FARUKH SHEHZAD

ISLAMABAD, JUL 15: South Asian Games (SAG) 2016 hero Awais Ur Rehman who did decisive Goal for Pakistan to clinch the trophy by beating arch rival India on home ground, has been remerged to promote Hockey in Pakistan.

This Pakistani talented Striker has been taken as Brand ambassador by AAA Associates, A leading Group of Companies, to revive Hockey as national game of Pakistan to regain its lost sheen. 

This sponsorship will help him to overcome Financial constrain hindering his performance and to work toward restoring the importance of Hockey game in the country.

He appreciated the initiative taken by AAA associates for the sponsorship which will enable him to improve his skills and performance at every national and international tournament. He is also determined to take Pakistan to the highest level and rebuild the pride in Hockey.

This development will be very beneficial for the future of Pakistan’s Hockey as Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) gearing towards restoring ties with India to revive Hockey matches between two Historical rival countries.

PHF are expected to take up the issue on the sidelines of the 47th International Hockey Federation (FIH) Statutory Congress going to be held in New Delhi.

The meeting is aimed at electing FIH president and Executive Board members of the board for the next four years in office. More importantly, it provides an opportunity to the PHF officials to discuss the possibilities of regenerating hockey activities for the benefit of the both countries and hockey followers.

AAA Associates Managing Director Lt. Col Shahzad Ali Kiani (Retd) express his thoughts “ Awais Ur Rehman possess great potential to become rising star of Pakistan’s Hockey.

We want to elevate talent of Pakistan to its full potential to make our country proud. 

AAA associates will always support those talented youth that holds the key for revival of sport culture in Pakistan. Irrespective of any sports, we’ll continue to sponsors health-oriented activities across the country that play vital role in skimming out bright talent for our national and international sport events”.

AAA Chairman Mr. Shiekh Fawad Bashir enthusiast supporter of Hockey stated that the Pakistan, despite having poor infrastructure and lack of fundings , we still produce tons of talented players in every category of sports.

only there is a need to provide them right platform and support so they can demonstrate their unmatchable skills at national and international level.

AAA associates is fully committed to unearth young talent in sports to showcase the world real potential of Pakistan’s youth”.

AAA associates was a lead sponsor of Markhor Cricket Champion League which is the second most prestigious cricket tournament after PSL in the country.

The aim was to provide level-playing field to street talent to be noticed by selectors for national team and contribute in the success of the sport.

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OSLO, JUL 15: The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) is asking Norwegians to prepare for strong waves of influenza, pertussis, and RS virus infection. Young children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable.

“The National Institute of Public Health considers that, in the coming autumn and winter, there is a high probability that the incidence of respiratory infections other than COVID-19 will be much higher than in normal seasons.

“This applies in particular to influenza, RS virus infection, and pertussis. Young children and the elderly are most vulnerable,” the FHI writes in a new risk assessment.

Weakened immunity

The main reason is that the immunity of the population against these diseases has fallen during the pandemic period, as strict infection control measures have led to few cases.

That could lead to significantly more hospitalizations of young children (RS virus infection, pertussis, and influenza) and the elderly (influenza and pneumonia) than in normal winter seasons. There may also be more deaths. The primary health service will also have an increased burden, the FHI warns.

It is emphasized that FHI has “moderate confidence” in the risk assessment.

Increased preparedness recommended

On average, the FHI estimates that 900 people die from influenza in Norway during a normal season, but in some seasons, the number has been close to 1,500.

In the risk assessment, the FHI recommends increased surveillance of respiratory infections other than COVID-19, strengthened vaccination and infection control measures, and strengthened preparedness and vigilance in the health service.

Both influenza and RS virus normally cause outbreaks during the winter season, while pertussis is most often seen in late summer and autumn.

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COURTESY norwaytoday

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KARA, JUL 14: Former President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain on Wednesday passed away in Karachi, his son has confirmed.

According to Geo News,  Hussain was suffering from cancer and had been hospitalised for the last two weeks, his son Arsalan Mamnoon said.

Hussain was the 12th president of Pakistan, who served from 2013 to 2018 during the tenure of the PML-N. He was one of the most senior PML-N leaders.

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COURTESY THE NEWS

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ISLAMABAD, JUL 14: Payment technology company Mastercard and ride-hailing service Uber are collaborating to help as many people as possible receive a vaccination during this critical time by offering free rides to people in Pakistan who would like to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

Riders will be able to avail two free rides, to and from dedicated public vaccination centers in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad with a maximum cap of 250 PKR per ride. The rides will be offered until July 31, 2021 for people of all ages.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world, impacted economic activity and transformed the way we live. Fortunately, more countries are rolling out access to COVID-19 vaccines, and every vaccinated person is gradually contributing to herd immunity. This directly benefits the pursuit of other personal passions – like travel and events – becoming easier for everyone going forward.

Long-term strategic partners Mastercard and Uber are globally activated to help communities, support public authorities and cities as they work to fight the spread of the pandemic. Through its mission to “do well by doing good”, Mastercard hopes that the initiative will enable more people to access a safe travel solution to vaccine centers.

Last year, Mastercard partnered with Uber in its largest region-wide initiative to provide 120,000 free trips to frontline workers in Middle East & Africa during the height of the pandemic.

Earlier this year, the two companies extended their long-standing partnership with a new strategic initiative that enables Uber to drive digitization across their business operations, leveraging Mastercard’s single infrastructure to meet all types of payments needs across Uber Rides, Uber Eats, Uber Pass, and Uber for Business.

How to book this offer:

People in Pakistan who already have the app or can download the Uber app, will receive an in-app offer which they can apply on the ride they schedule.

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ISLAMABAD, JUL 14: MATSUDA Kuninori, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, on Wednesday expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives of Pakistanis and foreign nationals in the bus blast which occurred near the Dasu hydropower plant in Upper Kohistan on July 14th, leaving numbers of people dead and injured.

In his condolence message, the Ambassador conveyed his heartfelt grief and sympathies to the bereaved families and wished for a speedy recovery of the injured.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the KPK government and the families of those who have lost their dear ones in the tragic incident. Please accept our deepest condolences, and we wish for a quick recovery of the injured”, said the Ambassador.

The Ambassador prayed for the eternal peace of the departed souls and wished for the bereaving families to bear this irreparable loss with fortitude and equanimity.

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ABU DHABI, JUL 14 – The United Arab Emirates opened an embassy in Israel Wednesday, housed in Tel Aviv‘s new stock exchange building, in the latest normalisation move under a deal brokered by Washington last year.

The venue in the heart of Israel’s financial district highlighted the central role economic cooperation has played since the UAE became only the third majority-Arab country to recognise the Jewish state.

At the ceremony, attended by new Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Emirati ambassador Mohamed al-Khaja called the embassy opening “an important milestone in the growing relationship between our two countries”.

“The UAE and Israel are both innovative nations, we can harness this creativity to work towards a more prosperous and sustainable future for our countries and our region,” he said.

Herzog called for the “historic agreement” with the UAE to be “extended to other nations seeking peace with Israel.”

Israel and the UAE have signed a raft of deals — ranging from tourism to aviation to financial services — since normalising ties as part of the so-called Abraham Accords brokered by former US president Donald Trump’s administration.

Wednesday’s ceremony, held in the lobby of the stock exchange building two floors below the embassy, came after Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid made a landmark visit to the UAE last month, opening an embassy in Abu Dhabi and a consulate in Dubai.

The Palestinians were outraged by the UAE’s decision to establish ties with Israel, which broke with decades of Arab consensus that there should be no normalisation of ties without a comprehensive and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Following the UAE deal, Israel normalised relations with Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, accords that also sparked Palestinian protests.

But Israel and UAE have sought to emphasise the economic dividend offered by normalisation.

Lapid told Emirati media last month that bilateral trade has reached over $675.22 million since the signing of the Abraham Accords in September 2020.

Israel’s spate of normalisation deals were agreed under former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Lapid was an architect of the coalition that ousted Netanyahu last month, but has, along with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, vowed to keep up Netanyahu’s policy of pursuing deeper ties in the Arab world.

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COURTESY Anews

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RAJA FURQAN AHMED

ISLAMABAD, JUL 13: Pakistan’s former High Commissioner to India Ambassador Abdul Basit called for the appointment of a special envoy on Kashmir to project the true spirit of the Kashmir cause internationally. 

Ambassador Abdul Basit, who is also the author of Hostility: A Diplomat’s Diary on Pakistan-India Relations, was speaking at an event organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS). Ambassador Abdul Basit expressed his concern over the state of affairs in which India was portraying its willingness to negotiate with Pakistan as a concession to the latter.

He was firmly of the opinion that India was not interested in the resolution of the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan either under the UNSC resolutions or under any other formula that would change the status quo over Kashmir.

He had little hope about the restoration of the special status of IIOJK under the Indian Constitution as well. Ambassador Abdul Basit stated that Pakistan’s approach towards dialogue with India has historically been aimed at resolving contentious issues like Kashmir while the Indian approach has traditionally been to take up less contentious issues first.

He argued that the composite dialogue between 2004 and 2008 was an amalgamation of the two approaches in which both subjects were negotiated upon in tandem and a bit of progress was also made on some issues related to Kashmir, such as freedom of movement and trade across the LOC.

He added, however, that since then the relationship between the two countries has been one step forward and two steps backwards in which setbacks have tended to outpace progress.

He shared that 2016 was the worst year in the recent diplomatic history of India and Pakistan owing to incidents such as the capture of the Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav in Balochistan, the militant attack in Pathankot in India, the extrajudicial killing of Kashmiri freedom fighter Burhan Wani, and the militant attack in Uri and its aftermath.

He further shared that in the same year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi threatened to disrupt the flow of water in his speech on 15 August stating that water and blood could not flow together further worsening the trail of diplomatically unfavourable events.

Ambassador Abdul Basit maintained that India had successfully propagated a narrative about Pakistan’s democracy being weak and the armed freedom struggle of Kashmiris as terrorism.

He was of the view that Kashmiris had all the right to defend themselves against the Indian occupation with whatever means they chose because India is an occupier in Kashmir and international defended the right of the occupied populations to resist occupation.

He urged a long-term policy and patient diplomacy with India. He further called for strengthening the capacity of state institutions in Pakistan as integral foreign policy tools when dealing with India over Kashmir in the current times.

President IRS Ambassador Nadeem Riyaz remarked that foreign policy was a complicated subject requiring specialized knowledge and skill. He cautioned against a diplomatic approach devoid of expert input.

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Google Adsense announced that anchor ads, the AdSense ads that stick to the top or bottom of the page as you scroll, now are supported on wider screens. Google launched anchor ads on AdSense in 2013 and has expanded its features over the years.

Google said "Anchor ads now support a larger range of screen sizes. For sites that have anchors turned on, anchor ads will soon start to appear on wider screens such as desktop. Our experiments show that anchor ads perform well on wider screens."

Anchor ads will begin to show on wider screens after July 19, 2021.

Google said if you do not want anchor ads on your wider screens, you can turn this option off using the new "Wide screen" control in your Auto ads settings.

As a reminder; AdSense anchor ads stick to the edge of the user's screen and Google says they are easily dismissible. These ads mainly serve on mobile but can appear on desktop too. 

They appear at the top of the user's screen unless we determine that this would negatively affect the user experience, in which case we show them at the bottom. 

When shown at the top, anchor ads only appear after the user has scrolled down far enough, so that they never cover your site's branding or navigation.

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COURTESY seroundtable

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KARACHI, JUL 12: The automobile manufacturers have announced to reduce car prices in Pakistan after getting the relaxations in taxes by the federal government under a new auto policy.

After the federal government made a tax cut for the automotive industry, the carmakers made reduction in the prices of the different models of Toyota, Suzuki and KIA vehicles.

Toyota Yaris

Sources told ARY News that the new prices of cars were effective from July 1 across the country as Indus Motors reduced the prices of Toyota Yaris, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Fortuner and Hilux Revo.

After the deduction of Rs100,000 million, the new price of Toyota Yaris GLI MT 1.3 is fixed at Rs2,409,000 from Rs2,509,000. The company reduced the price of Toyota Yaris GLI CVT 1.3 from Rs2,689,000 to Rs2,589,000.

The price of Toyota Yaris ATIV MT 1.3 was also reduced to Rs2,519,000 from Rs2,619,000, whereas, Toyota Yaris ATIV CVT 1.3 to Rs2,669,000 after the deduction of Rs100,000.

The company has made a reduction of Rs110,000 in the sale prices of Toyota Yaris ATIV X MT 1.5 as the model will now be sold at Rs2,717,000 from Rs2,929,000, Toyota Yaris ATIV X CVT 1.5 at Rs2,899,000 instead of Rs2,999,000.

Toyota Corolla

The sale price of the Toyota Corolla was also reduced as the model will now be available at Rs3,249,000 after the reduction of Rs120,000 in its previous price, Rs3,369,000. The new price of Toyota Corolla Altis CVT-i 1.8 is fixed at Rs3,579,000 while its previous sale price was Rs3,699,000.

A reduction worth Rs110,000 was made in the prices of Toyota Corolla Altis Grande CVT-i (Beige Interior) and Toyota Corolla Altis Grande CVT-i (Black Interior) as their new prices will be Rs3,869,000 and Rs3,889,000 respectively.

Toyota Fortuner

The auto manufacturer has reduced Rs300,000 in the price of Toyota Fortuner 2.7 G and the new price will be Rs7,649,000 instead of Rs7,999,000, whereas, Toyota Fortuner 2.7 VVTi’s price was decreased up to Rs8,899,000 from Rs9,299,000 after the reduction of Rs400,000.

Toyota Fortuner Sigma 4 will be available at the price of Rs9,269,000 after a reduction of Rs380,000 in its previous worth of Rs9,649,000.

Toyota Hilux

A reduction of Rs120,000 was made on three models of Toyota Hilux and the new prices were fixed at Rs6,429,000 for Toyota Hilux Revo GMT, Rs6,899,000 for Toyota Hilux Revo G AT and Rs7,379,000 for Toyota Hilux Revo V AT.

Suzuki vehicles

Pak Suzuki Motors announced to reduce prices of Alto, WagonR, Swift and Bolan.

The prices of different models of Suzuki Alto were announced as Rs1,113,000 was set up for Suzuki Alto VX after the reduction of Rs85,000, Rs1,335,000 for Suzuki Alto VXR after the reduction of Rs98,000, Rs1,521,000 for Suzuki Alto VXL AGS after the reduction of Rs112,000.

The price of Suzuki Cultus VXR was fixed at Rs1,655,000 after the reduction of Rs125,000, Cultus VXL Rs1,833,000 after the reduction of Rs140,000 and Cultus VXL AGS Rs1,975,000 after the reduction of Rs155,000.

The Suzuki Wagon R VXR price will be Rs1,530,000 after the reduction of Rs110,000, Wagon R VXL Rs1,610,000 after the price cut worth Rs120,000 and Wagon R AGS Rs1,760,000 after the reduction of Rs130,000.

The prices of other vehicles will be Rs1,972,000 for Suzuki Swift DLX 1.3 and Swift AT (Rs2,148,000).

Suzuki Bolan VX (Rs1,049,000) after the reduction of Rs85,000.

Kia vehicles

The automobile manufacturer, Kia, announced a reduction in the prices of Picanto, Sportage and Sorento.

The new prices of its models will be Rs1,781,000 for Kia Picanto 1.0 MT, Picanto 1.0 A (Rs1,922,000), Sportage Alpha (Rs4,294,000), Sportage AWD (Rs5,270,000), whereas, the price of Sorento 2.4 FWD was also reduced up to Rs163,000.

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COURTESY ARYNEWS

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ISLAMABAD, JUL 12: TopCity-1 a smart housing society starts urban afforestation in Islamabad. In this regard, a ceremony was held in TopCity-1 where the federal minister for aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan inaugurated the afforestation project of the society. Before this, Lakeshore tower was also inaugurated by federal minister.

Speaking on the occasion Kunwar Moeez Ahmad Khan chief executive officer TopCity-1 said, TopCity-1 is a first-ever smart city of Pakistan that has all the amenities required for the individual needs and civic life to prosper.

At TopCity we believe, in this fast pacing world, we are neglecting nature which is fundamental to our existence. 

To cope with the challenge of climate change and to serve our mother nature we have started this ambitious project of urban afforestation which will change the landscape not only of TopCity-1 but also of the surrounding areas. 

And more importantly, this project is in line with the vision of the prime minister of Pakistan of planting ten billion trees in the coming few years. 

We have already planted one million trees and this time too plan to plant same numbers of trees which will change the entire ecosystem of the surrounding areas. 

The federal minister while addressing on the occasion said, this government especially, the prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan is most concerned about climate change and the damages it will cause to our country. 

Pakistan is already on the list of most vulnerable countries to climate change. I’m very glad that people in Pakistan have started to realize this issue and now acting to cope with this issue of climate change. 

I’m very thankful to the management of TopCity-1 for realizing this need and embarking on such an ambitious and great project. 

I hope other housing societies will also follow the vision of TopCity-1 and will strive for urban afforestation which is the need of the hour.

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Brasilia, JUL 11: Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 at Maracana Stadium in Brazil on Sunday to become the Copa America champion.

The first few minutes of the match Brazil came close to scoring.

It missed an important chance when Neymar failed to connect in the 13th minute.

Richarlison missed another in the 20th minute.

Argentina shocked Brazil as Angel Di Maria did not miss an opportunity to score with an excellent pass from Rodrigo De Paul and Argentina made it 1-0 in the 21st minute.

Di Maria missed a chance to make it 2-0 as Brazil's defense blocked his shot in the 29th minute.

The first half ended with Argentina in the lead.

Brazil was more aggressive in the second half.

Their first major attempt against Argentina's goal failed as Richarlison's finish did not count as the referee flagged the play for an offside in the 52nd minute.

He missed another chance to equalize two minutes later but could not beat Argentina goalie Emiliano Martínez.

Argentina expected a penalty as Messi fell in the penalty area but the referee dismissed it in the 63ed minute.

Nicolas Otamendi's hard tackle against Neymar started a tussle and resulted in two yellow cards to Otamendi and Marquinhos in the 81st minute.

Brazil's numerous attempts were fruitless and the 90 minutes ended 1-0.

Superstar Lionel Messi won his first major international trophy with Argentina with the victory.

He played for Argentina in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final in Maracana Stadium but lost to Germany.

Argentina became champions for the fifteenth time, sharing the record with Uruguay.

Their last Copa America championship was in 1993.

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COURTESY Anews

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