Siasat Wala Blog

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Narcotics Control Shehryar Afridi on Saturday announced that he has tested positive for coronavirus, ARY NEWS reported. The minister took to the microblogging website Twitter and said that he has gone into self-isolation after testing positive for coronavirus. “I have tested positive of COVID19 & have isolated myself at home as per advice by medics. I need prayers & blessings,” he wrote on Twitter. I have tested positive of #COVID19 & hv isolated myself at home as per advice by medics. I need prayers & blessings. May Allah almighty help save all my countrymen from the pandemic under my PM @ImranKhanPTI — Shehryar Afridi (@ShehryarAfridi1) May 29, 2020 Earlier this month, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser tested positive for the novel coronavirus and went into self-isolation. It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member of Punjab Assembly Shaheen Raza had lost her life to deadly coronavirus o...

VENICE: The decision to hold the Venice Film Festival despite the coronavirus pandemic is being hailed as a “sign of hope” for the movie world after months of closed cinemas, shuttered film sets and cancelled galas. The rapid global spread of the virus forced major production companies to halt filming, and top silver-screen festivals to postpone or cancel their 2020 editions — including Venice’s historic rival Cannes, usually held in May. Despite Italy being among the worst-hit countries, with over 33,000 deaths, the director of the Venice Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, is defiant in the face of the disease, insisting the 77th edition of the “Mostra” will go ahead from September 2 to 12. Italy has been slowly exiting its lockdown and organisers in the canal city are betting on a return to normality in the hard-hit north of the country by the end of the summer. The first post-coronavirus festival will nonetheless have to adopt new sanitary and social distancing rules. “It will be...

Florida officials have approved plans for a phased reopening of Walt Disney World in Orlando starting on July 11, according to a memo from a state agency released on Friday. The successful reopening of its parks is a signal event for Disney and the rest of the world as governments and companies strategize how to move out of lockdown while the novel coranavirus is still a threat. The state also cleared Sea World Entertainment Inc to reopen on June 10, said Halsey Beshears, secretary of Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation, in a memo sent to officials in Orange County, Florida. When the Disney parks reopen, guests and employees will be required to wear masks and undergo temperature checks. The resort will suspend parades, fireworks displays and other activities that create crowds. Disney will encourage contactless payment systems and expand its existing mobile order systems in restaurants, it said on Wednesday. It plans to restrict the number of guests, who w...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday formed three-member bench to hear Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Peshawar project on June 3, ARY News reported. Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed has constituted the bench on the request of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. A three-member bench led by Justice Umar Atta Bandiyal will take up the case on June 3. Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Qazi Amin are also part of the bench. On April 25, the Supreme Court had extended stay order against the Peshawar High Court’s ruling over BRT Peshawar project. The verdict of the PHC was challenged by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA). Read more:  BRT Peshawar probe: SC declares PHC’s verdict ‘null & void’ On November, 14, the PHC had handed down the judgment on BRT Peshawar and directed the FIA to probe the Project and submit the report within 45 days. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government, in the month of October, had announced ne...

Forbes magazine, which in March 2019 declared reality TV star Kylie Jenner had become the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, said on Friday that it no longer believed that her net worth was that much. The magazine said it reviewed financial data released by Coty Inc, which bought a 51 percent stake in Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics company in November 2019. Those financial filings show “Kylie’s business is significantly smaller, and less profitable, than the family has spent years leading the cosmetics industry and media outlets, including Forbes, to believe,” the magazine said. Forbes now estimates the net worth of Jenner, 22, at around $900 million. Writing on Twitter on Friday, Jenner said the recent story was based on “a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions.” “What am I even waking up to. I thought this was a reputable site,” she wrote. Jenner, half-sister of Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, debuted Kylie Cosmetics in 2016 with $29 lip kits containing m...

PESHAWAR: The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Saturday dispatched Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to KP hospitals in the fight against Covid-19, ARY News reported. According to the PDMA KP Spokesperson, another cache of PPEs, comprising 10500 N-95 masks, 4,410 D-95, 15,750 KN-95 masks, was dispatched to 49 KP hospitals today. Besides, 31,500 protective gears, 105,000 medical face masks 5250 pairs of surgical gloves, 1,050 face shields, 5,986 caps, 21,000 shoe covers were also sent to various hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is pertinent to mention that the fifth cache of PPEs had already been dispatched to Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Kashmir before Eid. Earlier, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had issued a detailed break down of all the  medical equipment  it provided to Sindh. Read more:  NDMA gives details of medical equipment provided to Sindh Responding to Sindh government’s clai...

LAHORE: Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar has said that coronavirus pandemic has changed the way of living, ARY News reported on Saturday. He was talking to Punjab Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat who called on him called to discuss issues of mutual interests including politics, COVID-19 and upcoming budget session. The chief minister the change in lifestyle is the need of the hour amid coronavirus outbreak. The provincial regime introduced the Punjab Infectious Diseases (Prevention and Control) Ordinance 2020 for effective implementation over the government measures, he said. Talking about locust attack, Usman Buzdar affirmed that the Punjab government took practical steps to control the situation. Read more: CM Usman Buzdar asks masses to exercise social distancing Last week, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar had urged masses to continue exercising social distancing amid coronavirus outbreak. CM Usman Buzdar in his message, had urged masses to rema...