bears should have been moved to a local sanctuary instead of an international one.

    “Both the bears have no teeth and have been dependent on humans since birth,” wrote the animal rights body. “They will not be able to survive wild in the Deosai Plains and will need constant care.”

    “Other than that from what we were told, Deosai now has 76 bears and adding two bears with no experience of living with other bears won’t be able to survive and will need to be kept confined.”

    FIZ said that Al Ma’wa for Nature and Wildlife is the ideal place for the two bears because it is located 3500 feet above sea level, double the height of Islamabad and is climatically suited to Himalayan brown bears. They added that their facilities are top-class and the bears will be well taken care of there.

    https://twitter.com/IsbZooFriends/status/1319317671016529920?s=20
  • Japan researchers claim masks do not block coronavirus ‘perfectly’

    Japan researchers claim masks do not block coronavirus ‘perfectly’

    Japanese researchers have demonstrated that though masks can offer protection from coronavirus particles, but even professional-grade coverings cannot eliminate the risk of the contagion completely.

    Scientists at the University of Tokyo built a secure chamber with mannequin heads facing each other. One head, fitted with a nebulizer, simulated coughing and expelled actual coronavirus particles. The other mimicked natural breathing, with a collection chamber for viruses coming through the airway.

    A cotton mask reduced viral uptake by the receiver head by up to 40% compared to no mask. An N95 mask, used by medical professionals, blocked up to 90%. However, even when the N95 was fitted to the face with tape, some virus particles still sneaked in.

    When a mask was attached to the coughing head, cotton and surgical masks blocked more than 50% of the virus transmission.

    “There was a synergistic effect when both the virus receiver and virus spreader wore masks,” the researchers wrote in their study.

    There has been a growing consensus among health experts that the COVID-19 virus can be spread through the air. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revised its guidance this month to say the pathogen can linger in the air for hours.

    A separate team of Japanese researchers used supercomputer simulations to show that humidity can have a significant effect on the airborne dispersion of virus particles.

  • Did Trump actually use ‘maga2020!’ as his Twitter password?

    Did Trump actually use ‘maga2020!’ as his Twitter password?

    A Dutch security researcher has claimed that he was able to successfully log into US President Donald Trump’s Twitter account last week, by correctly guessing his password: ‘maga2020!’ No surprises there.

    Victor Gevers, an internet security expert at the GDI Foundation and chair of the Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure, has said that he successfully managed to gain access to the US President’s Twitter account. According to Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, Gevers wanted to see how strong the President’s online security was.

    Gever’s revealed that the two-factor authentication, which provides extra security to the account having 87 million followers, was disabled, thus allowing him access to the account.

    A screenshot of Trump’s twitter account

    After logging in, the hacker alerted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a unit of Homeland Security, about the security leak. He said he noticed that Trump’s Twitter password was changed shortly after.

    This, however, is not the first time the Dutch hacker succeeded in taking over Donald Trump’s Twitter account. Four years ago, the same hacker with his other two accomplices, jointly managed to access Trump’s account, just a few weeks prior to the US elections. At that time, “Yourefired” was Donald Trump’s Twitter password, claimed the hackers.

    It was reported that Gevers only wanted to raise awareness of the fact that two-factor-authentication should be mandatory for everyone.

    Previously in 2016, Trump’s staff was warned by the hackers that they needed to change the settings of the official accounts. Alex Wall, who was the director of Hillary Clinton’s social media in 2016 and also managed Barack Obama’s official accounts, referred to Trump’s Twitter practises as “insanely irresponsible”.

    However, claims of the Dutch hacker are being treated with extreme skepticism by official sources and security experts. Twitter gave a statement that there’s no evidence to corroborate the claim.

    Additionally, White House press secretary Judd Deere has also denied the claims.

    “This is absolutely not true”, said Deere. “But we don’t comment on security procedures around the President’s social media accounts.”

    One inconsistency with the claim is the fact that Twitter’s requires a strong password to be “at least 10 characters long”, while ‘maga2020!’ password has only nine characters. Additionally, the absence of two-factor-authentication on the Twitter account of the President of a country and the use of weak and simple password seems absurd.

  • VIDEO: Dubai introduces the world’s largest fountain

    VIDEO: Dubai introduces the world’s largest fountain

    The glitzy emirate of Dubai broke the record for the world’s largest fountain on Thursday, as the Gulf city seeks to boost its hard-hit tourism sector amid the coronavirus pandemic.

    The Palm Fountain, which covers an area of 1,335 square metres, is located at The Pointe shopping and dining district on Palm Jumeirah, a man-made palm-shaped island.

    Mask-clad people, in keeping with coronavirus safety measures, gathered on Thursday evening to watch a show of dancing jets of water, music and lights.

    “GWR is delighted to officially see The Palm Fountain breaking the title of the Largest fountain,” Shaddy Gaad, Senior Marketing Manager at Guinness World Records said in a statement, adding that Guinness was declaring it “Officially Amazing”.

    Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, already holds a string of world record titles — including the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, and the fastest police car in service, a Bugatti Veyron.

    The city that attracts millions of tourists already had one of the largest fountains in the world near Burj Khalifa.

    The new fountain has over 3,000 LED lights, 7,500 nozzles and can shoot water up to 105 metres, according to Guinness.

    Dubai has been badly hit by the coronavirus slowdown. Its GDP has contracted 3.5% in the first quarter, following two years of modest growth.

    Tourism has long been a mainstay of the emirate, which welcomed more than 16 million visitors last year. Before the pandemic crippled global travel, the aim was to reach 20 million this year.

    Dubai is now largely open for business and tourism, but infection rates have been rising in recent weeks.

  • Pakistan to get its own version of Netflix

    Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has announced that his ministry is all set to launch Pakistan’s first OTT (over-the-top) platform. An OTT media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributor of such content.

    In a tweet, the Minister said: “We at the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) are all set to launch Pakistan’s Version of Netflix,” adding that the technology part of the initiative is complete.

    Chaudhry further said that he has directed PEMRA to “prepare a guideline on content” following which the platform will be launched in PPP (public private partnership) mode.

    Speaking exclusively to The Current, Fawad said that his ministry will provide content creators with the technical support – such as compression technology – they need.

    As far as the content on the platform is concerned, the Minister said that PEMRA has been directed to classify content keeping in mind international standards.

    “Our aim is to put Pakistani content on the map and PEMRA has been asked to prepare guidelines keeping in mind the international market,” said Fawad, adding that with internet freedom, censorship is unlikely.

    He also said that content on the platform will be different from what we usually see on television.

    When asked what the payment process will be like given that the majority of Pakistani don’t have credit cards, Fawad said that the payment process will be simple and viewers will be able to pay through their mobile phones.

    A new streaming platform will open new doors for Pakistani filmmakers and content creators giving them creative space and liberty. According to a recent report, Netflix has over 180 million subscribers worldwide, but only 100,000 in Pakistan as most Pakistanis do not have credits cards to pay for the service. This is one of the primary reasons why Netflix has not attempted to commission original Pakistani content, besides “weak storytelling, flawed screenplays and scripts that don’t meet international standards”.

    India, on the other hand, has about 40 providers of OTT media services including Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus.

    Pakistan forayed into the digital world just recently with Churails, that was released on Indian streaming platform Zee5.

    Senior PTI leader Senator Faisal Javed Khan, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Information Broadcasting and Heritage, lauded Fawad for his initiative.

    Read more – Hamza Ali Abbasi cancels Netflix subscription over movie sexualising young girls

    Meanwhile, noted actors including Shaan Shahid, Humayun Saeed and Asad Siddiqui thanked the Minister for taking the initiative and introducing such platforms in Pakistan.

    “It’s time we make our presence in the entertainment arena of the world,” said Shaan, while Humayun said this will “open doors of opportunities for many many talented people and eventually help Pakistan reach a truly global audience.”

    However, Osman Khalid Butt remarked that PEMRA should not be allowed to prepare a content guideline for the platform.