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COMSATS Joins Hands with NDMA for Tele-Health Services

ISLAMABAD,  22 NOV, 2020 : To aide national efforts towards capacity-building of human resource involved in disaster management, and exchange of trained resources to deal with natural and human-induced disasters, the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) is forming synergies with relevant bodies.

COMSATS’ flagship project, COMSATS Internet Services (CIS), and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of Government of Pakistan have entered into an agreement to support tele-health services through Resource Center housed at Isolation Hospital and Infectious Diseases Treatment Centre (IHITC) and COMSATS Telehealth (CTH) set-upby CIS.

On behalf of the Commission, the MOU was signed by Dr. S.M. Junaid Zaidi, Executive Director COMSATS while Muhammad Idrees Mehsud, Member DRR on behalf of NDMA, in a simple ceremony held at Prime Minister’s Office, in NDMA premises. Chairman NDMA, Lieutenant General Muhammad Afzal; Prof. Dr. Ghazna Khalid, Member of the Parliament and Member Task Force on COVID-19, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Pakistan; along with representatives from both sides were present on the occasion. The MoU is especially pertinent in the wake of current pandemic of COVID-19.

Operational since 2001, COMSATS Telehealth Programme has benefitted around 70,000 patients in 17 rural areas across Pakistan, in specialties like Dermatology, Gynecology, Antenatal care, ultrasounds and outpatient care. NDMA has been working to enhance disaster resilience in Pakistan and is the leading policy and coordination body for combating natural and human-induced disasters in Pakistan.

59 more die, 2,665 affected as Covid-19 positivity rate soars to 6.8%

ISLAMABAD : As the country is witnessing a sharp increase in coronavirus cases since the start of the second wave, the Covid-19 positivity rate has soared to 6.8 per cent.

As many as 38,983 samples were tested during the past 24 hours, out of which 2,665 turned out to be positive, according to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).The infection claimed 59 more lives across the country during this period, lifting the death toll from the disease to 7,662. The number of active Covid-19 cases increased to 36,683.

A total of 374,173 confirmed cases have been reported while 329,828 have recovered thus far. 653 of the patients under treatment are said to be in critical condition.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus began, Sindh has reported 162,221, Punjab 114,010, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 44097, Balochistan 16,744, Islamabad 26,569, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 6,000 and Gilgit Baltistan 4,526.

KP govt take steps to develop sports infrastructure on priority basis: NA Speaker

SWABI, Nov 21 (DNA): Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser has said that
steps were being taken on priority basis for the promotion of sports in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the construction of sports infrastructure and
provision of facilities at various places in Swabi would boost sports
activities in the province.

He expressed these views while presiding over a review meeting on the
promotion of sports and provision of facilities in Swabi. Director
General Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Asfandyar Khan Khattak, Director 1000
Playground Project Murad Ali Khan Mohmand, Regional Sports Officer Swabi
Muhammad Tariq Khan and other officials belonging to Swabi Sports
Department were also present on the occasion.

The Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser directed the Director General
Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Asfandyar Khan Khattak to formulate a
coordinated strategy for the construction and development of a sports
ground to provide positive activities to the youth in Swabi. He said
that the youth of Swabi had always been made the country famous in the
field of sports. “Providing facilities for healthy activities to the
youth is part of the government’s priorities,” Asad Qaiser said.

The DG Sports KP apprised the Speaker National Assembly of the details
of expenditure incurred on eight projects for laying the foundation
stone for sports on 100 kanals of land leased for sports activities. He
said that the youth of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were keenly interested in
sports activities and all resources would be utilized at the provincial
level for the development of this sector.

Mr. Khattak also apprised the Speaker about the progress being made on
the ongoing development projects for the promotion of sports in Swabi.
He said that infrastructure was also being constructed at other
recreational places including playgrounds in Swabi to involve the youth
in healthy sports activities.

Director Prime Minister 1000 Playground Project Murad Ali Khan Mohmand
said that under the Prime 1000 Playground Project eight different
projects have been approved for District Swabi including construction of
Indoor Badminton Hall at Playground Pabernai Janda.

Similarly an indoor Badminton Hall would be constructed at Tehsil
Playground Chota Lahore, establishment of cricket academies at Baja
Bamkhel Sports Stadium Swabi and Playground Kala Butt. He said looking
after the interest and talent another Cricket Academy would be
constructed at Playground Malakiabad, Zada and Sumbel Amlet. He said
besides these projects, an Open-air-Gym would be established for the all
age people in Bamkhel Sports Complex Swabi.

Murad Ali Mohmand said that as per the vision of Prime Minister Imran
Khan to promote sports activities among youth the provincial government
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has set the target of establishing as many as 204
sports facility centres in 170 Union Councils across province including
merged districts. He said that Rs 1178.97 would be incurred on
establishing these sports facilities out of which 150 would be ready by
June 2021.

He said the five-year Prime Minister 1000 Grounds Projects would cost Rs
5500 million that would include newly introduced climbing wall for kids,
cricket academies, badminton hall, Synthetic Tennis Courts, Synthetic
Walking Track, Basketball Courts, Volleyball Courts, Martial Arts Arena
in order to promote sports culture and to increase the talent.

He said to promote healthy activities among youth the Cricket Ground,
Cricket Pitches,leveling and dressing of grounds, football playing
ground, polo ground, squash courts, volleyball Indoor Gymnasium,
Badminton Indoor Hall, Table Tennis and Gym Hall, Multi-Purposes Hall
were also being constructed.

Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser appreciated development of 1000
playing facilities at Union Council and Tehsil Levels under Prime
Minister 1000 Playground Project that would help the talented youth to
come up at national and international level. DNA
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No need of govt’s permission, PDM shall hold Peshawar rally: Rana Sanaullah

LAHORE, Nov 21 (DNA): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader
Rana Sanaullah Saturday said Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) shall
hold public gathering in Peshawar and does not need the government’s
permission.

The PML-N leader said in his statement that the government will only be
informed about the rally. The incumbent regime must go home because
there is hundred percent fatality threat due to the ‘corona of
government.’

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said the country has been
destroyed due to the criminal negligence of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
People are suffering because of flour, sugar, medicine, electricity and
gas theft due to irresponsible and reckless policy making. DNA

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Azerbaijan president ready to establish normal relations with Armenia’s ‘sensible forces’

He recalled that Armenia is currently going through a domestic crisis “which is natural because a military defeat, let alone such a humiliating one”

BAKU – Baku is ready to establish normal relations with “sensible forces” in Armenia if they come to power, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said in an address to the nation following the restoration of Baku’s control over the Adgam region.

“Armenia is currently going through a domestic crisis, which is natural because a military defeat, let alone such a humiliating one, may lead to protests in any country. If sensible forces come to power in Armenia after the crisis is over, we will be ready to establish normal relations with them,” Aliyev pointed out. According to him, it will be possible if Armenia “makes the right choice and improves relations with its neighbors.”

“As the country’s President and Commander-in-Chief, I am interested in making sure that animosity ends in our home region of South Caucasus and normal business relations are established,” the Azerbaijani president noted. “I said during the war that we have no issues with the Armenian people. We did not carry out an ethnic cleansing against them like they did against us. We did not destroy their historic sites, we protect them,” Aliyev stressed.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over the disputed territory, primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said that Azerbaijan and Armenia would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region.

Pakistan summons Indian Charge d’Affaires over groundless allegations by Indian PM

DNA

ISLAMABAD – The Indian Chargé d’Affaires was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today to categorically reject the completely groundless allegations by the Prime Minister of India and the Indian Ministry of External Affairs seeking to mischievously implicate Pakistan in some alleged planned attack in Nagrota in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

It was communicated that the Government of Pakistan views these entirely baseless and unsubstantiated Indian allegations as part of India’s desperate attempts to divert international attention from its state-terrorism in IIOJK and its state-sponsorship of terrorism against Pakistan.

It was further communicated that India’s history of conducting false flag operations in IIOJK and inside India to malign Pakistan was well-known. Any attempt to mischievously implicate Pakistan in any false flag operation or stage-managed incident would not carry any credibility whatsoever. The hope was expressed that India would desist from making any miscalculation in this context as it did in 2019.

Pakistan has already put forth irrefutable evidence, extensively documenting India’s active planning, promoting, aiding, abetting, financing and execution of terrorist activities in Pakistan.

The Indian side was once again urged to eschew the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy, dismantle the terror infrastructure that it has established to inflict terrorism on Pakistan, and stop the use of other countries’ soil for sponsorship of terrorist activities against Pakistan.

The Indian side was also urged to desist from the use of its usual diversionary tactics and instead take practical steps to implement the United Nations Security Council Resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute granting the inalienable right of self-determination to the Kashmiri people through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations.

CDA continues work on development projects

ISLAMABAD, NOV 21 (DNA) – The work of Capital Development Authority (CDA) on the restoration of infrastructure and provision of facilities to the masses of the city is continued.

According to a press release of the CDA, the projects upon which the authority has started work include provision of clean drinking water, production of new resources of water, carpeting of roads, repairing and restoration of footpaths, and restoration of street lights.

CDA is taking remarkable steps upon the special directions of the Chairman CDA to ensure the betterment of the life standard of the citizens. In this regard, the authority is taking steps for provision of clean drinking water in the first phase.

The old water pipes are being repaired, repairing of tube wells is also taking place, the work on restoration of the provision of water from Rawal dam is also underway, and the remarkable steps are being taken to improve the quality of drinking water, the PR added.

Besides this, the work on repairing of roads, footpaths, Kerb stone painting, lane marking is also going on to ensure the provision of best traveling facilities to the citizens. CDA’s officials are working in two shifts to complete the developmental work as soon as possible. Steps are being taken to restore the green character of capital.=DNA

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Shahid Afridi to lead Galle Gladiators in LPL 2020: reports

40-year-old to captain side in absence of Sarfaraz Ahmed

Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has been reportedly named captain of Galle Gladiators for the 2020 edition of the Lanka Premier League.

Sources close to the matter reported that the franchise were considering to hand over the captaincy role to wicketkeeper batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed.

However, Sarfaraz will not be able to take part in the inaugural edition of the tournament as he is part of Pakistan squad which is touring New Zealand.  

Afridi will be leading the unit which includes star players like Mohammad Amir, Azam Khan, Chadwick Walton, Milinda Siriwardena, Lakshan Sandakan and Shehan Jayasuriya.

The 20-over tournament will be contested from November 26 to December 16 in Hambantota, Sri Lanka.

Economic cooperation to be in focus at SCO Council of Heads of govt meeting: Norov

BEIJING, Nov 21 (DNA): Secretary General of Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) Vladimir Norov has said that economic cooperation
will be in focus at the upcoming SCO Council of Heads of Government
meeting to be held on November 30.

Norov said that with economic multilateralism and national capacity
building, the SCO countries will be able to overcome the crisis of
economic losses caused by the pandemic, according to SCO Secretariat
here.

The secretary general said that the SCO as a grouping is paying special
attention to measures to restore national economies in the post-pandemic
period.

He also noted that the SCO acted as a strong platform in cooperation
against COVID-19 and highlighted the importance of the international
community’s efforts in strengthening the capacity of the World Health
Organization (WHO).

Established in 2001, the SCO is a political, economic, and security bloc
comprising eight members – China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

SCO member states account for around 42 percent of the world’s
population, 22 percent of the land area, and around 20 percent of global
GDP. DNA

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APNS President, Secretary Gen. express grief on demise of eldest sister of Mehtab Khan

KARACHI, NOV 21 /DNA/ – “Hameed Haroon, President and Sarmad Ali, Secretary General of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society have expressed profound grief on behalf of APNS Office Bearers and members of the Executive Committee over the sad demise of eldest sister of Mr. Mehtab Khan, Chief Editor and aunt of Mr. Mohsin Bilal Khan, Group Editor,  Ausaf Group of Publications.

The APNS Office Bearers have offered condolence to the bereaved family and have prayed that Almighty Allah rest the departed soul in eternal peace and give them courage and patience to bear the loss.=DNA

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