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July 2010

Pakistan world leader in porn searches: Google

Pakistan has banned content on more than a dozen websites because of offensive and blasphemous material. The Muslim country, which has laws on dress codes, ranks as the top country to proportionally search for certain sex-related terms, writes Kelli Morgan at FoxNews.com.

The Muslim country, which has banned content on at least 17 websites to block offensive and blasphemous material, is the world’s leader in online searches for pornographic material, FoxNews.com has learned.

“You won’t find strip clubs in Islamic countries. Most Islamic countries have certain dress codes,” said Gabriel Said Reynolds, professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Notre Dame. “It would be an irony if they haven’t shown the same vigilance to pornography.”

So here’s the irony: Google ranks Pakistan No. 1 in the world in searches for pornographic terms, outranking every other country in the world in searches per person for certain sex-related content.Read More »Pakistan world leader in porn searches: Google

36 online vehicle registration centres set up in Punjab

Associated Press of Pakistan

Rawalpindi: Excise and Taxation department has established a total of 36 online registration centres in Punjab , Secretary Excise and Taxation Punjab Shamail Ahmed Khawaja said on Tuesday.

Addressing businessmen at Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industries (RCCI) premises here, he said a total of 3.5 million vehicles have so far been registered in the province and all the details regarding the legality of the vehicles can be seen on the department’s website.

The system of property tax collection is being simplified and traders/shopkeepers would be facilitated in this regard, he said and added that Capital Value Tax and Property Tax amount would be spent in the areas from where these taxes are collected.Read More »36 online vehicle registration centres set up in Punjab

Pak Economy: Inflation surpasses government’s target

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By Javed Mirza

KARACHI: Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 11.73 percent in 2009/10, surpassing the government’s target of 10 percent, mainly because of unprecedented increase in the electricity tariff.

It was, however, below the central bank’s projection of 12 percent. In the last financial year, CPI had gone up by 21 percent.

“CPI could have been contained to a single digit figure if the electricity charges had not been raised during the year,” said an analyst.

The government had to raise electricity prices because of a commitment with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Food inflation came down to 14.48 percent from over 30 percent in the previous fiscal. Read More »Pak Economy: Inflation surpasses government’s target

US can win Al-Qaeda war by just $50 million

By Zahid Malik (President and Editor-in-Chief Pakistan Observer)

The United States is caught in a Catch-22 situation vis-à-vis war on terror and is looking for some face saving mechanism to get out of the mess which has mind-boggling costs not only for the US but also for its allies. Defence analysts in Washington now openly say that the US war against Al-Qaeda, following 9/11 attacks on Twin Towers, has reached at a stage where Pentagon finds itself caught in a quagmire.

According to dependable estimates by some of the US think-tanks, the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has reached $ 1.05 trillion. Even after adjusting for inflation, that’s four times more than America spent on fighting World War I, and more than 10 times the cost of 1991’s Gulf War (90 per cent of which was paid by the US allies), the war on terror looks set to surpass the cost incurred on the Korean and Vietnam wars combined, to be topped only by World War II’s price tag of $3.5 trillion.
Read More »US can win Al-Qaeda war by just $50 million

Pakistan Politics: Which of our politicians has the ‘essential ten qualities’?

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 A politician or member of parliament is basically a representative of his countrymen and his own family. History has countless evidences where almost all the major changes to take place on our planet, whether good or bad, have come due to the acts of politicians.

According to Vicki Bourne, a former Australian senator, a good politician needs ten qualities. The first quality of a politician is that he must be humble and know that there is no positional power. The politician must be aware of how little power he has individually and that true power is only a product of collective action. Vicki said the second quality of a politician is that he must be nice to others and keep people on his side for he may need their support at any time.Read More »Pakistan Politics: Which of our politicians has the ‘essential ten qualities’?

Dr Kanwal wins best research paper award

Lahore: Punjab University’s Chairperson Department of Library and Information Sciences (DLIS) Prof Dr Kanwal Ameen’s research paper has been chosen as an Outstanding Paper Award Winner at the Emerald Literati Network Award of Excellence 2010.

Every year Emerald invites each journal’s Editorial team to nominate what they believe has been that title’s Outstanding Paper and up to three highly commended papers from the previous 12 months. Dr Ameen’s paper entitled “Information and digital literacy: A stumbling block to development? A Pakistan perspective”, published in Library Management, has been included among award winning papers.
Read More »Dr Kanwal wins best research paper award

Little concern for Pakistani youth

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HUZAIMA BUKHARI & DR IKRAMUL HAQ

Every society tends to ignore its more troublesome characteristics. Most often, they are taken for granted because their recognition would be painful for those who want to maintain the status quo. There is nothing surprising, then, if the rulers in this country show little concern when their actions subject the citizens to the greatest psychological strains.

This indifference is usually disguised by a kind of rhetoric, which prevents real understanding of the situation. Against this background, let us look at the problems of the youth in Pakistan. From different platforms (official as well non-official), young men and women are told that they live in a God-given country, achieved in the name of Islam after sacrificing thousands of lives in a long struggle against the infidels.
Read More »Little concern for Pakistani youth

FIA’s cyber crime circle arrests 5 hackers

By Shakeel Anjum

ISLAMABAD: The cyber crime circle of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a crackdown against website hackers arrested five hackers active in various areas of the country including Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

According to the FIA sources, the operation was conducted on receiving complaints from the national and multi-national organizations regarding hacking of their websites. Taking notice of increasing number of websites hacking cases, Director Cyber Crimes in FIA Shahid Nadeem Baloch constituted a team under the supervision of Additional Director Muhammad Idrees Mian. Sub-Inspector of Police Station Cyber Crime Circle Rawalpindi/Islamabad Muhammad Raza with the help of technical officers Aun Abbas and Amjad Abbasi unearthed notorious hackers’ group namely ‘Pakbugs’ and arrested five hackers belonging to the group from various parts of the country while taking the computers and other related equipment involved in various cyber crimes into possession. Read More »FIA’s cyber crime circle arrests 5 hackers