Pakistan is in no hurry to respond to the Indian invitation for Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to attend the key regional forum’s meeting in May, as officials have termed New Delhi’s invite “routine practice”. India has invited the foreign minister for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting scheduled to take place in May at Goa. The sources said the decision to attend the SCO foreign ministers meeting would be taken at an appropriate time and after consultations among all stakeholders. Following the meeting of foreign ministers, the meeting of heads of governments of the SCO is scheduled in New Delhi in June. The meeting of chief justices of the SCO is scheduled for March while the foreign ministers will meet in May.

Novak Djokovic's father has been filmed posing with fans brandishing banned Russian flags at the Australian Open, including one featuring Vladimir Putin, in scenes Ukraine's ambassador Thursday slammed as "a disgrace". After the match a group of fans unfurled Russian flags -- which are banned at Melbourne Park -- near the stadium and chanted pro-Russian and pro-Putin slogans. A video later posted to a pro-Russian Australian YouTube account showed Djokovic's father Srdjan posing with a man holding a Russian flag bearing President Putin's image. Serbian tennis reporters confirmed it was Djokovic's father and the Melbourne Age newspaper reported he said in Serbian: "Long live Russia." Among the Serbian flags, there is: a Russian flag, Putin, Z-symbol, so-called Donetsk People's Republic flag," he tweeted with a link to the video.

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has joined other Islamic nations to strongly condemn the recent attack on Islam’s holy book Quran in the Netherlands. Pakistan also called on world leaders to raise a collective voice against Islamophobia and stressed a united effort for peaceful coexistence. Afghanistan, Turkiye, Qatar, and some other Muslim nations also denounced the Islamophobic act. The second sacrilegious act was committed by a Dutch far-right group leader who desecrated a copy of Islam’s holy book in a Northwestern European nation. Earlier, the same hate crime was committed by Sweden’s far-right politician Rasmus Paludan in Stockholm.

Oak Hill, WV (25901)TodayLight snow this evening will give way to cloudy skies late. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 90%..TonightLight snow this evening will give way to cloudy skies late. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow 90%.

President urges nation to adopt modern trends for country’s developmentPresident Dr. Arif Alvi has urged the nation to adopt modern trends of global community for development of the country. Addressing the 12th convocation ceremony of Virtual University in Lahore on Thursday, he said education and training has more impact on character building as compared to knowledge. He said twenty million children are still out of schools in the country. Arif Alvi said no country can progress without education.

Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Normalization Committee (NC) Chairman Haroon Malik has expressed his gratitude to the Saudi Football Federation for hosting the Four-Nation Cup 2023 in a professional manner, terming their hospitality as commendable. “I would also like to congratulate the Saudi Football Federation for winning the Four-Nation 2023 title. Football is flourishing fast in Saudi Arabia and the recent football activities especially the involvement of football legends including Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo in Saudi football is proof that how serious they are for the promotion of football and their football future seems quite bright,” Haroon added. “I will try to meet high-ups of the Saudi Football Federation to discuss the ways to promote football in both the countries. Hopefully, we will try to finalize some bilateral football events in order to strengthen football ties between both countries," Haroon Malik concluded.

Game Notes Blue Jackets @ Oilers: Edmonton Will Win DivisionPhoto credit: Gaelen Morse-USA TODAY SportsThe Edmonton Oilers haven’t finished first in their division since 1987 — the longest drought in the NHL, one year longer than the New York Islanders. Seattle also has 17 v. BT teams, Calgary 16, while Los Angeles and Vegas only have eight. — Let’s say the Oilers go 12-5, which is much lower than their current P% v. BT teams, but let’s go with a cautious projection. Vegas is on pace for 100 points, but they only have eight games remaining v. BT teams. — Before you say the Oilers don’t beat teams they should, remember they are 8-2 v. BT teams this season.

Share:Pakistan’s central bank has increased the interest rate to 17 percent, the highest since October 1997. While this was more or less expected, the decision has been met with mixed reactions. Regarding these reserves, the unofficial cap on the rupee value has also been dropped so that value could match the market. This increase in supply is expected to check the dollar rate as it continues to decline. Already, the policy rate has increased and if inflation does not fall, further hikes will be unavoidable.

Share:Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will receive United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on his arrival in Rahim Yar Khan today (Wednesday). The prime minister, during his day-long visit to Rahim Yar Khan, will welcome the UAE president at the Chandana Airport. The UAE president arrived in the South Asian country days after he was invited by the PM Shehbaz during his official visit to the Gulf country. During his visit, the prime minister held a meeting with the UAE president when matters of mutual interest were discussed. The prime minister had thanked the UAE president for inviting him to the brotherly country.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said Wednesday that “darkness lies ahead” for the nation if it does not stand up after his party’s senior leader, Fawad Chaudhry, was arrested in a sedition case. “It is a crime to call the election commissioner a munshi (clerk)?” he asked, referring to Fawad’s press talk on Tuesday. “Was there no one else that you picked the person who was against us the most?” Imran said that he expected the judiciary to “protect our fundamental rights”. “The nation is expecting you to protect our rights.”Imran claimed that Naqvi had reinstated all the officials who were part of the cabinet of Hamza Shahbaz. The nation is expecting the judiciary to safeguard their rights and save democracy,” he said, further lamenting how the institution hasn’t done that so far.

The investigating officer in the money laundering case filed against 14 people including former managing director of Global Islami Bank (formerly NRB Global) Prashanta Kumar (PK) Halder has testified in court on Wednesday. Deputy Director of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Salahuddin testified as the last witness in the case in the court of Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam of Dhaka Special Judge Court-10. On January 8, 2020, the ACC filed a case against PK Halder for acquiring and smuggling illegal assets worth Tk275 crore. The investigation of the case has so far received information about embezzlement and smuggling of around Tk3,000 crore. On May 14 this year, PK Halder was arrested in Ashoknagar of India's West Bengal.

Microsoft did not disclose the number of users affected by the disruption, but data from outage tracking website Downdetector showed thousands of incidents across continents. Azure, the second largest cloud services provider after Amazon, faced outages last year. We're investigating an issue in which some users are experiencing delays or connection issues when accessing the Exchange Online service. — Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) June 21, 2022During the outage, users faced problems in exchanging messages, joining calls or using any features of Teams application. Among the other services affected were Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, according to the company's status page.

PHOTO: APPThe federal cabinet gave permission on Tuesday for making all the data of Toshakhana public and approved a nationwide public awareness drive for conservation of power, water, gas and other resources. The cabinet members presented their recommendations on the committee’s proposals and the new Toshakhana policy. The prime minister stressed that action should be taken against those responsible. Meanwhile, the cabinet approved the first-of-its-kind nationwide public awareness campaign to promote the habit of conserving electricity, water, gas and other resources. The prime minister directed all the ministries to support the information ministry in this campaign.

Despite a great run, Pakistan has missed out on its first Oscar nomination in the International Feature Film Category. Joyland, which became Pakistan's first ever film to have been shortlisted for the Academy Awards, didn't get a nomination. The nominations were announced by British Pakistani Oscar-winning actor, Riz Ahmed and Hollywood star Allison Williams. Saim Sadiq's directorial became the first Pakistani film to have been shortlisted for Oscars. India grabs one nomination in the Original Song category for RRR's Naatu Naatu.

President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday stressed the need for integrating the initiatives taken by various public departments to address the challenges pertaining to mental health. Chairing a follow-up meeting on mental health, he said the initiatives on mental health taken by the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Planning and Development and Special Initiatives, and the President’s House could be integrated by optimising processes and combining them to develop an effective artificial Intelligence based helpline. Members of the National Commission for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the Pakistan Psychological Association, the Pakistan Psychiatric Society, officials of the Taskeen Health Initiative, and members of the academia attended the meeting at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday. The president said the helpline could reach out to the maximum population around the country to provide them counselling and advice on mental health issues faced by them. He added the financial needs may be determined by the relevant stakeholders.