Grey trafficking countered successfully

 Trafficking countered 

 The government claimed on Friday that grey trafficking is successfully being countered as the number of white traffic increased from 400 million to 1.6 billion minutes. "With effective policy intervention, the menace of grey trafficking has successfully been countered as the white traffic crossed the mark of 1.6 billion minutes from less than 400 million minutes", said Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman while addressing the Youth Parliament's special session on state of E-Governance and IT in Pakistan. The minister said that government is committed to provide connectivity to un-served and under-served areas of the country by December 2018. Anusha Rehman said that the ministry brought 3G /4G in the country and got international recognition for most transparent spectrum auction. "We have witnessed a phenomenal increase in ratio of broadband penetration which is currently surpassing 24% from less than 3% within shortest span of two years", she said. The minister said that Pakistan's free-lancers in the field of IT have been ranked number 4 in the world. Pakistan is aggressively pursuing an accelerated digitalisation programme to spur socio-economic growth in the country, she added. She said that recently launched ICT for Girls Programme was aimed at passing on the benefits of ICT to the less privileged section of society. Anusha said that under the programme girls from marginalized sections are being trained on coding and computing with the partnership of Microsoft to increase their employability potential. Besides, under Universal Service Fund the government is spending billions of rupees to provide telecom and broadband facilities to un-served and under-served areas of the country, she added. Different programmes have been designed and multiple projects have been undertaken to achieve the goals set forth by the federal government. Under the USF program, broadband programme was initiated to provide broadband internet services in the urban areas of 2nd and 3rd tier cities. USF has provided internet connectivity to 449,896 subscribers in 406 towns and established 1328 educational broadband centers and 369 community broadband centers. Rural Telephony & e-Services (RTeS) programme has been the main programme of USF whereby both last mile and backhaul components of telecommunication infrastructure have been provisioned in un-served areas. The programme has transformed from provision of basic telephony and data services to mobile broadband internet and telephony (3G/4G) services. Basic telephony and data services have so far been provided to 4,297 mauzas. The minister said on one hand the government is providing connectivity to the people of un-served /under-served areas while on the other working on the affordability and accessibility of these services. So that people of these marginalized areas could get equal benefits of technological advancement in the country." To enhance financial and digital inclusion, government is considering a pilot project to distribute 30000 Smartphones with Rs 250 balance per month among the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) beneficiaries along with 3G services in the un-served and under-served areas of Balochistan and FATA. She said objective of the program is to give access to the basic E-Services to these women living in rural areas. She said that with strenuous efforts of years, the ministry brought a comprehensive piece of legislation in the shape of cyber crime Act. "We have given 21 new rights to the people of Pakistan with this new legislation.

Alia Bhatt can’t hide her excitement for sharing screen

Alia Bhatt 

Alia Bhatt after her debut project “Student of the Year” in 2012 has delivered impressive performances in films like “Highway”, “2 States”, “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania”, “Kapoor and Sons” and “Udta Punjab”. Now Alia is glowing with joy upon working with superstar Shah Rukh Khan who she admires for his professionalism in “Dear Zindagi”.
Alia is over the moon for sharing the screen with King Khan in Gaure Shinde’s Dear Zindagi for the first time in her career.
According to IANS, Alia told them over the phone: “It was absolutely amazing (experience of working with Shahrukh). It was such a beautiful experience to work with him. He is so professional, I admire him as a worker so much because he is so good to work with and be around on the sets.”
Furthermore, the ‘Highway’ star also settled all the rumours about the special appearance of King Khan by saying “If you remove Shahrukh Khan from Dear Zindagi then there is no film. In that way you can say that he is a very integral part of the film.”
Sharing her excitement about the movie, the ‘Udta Punjab’ actress said, “ending the year with a SRK film is like cherry on the cake” and she can’t wait for the people to see the film.

Apple hit with record EU tax bill

  Apple hit with record EU tax bill

The EU ordered tech giant Apple on Tuesday to pay a record 13 billion euros in back taxes in Ireland, a move Washington warned could damage hugely important transatlantic economic ties. Brussels said Apple, the world''s most valuable company, avoided virtually all tax on its business in the bloc by illegal arrangements with Dublin which gave the company an unfair advantage over competitors. Apple and the Irish government immediately said they would appeal against the European Commission ruling, with the iPhone maker warning it could cost European jobs. The White House meanwhile cautioned against "unilateral" measures by the EU. The company''s shares lost some of their shine after the ruling, down 0.7 percent in early afternoon trading, making for a more than 3 percent loss over the past two weeks ahead of the highly anticipated ruling. "This decision sends a clear message. Member states cannot give unfair tax benefits to selected companies, no matter if European or foreign, large or small," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said. "The Commission''s investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years," she added. Ireland has attracted multinationals over many years by offering extremely favourable sweetheart tax deals to generate much-needed jobs and investment. But after a three-year investigation Brussels said the arrangement with Apple broke EU laws on state aid. The findings come amid growing tensions between Washington and Brussels over a series of EU anti-trust investigations targeting other giant US companies such as Google, Amazon, McDonald''s, Starbucks and Fiat Chrysler. Apple has had a base in the southern city of Cork since 1980 and employs nearly 6,000 people in Ireland, through which it routes its international sales totalling billions.

After Priyanka and Deepika Nargis Fakhri knocks on Hollywood’s doors

Priyanka and Deepika Nargis Fakhri

Bollywood actress Nargis Fakhri, with her stunning looks and well-toned physique, has earned herself a huge fan following. This beauty is making name for herself slowly but surely, her next destination appears to be Hollywood as she has signed for Rajkumar Rao’s upcoming movie “5 weddings”.
According to Indian media reports, the Namrata Singh Gujral directorial also features Bo Derek and Candy Clark.
Rajkumar Rao is extremely excited and delighted at the same time for the upcoming venture.
“Namrata saw some of my work on Netflix and other platforms following which I was approached to play the leading man who's a cynical cop with Punjab Police,” said Rajkumar.
"A production house from Los Angeles got in touch with me. I liked the script and the whole idea. Then I spoke to the director and I came on board. It's a feature film and Nargis and I are together in the film," Rajkummar told IANS.
"The role fits really well for her because she will be seen as an Indian girl raised in the US, so I feel it suits her. I am looking forward to work with her," said the National Award winning actor.
Rajkumar also created a suspense about 5 times wedding. It is remain secret that in film who will merry 5 times.
Nargis Fakhri, who made her acting debut in the 2011 with romantic drama 'Rockstar' was last seen opposite Emraan Hashmi in “Azhar” and Abhishek Bachchan in “Housefull 3”. She will also be seen in Riteish Deshmukh's upcoming film 'Banjo'.

WhatsApp to share user data with Facebook

 Facebook:

WASHINGTON    (August 29, 2016) : Mobile messaging service WhatsApp on Thursday announced it would begin sharing subscriber data with parent Facebook, giving advertisers better access to information on WhatsApp's one billion-strong user base. The company said the change would allow Facebook to target advertising at WhatsApp users who are also on the social media platform, and help WhatsApp fight spam on its service. But the move was sure to raise eyebrows among privacy advocates. "By connecting your phone number with Facebook's systems, Facebook can offer better friend suggestions and show you more relevant ads if you have an account with them," WhatsApp said in a statement. "For example, you might see an ad from a company you already work with, rather than one from someone you've never heard of." Microsoft's popular calling and messaging platform Skype, a WhatsApp competitor, already serves up advertising to users. WhatsApp said the change would not involve third-party banner adds or other undesirable content. The decision comes four months after WhatsApp rolled out strong end-to-end encryption as a default feature for all users, saying this made the content of their communications impenetrable to all but those sending or receiving a given message. "Even as we co-ordinate more with Facebook in the months ahead, your encrypted messages stay private and no one else can read them. Not WhatsApp, not Facebook, nor anyone else," the company said. Facebook acquired WhatsApp in February 2014 for $16 billion. 

WhatsApp, Viber and Skype | PTA may regulate mobile apps and OTT services

WhatsApp, Viber and Skype :

  ISLAMABAD    (August 16, 2016) : Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is considering regulating the mobile apps and Over the Top (OTT) services such as WhatsApp, Viber and Skype, etc, Sources said the model for delivery of Internet-based VoIP and other OTT services is fundamentally different from the earlier model in which services were embedded in the network. Therefore, most regulatory regimes designed in accordance with the earlier model are not satisfactory when applied in this context. The proposed revision to the licensing framework will address this issue in the long term. PTA is working on a framework through which it hopes to be able to regulate mobile apps and OTT services. PTA has constituted a committee which is working on the said framework to be shared with stakeholders including telecom operators as soon as it is ready. The committee was tasked to formulate recommendations through which OTT services, mainly the mobile apps, will be brought under regulation in Pakistan. PTA said that all efforts for getting a framework for regulating OTT are driven by the Telecom Policy 2015 that the Ministry of Information Technology approved and issued. Telecom Policy 2015 said the framework will enable the government to make sure that such mobile apps are in line with national interests and do not hurt telecom sector's (operators) interests. Officials said there is an immediate requirement to regulate services such as VoIP and other voice services that are partial or full substitutes for the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network, particularly when the services are provided by unlicensed service providers either in Pakistan or in other countries. PTA, in consultation with federal government and stakeholders, will develop appropriate regulatory framework to treat VoIP and other OTT services. The framework will take account of the possibility that service providers offering such services may preferably install equipment in Pakistan where possible, the rapidity of development of such services, the extensive range of such services, the potential requirements for scarce resources (eg numbers), requirements for access to emergency services, requirements for lawful interception, cooperation with Law Enforcement Agencies, data retention obligations on operators, impact on operator networks, and where appropriate, the requirement for interconnection with the equivalent embedded or OTT. Taking into account the globally emerging revenue sharing arrangements between local licensees and OTT players, for offering better than normal best-effort or differentiated version of the services, licensed access providers will be free to enter into mutual agreements with the service providers enabling them to monetize OTT service delivery on mutually agreed terms. New regulatory framework may also incorporate revenue sharing arrangements between local licensees (telcos for instance) and OTT players (WhatsApp, Skype, Viber, etc), for offering differentiated version of the services (free and paid) so that licensed businesses could enter into mutual agreements with OTT service providers to monetize OTT service delivery on mutually agreed terms. According to the sources, US and India also framed such regulations and are in implementation phases.

latest entertainment info Fawad Khan finds new fan in Anil Kapoor

Fawad Khan finds new fan in Anil Kapoor :

The fan following which Fawad Khan enjoys in India has been unmatched and now Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor has joined the long list of Fawad Khan’s fans across the border.
In an interview with BBC Urdu, the 59-year-old actor, who launched Fawad through his film ‘Khoobsurat’ along with his daughter Sonam Kapoor commended his sharp looks and said he thinks the actor is very good looking.
"He is extremely handsome and works really well. I wish he gets success, not just in Bollywood but worldwide," said the ‘Mr. India’ actor.
He also expressed disappointment over Neerja's ban in Pakistan and said, "I'm sad the film wasn't released in Pakistan. I am unaware of the reasons it hasn't been able to release in Pakistan."
Anil went on suggesting the Pakistan natives to watch the thriller drama, "But I'm sure people would have managed to watch it on DVD or on internet," said the ‘Dil Dhadkane Do’ actor.
Considering his fan following in Pakistan, Anil Kapoor also sent a big shout out to his Pakistani fans thanking them for their love and support.