FARUKH SHEHZAD

Sanaa, JAN 18: An airstrike killed about 14 people in a building in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, residents said on Tuesday, during strikes across the city launched by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi group.

The alliance strikes on Houthi-held Sanaa followed an attack claimed by the Iran-aligned Houthis on Monday on coalition partner the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi, in which three people, including one Pakistani, were killed.

The coalition also said it intercepted eight drones launched toward Saudi Arabia on Monday.

Early on Tuesday, the coalition said it had begun air strikes against strongholds and camps in Sanaa belonging to the Houthi group, Saudi state media said.

The strikes appeared to be the deadliest since 2019 on Sanaa.

The strike that killed about 14 people, according to initial estimates, was on the home of a former military official.

It killed him, his wife, his 25-year-old son, other family members and some unidentified people, a medical source and residents told Reuters.

According to a report by Al Arabiya, the strike killed Houthi leader Major General Abdullah Qassem al-Junaid.

The strikes were launched “in response to threat and military necessity”, a spokesperson for the coalition said.

Coalition strikes around the city had killed a total of about 20 people, the deputy foreign minister for the Houthi administration, which holds much of northern Yemen, said on Twitter.

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said strikes had damaged houses, killed at least a dozen people and wounded about a dozen.

The UAE has armed and trained Yemeni forces that recently joined fighting against the Houthis in Yemen’s energy-producing regions of Shabwa and Marib.

Monday’s Houthi-claimed attack on two sites in the UAE set off explosions in fuel trucks, killed three people and ignited a blaze near Abu Dhabi airport.

In response, the UAE said it reserved the right to respond to “terrorist attacks and criminal escalation”.

Pakistan condemns terrorist attack

Pakistan has condemned the attack on UAE, saying that such attacks “violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the UAE and pose a grave threat to the regional peace and security”.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Foreign Office called for an immediate end to attacks. It also offered condolences to the families of the victims.

It emphasised that Pakistan stood in solidarity with the UAE in the “face of this wanton act of terrorism”.

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Courtesy Dawn News

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 18: Pakistan’s leading cellular services provider and the digital frontrunner, Zong 4G has yet again empowered its customers to meet their specific digital connectivity needs in today’s fast-paced world by introducing the industry’s most innovative Make Your Own Package.

Now Zong customers have the freedom and convenience to make their own customized Package as per their needs at the best possible rates either by dialing *3031# or by logging in to My Zong App.

Customers have option to select their desired validity (3, 7 & 30 days) along with resources which include Social Data GBs for Facebook, WhatsApp & YouTube, all-purpose Data GBs, Zong Minutes, Other Network Mins and SMS.

Upon selection of the desired incentives customer will be required to make payment through their balance only for the incentives they have selected.

“The MYOP is yet another testament to Zong’s customer-first approach where our focus is to facilitate our users in the most innovative and flexible ways.

Seamless digital connectivity is the first step towards digital inclusion and we hope that MYOP will help plug the existing digital penetration gaps in Pakistan.” Shared Zong 4G’s spokesperson

As a customer-centric company, Zong aims to uplift its customers’ experience to newer heights. 

Through its most advanced digital solutions, Pakistan’s leading telecommunication network is innovating to provide sought-after solutions, services, and offers to its customers and promises to continue doing so in the future.

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 17: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday said it will review data of positive Covid-19 cases in educational institutions before deciding on whether or not to keep them open as the fifth wave of the pandemic spreads at an alarming rate across the country.

During the last Covid wave, the NCOC had closed educational institutes in areas with a high incidence of Covid-19 from Sept 3 to 12. During that period, educational institutes were closed in 15 of Punjab’s districts, eight districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad.

Meanwhile, the Sindh government had previously closed schools on July 24 due to rising cases during the pandemic’s fourth wave and reopened them more than a month later on August 30.

Pakistan is currently in the grip of the pandemic’s fifth wave which is being driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant and leading to surges in cases and positivity rates.

In the last 24 hours, the country reported 4,340 new cases, up from 4,027 a day earlier, raising the tally to 1,328,487 and the national positivity rate to 8.7 per cent. Sindh and Punjab led the cases with 2,670, and 1,131 infections, respectively.

The NCOC today held a meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar and also attended by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan. Provincial Health and Education Ministers also joined the meeting virtually.

Following their meeting, the forum issued a statement, saying: “Decision about education institutions will be taken on data of positive cases of various institutions for which massive testing in education institutions is being carried out.”

It further said that a “massive testing” drive was being carried out in educational institutions to gather data.

Deliberating on the situation, the ministers, who participated in the meeting virtually, informed the forum about the steps being taken for implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) in wake of the spike in coronavirus cases

“Keeping in view [the] new disease prevalence, fresh set of NPIs was presented and discussed with provinces and [a] new set of NPIs will be implemented by provinces in the next 48 hours after consultative process with all stakeholders,” the NCOC said.

The NCOC, in a separate statement on Saturday, had urged provinces to review the situation and decide about placing restrictions on public gatherings, weddings, schools, restaurants and public transport.

On the same day, Sindh government decided that schools across the province will remain open even as the positivity rate in Karachi was far higher than in other parts of the country.

In November, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had sounded the alarm, saying that the arrival of the Omicron variant was inevitable and a matter of time.

Pakistan had subsequently placed a complete ban on Nov 27 on travel from six south African countries — South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia — and Hong Kong in the wake of the variant’s discovery.

This travel ban was later extended to nine more countries — Croatia, Hungary, Netherlands, Ukraine, Ireland, Slovenia, Vietnam, Poland and Zimbabwe.

Since then, Pakistan has seen a steep rise in infections with the number of active cases crossing 35,000 in the last 24 hours. The effect of the fifth wave is particularly intense in Karachi where the positivity rate jumped to 40 per cent on Sunday.

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Courtesy Dawn News

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• The OIC-CERT 5G Security Framework will be the key reference within OIC to build a coordinated effort to harness deep tech for digital transformation

ISLAMABAD, JAN 15: In a significant milestone, the OIC-CERT 5G Security Working Group (WG) has announced the completion of the core OIC-CERT 5G Security Framework in less than eight months after the initiative was launched.

The Framework, now in the hands of the OIC-CERT, consists of a 5G security risk repository, a 5G security baseline technical specification, and a cross-recognition assurance methodology.

The Organization of the Islamic Cooperation- Computer Emergency Response Team (OIC-CERT) is a platform for information sharing and developing cyber security capabilities for the members mainly among the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) community.

It is an Affiliate Institution of the OIC. The OIC-CERT 5G Security WG is jointly led by Cyber security Malaysia, the OIC-CERT permanent secretariat, and Huawei UAE, an OIC-CERT commercial member.

Eng. Badar Ali Al-Salehi, the Chairman of the OIC-CERT said, "It has been eluded on many platforms and occasions that the only way to solve the ever-increasing cyber security challenge is through collaboration.

The OIC-CERT 5G Security working group affirms this viewpoint and we are seeing remarkable progress in addressing some of the security concerns around 5G in general." Meanwhile, Ts Dato Dr Amiruddin Abdul Wahab, CEO of Cyber Security Malaysia, is in the opinion that, “5G is another disruptive technology that all parties have no choice but to embrace it.

The OIC-CERT has overcome a major hurdle by defining the requirements in this framework for the OIC community and could not have come at a more opportune time as 5G matures worldwide”.

OIC-CERT 5G Security Working Group announces new 5G Security Framework

Ts Shamir bin Hashim, SVP for International & Government Engagement Division of Cyber security Malaysia and Co-chair of OIC-CERT 5G Security Working Group said: "Our objective was to develop a set of guiding principles for the OIC-CERT members on how to address the emerging 5G security threat. Thanks to the support of the WG members and my co-chair, Huawei Dubai. we have delivered.”

A meeting between the co-chairs and the OIC-CERT secretariat team is planned for February 2022 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the WG work plan for the year 2022 will be announced immediately after it is finalized in the meeting.

The work plan shall address promotion and adoption of the 5G Security Framework within OIC community and outline additional technical work needed to enhance the Framework.

The document remains a work in progress due to 5G evolving technological improvements and new application scenarios and there are plans to give a technical presentation of the OIC 5G Security Framework during the GISEC in Dubai in March 2022, bringing the initiative to a full circle as the formation of the WG was also announced at the same event in 2021.

The 5G heralds a new era of digital transformation. But with this progress comes new threats and vulnerabilities because of the vastly expanded attack surface.

Adopting IoT, for example, will add a new set of challenges such as the security, safety, and robustness of cyber and physical systems. Therefore, there's an urgent need to enhance cyber security measures proportionate to the threats emerging from digital technology advances.

More than ever, cross-border collaboration is key to mitigating cyber threats and that is so true for OIC whose 57 member states are spread over 4 continents, a challenge that is exacerbated by the contrasting maturity of ICT adoption within the countries.

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PESHAWAR, JAN 15: “After almost 22 years in the process, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed the landmark KP Domestic Violence (Prevention & Protection) Act last year on 15th January 2021. With the passage of this legislation, domestic violence across the province was proclaimed a punishable offense. Apart from physical and sexual violence, the law also brought economic and psychological abuses under the umbrella of domestic violence.

However, a year after the passage of the KP Domestic Violence (Prevention & Protection) Act, the province-wide implementation of the law is still awaited. “There is no doubt that the passage of the law itself is a huge feat but without actual implementation, there is little reason to celebrate,” stated Areebah Shahid, Executive Director of Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA). “In the past, we have seen social sector laws, such as Article 25-A, which pledges free and compulsory education for every Pakistani child to see no progress at the implementation level despite 12 years having elapsed since its passage. We fear the KP Domestic Violence (Prevention & Protection) Act might face the same fate.”

PTI leaders and Members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Madiha Nisar, and Ayesha Bano during their recent appearances in a web show had shared that the rules of business of the law were being drafted and they remained hopeful about its provincewide implementation within the next few months.

PYCA is currently running an awareness campaign around the law so more women become aware of its various provisions. “Our purpose is to ensure that women and girls across the province understand how the law is designed to protect them and what provisions are being offered under it to keep them safe from all forms of violence inside the four walls of their homes,” shared Hisham Khan, Senior Program Officer at PYCA.

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KARACHI, JAN 15: Leading Food brand Fresh Street was one of the top attractions at this years’ Karachi Eat Festival, with its unique offerings of mouth-watering delicacies from all corners of the world. 

The Karachi Eat is being held at the Breach View Park from 14 to 16th January 2022, and is being managed under strict health and safety protocols, and COVID SOPs & regulations. 

The long list of Fresh Street menu items on the offering, in line with the event regulations, is comprised of all the items within the price range of 100 to 200 rupees, and includes the crisps of Fresh Street warps, salads, potato fries, with flavored sauces of choice, and the sweetness of ice cream bites and scoops.

“With Fresh Street, we are presenting the tastes of the world with our imported products from across the globe, and at a very nominal price, for people to enjoy it to the fullest” shared Samrah Munsub, Founder and Director of Samrah Enterprises, the distributor for Fresh Street, Dandy, and Hills&Vales brands. 

“The idea is to share the best chef recipes, so can be used in every household kitchen”

Fresh Street, a brand distributed under the Samrah Enterprises, has a large product-line to offer, starting with the condiments category with a complete range of seasoned sauces, syrups, mayonnaise, and vinegars, to an assorted range of frozen products that includes potato-fries mixed vegetables, strawberries, broccoli etc. 

All these products are of European origin and are being proudly packed in Pakistan, representing a mélange of Western and Eastern cuisine culture.

The festival was inaugurated by Governor Sindh Mr. Imran Ismail, saw the attendance of people from all walks of life to enjoy the festivities while maintaining the health SOPs and regulations with mandatory face-masks, vaccination certificate check, and online ticketing to avoid any gathering. 

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ISLAMABAD: On January 12, 2022, one special gala performance organized and produced by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of  China and the Embassy of China in Pakistan was telecast through Subha Se Agay, one of the most followed morning shows of HUM news. 

Zhang Xu, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, delivered a passionate speech at the beginning of the performance.

Zhang Xu comprehensively reviewed the great achievements of practical bilateral cooperation in the fields of culture and tourism  fields since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan, and expressed his sincere expectations for further strengthening and deepening China-Pakistan cultural exchanges and cooperation, and  extended his sincere greetings to the people of Pakistan.

He stressed that China and Pakistan are good neighbors, good partners, good friends and good brothers. 

Since 1951, no matter how the international arena evolves, the bilateral friendship has always been  firm and unbreakable. 

Over the past 70 years, China-Pakistan cultural and tourism exchanges and cooperation have been very fruitful. Both countries signed 14 executive programmes on culture, tourism, literature, heritage, art, youth and education. Chinese performing arts troupes have made several visits to Pakistan for Happy New Year celebrations year by year, and  warmly welcomed in Pakistan. 

With strong support of Pakistan, China Cultural Center in Pakistan has become an important window for the Pakistani people to know more about Chinese culture and society.

It is pertinent to mention that the performance has been widely spread and highly praised, and the special program released online by HUM TV's official Facebook received over 60 thousand likes and over one million views in one single day. 

Zhang Heqing, Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, the Cultural Office of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan and the China Cultural Center in Pakistan also posted the performance simultaneous on Twitter and Facebook accounts.

The Gala Performance consisted of 7 classic works of art from China and Pakistan, covering Peking Opera, violin concert percussion, ballet, song, etc., perfectly highlighting the ironclad friendship between the two countries and bringing a successful end to the series of celebration activities for the year 2021. 

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 15: The Award Distribution Ceremony for Huawei’s ICT Middle East Competition in collaboration with the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication of Pakistan was conducted at the President House in Islamabad.

President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Dr. ArifAlvi, Secretary Telecommunication and Information Technology Dr Sohail Rajput, Vice President of Huawei Middle East, Wang Shun Li, CEO of Huawei Pakistan, Mark Meng, the winning Pakistani teams, along with other officials from MoITT and Huawei Pakistan were all present at the occasion.

The competition is a Huawei annual ICT initiative, designed to nurture global ICT talent. Over the month of October, Huawei’s Talent Ecosystem team carried out multiple roadshows at more than 134 universities, hitting a registration number of 10,150 candidates.

8 excellent students were interviewed after regional training and the top 6 qualified for Regional Exam which was scheduled to be held from 21st – 23rd Dec in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

The final round of the competition witnessed participation of 11 teams from countries covering the entire Middle East Region.

On 23rd Dec, Pakistan’s team one consisting of Sateesh Kumar, Iqra Fatima, and BhagchandMeghwar along with their instructor Dr. Faheem Khuhawar Instructor won 1stprize of 20,000 USD. Not only so, the 2ndprize was also grabbed by Pakistan’s team two consisting of Hafiz Rizwan, Adnan Ali, and Mukhtar Muhammad along with their instructor.

President Dr. ArifAlvi, speaking at the closing ceremony of Huawei ICT competition here, saying” I am aware of the cooperative arrangement of the Huawei Academy with about 80 different universities in Pakistan to develop and groom young talent.

I also appreciated companies like Huawei for training a large number of students in the field of information technology, noting the international companies wanted to create an ecosystem for harnessing talent. 

I believe that ten million people would get jobs in information technology sector in future.”

Secretary Telecommunication and Information Technology Dr Sohail Rajput reiterated the sentiment, saying, “First of all, I congratulate all the Pakistan excellent talents won this ICT competition final. 

This shows we have the talents, the youths and energy which can bring a lot of things for Pakistan.

If we want to increase our exports and reduce our trade deficit, the only way is invest to our youths because this is our biggest asset. And Formula investing in youth and talent is the IT. 

Under president’s leading and put more investment in ICT sector, we can easily get our target in short future.”

After everyone viewed a short video summary of the competition, Mr. WangShunlistated at the ceremony, “This is the super competitiveness that Pakistan will rely on the youths who are equipped with ICT technology most in the future. 

For this mission, I really hope to be able to count on this partnership with all of you, together we can drive digital transformation of Pakistan and help to develop the next generations of local ICT talents to boost Pakistan digital economy.”

Sateesh Kumar, member of Pakistan’s team that clutched the first prize was grateful for the opportunity, saying, “In my first attempt, I could not quality for the finals but that didn’t come in the way of my drive, I tried harder & pushed my limits, added more skills and gave a second attempt in which I made my nation proud.

Huawei gave us a wide range of opportunities through which my team and I can revolutionize our world, starting with Pakistan.”

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 14 — AIOU opens first phase of admissions. Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has opened first phase of admissions for Semester Spring, 2022.

The University has offered admissions in Matric, FA, I.Com, BS, M.Sc, MS/M.Phil and Ph.D. programs of various academic disciplines. According to Director Admissions, admission forms and prospectuses for all the programs have been provided on the University website.

It is pertinent to mention here that dmission forms and prospectuses for Matric and FA programs can also be obtained from the University’s main campus, regional campuses / liaison offices and prospectus sale points established across the country.

However, this facility is available only for Matric and FA programs. Admission forms of the other programs including BS, M.Sc, MS/M.Phil and Ph.D can only be submitted online.

Under the university’s new policy and digitalization of its academic and evaluation processes, overseas Pakistani as well as international students from around the world can now enroll in Matric, FA and Icom programs. Admissions, workshops, teaching and examination of the international students will be conducted online.

Admission fee will be accepted only through Bank Challan, Jazz Case, EasyPay and UPESA mobile app *786 # USSD String / Retailer Agent / Franchise and branches of Mobilink, Telenor, Ubank. Checks / bank drafts / pay orders will not be accepted.

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Canberra, JAN 13: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday his government has yet to decide on cancelling tennis superstar Novak Djokovic's visa.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke's earlier statement that he is pondering whether to tear up the visa “has not changed”, Morrison told a news conference in Canberra on the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Australian leader stressed that it was a decision for Hawke to take, declining further comment.

Djokovic flew into Melbourne hoping to claim a tenth Australian Open title on January 5.

The unvaccinated 34-year-old Serbian ace carried with him a vaccine exemption because of a claimed positive PCR test result on December 16.

Border agents rejected his exemption, saying a recent infection was an insufficient reason, tore up his visa and placed him in a detention centre.

But vaccine-sceptic Djokovic's high-powered legal team overturned the visa decision in court on Monday on a procedural matter related to his airport interview.

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Courtesy Dawn News

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 13: Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Thursday came down hard on the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) over the Murree tragedy, in which at least 22 people died after their cars were stranded in a snowstorm, saying the fatalities would not have occurred if NDMA was "prepared and had taken prior measures".

Tens of thousands of people had thronged Murree last week, creating traffic jams which were exacerbated by heavy snowfall. Among those stuck and forced to spend the night in cars, 22 had lost their. Eight of them froze to death while others probably died from asphyxiation after inhaling exhaust fumes.

Hammad Abbasi, a Murree resident, had subsequently filed a petition in the high court through Advocate Danish Ishraq Abbasi, calling for an investigation into the incident and action against those responsible.

"When tourists were going to Murree through toll plaza, no one stopped them or informed them of the danger," the petitioner's counsel informed the court at the onset of the hearing today.

At this, Justice Minallah called Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Syed Tayyab Shah to the rostrum, instructing him to read the laws about the NDMA.

"This is such a massive body in which all people concerned are present. The opposition is there too. Has there ever been a meeting of this body?" the judge inquired from the DAG about the National Disaster Management Commission.

To that, the DAG responded he could only inform the court after taking instructions in this regard.

The judge ordered NDMA officials to appear before the court today and answer whether the body had ever held a meeting, adding that there should have been a management plan in place to deal with such situations.

"Come and inform the court that if the meeting did not take place then why was it so. The plea in the petition is that timely action should have been taken," the judge remarked.

The hearing resumed after an NDMA representative appeared in the courtroom.

"You are responsible for this incident. Every [official] included in the NDMA law is responsible for these deaths. The whole state is responsible for these deaths," the chief justice said while addressing the NDMA official.

"Determine that who is responsible for the 22 people who died," the judge asked the official, who then proceeded to read out the law related to the authority.

"If preparations and measures had been taken, 22 people and children would not have died," the judge remarked, questioning: "Has there ever been a meeting of the NDMA [on disaster management]?"

The NDMA member replied that five meetings had been held, and when asked if any opposition members had requested for a meeting, his answer was in the negative.

The judge further questioned if the NDMA director general had ever requested the prime minister to convene a meeting, to which he was informed that a meeting had been requested during the pandemic.

"The law is present. If it was implemented, then no life would have been lost. It is such a strong law that it accords responsibility to every district. Did the NDMA identify those responsible [for the tragedy]?" Justice Minallah asked as he grilled the official.

When the official replied that it was the responsibility of the provincial governments, the chief justice berated him and said: "Then you did not read the NDMA law properly."

"The opposition leader, prime minister of Azad Kashmir and chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan are also members of this body. If the prime minister did not call for a meeting then no one else did so either?

"What plan did you make for Murree or Rawalpindi districts? It was the responsibility of the NDMA to have regular meetings. Lack of meetings is a failure of NDMA," Justice Minallah said.

"The NDMA is responsible if the commission did not have a meeting. The chief ministers of all provinces are present in the commission as well."

Justice Minallah reprimanded the official for putting the blame on the provinces in front of the court and said that there wasn't even a need for any inquiry in the case.

"The NDMA is responsible. If meetings weren't being held then you should have informed. If the law were followed then this accident would not have happened."

Justice Minallah directed the NDMA member to ask the prime minister to call a meeting of the authority and identify those responsible. "Every member of the commission is responsible for this incident," the judge reiterated.

"God forbid if those were your children then what would you have done? Who would you have blamed?" the chief justice admonished the NDMA official.

The IHC ordered for the prime minister to call a session of the National Disaster Management Commission next week and submit a report to the court by Jan 21.

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Courtesy Dawn News

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