70% Hajj expenditure incurred in Saudi, have no control over it: Ali Mohammad Khan

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan on Friday responded to the opposition’s call to attention notice regarding an exorbitant increase in Hajj expenses this year and said that 70% of the expenditure is incurred in Saudi Arabia and the government has no control over it.

Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan moved a call to attention notice over the government’s decision to not grant a subsidy to pilgrims in the Hajj Policy 2019.

“The government had claimed that a ‘State of Medina’ will be made but its first Hajj policy is disappointing. The highest number of pilgrims who go for Hajj and Umrah are from Pakistan,” the JI senator said. “Hajj has become a part of the tsunami of inflation,” he added.

“Those who claimed to make a ‘State of Medina’ are stopping people from going to Makkah and Medina,” Senator Mushtaq lamented.

Responding to the call to attention notice, the minister for parliamentary affairs said, “Finance Minister Asad Umar wanted to give relief to people on Hajj expenses. The government is still trying to make efforts to provide maximum relief to intending pilgrims in meeting Hajj expenses.”

“The recent increase in Hajj expenses is a result of an up to 50% increased expenditure in Saudi Arabia and this is beyond the control of Pakistani government,” he continued.

“Seventy percent of Hajj expenditures are incurred in Saudi Arabia and the government of Pakistan cannot control them,” Ali Mohammad added.

The minister for parliamentary affairs elaborated, “The rent of buildings was increased from Rs60,900 to Rs94,185 while the cost of transportation increased from Rs9,000 to Rs13,104 and food charges rose from Rs23,000 to Rs38000. The accommodation in Medina increased from Rs23,200 to Rs40,000, train charges from Rs7,250 to Rs 20,000 and the cost of sacrificing animals went up from Rs13,050 to Rs19,451 rupees while the cost of air travel has gone up by Rs17,000.”

“The previous PML-N government deliberately did not increase Hajj expenses in 2017-18 as it was election year,” the minister for parliamentary affairs added.

Further, Ali Muhammad said the “devaluation of Pakistani rupee has also caused a surge in Hajj expenses”. “In a “State of Medina” people speak the truth and we will establish a “State of Medina” and show you,” the minister said.

The Senate chairman also asked the government to give a subsidy to pilgrims.

LHC to hear petition regarding Sahiwal incident on Feb 4

Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday has approved petition of Sahiwal firing victim Khalil’s brother Jalil for hearing on February 4.

According to details, a two-member bench including Chief Justice of LHC will hear the petition.

Jalil has requested the court to nullify Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed to probe into the incident as he is not expecting justice from it.

The plaintiff has made Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Punjab Inspector General (IG) Amjad Javed Saleemi parties in his plea.

It is pertinent here to mention that the CTD officials had killed four people, including a couple and their teenage daughter, and injured a teenage boy in a suspicious ‘encounter’ on GT Road near Sahiwal.

The incident had triggered a nationwide outcry that prompted the government to take the security officials into custody and order an investigation into the incident.

The suspects were identified as Shahid Jabbar and Abdul Rehman travelling towards Sahiwal and were reportedly in possession of arms and explosives, CTD stated.

The counter-terrorism officials claimed that the operation was conducted to capture an ‘Islamic State (IS) commander’ on a tip off by an intelligence agency.

Opposition parties in Senate reject 63pc hike in Haj expenses

The opposition parties in the Senate rejected the 63 per cent increase in Haj expenses and tabled a calling attention notice on Friday.

Senator Mushtaq Ahmed of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) submitted the notice. He expressed disappointment over the Haj policy and reminded the government that it had claimed to transform the country into a Madina-like state.

The senator said that the entire nation was worried about the policy. He added that the government should have provided some relief to people in the Haj cost. He said that the recent increase in Haj expenditure has pushed the religious obligation out of the people's reach.

The federal cabinet on Thursday announced the Haj Policy 2019 under which the cost of performing the ritual under the government scheme has been fixed at Rs456,426 (with Qurbani), against last year’s expense of Rs280,000 per person. Now, every individual will have to pay an additional Rs176,426.

Under the Haj Policy 2018, the cost of Haj for individuals in the north of the country was Rs280,000 and for the south, it was Rs270,000. However, in the new policy, the cost of Haj for individuals in the north has been fixed at Rs456,426 (with Qurbani) and Rs436,975 (without Qurbani), while for those in the south it is Rs446,426 (with Qurbani) and Rs426, 975 (without Qurbani).

Ahmed, on Friday, termed the move a "drone attack" and said that Haj has become a target of 'tsunami'. He regretted that the government didn't seek recommendation from the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) before deciding on the matter pertaining to a religious obligation.

He said that introducing the new policy was tantamount to refraining people from performing Haj, adding that the government "should not invite ill wishes" of pilgrims.

"The government claiming to be a Madina state is refraining people from visiting Makkah and Madina," he said, claiming that the same government had announced to spend billions for restoration of cinemas.

He suggested that instead of spending billions of rupees for restoration of cinemas, the government should subsidise Haj.

PPP leader Raza Rabbani pointed out the absence of Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri in the ongoing session. He asked the treasury benches if the minister was angry. "Neither did he address the press conference on Haj policy [yesterday], nor has he responded in the Senate to the notice."

In yesterday's cabinet meeting, Qadri had reportedly walked out after his proposal for a subsidy of Rs45,000 per pilgrim was rejected by his fellow members of the federal cabinet. Sources said that Qadri was due to accompany the information minister at the press briefing.

The information minister, however, denied reports that Qadri was to be present at the presser.

Senator Shibli Faraz of the PTI told the Senate on Friday that the minister was not angry.

State Minister Ali Mohammad Khan responded to the notice, saying the government was standing by its stance of establishing a Madina-like state.

The minister clarified that 70 per cent of expenditures are made in Saudi Arabia and the government has no control over expenditures there. He further elaborated that expenses for accommodation, meals and other services have drastically been increased in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

"The government has been trying to provide some relief," he said.

Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjarani suggested that provision of further subsidy to Haj pilgrims would be a better move.

Walkout over ministers' absence
Raza Rabbani recorded his protest over the absence of ministers from the session. He said that the opposition had demanded to ensure presence of the relevant minister over the issue of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. He accused the government of deliberately ensuring that the PMDC chairman doesn't appear before the Senate.

"[We] raised the issue of dialogue between the United States and [Afghan] Taliban but didn't receive any response," he said, adding that the Senate was being kept in the dark.

He added that Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, the director general of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), held a detailed interview on Jan 27, in which it appeared that he was well aware of all details [pertaining to the dialogues].

"Will you inform us about the details after culmination of the talks?" he asked.

Later, the opposition parties staged a walkout in protest against the absence of ministers. Following the walkout, the session was adjourned as the quorum was pointed out.

On Jan 25, the Senate chairman had shared same concerns and sought a reply from Prime Minister Imran Khan over the continuous absence of PTI ministers from Senate proceedings.

While Senate proceedings were underway, the chairman had instructed the Senate Secretariat to write a letter to the premier, informing him of the ministers' absence and inquiring as to why these lawmakers had not been attending the house's proceedings.

"The ministers have made a habit of not attending the Senate session," the chairman had said, adding that his dissatisfaction at the ministers' absence should be conveyed to the premier.

Earlier today, the Senate approved budget recommendations by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance. Senator Farooq Naek presented the recommendations.

Snap has quietly invested in Fruit Ninja

Snap, the company behind Snapchat, has invested in Australian game studio Prettygreat, according to filings to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Prettygreat games was founded by Australian games industry heads Phil Larsen, Hugh Walters and and Luke Muscat.

Muscat has long been credited as the creator of pivotal mobile games such as Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride.

Larsen, Walters and Muscat established the Prettygreat game studio in 2015.

In June 2018, reports suggested that Snap would launch a gaming platform, allowing people to play games through the Snapchat app.

At the time, The Information reported that one gaming publisher had been lined up to make a game for the new platform, but no further details were forthcoming.

Amazon’s surging revenue growth shows signs of slowing

Amazon's years-long, meteoric growth rate may finally be cooling.

The e-commerce company on Thursday reported fourth-quarter revenue of $72.4 billion, up 20 percent and at the top of the company's guidance from October. Earnings surged to $3 billion, or $6.04 a share, handily beating analysts' expectations of $5.67, according to Yahoo Finance.

But guidance for first-quarter revenue was weaker than expected, at $56 billion to $60 billion, below Wall Street expectations of $61 billion. It was the second quarter in a row Amazon predicted softer-than-expected revenue.

Company shares were down less than 1 percent after the market closed.

"We feel we had a really strong fourth quarter," finance chief Brian Olsavsky said on a call with reporters Thursday. "Retail sales were certainly strong."

The company in October predicted weak revenue for the holiday quarter -- its biggest quarter of the year -- though Olsavsky at the time said he expected "a strong holiday season." In December, Amazon said it broke new records for the holidays -- an announcement it tends to make every year -- but didn't offer much as far as details.

Ahead of Amazon's earnings announcement, there were plenty of concerns that the 25-year-old e-commerce phenom was finally starting to act its age. True, the Seattle behemoth keeps hitting at least 20 percent revenue growth quarter after quarter -- a huge success considering Amazon's size -- thanks to its aggressive expansion efforts.

But industry watchers expected other factors, like Whole Foods' slower growth, to finally catch up, causing its sales to dip below that 20 percent rate for the first time in over three years, according to data compiled by CSI Market. This time that didn't happen.

Amazon's healthy growth is still the envy of the retail world, but its slower revenue growth -- which was as high as 43 percent in 2018 -- does signal a broader shift for the company.

For one thing, the law of large numbers is finally starting to apply, making it harder for Amazon to maintain such huge percentage jumps.

The company is also working to improve its profitability after years of reinvesting billions of dollars back into the business. That should please Wall Street, but also indicates that Amazon may not pursue as many new projects as it has before -- though there are still plenty.

Also, Amazon's purchase of slower-growing Whole Foods is expected to weigh down its robust growth rate. Added to that, the overhang of CEO and founder Jeff Bezos' plans to divorce, which was announced this month, may cause new turbulence at the company. But so far that hasn't appeared to happen.

On the other hand, the company should benefit from its rapidly growing advertising business, which is focused on getting retailers to pay for ads within Amazon to improve their online sales. With Amazon controlling 50 percent of e-commerce purchases in the US, more sellers have an incentive to fork over money for these ads.

In 2018, Google accounted for 37 percent of digital ad spending in the US and Facebook accounted for 21 percent, while Amazon took in just 4 percent, according to eMarketer.

"Fourth quarter results are expected to reveal an ad player that is on its way to eventually challenge Facebook for the No. 2 spot," eMarketer analyst Monica Peart said in a statement ahead of the earnings announcement. "It's also slowly chipping away at search ad dollars that were once going to Google."

The advertising business posted $3.4 billion in revenue, nearly double from a year earlier.

Amazon Web Services-- which provides cloud-computing services to Netflix, Samsung and NASA, among many others -- continued to be another big revenue booster, with the segment posting 45 percent growth.

Olsavsky said on a call with analysts that he expects company spending on things like warehouse space and employees to increase this year after Amazon slowed down its capital spending in 2018.

That may drag down Amazon's recent big jumps in profit.

Asad Qaisar refuses to nominate Saad Rafique as PAC member

National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar Thursday turned down Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif’s recommendation to nominate Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Saad Rafique as a member of the Public Accounts Committee.

The speaker has taken the view that the nomination of the PML-N leader in the PAC merely to give him relief from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases is unjustified and won’t give a good message.

Rafique and his brother Salman Rafique are currently in NAB custody in the Paragon Housing scandal.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan has accepted Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid’s request to nominate him as a member of the PAC.

Facebook earnings, user base jump even as scandals grow

Facebook's spat with Apple on Wednesday shows it can't stay out of trouble. But the social network seems immune to scandals as well.

the number of people who log on to Facebook every month -- rose 9 percent year over year to 2.32 billion in the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31. User growth is crucial for Facebook, which makes its money by selling advertising targeted to user interests.

The rise in users comes as the company deals with yet another black eye. Overnight, Apple blocked a research app the social network was distributing to iPhone users, after it was discovered Facebook had sidestepped the review process.

The Facebook Research app paid users between the ages of 13 to 35 up to $20 per month in exchange for letting Facebook access their phone and web activity, including personal messages.

The scrape with Apple comes as Facebook, which still posted a 61 percent rise in profits, is grappling with the most serious crisis in its 15-year history. The leadership of CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg has been called into question, particularly after The New York Times reported that the two executives ignored warnings and deflected blame as scandals mounted.

The social network has also faced criticism for reportedly giving other tech companies greater access to user data than was previously disclosed.

And Facebook's image wasn't helped by a software bug that exposed the photos of up to 6.8 million people to third-party app developers.

The problems, along with growing concerns about how Facebook profits from the user data it collects, prompted calls for people to delete their Facebook accounts. The movement was so widespread that the hashtag #DeleteFacebook trended on Twitter for a period in March.

"There's a lot of negativity about the impact of technology.

Some of it is fair and some of it is misplaced," Zuckerberg said during a conference call with analysts on Wednesday. "And we and the tech industry overall should be scrutinized heavily because we play a role in many people's lives."