ISLAMABAD: A sum worth Rs30 billion has been allocated to the Naya Pakistan housing scheme, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced in a live televised address on Friday, in line with helping the underprivileged class build their own homes. Addressing the nation after chairing a meeting of the National Coordination Committee on Housing, Construction, and Development, PM Imran said the scheme…
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The world-famous Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul – originally founded as a cathedral – has been turned back into a mosque. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the decision after a court annulled the site’s museum status. Built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral, Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453. In…
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DUBAI: Malaysia recorded 4,233,425 tourist arrivals for the first quarter of 2020. This marks a decrease of 36.8% compared to the same period in 2019. The tourist expenditure for the first quarter recorded a total of RM12.5 billion, a decrease of 41.5% compared to RM21.4 billion registered for the same period in 2019. Per capita expenditure also showed a decline of 7.4% from RM3,201.8 in 2019 to RM2,964.5 this year. The…
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The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Friday formed a committee to visit Karachi and probe complaints of “excessive” electricity load-shedding by the K-Electric (KE) in the metropolis in recent days. The decision came after the power regulator held a public hearing on the subject via video link, which was attended by public representatives, technical experts, representatives of different entities, members…
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When exactly I began putting plastic items in a special tub for recycling I don’t remember. Probably in the 1980s when I moved to Princeton. Then my wife and I separated plastic items, tin cans and newspapers from the regular garbage and put them in a special can to be recycled. Then too certain plastic bottles were separated from all…
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Huge swarms of desert locusts are wreaking havoc in parts of East Africa, Asia and the Middle East, threatening crops, livelihoods and food supplies. It is already the worst locust infestation in decades, but the forthcoming rainy season could see numbers increase a further 20-fold in some places if swarms are not tackled. Desert locusts, like this one, typically live…
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Islamabad — Pakistan has cut regasified LNG prices for the country’s two fertilizer producing plants that depend on LNG imports for feedstock, in line with low crude oil prices and to meet fertilizer demand growth in the next few months. The government lowered regasified LNG prices for fertilizer companies by 17% to Pakistan Rupees 756/MMBtu ($4.56) from Rupees 913/MMBtu. The price…
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Indian scientists have developed nanoparticle-based solar panel coating that minimizes dust deposition and enables easy cleaning by the action of water, thus preventing a reduction in panel efficiency due to soiling.The coating was developed by the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous organization of the Department of Science and Technology.Key features of this…
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Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Thursday said the lack of a proper power transmission and distribution system in Karachi was the reason behind increased load shedding in the metropolis and promised that the federal government will improve it in “record time”. Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, Umar said the main reason behind…
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All the tax collection agencies in Pakistan should be dismantled and merged into National Tax Agency (NTA) which alone can effectively enforce tax laws both at federal and provincial levels. NTA, a competent and effective body, set up on modern lines, should have representations of all constituents of the federation of Pakistan. NTA having national-wide data at one place and…
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