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  • Clean chit for Cynthia Ritchie as Interior Ministry says American blogger won’t be deported

    Clean chit for Cynthia Ritchie as Interior Ministry says American blogger won’t be deported

    Islamabad-based American Blogger Cynthia Ritchie’s stay in Pakistan has been cleared by the government as the Interior Ministry has said that she won’t be deported.

    “Cynthia Ritchie can stay in the country till August 31,” the Interior Ministry said in an order, a written copy of which was submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) during the hearing of the blogger’s case on Friday.

    “I’m surprised that the petitioner is not present in the court today,” Ritchie said while speaking to the media outside the court. “In America, it’s compulsory for both the petitioner and defendant to be present in court for every hearing.”

    The blogger said that she was happy that the ministry had passed a decision in her favour, which comes a month after an additional district and sessions judge on June 15 directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to file a case against her for passing defamatory remarks about the late former prime minister (PM) Benazir Bhutto on social media.

    Ritchie had approached the IHC, challenging the ruling, while naming the justice of peace — lower court judge –, the FIA and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) as respondents in the case.

    READ: Cynthia Ritchie denies working for intelligence; adds to allegations, drags PML-N through the mud

    Former Punjab governor and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Latif Khosa has, however, said that he was not satisfied with the decision and will be challenging it. “This is an attempt to mislead the court by the secretary of the Interior Ministry,” he remarked.

    The interior ministry’s report has tried to dismiss PPP’s plea as it says that Ritchie has a visa and she’s not involved in any criminal activities, Khosa said. “We will prove the reality behind Ritchie and make sure that she’s deported.”

    He added that his party had lost faith in the federal government which was why they had approached the court.

    The tussle between the blogger and the PPP continues ever since Ritchie had made derogatory remarks against the former and current leadership of the PPP. She had later also accused PPP stalwart and former interior minister Rehman Malik of raping her, and former PM Yousaf Raza Gilani of manhandling her in 2011.

    The accusations have been denied by the PPP leaders.

  • Netflix reveals its biggest hits for the first time

    Netflix reveals its biggest hits for the first time

    Despite having close to 183 million subscribers, Netflix never revealed how many people are watching their original series and movies. However, the streaming giant recently decided to release a list of its 10 most-watched original movies.

    Chris Hemsworth and Randeep Hooda’s action thriller Extraction topped the list with 99 million views. It received the biggest audience of any Netflix original movie in its first four weeks. The film shows Hemsworth play a mercenary who must rescue an Indian drug lord’s kidnapped son.

    Read more – ‘Extraction’ & ‘Love Aaj Kal’ are trending on Netflix Pakistan but not worth the watch

    It is followed by the horror, sci-fi thriller Bird Box (89 million) about a mother and her two children who make a desperate attempt to reach safety after a threatening unseen presence makes most of society commit suicide.

    Spenser Confidential, an action-comedy is number three on the list with 85 million views. The film which has a rating of 6.2 on IMDb, is about a former cop Spenser who teams up with his roommate to take down the murderers of two Boston police officers.

    6 Underground is number four followed by Jennifer Anniston and Adam Sandler’s Murder Mystery at number five. Murder Mystery is about a New York cop and his wife who go on a vacation to revive the spark in their marriage, but end up getting framed for the death of an elderly billionaire.

    It is interesting to note that the top four most-watched films are action or thrillers with top movie stars including Hemsworth, Bullock, Mark Wahlberg, and Ryan Reynolds. The list also includes three comedies.

    Read More – Netflix censors images of meat for Indian audiences

    Martin Scorsese’s lavish crime epicThe Irishman starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, was the sixth most-watched film, attracting 64 million views.

    All 10 of the movies were released in the last three years, most of them in the past 12 months. 

    Meanwhile, as coronavirus continues to paralyse the world, Netflix, in a letter to shareholders, said that while its slate of original shows for this year is on track, it is focused on safely getting production back up and running.

    “As the world slowly re-opens, our main business priority is to restart our productions safely and in a manner consistent with local health and safety standards to ensure that our members can enjoy a diverse range of high-quality new content,” executives said in the letter.

    “There is no one-size-fits-all approach, and we’re adapting to local circumstances. Today, we’re slowly resuming productions in many parts of the world.”

    Netflix is facing increased competition from tech giants such as Apple and Amazon, along with entertainment titans including Disney, NBCUniversal, and WarnerMedia.

  • Mobile phone imports nearly double in last 12 months

    Mobile phone imports nearly double in last 12 months

    Mobile phone imports have increased by 81.32 per cent as compared to the last fiscal year (July-June) 2019-20.

    The imports reached $1.369 billion compared to $755.548 million during the same period last year, according to the latest report released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

    Telecom experts are linking the phenomenal increase in import to the implementation of Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS).

    Mobile phone imports increased 300 per cent in June 2020 as compared to $57.736 million imports of June 2019.

    Overall telecom imports saw an increase of 34 per cent during July-June (2019-20) if compared to the same period of last year.

    Total imports were recorded at $1.86 billion when compared to $1.37 billion in July-June (2018-19), while registering 71.62 per cent growth in June 2020.

    The figures stood at $272.576 million in June 2020 as compared to $158.93 million during May 2020.

    Other telecom apparatus imports witnessed a decline of over 21.36 per cent in July-June (2019-20) as they stood at $490.754 million against $624.017 million during the same period last year.

    When compared to May 2020, other telecom apparatus imports registered a 13.41 per cent decline in June as they were $41.453 million as compared to $47.871 million in May 2020.

  • Punjab govt launches app for online purchase of sacrificial animals

    Punjab govt launches app for online purchase of sacrificial animals

    The Punjab government has launched an application ‘Bakra Mandi Online’ for the online purchase of the sacrificial animals for Eid-ul-Azha amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The application can be used to buy sacrificial animals without visiting the cattle markets that are set by the government in the province under strict COVID-19 SOPs.

    The application has all the details (age, weight, and race) and images of the animals.

    Read More – Eid ul Adha: Cattle markets to operate from 6 am to 7 pm

    The Punjab government on July 04 issued the standard operating procedures for the establishment of cattle markets for Eid ul Azha.

    According to the notification issued by Punjab health ministry, cattle markets should be established 2-5 kilometers outside the city area. The markets should have large parking lots with separate entry and exit points, the notification read.

    The elderly and children will not be allowed to visit the markets.

    “People experiencing symptoms like fever, the cough should avoid visiting cattle markets,” the notification added.

  • Mohammad Amir blessed with another daughter

    Mohammad Amir blessed with another daughter

    Mohammad Amir and his wife Narjis Amir have been blessed with a baby girl. This is the couple’s second child together – they have another daughter named Minsa.

    The fast bowler took to social media to make the announcement and share that their newborn has been named Zoya Amir. Amir is the fifth cricketer to have welcomed a newborn after Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Yasir Shah this year.

    Amir had earlier shared that his wife was expecting which is why he backed out of the England tour. In a Twitter update, Amir had said that due to the timing of the tour and the restrictions in place in the United Kingdom for those coming from abroad, left him with no choice but to back out of the tour.

    He had said that he cannot leave his wife, “who is at a high-risk pregnancy alone here [in Pakistan]”.

    Following the announcement, many of Amir’s colleagues sent in their best wishes for the new born.

  • American Federal Aviation Administration downgrades Pakistan to category 2

    American Federal Aviation Administration downgrades Pakistan to category 2

    America’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has downgraded Pakistan’s safety rating to category 2, which foreign media reports say is a serious but not unexpected blow to a country with a scandal-plagued aviation sector.

    As per the details, the FAA’s decision that follows a fatal Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) crash in Karachi in May and more recently, the aviation minister claiming up to one-third of Pakistan’s commercial pilots hold “dubious” licenses, means that no Pakistani airlines can establish new services to the United States (US) or codeshare with US airlines.

    While the decision has effectively locked PIA out of the US, the ruling only impacts new services to the country. The national carrier does not fly across the Atlantic to the US and as far as can be ascertained, no US airline operates codeshare or interline agreements with PIA either.

    Longstanding security issues have thwarted PIA’s ambitions to access the US. While PIA had tentatively planned a service to begin between Islamabad and New York earlier this year, the downturn in travel derailed that. Now, safety issues are joining the list of concerns.

    It merits a mention that the decision on Thursday came despite Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan and the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) a day earlier having to face embarrassment at the hands of Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) that said all commercial pilot licences (CPL) and airline transport licences (ATPL) issued by the authority were genuine and validly issued.

    Earlier, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) had suspended PIA operations as well, while several Pakistani pilots working with foreign airlines had also been grounded.

  • Only 10% of IT graduates in Pakistan are employable: Gallup

    Only 10% of IT graduates in Pakistan are employable: Gallup

    According to a recent study conducted by Gallup, which is the country’s leading social research lab, software houses hire only 10 per cent of the graduates from lower-tier universities. The software houses with low-end IT services employ only 50 per cent of such graduates.

    Research shows that Pakistan’s top universities generate 25,000 IT graduates, but only 5,000 get employed at top local IT companies. The other graduates simply do not meet the selection criteria as a result of their outdated education and lack of relevant skills.

    Furthermore, there is a skill gap between graduates of high-tier and low-tier universities. The gap is widening due to the lack of nationwide IT skills training. The lack of fluency in communication has also been identified as a problem due to the lack of qualified teachers and modern curriculum.

    “There is a need for Pakistan to focus on human capital related to technological innovations” states the research. The best way to boost employability, according to Gallup, is to impart skills upon graduates that are required by the IT industry and digital economy.

    The IT Ministry is aware of it and thus been working on setting up an authority to boost the quality of IT curriculums. The hope is that across Pakistan, IT education can be brought up to global standards.

  • Did you know Katrina Kaif did her own makeup for ‘Sheila ki Jawani’, ‘Chikni Chameli’?

    Did you know Katrina Kaif did her own makeup for ‘Sheila ki Jawani’, ‘Chikni Chameli’?

    Katrina Kaif is a household name in Bollywood and is admired by millions of fans across the world. In fact, the actor recently just hit 40 million followers on Instagram.

    Read more – Workout at home with Katrina Kaif’s routine

    In a recent interview with BBC Asian Network, Katrina revealed that she did her own makeup for a lot of her films and superhit songs including Sheila ki Jawani and Chikni Chameli because it was easier and faster.

    “Even Jab Tak Hai Jaan was all my own makeup. Ek Tha Tiger is all my own makeup,” added the actor.

    Sheila ki Jawani

    Sharing the story behind this, Katrina said: “So I had a makeup artist, his name was Subhash dada. What happened is that I realised I had a knack for it and I picked it up pretty quickly. It started with me saying ‘Let me do the liner’, then it was like ‘Let me do the blush’ and before you know it, I did everything. So it was just the thing that I was so much faster. Because I just saw and I picked it up, whatever tips that I would need to know. I would observe different makeup artists and pick up what I liked.”

    “I know it’s unusual but that’s the way it is,” said the actor. “This is why I am so passionate about Kay Beauty (Katrina’s cosmetic brand). Because I know makeup. It has been what, 15 years since I have been doing my own makeup.”

    Katrina added that Daniel Bauer now does her makeup.

    Chikni Chameli

    When asked about her signature style, Katrina said that she prefers a nude look, something that enhances her features and gives a more defined structure to her face.

    “Easy makeup and big eyes” is what Katrina’s look is all about.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CCnvYaygNGH/
  • Armeena Khan says the scripts and projects coming her way ‘killed her passion’ for acting

    Armeena Khan says the scripts and projects coming her way ‘killed her passion’ for acting

    Armeena Khan has often been in the headlines but it has been a while since we saw her on the screen. Her last drama outing was Daldal, which aired in 2017.

    Recently, one of her fans asked her why she hasn’t done any project lately.

    In response to that, Khan gave a detailed reply in which explained her reasons.

    “This is an interesting question, so I will try to give a detailed answer. People work for two reasons: Because they need financial stability (thankfully, that wasn’t the case for me) or because they have a passion or an incentive.”

    She further said that in the past she worked in the industry because she was passionate about the work she did. But now, she has no passion to work because of the scripts coming her way.

    “I used to get angry at the kind of projects that were coming my way. Why would you work for something that is killing your passion?”

    Khan believes that it’s not the actors’ or audience’s fault. It is the system that has some flaws. However, she plans to come to Pakistan whenever she is offered a decent project.

    Meanwhile, Armeena while responding to a follower on Twitter said that she would love to play a “strong, self-determined female character”.

    https://twitter.com/ArmeenaRK/status/1283050805172502528?s=20

    She also revealed that she has signed her next project.

    https://twitter.com/ArmeenaRK/status/1283045008501886978?s=20
    https://twitter.com/ArmeenaRK/status/1283043141675778055?s=20
  • Sarah Khan’s engagement: Usman Mukhtar has the cheekiest reply for all the memes

    Sarah Khan’s engagement: Usman Mukhtar has the cheekiest reply for all the memes

    Sarah Khan gave her fans a shock when she announced her engagement to singer Falak Shabir Wednesday evening. A few hours later, fans were in for another surprise after videos from their mehndi began to circulate on social media.

    While fans were super excited for the new couple, they couldn’t help but poke fun at Usman Mukhtar with whom Sarah is sharing the screen in Sabaat. Usman plays Dr Harris Ahmed in the serial who is Miraal’s (Sarah’s character) love interest. Fans joked that whoever Usman shares the screen with ends up getting married.

    Earlier, Usman had played Altamash, Naimal Khawar’s character Izza’s love interest in the drama serial Anaa. And while the drama was still on-air, Khawar got married to Hamza Ali Abbasi.

    https://twitter.com/mujhgan99/status/1283697451531206658?s=20

    Following all the jokes and memes, Usman said in his next drama he will come solo so that he also gets married.

    https://twitter.com/MukhtarHoonMein/status/1283668810306850816?s=20

    Sarah and Falak are expected to tie the knot today (Thursday).