ISLAMABAD, July 22(ABC): Pakistan recorded a slight increase in fresh COVID-19 cases as the virus claimed seven more lives during the last 24 hours, the National Institute of Health, Islamabad’s (NIH) data showed Friday morning. According to the NIH data, during the last 24 hours, 23,035 diagnostic tests were conducted, out of which 679 came back positive. However, as per …

LAHORE, July 21(ABC): Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan Thursday claimed that the government employed all efforts to defeat his party in Punjab by-polls. Addressing his party workers in a televised speech, Khan expressed his anger with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) even after winning the by-election. He said that those who conducted the Punjab by-election should …

RAWALPINDI, July 21(ABC): The Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan Mehmet Pacaci met the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi on Thursday. According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), matters of regional security situation, mutual and professional interest with special emphasis on defence and security collaboration between …

ISLAMABAD, July 21(ABC): Japan has removed Pakistan from the category of red-listed countries in relation to COVID-19. “As a result of the efforts of the embassy of Pakistan, Tokyo, the government of Japan has removed Pakistan from the category of red-listed countries in relation to COVID-19,” a statement of the Pakistan embassy in Tokyo said. The new categorization will come …

LAHORE, July 21(ABC): Awami Muslim League (AML) chief and former Interior Minister Shiekh Rashid on Thursday said Asif Ali Zardari tried to pit the Chaudhry brothers against each other but Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi will be the Punjab Chief Minister despite his failed attempts. Sheikh Rashid in a press conference today said that the blind incumbent rulers are talking about initiating …

WEB DESK, July 21(ABC): A US-based startup working with engineers from the University of Toronto and the University of Sheffield named CO2Rail Company is aiming to develop a train that removes carbon dioxide from the air as it moves ahead, reported.  Train travel is nowhere close to being carbon neutral, emitting 14 grams of CO2 per mile. The team is …

ISLAMABAD, July 21(ABC): Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said Thursday that 50 PTI members of Punjab Assembly (MPAs) can vote for PML-N’s chief minister candidate Hamza Shahbaz on July 22 (tomorrow) — claiming that they might violate their party’s policy. “Not five, but 50 PTI MPAs can either use their right to vote [for Hamza] or they might refrain from casting …

BANNU, July 21(ABC): JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman Wednesday raised questions over the delay in the announcement of the verdict in the PTI’s prohibited funding case — which was reserved by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on June 21. It should be noted that on June 15, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja directed not to refer to the PTI’s case …

ISLAMABAD, July 21(ABC): Finance Minister Miftah Ismail announced on Thursday that the government will nominate a new governor of the State Bank of Pakistan — a post that has remained vacant for more than two months — in the next week. Addressing a press conference along with Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, the finance czar of the country said that the …

WEB DESK, July 21(ABC): Several lawmakers from the PTI might express their resentment on Friday by not voting for the party candidate, Parvez Elahi, in the election for chief minister Punjab, says the province’s former finance minister. “In private conversations, we are seeing a lot of dissent within the PTI ranks,” Awais Leghari, an MPA from the ruling PML-N, who …

WEB DESK, July 21(ABC): Former director-general of Intelligence Bureau Aftab Sultan has been appointed National Accountability Bureau chairman, reported Thursday, citing sources. Sources privy to the matter said approval for Sultan’s appointment was given in today’s federal cabinet meeting. The allied parties had opposed the suggestion to appoint Sultan as the NAB chairman. However, the PML-N held consultations and finally …

MANILA, July 21(ABC): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) projected Pakistan’s economic growth to “recover slightly” in the fiscal year 2022-23, while slashing its 2022 growth forecast to develop Asia. “Growth is projected to recover slightly in FY2023, supported by structural reforms,” the institution said in a report, titled: “Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2022 Supplement: Recovery Faces Diverse Challenges”. For FY2022 …

LAHORE, July 21(ABC): After a heavy spell of rains have commenced in Pakistan, heavy rain was reported from different parts of the country including Lahore. Due to the rain, a woman lost her life in Lahore. The woman, who was a resident of Salamat Pura died after roof of her house fell on her. The house was very old and …

ISLAMABAD, July 21(ABC): Central Power Purchasing Agency (CCPA) has sought hike in power tariff by Rs9.90 under the monthly fuel adjustment mechanism for June. According to National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), it will conduct hearing on CCPA plea for power tariff hike on July 28. Meanwhile K-Electric has also sought Rs11.38 increase in power tariff under the monthly fuel …

KARACHI, July 21(ABC): Amid the political uncertainty in the country due to PTI’s landslide triumph in make-or-break Punjab by-elections, the Pakistani rupee nosedive continued and dropped to a record low. According to details, the greenback was being traded around Rs227 in interbank compared to previous close of Rs224.92 on Wednesday. A day earlier, the dollar also gained RS2.93 and appreciated …

BEIJING, July 21(ABC): China’s search engine giant Baidu Inc on Thursday unveiled its new autonomous vehicle (AV) with a detachable steering wheel, with plans to put it to use for its robotaxi service in China next year. Cost per unit will drop to 250,000 yuan ($37,031.55) for the new model, compared with 480,000 yuan for the previous generation, Baidu said …

SAN FRANCISCO, July 21(ABC): A million people eager to dabble with a new artificial intelligence tool that lets them create images simply by describing them with words will soon get their wish, its creators said Wednesday. Artificial intelligence research firm OpenAI is conducting a wide-scale beta test of DALL-E, a cutting-edge software that creates images from textual descriptions. Although the …

ISLAMABAD, July 21(ABC): As Pakistan awaits the final nod from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Executive Board, the global lender is looking to assess Saudi Arabia’s commitment to financing Pakistan before disbursing fresh funds, reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The publication stated that the Washington-based lender wants to ensure that Saudi Arabia will follow through with as much …

WEB DESK, July 21(ABC): An alarming situation has arisen as markets in the country are short on several essential medicines, including suicide prevention drugs, due to a hike in their production costs — creating fear of an increased suicide rate in the country, reported. “None of the brands selling lithium carbonate are available in the market for the last couple …

ISLAMABAD, July 21(ABC): The second phase of the local body elections in Sindh, scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 24, has been postponed and will now occur on August 18, a spokesperson for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) confirmed on Wednesday. Earlier, officials privy to the development had told on the condition of anonymity that the ECP, in a …

ISLAMABAD, July 21ABC): The active COVID-19 case count in Pakistan has exceeded the 10,000 mark again as 599 more people got infected with the virus during the last 24 hours, National Institute of Health, Islamabad (NIH) data showed Thursday morning. The last time the active case count grew past 10,000 was on July 16 when the number of cases stood …

WEB DESK, July 20(ABC): Netflix has teamed up with Microsoft to offer a cheaper subscription plan to customers that will show adverts. The streaming giant says the service will be an “addition” to its existing plans, which do not include adverts. The company has not yet revealed how much it plans to charge subscribers for the new service. Netflix announced …

WEB DESK, July 20(ABC): Many of the most challenging optimization problems encountered in various disciplines of science and engineering, from biology and drug discovery [1] to routing and scheduling [2] can be reduced to NP-complete problems. Intuitively speaking, NP-complete problems are “hard to solve” because the number of operations that must be performed in order to find the solution grows …

WEB DESK, July 20(ABC): Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Ivannikov Institute for System Programming, and the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Schepens Eye Research Institute have developed a neural network capable of recognizing retinal tissues during the process of their differentiation in a dish. Unlike humans, the algorithm achieves this without the need to modify cells, making the …

WEB DESK, July 20(ABC): Air conditioning and other space cooling methods account for about 10% of all electricity consumption in the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have developed a material that cools the wearer without using any electricity. The fabric transfers heat, allows moisture to evaporate from the …

WEB DESK, July 20(ABC): Rooftop radiative cooling system could provide lighting power when solar energy is unavailable. Researchers have designed an off-grid, low-cost modular energy source that can efficiently produce power at night. The system uses commercially available technology and could eventually help meet the need for nighttime lighting in urban areas or provide lighting in developing countries. Although solar …

KARACHI, July 20 (INP): Pakistan will receive the $1.17 billion tranche from International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the third week of August under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme, the officials of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Wednesday. In a statement, the SBP officials claimed that there was no obstacle in receiving the payment from the global …

ISLAMABAD, July 20(ABC): The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday said that the country’s situation is completely different from Sri Lanka and after the no-confidence motion against the former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the International Monetary Fund’s confidence in Pakistan has decreased but there is no option left other than IMF. In this regard, SBP official said the State …

RAWALPINDI, July 20(ABC): Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa inaugurated state of the art Tunneling Institute of Pakistan in Rawalpindi on Wednesday. According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the institute, an initiative of Frontier Works Organization, is aimed at promoting professional tunneling expertise including research and development and synergize tunneling resources. It …

ISLAMABAD, July 20(ABC): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has convened an emergency meeting regarding the economic situation of the country, reported Wednesday. The meeting will be attended by the economic team and other high-ranking government officials. It will discuss the reasons behind the recent appreciation of the dollar against the rupee and consider ways to curb the trend. The economic team …

WEB DESK, July 20(ABC): As the race for Punjab’s chief minister’s election heats up, PTI Chairman Imran Khan claimed on Wednesday that horse-trading was happening in Lahore with MPAs being offered Rs500 million to switch their loyalty. “Today, Lahore is seeing a repetition of the Sindh House horse-trading episode that happened in Islamabad, with up to Rs500 million being offered …

ISLAMABAD, July 20(ABC): As the Pakistani rupee continues to plunge against the US dollar, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail blamed political uncertainty for the massive plunge of local currency against the US greenback — which slumped to an all-time of 224.92 on Wednesday. In a phone interview, Miftah said: “In terms of the real economic fundamentals, we are fine but the …

KARACHI, July 20(ABC): After shattering all previous records, the Pakistani rupee on Wednesday further depreciated to Rs226 after losing 4.1 against the US dollar in the interbank market. The Pakistani rupee had hit an all time low on Tuesday as well of 224 against the dollar in the afternoon interbank trade, before closing at 221.99. It was the highest day-on-day …

LAHORE, July 20(ABC): PTI leader and former provincial minister Murad Raas claims that the party’s lawmakers are being offered between Rs30 million and Rs50 million each by PML-N to change their loyalties ahead of the vote recount for the Punjab chief minister post. In a tweet, Raas referred to the PML-N as “chors (thiefs)”. Referring to PML-N, he said these “shameless …

ISLAMABAD, July 20(ABC): PTI general secretary Asad Umar on Wednesday announced that an “Anti Victimisation and Accountability Committee” has been formed in Punjab to get all the cases — filed in connection with the party’s “Azadi March” on May 25 — withdrawn through a legal process. Taking to Twitter, Umar said that the committee “will collect the details of all …

GALLE, July 20(ABC): Abdullah Shafique hit an unbeaten 160 as Pakistan chased down a record target of 342 in Galle on Wednesday to beat Sri Lanka by four wickets in the first Test. The green shirts achieved the win in the final session of the fifth day’s play to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. The previous highest …

ISLAMABAD, July 20(ABC): It was another bad day for the country as seven more people died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, in addition to a steep rise in the number of positive cases reported by the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad Wednesday morning. According to the latest NIH stats, during the last 24 hours, 592 fresh COVID-19 …

KARACHI, July 20(ABC): Taking note of the sliding rupee, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday said that the local currency’s depreciation against the US Dollar was “in large part a global phenomenon”. In a series of tweets, the central bank said that the “recent movement in the rupee is a feature of a market-determined exchange rate system”. “Under …

ISLAMABAD, July 20(ABC) : Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said Tuesday it was the coalition government’s “priority” to save Pakistan from defaulting after the rupee hit an all-time low against the dollar and the stocks took a battering during the day’s trade. The Pakistani rupee hit a record low of 224 against the dollar in the afternoon interbank trade, before closing …

RAWALPINDI, July 20(ABC): A returning officer (RO) has rejected PTI candidate Shabbir Awan’s plea for a vote recount in Rawalpindi’s PP-7 after PML-N candidate Raja Sagheer emerged victorious by a thin margin of 49 votes in the Punjab by-polls held on July 17, reported. According to the unofficial and unverified result of PP-7, PML-N’s Ahmed won the seat with 68,906 votes, …