Tag Archives: In a first

Thailand will use AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine as a second dose for those who received Sinovac’s shot as their first dose in a bid to increase protection, it said on Monday. The move is the first publicly announced mix-and-match of a Chinese vaccine and a Western-developed shot, as a new preliminary Thai study raised doubts about the longer-term protection of …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top tax machinery on Saturday claimed to have crossed Rs4.143 trillion in 11 months of the current fiscal year against Rs3.536tr collected over the corresponding months of last year indicating a revival of economic activities in the country. More revenue ranging between Rs15bn and Rs20bn will come into the government kitty in the last two days (May 30-31) …

KARACHI: For the first time in the country’s financial history, the private sector on Thursday issued Sharia-compliant domestic bonds worth 3.1 billion with the aim to promote the housing sector. The Pakistan Mortgage Refinance Company (PMRC) issued Rs3.1bn sukuk bonds for a period of three years at the rate of 8.25 per cent. The sukuk was jointly led by Pak …

Twitter has labelled a tweet by the IT head of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as “manipulated media”. Indian media reports on Wednesday said the flagging of Amit Malviya’s tweet about police action during an ongoing farmers’ protest near the capital Delhi was the first instance of Twitter proceeding against “fake news” in India. In the tweet in question, …

GWADAR: A ship carrying 16,400 tonnes of DAP fertiliser for Afghanistan anchored at the Gwadar Port on Friday. The ship brought fertiliser from Australia under the Pak-Afghan Transit Trade Agreement. This is the first time Gwadar port is being used for import of urea by the Afghan government. The chairman of Gwadar Port Authority, Naseer Ahmed Kashani, said that with …

The United States Department of Transportation has granted permission to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to conduct direct flights to the US, the airline’s spokesman Abdullah Hafeez confirmed on Thursday. This is the first time Pakistan’s national flag carrier will be operating direct flights to the US. Hafeez said before the 9/11 attacks, PIA planes did not have the capacity to …

PESHAWAR: In an unprecedented move, the local government department has appointed a college teacher as the head of the province’s only local governance training institute ignoring its more than 20 senior officers awaiting posting. The Local Governance School has been led by senior officials of the department with expertise in local body system since it became functional around 20 years …

ISLAMABAD: For the first time in the judicial history of the country, the Supreme Court of Pakistan will on Monday put into use the e-Court system under which its registries in the provinces would be connected through the latest technology to its principal seat in the federal capital. According to a statement issued on Thursday by the apex court’s public …

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi took to his Twitter account to boast that Port Qasim Authority “made history” on Saturday by berthing two LNG vessels in the same day. The two vessels – the Al Ghashamiya flagged in the Marshall Islands and Gaslog Singapore flagged in Bermuda – began their voyage from Qatar, according to the …