Headlines 9am: Cattle markets to operate from 6am to 7pm

Here are the headlines from SAMAA TV’s 9am bulletin.

• The number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan is going down as less than 2,000 cases are being reported every day. At least 979 cases and 50 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours. The virus has claimed 5,320 deaths in Pakistan so far.
• The K-Electric, the sole power utility in Karachi, has been charging excessive bills to pay back its loans, said company’s former CEO Ikram Sehgal. Loans have to be returned on high-interest rates, he told SAMAA TV on Monday. KE has been spending money to set up power plants. This is a conflict of interest. It is responsible for the distribution of power and not its production. There is a reason why it has a debt of Rs1.5 billion, he claimed.
• Load-shedding is expected to continue in Karachi. The spokesperson has said that a technical fault has brought down power production. The company, however, didn’t say when it will be solved.
• A child died after being electrocuted in Karachi’s Korangi Monday night. He was taken to the hospital a little late.
• A fake aalim (religious scholar) killed a 14-year-old boy by burning him with boiling oil during an exorcism in Muzaffargarh Monday afternoon. According to the boy’s father, he had been suffering from a fever for more than a week. Medicines from doctors were not improving his condition after which his family took him to an aalim.
• The protest in Chaman near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border continued for the 40th day on Tuesday after the protesters failed to reach an agreement with Balochistan MPA Asghar Khan Achakzai. One group agreed on opening one way, the other group, however, didn’t agree to this condition. More than 1,000 oil tankers are stranded near the border.
• Wedding hall owners staged a protest outside Karachi Press Club on Monday. They demanded that the halls should be opened by August 2. They tried to march towards Governor House but were stopped from doing so.
• The Pakistan government has granted permission to set up 700 cattle markets across the country. It was decided in a special meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre in Lahore on Monday. Federal Planning Minister Asad Umar chaired it. Umar said cattle markets will be set up out of the city limits from 6am to 7pm. Standard operating procedures will be mandatory to follow to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

from Coronavirus – SAMAA https://ift.tt/2Oj4PEi