Everything That Has Happened In The Last 24 Hours

Local The government announced that Eid-Ul-Azha will be from the 12th of August to the 15th  According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Interior, however, Saturday, August 17, will be a working day. Last month, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry had announced that this year, Eidul Azha will fall on Monday, Aug 12. The announcement was made on the basis of a ‘scientific’ lunar calendar launched by the ministry in June in order to end controversies over the sighting of the moon for Islamic months. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari asks Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani  to resign ahead of Senate session which will table the no-trust motion against him “If Sadiq Sanjrani sahib has decided to resign even now, it will be a good decision,” he said, adding that the opposition had gathered enough numbers to deseat the Senate chairman. “It would have been good if the Senate chairman had resigned, otherwise he is going tomorrow anyway.” The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had announced on Tuesday that the voting for the no-trust motion against Sanjrani would be held on today. Leader of the House in the Senate Syed Shibli Faraz had also made it clear that the government had no intention of using delaying tactics, adding that the agenda of the day would be circulated among the senators on Wednesday. Asif Ghafoor tweets that the increased frequency of attacks from across the LoC “indicates their [the Indian government’s] frustration” In a tweet posted on ISPR’s official Twitter account, director general of the army’s media wing Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor said ceasefire violations by the Indian forces “are being and shall always be effectively responded”. “Pak Army shall take all measures to protect innocent civilians along LoC from Indian firing deliberately targeting them,” he said. His statement came after a four-year old boy was killed and eleven others, including his mother, siblings, cousins and neighbours, were injured in Neelum Valley of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in a fresh ceasefire violation by Indian troops on Wednesday. Sindh minister Saeed Ghani hints at legal action against K-Electric over deaths by electrocution Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani held the federal and local governments responsible for the chaos that had arisen in the city following torrential rains. “As far as action against K-Electric is concerned, the Sindh government has no such mechanism (to act against it), and the federal government should do what it can,” Ghani said, addressing a press conference in Karachi. “But as far as the loss of lives (due to electrocution) is concerned, definitely on that—but I won’t go into detail on this right now—the provincial government will take action on this according to the law. We will take whatever action that we can take,” he said, hinting towards the likelihood of legal action against the electricity provider. Ghani said that if every task is to be done by the provincial government, then the local government should be dissolved. “We will do it,” said the agitated minister, adding that the water could not be pumped out of the inundated areas within a day. Global The US and China agreed to meet again in the United States after holding “frank” and “constructive” trade talks in Shanghai  US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer met with Vice Premier Liu He in the Chinese financial hub for the first face-to-face negotiations since a trade war truce was declared last month. “The two sides conducted frank, highly efficient and constructive in-depth exchanges on major issues of common interest in the economic and trade field,” according to the official Xinhua news agency, adding that the purchase of US agricultural goods by China was discussed. A 79-year-old US woman has been sentenced to 10-day in jail after she was repeatedly cited by police for feeding stray cats in her neighbourhood Mrs Segula has been ordered by a judge to begin her sentence on 11 August. She has been cited by police four times over the past four years, after her neighbours began complaining of the swarm of cats on her property.”Mrs Segula has never been arrested by the Police Department or the Animal Wardens,” police said in a post on Facebook, noting the public criticism they have received .So far 22 cats have been removed by the city from Mrs Segula’s property.  Israel has approved the construction of 6,000 new homes for Jewish settlers and 700 homes for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank The decision about new homes in settlements further extends the Israeli presence in the West Bank. But it is Israel’s approval for Palestinian homes that is unusual. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are seen as illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this. It is not clear whether the Palestinian homes would be new constructions or merely legal approval for 700 already existing homes in what is known as “Area C” of the West Bank – where Palestinian villages often lie close to Israeli settlements, and where Israel has full control of the territory. Bangladesh is facing its worst-ever dengue fever outbreak, putting a severe strain on the country’s already overwhelmed medical system The mosquito-borne viral infection has spread across the country with 61 out of 64 districts reporting dengue cases by late Tuesday. The government has confirmed 15,369 dengue cases since Jan. 1. Of those, 9,683 patients were diagnosed between July 1 and July 30. As of Tuesday, about 4,400 patients, including many children, were undergoing hospital treatment. There have been 14 deaths. Sports African Champions League faces another hurdle after the Court of Arbitration for Sport overruled the decision to replay the final Tunisia’s Esperance and Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca lodged appeals after the Confederation of African Football decided to replay the second leg – both felt they should be awarded the win. Wydad had a goal disallowed and left the pitch because VAR was not working. Esperance were winning 2-1 on aggregate and declared champions initially. The home side were handed the trophy and winners’ medals after a two-hour delay on 1 June, but were told to return them days later after Caf ordered a replay on neutral territory, citing “unsafe conditions”. England’s cricket team has left Jofra Archer out of their team for the first Ashes Test against Australia today Archer, who is yet to play a Test, was England’s leading wicket-taker in their successful World Cup campaign. Chris Woakes is preferred on his home ground after taking 6-17 in the win over Ireland last week. Archer was born in Barbados to a British father and qualified to play for England in March. After the World Cup, he was nursing a side injury and returned to Barbados to rest, missing the chance for a Test debut against Ireland at Lord’s. Mickey Arthur said that Muhammad Amir’s Test career “was taking a strain on his body” Arthur also revealed that the left-arm pacer had been speaking to him about retirement for “some time” and that he “reluctantly accepted” Amir’s decision. “It was on the cards for a long while. Amir had been speaking to me about it with me for some time now. His Test career was taking a strain on his body. It’s not about management here. It’s about his desire to play Test cricket and the effects it has on his body,” Arthur was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “I think Amir’s an unbelievable bowler and reluctantly I accepted his decision because that’s what he wanted to do and that’s what he thought was best for himself. What it does do is give us a white-ball bowler that I think we can get a longer period from,” he added. Technology Facebook removed a profile frame calling for the death of the Ahmadis in Urdu as it struggles to remove hate speech from its site Profile frames are filters Facebook users can add to their pictures that often promote a cause, celebrate a holiday, or commemorate an event or tragedy. The frame withdrawn by Facebook was widely shared in Pakistan. “We have removed the Profile Frames in question for violating our rules, and have ensured that they’re unavailable for future use,” a Facebook spokesperson told AFP via email. “We do not tolerate any content — including anything shared within Profile Frames — that incites violence, and we remove this content whenever we become aware of it.” Dark Mode, featured in various social media-centric mobile apps and desktop websites, may be bad for your eyes According to research on human vision, humans prefer dark-on-light because, in the real world, the background of any scene around you is usually bright.What we care about are the objects in front of the background, whether food, tools, predators or whatever. Those objects are by definition darker than the background because they’re illuminated by the sun, or indoors, by whatever lights may be on. As a result, dark mode makes the colours on the app stand out more, straining your eyes further.  Samsung stays the top phone manufacturer in the world, followed closely by Huawei and Apple  Samsung maintained first position with 22 percent global smartphone marketshare, Huawei surprised with 17 percent – despite an effective US boycott – while Apple held 11 percent marketshare in third place. Samsung shipped 76.3 million smartphones worldwide in Q2 2019, jumping 7 percent annually from 71.5 million units in Q2 2018. Samsung has lifted its global smartphone market share from 20 percent to 22 percent in the past year. Strong sales in midrange and entry segments increased Samsung’s shipments, but its profit margin declined due to fierce price competition. Entertainment The Lion King has become the fourth Disney film this year to make $1bn in worldwide box office sales The movie, which features the voices of Beyonce and Donald Glover, joins Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel and Aladdin in Disney’s $1bn class of 2019. As reported by Variety , director Jon Favreau’s version is already the fifth-biggest global release of the year. In North America, it has racked up sales of around $361m (£267m) and $638m (£324m) overseas, with cinema-goers in China and Brazil leading the way. Govinda alleges that he was offered a role in James Cameron’s Avatar, but he declined it because he “can’t stand body paint” Govinda also said that he declined because he “couldn’t commit the time to shoot for 400 days”.”I gave the title of the film ( Avatar ). It turned out to be a superhit film. I told him (Cameron) that the movie will do really well and that I feel it will take seven years for him to complete the film. He got angry. When I said so, he asked, ‘How can you be so sure that I won’t be able to make Avatar for seven years?’ I told him that what he was imagining was something almost impossible,”. Alhamra Theater Festival started earlier this week with the inaugural play Permasher Singh by Maas Foundation Despite heavy rain a good number of theater fanciers came to attend the 21st festival organised by the Lahore Arts Council. The festival will feature six plays by different theater groups. Maas Foundation presented its evergreen production Permasher Singh , a play adapted from short story of legendary Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi, and got a good response from the audience. The play is about a young Muslim boy, Akhtar, who gets separated from his mother during the partition. The boy is soon found by the story’s other central character, a Sikh man called Permasher Singh. Permasher proceeds to save the boy from an unruly mob, eventually adopting him against the initial reluctance of his wife.