Russia has expressed interest in getting their COVID-19 vaccine ‘Sputnik-V’ registered in Pakistan, claiming that it is the first-ever anti-corona vaccine. Sputnik-V was developed last year in August and will be available for public use in the coming few months.
As per reports, Russia wrote a letter to Pakistan asking for details of the process of vaccine registration as well as the demand in the country for the batch of dozes.
In the letter addressed to Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr Faisal Sultan, the Russian Direct Investment Fund’s (RDIF) Head, Kirill Dmitriev has said that the Sputnik-V had an emergency use certificate and it was 91.4% effective.
The vaccine made by Russia would be available for the public in February 2021.
The letter has also claimed that the vaccine would be cheaper compared to other vaccines. Its single doze would cost less than $10 (Rs 1605) and it can be stored at -2 to 8 degree centigrade temperature.
Russia’s vaccine was registered in August 2020 and the country offered to sell it to Pakistan in November. Meanwhile, the country has initiated the limited use of their vaccine from last November.
Pakistan is currently experiencing the second wave of the virus. In the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) reported 59 deaths and 1,903 new cases in Pakistan.
As per the data shared by the NCOC, the confirmed cases reported are 2,118 whereas 4,033 people recovered from the contagion during the last 24 hours.
The US Congress has passed a bill named after Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai that allows more Pakistani women to avail scholarships under a merit and needs-based programme.
According to the Congress website, the Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act was passed by the House of Representatives in March last year and the US Senate adopted it by a voice vote last Friday.
It has now been forwarded to US President Donald Trump to sign it into law.
The bill requires the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to give at least 50% of scholarships to Pakistani women under Pakistan-based higher education scholarship programme, from 2020 to 2022, across a range of academic disciplines and under current eligibility criteria.
Sharing the news on social media, Malala thanked the Congress for passing the legislation, saying that she is “very excited to see where they lead us”.
Thank you to @RepJeffries and the U.S. Congress for passing this legislation, mandating that at least 50% of @USAID's higher education scholarships in Pakistan will go to young women. I'm excited to see where they lead us. https://t.co/ub7OzOXT4Q
Malala, who was shot in the head by the Taliban as she was returning home from school in Swat Valley, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her efforts for children’s rights in 2014.
She is now internationally known for human rights advocacy, especially the education of women and children.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flew its plane from Islamabad to Manchester with only one passenger on board. According to reports, the plane which had a capacity of 371 passengers carried only one passenger to the destination.
While Geo News has reported that the flight took off from Islamabad, journalist Murtaza Ali Shah said that the plane flew from Manchester to Islamabad.
In the video posted by Shah, a PIA’s staffer, while pointing towards other empty 370 passenger seat, remarks that the passenger on board is the “lucky” one. The only passenger on the flight was a native of Gujrat.
Meanwhile prominent aviation journalist Tahir Imran Mian said PIA’s flight was not the only one that flew empty.
Most of the flights these days are dead. On 22nd December only 2 passengers travelled on Virgin Atlantic flight from Manchester VS362. I wonder why they don’t cancel it. https://t.co/yjnWfdyKzc
Amid the second wave of coronavirus, the government has decided to open educational institutions in phases from January 18.
Inter provincial Education Ministers meeting held today. Health situation was carefully considered and it was decided that classes appearing for Board and Cambridge exam that is 9,10,11,12, O and A level, will reopen on Jan 18. Classes pre school to 8 will reopen on Jan 25. 1/2
2/2 All higher education institutions/ universities will reopen on Feb 1. However online classes will start for them on Jan 11. Similarly all schools will reopen in January 11 for Administrators and teachers to prepare for arrival of students.
Soon after the news was announced, memes started doing rounds on social media adding to the popularity of Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood.
Mahmood’s memes also went viral earlier after he announced that educational institutions would be closed till January 11 due to rising COVID-19 cases. In an exclusive interview with The Current, the minister talked about the memes and which ones were his favourite.
Karachi has been listed among the world’s most polluted cities ranking sixth on the global Air Quality Index on Monday.
As per details, the number of polluted particles in the air in the provincial capital was recorded at 186 particulate matter.
The capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek was on the top of the list while India’s Kolkata ranked second among the world’s most polluted cities.
According to the classification, pollution from 151 to 200 degrees is harmful to health, pollution from 201 to 300 degrees is extremely harmful to health, while more than 301 degrees indicates hazardous pollution.
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mahmood Khan has approved Rs 23.56 million to purchase the ancestral houses of two Bollywood legends Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor in Peshawar.
As per reports, the value of Raj Kapoor house is Rs 15 million, while Kumar’s home is worth Rs 8.56 million. Both houses will be converted into museums after restoration work.
The owner of the Kapoor Haveli Hajji Ali Qadir had earlier demanded at least two billion rupees for the mansion in Qissa Khawani Bazaar from the government. The province’s archaeology department at the time had said that it will use legal powers to purchase the Kapoor Haveli as well as Dilip Kumar’s house if needed.
The department had earlier declared the two houses as national heritage sites that were recognised internationally.
Earlier, Kumar himself took to social media to express his excitement over the government’s decision. The legendary actor asked his fans living in Peshawar to share photos of his ancestral house on Twitter.
A doctor of Pakistani origin in the United States of America Dr Omar Atiq waived of $650,000 in debt for nearly 200 of his patients with cancer. Dr Atiq, an oncologist who founded a cancer treatment centre in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, sent out a holiday greeting to patients before Christmas, announcing that their outstanding payments would be cleared.
“I hope this note finds you well. The Arkansas Cancer Clinic was proud to serve you as a patient. Although various health insurers pay most of the bills for [the] majority of patients, even the deductibles and co-pays can be burdensome,” the card read.
“The clinic has decided to forego all balances owed to the clinic by its patients. Happy Holidays.”
Working on a sweet story tonight.
Around 200 cancer patients in Pine Bluff got this holiday card a few days ago— Dr. Omar Atiq who founded the Arkansas Cancer Clinic is forgiving all outstanding debts owed by patients.
As per details, Dr Atiq’s clinic provided cancer treatments including chemotherapy, radiation therapy and diagnostics. It was closed in late February due to staff shortage.
The outstanding amount was nearly $650,000 (Rs 104,645,320). However, the clinic worked with a billing company to cancel the debt.
“We thought there was not a better time to do this than during a pandemic that has decimated homes, people’s lives and businesses and all sorts of stuff,” said Dr Atiq. “We just thought we could do it, and we wanted to, so we went ahead and did it.”
“Being sick is hard, having cancer is harder, and having cancer in this pandemic is devastating. I am just a regular physician—a regular person that they have in the neighbourhood—just so happens to be me standing here. The ones struggling couldn’t pay, so we thought we could just write off the debt.”
“It is really fate,” he said, referring to the decision to move. “We have been very grateful. This has been home for a long time. We are grateful for the opportunity for what has happened to our lives here.”
Atiq said he was happy to give his patients a bit of relief.
“I love them, I care for them and I am glad I was able to do a little bit at this point for them,” he added.
The Arkansas Medical Society President said his clinic, in part, amassed the outstanding debt because “we have never refused to see a patient.”
“Not for lack of health insurance or funds nor for any other reason,” he said. “I’ve always considered it a high honor and privilege to be someone’s physician—more important than anything else.”
Emma Alam from Pakistan has won the 29th World Memory Championship which saw 300 contestants participate from across the globe.
The three-day competition included competitors from China, Canada, UK, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Algeria, the United States, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Libya, Qatar, and Iraq.
Alam and Syeda Kisa Zehra from the Pakistani team also broke multiple World Records in this year’s championship.
World Memory Championships was founded in 1991 by an English author Tony Buzan and English journalist and author Raymond Keene to shine a global spotlight on the power of human memory.
The late Tony Buzan was among world’s top five speakers, as per Forbes Magazine. He was the one who promoted the idea of mental literacy. Raymond Keene is Grandmaster of Chess and an appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire by her majesty Queen Elizabeth.
The participants with the best, fastest and sharpest memory skills competed to show their intellectual power and set new heights of the potential of human memory.
Global President of The World Memory Sports Council Raymond Keene, in an official statement, said: “The field consisted of an impressive 300 competitors from 16 countries and from this extensive field the winner, the world champion from the 29th World Memory Championship, emerged from the Pakistan team, so excellently and expertly trained by Sania Alam.”
He congratulated the winner and said that “one of the great sporting achievers for Pakistan, a unique heroine in the pandemic-stricken 2020 and supreme grand world memory champion for 2020.’’
Meanwhile, Alam said that she was excited to have won.
“I had aimed to give my best in WMC 2020, backed by a lot of daily practice for the past two years with my coach and the institute,” said the winner. “I plan on competing again next year with even better performance. I congratulate all those amazing competitors who competed from across the globe.”
Alam has also competed in many memory championships before including the 3rd Asia Pacific Memory Championship in Malaysia and the 28th World Memory Championship in China and has won several medals and trophies. She is currently completing her studies through homeschooling.
Another member of Team Pakistan, Abeerah Ather, achieved 7th position in the 2020 global rankings.
Emma Alam and Team Pakistan were skilled under the Institute of Human Memory Development International (IHMD).
The Lahore police on Thursday allegedly made a young boy and his sister do sit-ups in front of a police vehicle after they failed to provide their national identity cards to the police.
Speaking to ARY News, the girl said that she was coming back with her brother on a motorcycle from a factory where they both work when police officials stopped them at a check post near Ghalib Market police station and asked them to show their CNICs.
“The police officials forced us to perform sit-ups as we did not have the CNICs,” she said, adding that the policemen were recording a video while they were doing sit-ups.
Her brother said, “After inflicting corporal punishment to us in public, the police officials took us to the Ghalib Market police station where they subjected us to torture.”
The boy alleged that his sister was physically searched by the male police officer at the police station.
Meanwhile police officials have denied all allegations saying that the video shared on social media is fake and is aimed to “malign” the police.
Further reportsreveal that the Ghalib Market police station house officer (SHO) has said that “someone conspired to defame the police [in response to] an operation against the hotel mafia”.
“No official from Ghalib Market police station was involved” in the incident, the SHO said, claiming that the “footage of the boy and girl was made on purpose near the police van”.
The cop added that an investigation is underway and authorities would soon “reveal the facts”.
2020 has been a very strange year for sporting events around the globe due to the coronavirus pandemic. Stadiums, courts and all other sporting activities were suspended as people practised social distancing and stayed away from each other. The Olympics, scheduled to be held in Japan were also cancelled along with a plethora of other events and those which did take place happened behind closed doors in biosecure bubbles. Nonetheless, some major sporting events and incidents took place in Pakistan and here is a round-up of those.
2020 Kabbadi World Cup – February 2020
The 2020 Kabaddi World Cup was the seventh edition of the Kabaddi World Cup (Circle style), held from February 9 to February 16, 2020, with the Opening Ceremony on February 9, 2020, at the Punjab Stadium, Lahore.
This was the first time the Kabaddi World Cup was held in Pakistan. All of the previous six circle-style kabaddi world cups have been hosted by India with the most recent event taking place in 2016. The tournament was eight-day long with matches in Lahore, Faisalabad, Kartarpur and Nankana Sahib.
Other than India, teams from Iran, Canada, Australia, United States, Sierra Leone and Kenya also participated in the event.
Pakistan emerged victorious from a close contest against India in the final of the Kabaddi World Cup in Lahore’s Punjab Stadium. The hosts won 43-41 to become Kabaddi world champions for the first time.
2020 Pakistan Super League – February 2020
The fifth edition of the Pakistan Super League started on February 20, 2020. This was the first time the league was held entirely in Pakistan. A total 34 matches were played in four venues: Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Multan.
Days before the season was to conclude, the league was postponed over coronavirus fears.
The playoffs and the final later took place in Karachi in November 2020 with Karachi Kings taking home the trophy for the first time. It was also the first time Lahore Qalandars made it to the final.
Sami Aslam quits Pakistan cricket – December 2020
On December 3, Pakistani test cricketer Sami Aslam announced that he is quitting Pakistan cricket and joining hands with USA Cricket. According to reports, Aslam struck a deal with USA Cricket that will see him spend two years and 10 months playing league cricket in the States and eventually represent the US.
The Lahore-born cricketer was disgruntled after not being selected in the 35-member squad for the New Zealand tour despite his string of solid domestic performances in the previous campaigns.
Mohammad Amir announces retirement – December 2020
Perhaps the most shocking news from the year. Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir announced his retirement from international cricket on December 17 while he was in Sri Lanka, playing the Lanka Premier League (LPL).
Speaking to journalist Shoaib Jatt, Amir said that he cannot continue playing for the country under the current management. Amir said that he will continue to play franchise cricket but has made up his mind not to carry on playing for Pakistan, adding that he has been “mentally tortured”.
Amir had retired from Test cricket last year citing workload issues.
Aaron Summers to play Pakistan domestic cricket
Fast bowler Aaron Summers is set to make history by becoming the first Australian to take part in domestic cricket in Pakistan. The 24-year old will play for Southern Punjab in the 2021 One-Day Cup, which is scheduled to begin on January 8 and will run until the end of the month.
The deal is understood to be in its final stages, with official confirmation from the PCB imminent. While Australia’s borders are currently closed to both departures and arrivals due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Summers has received a travel exemption from the Australian government, clearing the path for him to come to Pakistan.
Summers reached Pakistan on December 28 and is currently in Lahore and has joined the Southern Punjab squad.
