ISLAMABAD: All the four mobile phone companies and PTCL have warned the government that the proposed Rs0.75 federal excise duty on calls after five minutes is technically difficult to implement and may damage the service model of the telecom sector. The PTCL and four cellular mobile operators — Jazz, Telenor, Ufone and Zong4G — have in a letter to Finance Minister Shaukat …

INTERNET companies have yet again pushed back against Pakistan’s amended social media rules, noting that the most problematic provisions remain unchanged in the latest draft that they say has in fact “regressed” in comparison with previous versions. The third version of the social media rules, titled the ‘Removal of Unlawful Online Content Rules 2021’ was published by the Ministry of …

LONDON: Wimbledon returned on Monday after being called off in 2020 because of the pandemic, and so much felt rather familiar at the All England Club, from the rain that disrupted the schedule to the victory for Novak Djokovic. Much like the delays to competition around the grou­nds it took about four-and-half hours to begin play on the outside courts; …

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged Monday to strengthen health controls at airports after a Ugandan Olympic team member tested positive for Covid-19 at the town hosting their training camp, triggering concerns that the upcoming Games will spread infections. A Ugandan team member, reportedly a coach, tested positive on Saturday at Tokyo’s Narita airport and was quarantined there. But …

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka suspended three players on Monday, including vice-captain Kusal Mendis, and withdrew them from the upcoming One-day international series in England over a breach of their coronavirus (Covid-19) bio-secure bubble. Mendis and Niroshan Dick­wella were seen smoking in the streets of Chester-le-Street, where they are based ahead of first One-day international at the Riverside Ground on Tuesday. In …

LONDON: Alvaro Morata and Mikel Oyarzabal scored in extra time as Spain held off a remarkable Croatian fightback to win 5-3 in a pulsating Euro 2020 last 16 match in Copenhagen for a place in the quarter-finals. Spain gifted Croatia a bizarre own-goal in the first half and then threw away a 3-1 lead but the much-maligned Morata made it …

KARACHI: The stock market was rattled on Monday with the KSE-100 index tumbling by 601 points, or 1.26 per cent. The index could just manage to cling to the 47,000 level by fewer than four points and closed at 47,002. Several negative developments in the outgoing week sparked concerns among investors, most of whom thought it prudent to dump the …

KARACHI: The value of mobile banking, internet banking and e-commerce transactions have more than doubled during the third quarter current fiscal year (Q3FY21) compared to the same period in FY20, the State Bank said in its latest report issued on Monday. According to the Payment System Quarterly report, the number of internet and mobile banking users has increased significantly, up …

KARACHI/LAHORE: The gas crisis has deepened across the country as two state-owned companies on Monday announced complete closure of gas supply till July 5 to industries and CNG stations following a decline in gas availability, low pressure in the system and dry docking of LNG terminal. CNG stations in Sindh were to open from June 28 after the closure on …