Pakistani startup makes it to Google’s launchpad accelerator:
Google has announced its fifth accelerator batch, and it includes a Pakistan startup as well. This is the first time that any Pakistani startup has been selected for Google’s Launchpad accelerator program. Another country that made to the list for the first time is Bangladesh. Here is the list of 10 startups that belong to the Asia-Pacific region.
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Ship oil through Pak Railways and save billions:
Minister for Railways, Sheikh Rasheed, has come up with another plan to boost the department’s revenue. The minister has asked the government to transport oil through Railways at cheaper tariffs rather than building an oil pipeline from Sheikhupura to Peshawar. The minister floated the proposal in a recent Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting.
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Telenor’s digital birth registration & iChamp recognized by Global Child Forum:
Telenor Pakistan’s initiatives to ensure children’s rights and protection were recognized by the Global Child Forum, a Swedish non-profit headquartered in Stockholm. In its latest ‘Corporate Responses to Protecting Children’s Rights’ report, the non-profit put Telenor at the top of the child protection index, surveying all major Nordic corporations.
Telenor Pakistan launched the Digital Birth Registration project in collaboration with the UNICEF in 2016 with an aim to give Pakistani children their fundamental right to identity and improve their access to basic amenities, as well as to improve the conventional birth registration process.
Similarly, Telenor Pakistan has taken solid measures to promote digital literacy among children besides educating them on online safety through the school outreach program called iChamp. So far, the Telenor iChamp program has reached out to 1800 schools across the country, educating and training over 600,000 students on using mobile technology for learning beyond classrooms.
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Twitter restores Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson’s personal account:
Twitter has reinstated the personal account of Foreign Office’s Chief Spokesperson Dr. Muhammad Faisal. The revelation has come in a tweet by a web correspondent of the international media outlet, Al Jazeera. Notably, it had surfaced last night that the personal twitter account of Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson was suspended after complaints from the Indian government.
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Pakistan misses out on exporting wheat worth millions of rupees:
Thanks to the government’s botched export policy, Pakistan’s chances to export 0.5 million tons of wheat, worth billions of Rupees in the international market, have diminished. Sources say it is because of the tug of war between Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) and Punjab’s Food Department. According to details, PASSCO used its influence in the federal government to get permission to export 100,000 tons of wheat and started to accept tenders from the exporters for Rs. 32,759 per ton.
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Xiaomi launches Mi 9 with 48 MP triple cameras & more:
Xiaomi’s latest flagship didn’t take much time to get an official launching this year, as the company seemingly didn’t want to delay the release date any more than it needed. You might remember from when the Mi 8 was launched that the company split the flagship into two variants – the base Mi 8 and a higher-end Mi 8 Explorer Edition. The Mi 8 Explorer Edition had top-of-the-line specs as well as a transparent back option.
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UNDP offers $30 million for ‘KamyabJawan program’:
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has reserved $30 million in funds for Pakistan government’s ‘KamyabJawan Program’ in a bid to empower the youth of the country. The announcement has come in a meeting between the UNDP officials and Prime Minister Imran Khan. Prime Minister’s Special Aide for Youth Usman Dar was also present in the meeting.
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International news:
Samsung reveals Galaxy Fold and S10 5G:
Samsung has unveiled a foldable smartphone – the Galaxy Fold – alongside a 5G Galaxy S10 handset and three other Galaxy S10 mobiles. The Fold will go on sale in just over two months time, earlier than many expected. The Galaxy S10 5G features the firm’s biggest-ever non-folding phone display and promises faster data speeds when networks become available. The S10 line-up also includes the introduction of a lower-cost model.
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Facebook ‘failed to protect’ health data in private groups:
The way Facebook interacts with users is “unfair, deceptive and misleading”, according to a complaint lodged with US regulators. The Federal Trade Commission was told the company had failed to protect the privacy of those in patient health and other groups. Some users may have been exposed to “life-threatening privacy violations”, the complaint says.
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Nestle and Epic pull YouTube ads over abuse claims:
The food giant Nestle and several other big companies have pulled their adverts from YouTube following claims they appeared next to offensive content. It comes after a blogger accused YouTube of failing to stop a “soft-core paedophilia ring” on its platform. The blogger said the firm made it easy to find videos of young girls, even though comments clearly showed that viewers were sexualising the videos.
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Could Huawei threaten the Five Eyes alliance?:
In the shiny, optimistic vision of the future we will all be living in “smart cities” in which self-driving cars will check the best routes after being charged up on intelligent, connected power grids. Public services and safety will be carefully managed though data, while devices in our homes will talk to each other and the wider world as part of the “internet-of-things”.
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Google admits error over hidden microphone:
Google has acknowledged that it made an error in not disclosing that one of its home alarm products contained a microphone. Product specifications for the Nest Guard, available since 2017, had made no mention of the listening device.
But earlier this month, the firm said a software update would make Nest Guard voice-controlled. On Twitter, concerned Nest owners were told the microphone “has not been used up to this point”.
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Cyber-thieves set sights on hijacking payment data:
Thousands of websites are being hit by cyber-thieves who implant code to scoop up payment card numbers. Security giant Symantec found more than 4,800 websites were being hit by these “form-jacking” attacks every month. High-profile victims of these attacks include airline BA and Ticketmaster. Online crime groups had turned to the attacks as other more established techniques proved less and less lucrative, Symantec said.
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UK 4G ‘slower than most of EU when busy’:
A study into 4G has indicated that the UK is one of a handful of European countries where download speeds fall below 20 megabits per second (Mbps) at the busiest times of day. In the table of 77 countries, the UK ranked 35th, with 4G speeds ranging from 19.7Mbps to 34.9Mbps. Most countries’ 4G networks are busiest between 20:00 and 23:00, but UK consumers were most active at 17:00. One expert said that the move to 5G should help speed fluctuations.
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Russia bans smartphones for soldiers over social media fears:
Russia’s parliament has voted to ban soldiers from using smartphones while on duty, after their social media use raised issues of national security. The bill forbids military personnel from using a phone with the ability to take pictures, record videos and access the internet. Soldiers also cannot write about the military or talk to journalists. More than 400 of 450 lawmakers in Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, backed the law on Tuesday.
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Fortnite Live Norwich festival to be sued by game creator:
The company behind Fortnite is suing the organisers of a live event based on the video game. Exciting Events ran the unofficial “Fortnite event of the year” in Norwich last weekend, which was criticized for having underwhelming attractions. American firm Epic Games confirmed it had “issued a claim against the organisers” in London’s High Court. In an email sent to a ticket holder, Exciting Events said the festival was set-up as an “unofficial” fan event.
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Drone no-fly zone to be widened after Gatwick chaos:
The no-fly zone for drones around airports is to be extended following the disruption at Gatwick in December, the government says. From 13 March it will be illegal to fly a drone within three miles of an airport, rather than the current 0.6-mile (1km) exclusion zone. The government also said it wants police to have new stop and search powers to tackle drone misuse. Gatwick was shut for more than a day after drone sightings near the runway.