Admiral Amjad Khan Niazi takes charge of naval chief

Admiral Amjad Khan Niazi on Wednesday assumed command as Chief of the Naval Staff.

Outgoing naval chief Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi formally handed over the command by presenting the traditional scroll to Admiral Amjad Khan Niazi at an elaborate ceremony held in Islamabad.

A guard of honour was presented to the outgoing and incoming naval chiefs at the ceremony.

In his farewell address, Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi said he was proud that he was given the honour of defending Pakistan and leading charge of the navy.

He said the naval force of today is fully capable to defend the motherland and thwart nefarious designs against the country.

Admiral Zafar Mahmood congratulated Admiral Amjad Khan Niazi over assuming charge of the PN.

Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi joined Pakistan Navy in 1983. Also a recipient of Sword of Honour, the Admiral has an illustrious career with wide-ranging experience of various Command and Staff appointments.

His major Command appointments include Commanding Officer PNS BADR, Commanding Officer PNS TARIQ, Commander18th Destroyer squadron, Commandant PNS BAHADUR and Commandant Pakistan Navy War College, Lahore.

He is a graduate of Army Command & Staff College, Quetta and National Defence University, Islamabad. The Admiral has been awarded Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military) and Sitara-e-Basalat by the Government of Pakistan and French Medal Chevalier (Knight) by the Government of France.

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Coronavirus takes 12 lives, affects 624 in 24 hours

As many as 624 more people tested positive for the deadly coronavirus across the country during the last 24 hours, lifting the national tally of infections to 316,351.

Twelve corona patients, who were under treatment in hospitals, died during this period, according to the latest update shared by the National command and Operation Centre (NCOC). Thus far, 6,535 Covid-19 related fatalities have been reported.

Some 27, 614 tests were conducted across the country during the previous 24 hours. More than 300,616 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan.

Since the pandemic outbreak began, Sindh has reported 138,891 infections, Punjab 100,148, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 38,141, Balochistan 15,439, Islamabad 16,936, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 2,912 and Gilgit Baltistan 3,884.

A total of 3,730,221 corona tests have been conducted so far.

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Black hole discoveries win 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics

Three scientists who unravelled some of the deep mysteries of black holes, the awe-inspiring pockets of the universe where space and time cease to exist, have won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Britain’s Roger Penrose, professor at the University of Oxford, won half the prize of 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) for his proof that black holes are a direct consequence of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

“It was an extreme honour and great pleasure to hear the news this morning in a slightly unusual way - I had to get out of my shower to hear it,” Penrose told reporters from his home in Oxford on Tuesday.

German Reinhard Genzel, of the Max Planck Institute and University of California, Berkeley, and Andrea Ghez, at the University of California, Los Angeles, shared the other half for discovering that an invisible and extremely heavy object governs the orbits of stars at the centre of our galaxy.

Ghez - only the fourth woman to be awarded the Physics prize after Marie Curie in 1903, Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963 and Donna Strickland in 2018 - said she hoped it would inspire others to enter the field.

Asked about the moment of discovery, Ghez said: “The first thing is doubt.”

“You have to prove to yourself that what you are really seeing is what you think you are seeing. So, both doubt and excitement,” the 55-year-old American said in a call with the committee after receiving the award.

Nobel Prize winner Penrose says biggest black hole riddle is the singularity
Genzel was on a Zoom call with colleagues when the phone rang. “Just like in the movies, a voice said: ‘This is Stockholm’,” the 68-year-old astrophysicist told Reuters Television in his cluttered office on the outskirts of Munich.

He was flabbergasted by the news: “I cried a little bit.”

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Gen Bajwa inaugurates state-of-the-art Software Technology Park in Gilgit: ISPR

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa paid a visit to the city on Tuesday to inaugurate a state-of-the-art Software Technology Park, said a statement by the ISPR.

"#COAS visited Skardu and Gilgit today. On arrival at Skardu, COAS was briefed on latest situation and operational preparations of FCNA troops deployed along #LOC. Interacting with officers and men, COAS appreciated their high morale, operational readiness," read a statement from the ISPR.

...under challenging environment and harsh weather conditions. COAS emphasised to ensure highest levels of readiness for effectively responding to emerging threats. COAS also visited Gilgit and inaugurated state of the art Software Technology Park, (2/4) pic.twitter.com/TWh39eZH5G

— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) October 6, 2020

"COAS emphasised to ensure highest levels of readiness for effectively responding to emerging threats. COAS also visited Gilgit and inaugurated state of the art Software Technology Park, an initiative of Special Communication Organisation (SCO). The facility will help create environment for research and innovation in the fields of #IT and defence communication by honing and harnessing the skills of our brilliant youth," stated the ISPR.

...It will serve as a trigger for development of cyber industry in the area. Acknowledging efforts of #SCO, COAS said that establishment of IT clusters in remote areas will have a great effect by encouraging innovation and digitisation. (4/4)

— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) October 6, 2020

The ISPR said that the software park will serve as a " trigger for development of cyber industry" in the area and that the establishment of IT clusters in remote areas will contribute to greater digitisation and development of these areas.

The ISPR elaborated that the facility will help create an environment for research and innovation in the fields of IT and defence communication.

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Sindh govt announces to cut property tax

In order to provide relief to the residents of calamity-hit districts, the Sindh government on Tuesday announced a five per cent cut in property tax.

According to the Sindh Excise and Taxation Department director general, the residents of calamity-hit districts could benefit from the opportunity by 15th of November.

He maintained that the excise department decided to offer a rebate of five percent for property tax to facilitate the people affected by COVID-19 pandemic and heavy rains in the province.

Earlier on April 23, in view of the COVID-19 situation, the Sindh government had announced to decrease property tax by 25 per cent for three months.

According to a notification issued by the Sindh government, the payment of the property tax dues for the year 2019-20 including surcharge as on 31.03.2020 from all classes of persons in respect of any category of property had been remitted 25 per cent for three months.

The tax remission was allowed for all the taxable property units. The assesees who had already discharge their property tax liability for the year 2019-20 will get an adjustment of 25 per cent remission in their tax liability during the next fiscal year, the notification had read.

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COVID-19 can spread through virus lingering in air: US CDC

The CDC guidance comes weeks after the agency published – and then took down – a similar warning, sparking debate over how the virus spreads.

In Monday’s guidance, CDC said there was evidence that people with COVID-19 possibly infected others who were more than 6 feet away, within enclosed spaces with poor ventilation.

Under such circumstances, CDC said scientists believe the amount of infectious smaller droplet and particles, or aerosols, produced by the people with COVID-19 become concentrated enough to spread the virus.

The CDC has long warned of transmission through small droplets that shoot through the air and generally fall to the ground, which resulted in the six-feet social distancing rule. Aerosol droplets are much smaller still, and can remain suspended in the air, like smoke.

While CDC stresses close-contact transmission is more common than through air, a group of U.S. scientists warned in an unrelated open letter published in medical journal Science on Monday that aerosols lingering in the air could be a major source of COVID-19 transmission. (bit.ly/34pSPbH)

“The reality is airborne transmission is the main way that transmission happens at close range with prolonged contact,” the researchers said in a press call.

Viruses in aerosols can remain in the air for seconds to hours, travel more than two meters and accumulate in poorly ventilated indoor air, leading to superspreading events, the researchers said.

Since individuals with COVID-19 release thousands of virus-laden aerosols and far fewer droplets while breathing and talking, the scientists said the focus must be on protecting against airborne transmission.

They also said that public health officials should clearly differentiate between droplets ejected by coughing or sneezing and aerosols that can carry the virus to greater distances.

Public health officials must highlight the importance of moving activities outdoors and improving indoor air, along with wearing mask and social distancing, the letter said.

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SpaceX wins Pentagon award for missile tracking satellites

Elon Musk’s SpaceX won a $149 million (£114.8 million) contract to build missile-tracking satellites for the Pentagon, the US Space Development Agency (SDA) said on Monday, in the company’s first government contract to build satellites.

SpaceX, known for its reusable rockets and astronaut capsules, is ramping up satellite production for Starlink, a growing constellation of hundreds of internet-beaming satellites that chief executive Elon Musk hopes will generate enough revenue to help fund SpaceX’s interplanetary goals.

Under the SDA contract, SpaceX will use its Starlink assembly plant in Redmond, Washington, to build four satellites fitted with a wide-angle infrared missile-tracking sensor supplied by a subcontractor, an SDA official said.

Technology company L3 Harris Technologies, formerly Harris Corporation, received $193 million to build another four satellites. Both companies are expected to deliver the satellites for launch by fall 2022.

The awards are part of the SDA’s first phase to procure satellites to detect and track missiles like intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which can travel long distances and are challenging to track and intercept.

SpaceX in 2019 received $28 million from the Air Force to use the fledgling Starlink satellite network to test encrypted internet services with a number of military planes, though the Air Force has not ordered any Starlink satellites of its own.

 

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