(Image Source: DC File Image)Visakhapatnam: Education minister Botsa Satyanarayana charged TD president N. Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan with making baseless allegations against the YSRC government. Addressing a press conference in Visakhapatnam YSRC office on Saturday, he accused Chandrababu Naidu of blaming the YSRC government for his complete failure as chief minister in his previous term. "Naidu mortgaged the Special Category Status (SCS) and got a special package from union finance minister, calling it a great achievement. He is now blaming the YSRC government for failing to get the SCS," Botsa pointed out. The minister said the onus is on Chandrababu Naidu to prove that there had been no hunger deaths or suicides by farmers during his rule.

Governor Sindh Kamran Tesori is administering the oath of office to the 10-member caretaker cabinet on Saturday, August 19, 2023. SCREENGRABIn a significant step towards transitional governance, the swearing-in ceremony of the caretaker Sindh cabinet took place at the historic Governor's House in Karachi on Saturday. Governor Sindh Kamran Tesori administered the oath of office to the 10-member caretaker cabinet. The caretaker cabinet is expected to oversee the governance of the province during the period leading up to the next general elections. Following the oath-taking, both Governor Sindh Kamran Tesori and Caretaker Chief Minister Maqbool Baqar extended their warm congratulations to the newly inducted cabinet members.

Afghanistan, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo , Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Syria, and South Sudan were listed as the top 10 countries in need of humanitarian aid. Afghanistan, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Syria, and South Sudan were listed as the top 10 countries in need of humanitarian aid. Due to the civil war that has been going on in Syria since March 2011, the number of people in need of humanitarian aid remains high. Outside these countries, 152.3 million more people needed humanitarian aid. Nearly 9,000 tons of humanitarian aid was delivered to Pakistan on 15 planes, 13 kindness trains, and two "kindness ships."

Now, the rupee is just around Rs3 away from the record low of Rs299/$. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)’s data, the currency depreciated 0.29%, or Rs0.86, to Rs295.78 against the greenback. Otherwise, an improvement in the country’s foreign currency reserves on a week-on-week basis and a drop in oil prices in the world market would have lent support to the rupee. The foreign exchange reserves, held by the SBP, slightly improved by $12 million to $8.05 billion in the week ended on August 11, 2023. The central bank kept REER around 95-96 in the past when the reserves provided three months of import cover in mid-2022 compared to the two-month import cover now.

The communal riots in mid-2018 and the Pulwama attack in February 2019 appeared to be a game changer for the BJP. Nuh district administration already predicted communal violence at Mewat. The administration still allowed the Yatra to pass through Mewat, resulting in full-scale communal violence and dozens of fatalities. Gurugram, in proximity to Nuh, fell next prey to fires of communal violence ignited in Nuh. These poorly contained communal incidents draw attention to the state’s intentional negligence and silent complicity in exacerbating the problem.

But do we genuinely love our country, or is this day just a festival to be cele­brated? We all know that our country is in a fragile state right now, but who is re­sponsible for this? If the system is not working right, we are not doing things right be­cause we are part of it. Why can’t we turn a new leaf in our country to change it for the better? This Independence Day, let us make a commitment to relinquish one of our negative habits for the advancement of our nation.

Akhtar, a former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), has been appointed as the interim finance minister for the second time. Earlier, she was the finance minister during the 2018 caretaker setup and left behind an economic roadmap for the new government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Unlike the constitutional limit of three months, it seems the caretaker setup will continue for a longer period and the establishment will look for options to extend the term. The caretaker setup had suggested to the PTI government to take these “reform measures within three weeks”, if it wanted to avoid recourse to the IMF. The Ministry of Finance stated that Dr Shamshad Akhtar on Thursday officially took over the responsibility of caretaker finance minister.

From The Tribune staff reportsOXFORD — The Oxford Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in locating Chyann Elise Woodard and Isaiah Lathan Formby. Chyann is a 15 year old white female and may be in danger. She was last seen on August 18 at approximately 12 a.m. in the area of Ivy Place in Oxford. She is 5-feet, 3-inches tall and weighs 160 pounds and may be in the company of Isaiah Formby. Isaiah Lathan Formby is a 15 year old white male.

Recently, the spotlight turned towards singer Shae Gill, who was yet to share a response regarding the tragic Faisalabad attacks on the Christian community. Responding to the mounting pressure, Shae has since taken to her Instagram to share her perspective on the attacks, shedding light on her feelings and advocating for change. "I found out about the hate crimes happening in Faisalabad this afternoon," wrote Shae. The Pasoori singer further shared, "I'm praying for this injustice to end. I am so sorry that the Christian community had to go through something so horrible in a Pakistan that Jinnah made.

From The Tribune staff reportsUS — German supermarket ALDI acquires Winn-Dixie parent company Southeastern Grocers. The deal includes over 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores across the southeast including Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, and Louisiana. ALDI will operate Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores with the same level of care and focus on quality and service. ALDI’s plan is to convert some Winn-Dixies and Harveys into ALDI but that won’t be the case for every store. “For those stores we do not convert, our intention is that these continue to operate as Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores.”ALDI expects the deal to close early 2024.

President Dr Arif Alvi administers oath to members of the caretaker cabinet at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad. The cabinet division also did not know the names of the caretaker ministers. Even the computerised list of the caretaker ministers could not be prepared. Sarfraz Bugti took oath as the interior minister and is expected to oversee matters related to internal security and law enforcement. Three advisers – Air Marshal (retd) Farhat Hussain Khan, Ahad Khan Cheema and Waqar Masood Khan – were also notified.

Itanagar, August 18: The Arunachal Pradesh government has constituted a one-man commission to probe into the alleged question paper leaks in various recruitment examinations conducted by the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC). The Commission, led by retired Justice P K Deka will investigate the alleged question paper leaks in various exams conducted by the APPSC from April 2014 to August 2022, an official order said. The constitution of the commission came in the backdrop of hue and cry concerning transparency and fairness of the recruitment process due to suspected question paper leaks in various exams conducted in those years. Chief Secretary Dharmendra in the order issued on Wednesday stated that the panel was formed aiming at unearthing the truth behind alleged instances of question paper leaks and associated irregularities during the specified period of APPSC examinations. The question paper leak incident came to light after one Gyamar Padung, a candidate of the APPSC assistant engineer (civil) examination, filed a police complaint on August 29 last year, claiming that he suspected that the examination paper had been leaked.

LOS ANGELES -NASA’s Mars helicopter has completed 55 flights on the Red Planet, the agency said on Thursday. The helicopter had its 55th flight on Aug 12, in which it reached an altitude of 10 meters and traveled 264 meters for 143 seconds, ac­cording to NASA. The helicop­ter, named Ingenuity, arrived at Mars’ Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover. The helicopter is a technology demonstration to test powered flight on another planet for the first time. The helicopter was designed to fly for up to 90 sec­onds, to distances of almost 300 meters at a time and about 3 to 4.5 meters from the ground, ac­cording to NASA.

ISLAMABAD - Violating its own policy slogan “abso­lutely not”, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is asking powerful western ambas­sadors to intervene and get PTI chief Imran Khan out of the Attock prison. The meeting was also attend­ed by High Commissioner of Unit­ed Kingdom to Pakistan Jane Mar­riott, Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan Leslie Scanlon, EU Am­bassador to Pakistan Riina Kionka, Norwegian Ambassador to Pakistan Per Albert Iisaas and Indonesian Ambassador Adam Tugio. On the oc­casion, the diplomatic communi­ty was briefed about the conditions in which Imran Khan is being kept in Attock prison. The PTI team also discussed cipher issue with the US Ambassador and case registration against Imran Khan. The PTI team urged the ambassadors to play their role in saving Imran Khan.

ISLAMABAD-For the first time in country’s history, all the three major reservoirs, Mangla, Tarbella and Chasma, have filled to their maximum conservation levels of 13.443 Million Acre Feet (MAF) on the same day. Mangla Dam, the largest water reservoir in terms of water storage in the country, Tarbela and Chashma reservoirs have filled to its maximum conservation level. At present, 7.356 million acre feet (MAF) water is available in Mangla reservoir. The cumulative quantum of water available at present in Mangla, Tarbela and Chashma reservoirs stands at 13.443 MAF. For last time Mangla filled to the peak level was in 2020, he added.