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KARACHI: Pakistani start-ups raised a total of $23.1 million in eight deals in the January-March quarter, down 86.6 per cent from a year ago. However, the amount of quarterly funding rose 52.5pc from the preceding three-month period. The recovery from the trough of the last quarter of 2022 marks the reversal of a long trend. The haul of Pakistani start-ups in October-December was $15.2m, lowest since the first quarter of 2020 when the funding size amounted to just $5m. Statistics compiled by Data Darbar, a website that tracks investment flows into the country’s tech ecosystem, showed the quarterly improvement of 52.5pc was on a low base while the deal count remained flat. There was also an uptick in deal sizes as both the average and median levels posted some recovery and reached $3.85m and $3.25m, respectively. These numbers show one of the lowest gaps between average and median levels as the difference had widened significantly during the period of capital frenzy about a year ago.

KARACHI: At least 12 women and children were killed in a deadly crush at a Ramazan food and cash distribution centre, set up by a private company in Karachi on Friday, police and rescue officials said, as the country struggles with surging food prices. The stampede occurred when hundreds of women and children panicked and started pushing each other to collect food outside the F.K. Dyeing company in the Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate (SITE) industrial area, Fida Husain Janwari, Keamari’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), told Dawn. Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told Dawn that 11 people — three children and eight women — were among the dead. She said nine bodies were brought to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and two were brought to Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital. Later, the deputy inspector general of police (DIG) for Karachi’s south zone, Irfan Ali Baloch, told Dawn that another woman had died, bringing the number of deaths to 12. An Edhi Foundation spokesperson also said in a s

LAHORE: The high court on Friday stopped the handover of 45,267 acres of land on a lease to the Pakistan Army for the purposes of corporate farming. The Punjab caretaker government recently agreed to hand over the land in question to the army in three districts — Bhakkar, Khushab and Sahiwal — on a 20-year lease (with the possibility to extend it for another 10 years). The Public Interest Law Association of Pakistan (Pilap), a not-for-profit legal organisation, moved the LHC against the agreement and the subsequent notification issued by the caretaker government. They argued that the notification was illegal as the caretaker government of a province had no power under the Constitution to take such a decision. Giving away state land an ‘impermissible’ act under election law, argues lawyer On Friday, Justice Abid Hussain Chattha took up Pilap’s petition, filed through advocates Ahmad Rafay Alam and Fahad Malik. The counsel contended that the Punjab Colonies Department issued a no

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Friday cast doubt on the verdict — which is yet to to come — by the three-member Supreme Court bench hearing the petition against the postponement of polls in Punjab. A diminished Supreme Court bench — comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar — is currently hearing the PTI’s petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to postpone elections to the Punjab Assembly till Oct 8. The three-member bench was constituted after the original five-member bench was disbanded following the recusals of Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail. Earlier today, the three-member bench had rejected Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Awan’s request for the formation of a full court to hear the PTI’s petition. In a press talk from London, Nawaz was asked whether the three-member bench’s decision would be acceptable. “It is a straightforward thing. When the bench itse

LAHORE: Former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has said that the formation of the Supreme Court’s (SC) full bench will not change the constitutional matters, ARY News reported on Friday. Imran Khan made the statement while meeting PTI President Pervaiz Elahi at his Zaman Park residence today. Both leaders exchanged views on the election delay case being heard by the Supreme Court (SC). It was learnt that Pervaiz Elahi will also attend the PTI core committee’s meeting. READ: NAWAZ SHARIF CRITICISES EX-CJP SAQIB NISAR, SC JUDGES “It will change nothing if a full bench was constituted by the Supreme Court. The Constitution clearly stated to organise elections within 90 days.” During the meeting, Pervaiz Elahi said that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) is trying to divide the judiciary. He added that the nation will thwart the conspiracy against the top court. The former Punjab CM alleged that ‘a beggar prime minister’ forces the nation to

Hollywood star Keanu Reeves mouthed a total of only 380 words during the 169-minute run time of his latest release ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’. The revenge thriller, ruling the theatres, is an action spectacle with grand sequences and breathtaking stunts, however, do not expect Reeves to say many dialogues during three hours run time of the latest ‘John Wick’ film. Watch ARY News live on  live.arynews.tv As per an international report, counting the total number of dialogues by Reeves, the film featured 380 words in 169 minutes, in contrast to the 484 words in 101 minutes, on the first instalment. About 10% of those 380 words were featured in the 2.5 minutes trailer clip of the film.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by John Wick: Chapter 4 (@johnwickmovie) According to director Chad Stahelski, “Mr Reeves stripped out roughly half the dialogue written for his character in the initial script,” and his longest dialogue was with the ch

NEW YORK: Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, becoming the first former US president to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House. The specific charges are not yet known, as the indictment remains under seal. CNN on Thursday reported Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud. Trump said he was “completely innocent” and indicated he would not drop out of the 2024 presidential race. He accused Bragg, a Democrat, of trying to hurt his chances of winning re-election against Democratic President Joe Biden. “This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” he said in a statement. Shortly after, Trump appealed to supporters to provide money for a legal defense. He has raised over $2 million, according to his campaign, since he incorrectly predicted on March 18 that he would be arrested four days later. Trump, the front

ISLAMABAD: A surprise Tarbela operational plan from Wapda on Thursday came as a shock to the advisory committee of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) which could not even take up, let alone finalise the Water Availability and Distribution Plan for the Kharif season starting April 1. Interestingly, the Wapda authorities were part of the Irsa’s Technical Committee (ITC) meeting held on March 24 that had discussed criteria for estimated water shortages and availability during the coming season but did not apprise the meeting about any changes to its operational plan. The ITC had received from various stakeholders separate shortage estimates that ranged between 25 to 35 per cent. More shockingly, the members for water and power of Wapda who are permanent members of the Irsa’s Advisory Committee (IAC) did not attend the meeting on Thursday that had been called specifically for finalising the water distribution plan for the upcoming season based on estimated water availability and sho

ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has warned the general public about unregistered and fraudulent lenders operating through mobile applications. An inquiry initiated by the CCP over the subject has shown that such apps constantly change their premises and whereabouts as well as the undertakings behind such operations. However, the CCP said it is necessary to alert the public about the issues identified and ways to avoid them until the probe is underway. “To avoid falling prey to such activities, it is important for the public to be aware that there have been instances where recovery agents have given their personal account details instead of the lender’s valid account,” the CCP said. As a result, the payments were not adjusted against the repayment and caused further inconvenience to borrowers, it added. These applications, available on Google PlayStore and AppStore, offer short-term micro-credits to borrowers but are currently facing numerous complaints and c

• 38 posts of judges lying vacant, state minister says JCP not convened in a long time • Lawmakers protest withdrawal of power subsidy to textile industry ISLAMABAD: The performance and working of the judiciary came under scrutiny of the National Assembly for the second consecutive day when the house was informed that over 380,000 cases were pending before the Supreme Court and all the five high courts of the country. During the alternate private member’s day, the lawmakers also protested over the government’s move to withdraw subsidy on power tariff for the textile industry as per conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Both the issues came up under discussion during the Question Hour and lawmakers, who had lashed out at the judiciary during the sitting on Monday at the time of the passage of the controversial bill clipping the suo motu power of the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), once again consumed significant time on discussing reasons for the huge backlog of cas

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Major Retired Ghulam Sarwar has filed an application for the registration of the First Information Report (FIR) against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, ARY News reported on Thursday. The PTI leader lodged a complaint against Rana Sanaullah at the Kaswal police station. Sarwar stated in his application that the interior minister gave death threats to PTI chief Imran Khan in an interview and an FIR should be lodged against him. On Tuesday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that he didn’t issue life threat but talked of the political existence. He was talking to media in Gujranwala after attending hearing of a case against him in an anti-terrorism court (ATC). READ: RANA SANAULLAH’S ARREST WARRANTS SUSPENDED IN TERRORISM CASE Interior Minister said that Imran Khan and democracy could not walk side by side. “His political being should be removed from Pakistan’s politics with the power of vote,” Sanaullah said. Federal minister said that I

PARIS: One of the largest black holes ever recorded has been discovered using a new technique that could spot thousands more of the insatiable celestial monsters in the coming years, according to astronomers. The ultramassive black hole, one of just four ever observed, is more than 30 billion times the mass of the sun, a new study said. It is the first black hole ever observed using a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, in which light travelling towards us from a distant galaxy appears to magnify and bend inwards, giving away the presence of a dark giant. James Nightingale, an astronomer at the UK’s Durham University and the study’s lead author, told AFP the process was “similar to shining light through the base of a wine glass”. He said it was “very fortuitous” that the light of a galaxy in the distant universe travelled extremely close to this black hole, which is roughly two billion light years from Earth. It could even be the biggest black hole ever recorded, but it was d

PESHAWAR: Bureaucrats threatened a pen-down strike across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday accusing information minister Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel of overstepping his powers by trying to occupy the office of additional secretary of the department Arshad Khan. The minister claimed that he visited the secretary’s office and wanted to sit on his chair but the latter didn’t allow that prompting him to step out and go to the office of the director-general (public relations). “I held the same chair during an earlier visit to the office,” he told Dawn . Mr Kakakhel alleged that the province’s bureaucracy had a tilt to the former ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). Minister Kakakhel claims secy denying him record of official cars Official sources claimed that the DG was away but still, the minister occupied his chair. The minister said he had sought details of official vehicles used by officers of his department, but the records weren’t shared. “I want to see how many official vehi

ISLAMABAD: The Constitution does not grant unilateral and arbitrary power to the country’s top judge to list cases for hearing, form special benches and select judges, Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday. He proposed that cases under Article 184(3) of the Constitution be postponed until amendments were made to Supreme Court Rules 1980 regarding the chief justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) discretionary powers to form benches. “With respect, the Chief Justice cannot substitute his personal wisdom with that of the Constitution,” Justice Isa said in his remarks, part of a 12-page judgement he authored. “Collective determination by the Chief Justice and judges of the Supreme Court can also not be assumed by an individual, albeit the Chief Justice,” he said. Justice Isa was heading a three-judge special bench, which was formed by CJP Bandial, to hear a suo motu case related to the award of an additional 20 marks to candidates for memorising the Holy Quran by heart

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced new funding to bolster democracies around the world amid criticism his administration has made little progress in advancing human rights and democracy as a focus of its foreign policy. Biden announced he planned $690 million in funding to help fight corruption, support free and fair elections and advance technologies that support democratic governments at a second White House-led Summit for Democracy. He announced over $400 million for similar programmes in 2021 when he last held such an event. “We’re turning the tide here. As we often say, we’re at an inflection point in history here, when the decisions we make today are going to affect the course of our world for the next several decades for certain,” Biden said. Rights advocates say there is little evidence the countries joining the summit have made progress on improving their democracies, and that there is no formal mechanism to hold participants to the modest commitment

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has notified October 8 as the date for provincial elections for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, it emerged on Wednesday. The ECP notification, available with Dawn.com and dated March 27, said the election programme would be issued in a due course of time. It means that the electoral watchdog has pushed the KP election to the same date to which it postponed the elections for the Punjab Assembly — a matter that has since been taken to the Supreme Court. The ECP’s decision came after KP Gover­­nor Ghulam Ali on Friday proposed Oct 8 for elections in his province as well. The Supreme Court on March 1 had ruled that elections in KP and Punjab should be held within 90 days, after the dissolution of provincial assemblies in January, or on a date that “deviates to the barest minimum” from the constitutional deadline. The KP governor, in his fourth letter to the ECP — seen by Dawn — had invited the commission’s attention to several militant a

President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday acknowledged that there was “some need to streamline” Supreme Court’s internal matters but questioned the timing as well as the manner of the government’s bid to curtail the chief justice’s power to take suo motu notice in an individual capacity among other things. Earlier in the day, the National Assembly passed the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure), Bill 2023’s passing after it was presented by Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar. Regarding exercising the apex court’s original jurisdiction, the bill said that any matter invoking the use of Article 184(3) would first be placed before a Supreme Court committee comprising the CJP and two most senior judges. “If the committee is of the view that a question of public importance with reference to enforcement of any of the fundamental rights conferred by Chapter I of Part II of the Constitution is involved, it shall constitute a bench comprising not less than three judges of th

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has deferred the hearing of suo motu cases and other constitutional petitions under Article 184(3) till the formulation of rules, ARY News reported on Wednesday. Justice Qazi Faez Isa-led three-member bench of the Supreme Court gave its ruling in a suo motu case related to awarding 20 additional marks to the Hafiz-e-Quran students for medical admission. As per the 9-page ruling written by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the hearing of all cases under Article 184(3) was deferred until the formulation of rules by the parliament. He stated in the ruling that the Constitution and rules barred the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) from constituting a special bench. READ: NA PASSES JUDICIAL REFORMS BILL TO CLIP CJP’S SUO MOTU POWERS It added that the rules are present for hearing the petitions under Article 184(3), whereas, regulations were not present for fixing the suo motu cases and constitution of benches. The judges in the SC bench decided to postpone the h

Indian television actor, Vivian Dsena, best known for the vampire series ‘Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani’ , confirms converting to Islam back in 2019. There was a lot of buzz around the religion and marriage of the actor ever since he distanced himself from the spotlight. Speaking to an Indian tabloid recently, Vivian Dsena cleared the air and confirmed that he embraced Islam in Ramadan of 2019. Watch ARY News live on  live.arynews.tv “Nothing much has changed in my life. I was born Christian, and I follow Islam now,” Dsena told the interviewer. “I find a lot of peace and solace in praying five times a day. So, here I put all the unsought speculations to rest.”   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Vivian Dsena (@viviandsena) Moreover, he confirmed his marriage to Nouran Aly and disclosed being a father to a four-month-old daughter. “Yes, I am married and have a four-month-old daughter. What’s the big deal about it, and how is this any

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court was informed on Tuesday that 29 criminal cases had been registered against former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan in the federal capital. The state counsel told IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq that PTI chief was nominated in 28 first information reports (FIRs) by the capital police while the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) also booked him in one case. Justice Farooq was hearing a petition seeking details of the cases registered against the PTI chief in Islamabad’s police stations. According to report submitted to the court, out of 28 FIRs, one has been quashed, investigation is in process in seven cases and trial is under progress in 20 cases. It said the FIA has registered a case against Mr Khan under Foreign Exchange Act and this matter is pending before the Special Court on Offences in Banks. According to the report, police registered 15 cases against the former premier on a single day, on May 26 last year. An FIR

CIUDAD JUAREZ: At least 39 migrants from Central and South America died after a fire broke out at a migrant holding centre in the Mexican northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, the government’s National Migration Institute (INM) said on Tuesday. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the blaze apparently broke out after migrants set fire to mattresses in protest after discovering they would be deported. “They didn’t think that would cause this terrible tragedy,” Lopez Obrador told a news conference, noting that most migrants at the facility were from Central America and Venezuela. President Obrador says asylum seekers apparently burnt mattresses to stop being deported There were 68 adult men from Central and South America staying at the facility in the city opposite El Paso, Texas, the INM said in a statement. Twenty-nine of them were injured in the blaze and taken to four hospitals in the area. Those who died included migrants from Guatemala and Honduras, a Mexican

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ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar on Tuesday presented the judicial reforms bill which aimed to curtail the suo motu powers of the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), ARY News reported. Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar tabled the judicial reforms bill to the National Assembly (NA) after its approval from the federal cabinet. Under the new legislation, the decision for suo motu notice will be taken by three senior judges of the Supreme Court (SC) and they will have to fix the appeal within 14 days. READ: FEDERAL CABINET APPROVES DRAFT LAW TO CURTAIL CJP SUO MOTU POWERS The new legislation will end sole power of the chief justice to take the suo motu notice. It was also stated that the judiciary will be bound to fix the hearing of the case within 15 days to provide immediate and interim relief. It added that the party will be allowed to change its lawyer in a suo motu case. Under Article 184, the matter will be presented before a judges committee. The com