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  • Philippines: Get vaccinated, win huge sacks of rice!

    Philippines: Get vaccinated, win huge sacks of rice!

    MANILA: A community in the Philippines has been raffling off huge sacks of rice in exchange for getting vaccinated against COVID-19, after finding it hard to persuade people to get their shots.

    Twenty weekly winners who get their shots in Sucat on the outskirts of the capital Manila have been taking home a 25 kg (55 pound) sack of rice each.

    Local official Jeramel Mendoza said the initiative was targeting mainly poorer residents, who were not so keen on vaccinations.

    “Initially, when we conducted our vaccination drive, there were very few people signing up. So we asked ourselves why?” he said.

    “Why are those rich people or those who live in exclusive villages able to lead the vaccinations, but our poorer sectors do not to join in or participate?”

    Sucat village officials said since starting the initiative at end-May, they have been administering their daily quota of vaccines of up to 2,000 doses, whereas before they were giving only about 400 doses a day.

    “It’s a nice initiative and I feel safer after being vaccinated. I’m happy I got vaccinated while winning some rice,” said Almond Gregorio, a firefighter and holder of a winning raffle ticket.

    Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this month appealed to the public to get vaccinated, after data showed the government was far behind on its immunisation targets as it battles one of Asia’s longest-running outbreaks.

    This week, Duterte showed less patience, threatening in a televised address on Monday to jail people who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

    About 2 million of the Philippines’ population of nearly 110 million are fully inoculated against COVID-19 so far, although the country has had difficulties securing vaccine supplies. read more

    A survey of 1,200 Filipinos in May by independent pollster Social Weather Stations showed only a third were willing to be vaccinated, while a third were hesitant over concerns about side effects or the overall efficacy of vaccines.

    The Philippines has ordered 113 million vaccination doses from five manufacturers, but so far it has mostly been giving shots of China’s Sinovac vaccine.

    In Sucat, housewife and another prize winner, Louilyn Tubice, said of the local initiative: “It’s delightful because you get to be vaccinated and also receive a bag of rice.”

  • Pakistan to receive 13 mln doses of Pfizer vaccine

    Pakistan to receive 13 mln doses of Pfizer vaccine

    Pakistan has made an agreement to procure 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer.

    An exact timeline was not yet available, health minister Faisal Sultan told Reuters, but said the doses would arrive by the end of 2021, under an agreement the government has made with the manufacturer.

    Pakistan has started a mass vaccination campaign late last month that is now open to all adults.

    On May 29, Pakistan received 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine through the COVAX facility, but authorities have only administered those to people who are immunocompromised and not suitable for other vaccines.

    Nearly 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country of 220 million people so far, with about 3.5 million people fully vaccinated, according to the National Command Operation Center, which is overseeing the pandemic response.

    Pakistan has primarily used Chinese vaccines – Sinopharm, CanSinoBio and Sinovac- in its inoculation drive and, earlier this month began allowing those under 40 to receive AstraZeneca, of which it has a limited supply meant for people traveling to countries that require it.

    Earlier this month Pakistan approved spending $1.1 billion on procuring vaccines, part of its goal to inoculate at least 70 million people.

  • Dual-antibody drugs effective against COVID-19 variants in new study

    Dual-antibody drugs effective against COVID-19 variants in new study

    COVID-19 therapies made from a cocktail of two types of antibodies were effective against a wide range of variants of the coronavirus in a mice and hamster study, the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reported on Monday.

    Antibodies are used to treat cases of COVID-19, often early in the process. Former U.S. President Donald Trump was treated by an antibody cocktail by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in October after he tested positive for COVID-19.

    The latest study included three of the four variants that have been designated “variants of concern” by the World Health Organization, including Alpha, first identified in the UK, Beta, first found in South Africa and Gamma found in Brazil, as well as an emerging variant from India similar to the Delta variant of concern.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April revoked the emergency use authorization of Eli Lilly’s single antibody therapy, bamlanivimab, saying there was increased circulation of variants resistant to the therapy when used alone. read more

    Other studies have previously shown that some antibody combination therapies remained potent against those emerging variants of the coronavirus that were resistant to single antibody therapies.

    The latest study found that combinations of two antibodies often retained potency against variants even when one of the two antibodies lost some or all ability to neutralize the variant in lab studies.

    The study, which was conducted in mice and hamsters, tested all single and combination antibody therapies authorized for emergency use by the FDA against emerging international and U.S. variants of the virus.

    The researchers evaluated the FDA authorized combination therapies made by Regeneron, Eli Lilly and a single antibody therapy, sotrovimab, by Vir Biotechnology and GlaxoSmithKline.

    They also assessed the antibodies currently in clinical trials by AbbVie, Vir and AstraZeneca.

    “Resistance arose with some of the monotherapies, but never with combination therapy,” study co-author Jacco Boon wrote.

  • LHC quashes woman’s life term conviction over killing 7-month niece

    LHC quashes woman’s life term conviction over killing 7-month niece

    LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday quashed life sentence to a woman charged of killing her 7-month old niece, ARY News reported.

    A bench of the high court in its decision on appeal of the accused declared conviction by a trial court as void and acquitted her over lack of evidence.

    Justice Muhammad Amjad Rafique in verdict said that the police was informed after seven hours of the incident and no justification was given for the delay.

    “The prosecution failed to take the cot and other concerned items in its possession”. “The police had not found traces of blood from the crime scene. The postmortem was not reported in the FIR. The failure in describing the postmortem is a major flaw in the case,” the court pointed out in the decision.

    “The postmortem of the child was conducted nine hours after the incident.”

    “The prosecution said that the child was killed with an iron rod, while the postmortem report said that the girl was thrown from the first floor of building,” the court observed.

    “The prosecution not produced mother of the child who was present,” the court said.

    “The trial court awarded the accused life sentence and Rs one lac fine.”

    “Accused woman had a land dispute with her brother due to which they were involved in water distribution dispute,” the court said.

    “Accused and her brother were also engaged in scuffle, which distressed the accused. The prosecution produced five witnesses against the accused. The woman however stated that she was being entrapped in the case to take her landed property,” the bench observed.

  • Woman gives birth to quadruplets at Rawalpindi hospital

    Woman gives birth to quadruplets at Rawalpindi hospital

    RAWALPINDI: A woman gave birth to quadruplets at Rawalpindi’s Benazir Bhutto Hospital.

    According to details, the 30-year-old woman hailing from Talagang tehsil of Chakwal district gave birth to the four babies (three females and one male).

    Sources at the hospital relayed that the babies were born by a Caesarean section. Her C-section remained successful and the mother and babies are doing well, they added.

    Also Read: Family withdraws claim of woman giving birth to 10 babies at a time

    Last month, a woman had given birth to quintuplets at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in Peshawar.

    A spokesman of the hospital said the woman gave birth to five children and all were boys. He said the condition of all the boys and their mother was stable.

    The happy family belonged to the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

  • Senate body opposes 17pc sales tax on gold jewelry

    Senate body opposes 17pc sales tax on gold jewelry

    ISLAMABAD: Standing Committee of the Senate on Finance Tuesday opposed the imposition of a 17 percent sales tax on gold jewelry, ARY NEWS reported.

    According to details, the matter was taken up with the standing committee on finance by the jewelry association, who said that imposing a 17 percent tax on gold jewelry items is inappropriate.

    “This committee completely supports the recommendation and will send it for approval to the chairman FBR,” the chairman of the Senate body said.

    It emerged during the meeting that the jewelers association have supported the idea of a 17 percent sales tax on the processing of jewelry.

    On June 18, Senate’s standing committee on Finance Friday raised questions over tax exemption to political parties and imposition of a tax on charity transactions in the Budget for 2021-22.

    Briefing the meeting on Friday, the FBR officials said that an exemption previously given to charitable institutions in the transfer of funds to them has been lifted in the current budget.

    “The tax will be paid by those giving the charity amount,” the FBR officials said. The Senate body, however, rejected the imposition of tax on charity amounts.

    Furthermore, the committee also raised questions on exempting funding to political parties from taxation and rejected the proposal made in the budget, currently in discussion at the Parliament.

    Senator Saleem Mandviwalla asked the FBR officials if political parties have asked for exemption in the transfer of funds to them. “We are being asked repeatedly by callers if political parties have sought exemption in this regard,” he said.

    The Senate body directed the authorities to take out political parties from the exemption schedule as Saleem Mandviwalla said that no political party submits tax returns.

  • Meghan Markle reveals hidden tribute to Diana in her book

    Meghan Markle reveals hidden tribute to Diana in her book

    Meghan Markle’s debut as a children’s book author is filled with meaningful hidden tributes to her and Prince Harry’s family.

    Joining the NPR Weekend Edition program on Sunday, the Duchess of Sussex talked about the “sweet little moments” tucked throughout her book, The Bench, that hit shelves on June 8.

    Inspired by a poem that Markle wrote for her husband Prince Harry on Father’s Day 2019,  the book also features an adorable albeit subtle to his mother, and her mother-in-law, the late Princess Diana.

     

    “I think you can find sweet little moments that we’ve tucked in there, from my favorite flower, even my husband’s mum’s favorite flower, forget-me-nots, we wanted to make sure they were included in there,” revealed Meghan Markle, sharing that “a lot of special detail and love” went into the book.

    The couple has once before offered a flowery tribute to Diana, as recalled by People; the Duke and Duchess marked Mother’s Day 2019 with a subtle tribute to the People’s Princess by sharing a picture of Markle holding baby Archie over a field of forget-me-nots, just days after giving birth to him.

     

     

    “Paying tribute to all mothers today – past, present, mothers-to-be, and those lost but forever remembered,” read the post on their Sussex Royal Instagram page that has since been abandoned by the couple.

  • PM Imran Khan orders action against FIA officials for neglecting harassment complaint

    PM Imran Khan orders action against FIA officials for neglecting harassment complaint

    ISLAMABAD: A woman who had to leave her university employment and allegedly attempted suicide after multiple harassment complaints on the citizen portal were not entertained by FIA has finally got relief from Prime Minister Imran Khan, ARY NEWS reported on Tuesday.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan while taking notice of the incident has directed DG FIA to immediately suspend the concerned officials who did not entertain five harassment-related complaints from the woman on the portal.


    The prime minister also directed strict action against the officials.

    The PM Office said that the woman had to leave her university job owing to harassment while she also allegedly committed suicide over lack of response from the FIA authorities.

    It emerged that complaints were lodged between 16 December 2019 to 13 June 2021, however, the officials neglected them despite reopening the matter twice.

    The issue came to the light after the woman reached out to Prime Minister House along with her husband. Taking notice of the matter, the prime minister delivery unit dispatched a letter to DG FIA over non-compliance of the complaints.

    Read More: Family showers praise on PM Khan as Citizen Portal helped recover kidnapped daughter

    “A high-level inquiry should be held to act against the officials,” the PM Office directed as Imran Khan ordered to provide immediate relief to the victim.

    The prime minister has also warned of strict action against officials taking complaints on the citizen portal in a non-serious manner. The PMO said that an inquiry report into the matter would be submitted to the prime minister by July 20.

  • Rs25bn money laundering charges: FIA quizzes Shehbaz Sharif

    Rs25bn money laundering charges: FIA quizzes Shehbaz Sharif

    LAHORE: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif appeared before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with its ongoing probe into alleged money laundering of Rs25 billion through the sugar mills owned by the Sharif family.

    A four-member team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) quizzed the PML-N president at the agency’s Lahore office for more than an hour.

    Also Read: Billions found in accounts of employees of Shehbaz’s son

    Sources told ARY News that the investigation team put as many as 20 questions to PML-N president and Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz, out of which he could answer only four. A large number of PML-N supporters gathered outside the FIA office to show solidarity to their leader.

    The opposition leader and his son Hamza Shehbaz Sharif have been accused of laundering Rs25 billion ill-gotten money using the Ramazan Sugar Mills and Al-Arabiya Sugar Mills.

    Also Read: Shehbaz Sharif, Hamza Shehbaz obtain pre-arrest bail before FIA appearance

    On Monday, both father-son duo obtained pre-arrest interim bail from the Lahore High Court (LHC) to avoid their arrest at the hands of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) during their hearing today. The court approved their bail against surety bonds worth Rs1 million each.

    Last year in December, the FIA team had interogated PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif inside Kot Lakhpat Jail. On April 23, he was released from jail after the Lahore High Court (LHC) approved his bail in a money laundering and assets beyond means case.

  • Steven Spielberg signs surprising film deal with Netflix

    Steven Spielberg signs surprising film deal with Netflix

    Netflix Inc added acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg to its roster with a joint announcement on Monday of a deal for his Amblin Partners production company to supply multiple movies a year for several years.

    The Academy Award-winning director of big-screen classics such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler’s List, and Saving Private Ryan will continue to direct and produce movies for Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures under a separate agreement.

    The new arrangement brings a high-profile name to the list of talent working with Netflix at a time when a host of competitors including Walt Disney Co and Amazon.com Inc are competing for streaming audiences.

    Steven Spielberg had been at odds with Netflix in recent years when he argued that movies seen primarily on television should be eligible for Emmys and not Oscars. He has spoken out about wanting to preserve the experience of seeing movies in theaters.

    “My entire life has been spent trying to give audiences something in a large, large forum,” Spielberg told Reuters in 2018. “I love the whole feeling of social interaction outside… Those are the kinds of audiences I like to talk to.”

    Netflix, which plans to release more than 70 movies this year, sends some of its films to theaters for limited runs. The company operates the world’s largest streaming service with nearly 209 million subscribers worldwide.

    In a statement, Steven Spielberg said discussions with Netflix Co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos showed “it was abundantly clear that we had an amazing opportunity to tell new stories together and reach audiences in new ways.”

    Amblin produces several movies beyond the ones that Spielberg directs himself.

    Recent Amblin projects included 2018 best picture winner Green Book and 2019 World War One drama 1917, both distributed by Universal. It is possible Steven Spielberg could direct some of Amblin’s movies provided to Netflix.

    The financial terms of Amblin’s deal with Netflix were not disclosed.