In a sigh of relief for retired employees, the federal government approved a 15% increase in pensions under the Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) on Saturday.

Talking to journalists, following the cabinet meeting, Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Chaudhry Salik Hussain said: “EOBI pensions have been increased.”

He said that the EOBI pensioners will be paid, including arrears, from September 1, the minister added. Hussain said that the EOBI would release Rs10 billion in monthly pension.

“Pensioners with long service will now be able to receive a pension of more than Rs30,000 per month,” the minister added.

He maintained that a committee had been formed to include the informal sector and domestic workers in the EOBI. The committee would also work towards including agricultural labourers in the EOBI system, Hussain added.

The fresh increase in pension is in addition to the 15% raise approved by the cabinet last month.

In July, the cabinet approved a 15% hike in pensions under the EOBI, which was to take effect from January 1, 2025.

Earlier this week, the EOBI assured the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development that the pensions would be released, with the minimum pension raised from Rs10,000 to Rs11,500 with effect from January 1, 2025 to be disbursed along with all arrears on September 1, 2025.

18-year-old Waylon Wyatt started crafting songs when he was just a kid in Hackett, Arkansas. His debut EP was recorded in his parents’ rec room and amassed more than 225 million streams. Next week, Wyatt embarks on his largest headline tour across the U.S., Canada and Europe. Here’s Waylon Wyatt and special guest Bayker Blankenship with “Old Habits.”

Alden Ehrenreich has called for the industry to welcome weird and interesting perspectives.

During an interview with Collider, the Hollywood actor candidly talked about his experience of filming new idea movie, Weapons.

Referring to the positive response of the audience for the movie, the 35-year-old actor said, “It feels really good to have people responding to it.”

“It’s a nice feeling to have people see the work and get excited about it. When we were at the premiere, it felt like everyone was on a roller coaster together. Just how audible the reactions were was really incredible,” the Fair Play actor continued.

Revealing impacts of the internet and culture in an actor’s life, he told the outlet, “I think that a lot of the life for artists has become — through the internet or through the way that our culture has evolved — just way too enmeshed with corporate commercial interests.”

Sharing that his Hurston station playhouse, a theatre, gives opportunity to artists “to yell at the top of their lungs about the weird interesting thing that they really care about.”

“It kind of protects people from the math that creeps in. There’s so much financial instability for artists now. And so, even if people have to go take a money job, this is a space where they can work alongside other artists and push each other so that their voices get developed,” Alden Ehrenreich concluded.