The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2022, which eliminates penalty for attempted suicide, was passed by President Dr. Arif Alvi on Friday.
According to a statement made by the President House, Section 325 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, which deals with punishing suicide attempts, will be repealed.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-introduced the legislation (JUI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam opposed the bill.
Suicide or attempted suicide was a crime in Pakistan under Section 325 of the Penal Code, and it was sanctioned by a year in prison, a fine, or both.
صدر مملکت ڈاکٹر عارف علوی نے فوجداری قوانین (ترمیمی) بل 2022 کی توثیق کر دی
بل کے ذریعے پاکستان پینل کوڈ 1860 میں خودکشی کی کوشش کی سزا سے متعلق سیکشن 325 کو ختم کیا گیا ہے
صدر مملکت نے بیرونی سرمایہ کاری ( فروغ و تحفظ) ترمیمی بل 2022 کی بھی توثیق کی pic.twitter.com/OZOa2XHGG4
According to public health experts, approximately 75 per cent of Pakistanis suffer from various mental health problems. The majority of Pakistanis, according to Vice Chancellor of the Health Services Academy (HSA) Prof. Shahzad Ali Khan, are either sad or under stress.
A a viral video from an Indian flight went viral which showed a passenger calling a cabin crew member his “servant” amidst a high-pitched argument.
The flight was going from Turkey to India.
“You are pointing finger at me and yelling at me. My crew is crying because of you. Please try to understand, there is a cart and counted meals are uplifted (on the plane). We can only serve what your boarding,” she is heard saying in the video.
To this the man asks why she is “yelling” at him. “Because you are yelling on us,” she answers.
At one point, the passenger said “why are you yelling? Shut up” to the air-hostess, who also asks the former to “shut up.”
“I am peacefully listening to you with all due respect, but you have to respect the crew as well,” the air hostess says.
Tempers soaring even mid-air: “I am not your servant”
“We are aware of the incident that took place on flight 6E 12 from Istanbul to Delhi on December 16, 2022… IndiGo is cognizant of the needs of its customers and it is our constant endeavor to provide a courteous and hassle-free experience to our customers. We are looking into the incident and would like to assure that customers’ comfort has always been our top priority. We are committed to providing the best experience at all times,” said the airline in a statement.
Celebrity public news is an unnecessary but amusing part of our lives. We abhor it but we love the small distraction it provides us from our daily lives. We hear headlines about a celebrity getting married, getting engaged, or promoting some diet tea product and move on. But there are a few times when a celebrity begins trending not because of an announcement but also because of a disturbing rise of misogynist backlash that pales in comparison to how a male public figure would be dealt with. And we cannot ignore this trend and go about our day, because it reflects on how publicly, women are made to face the same kind of scrutiny and slut-shaming that men aren’t subjected to at all.
This morning, Reham Khan announced her marriage to 36-year-old Mirza Bilal Baig. Minutes later, the ex-television host was trending across platforms. There was a wave of posts congratulating the journalist and filmmaker and sending her warm wishes for her future. The feel-good factor was quickly overshadowed by a tsunami of trolls sending hateful comments trolling Khan for the 13 year age-gap in her marriage, calling her all sorts of slurs, assumptions that she is power-hungry and selfish for wanting to marry a younger man when she is in her forties.
Some of the comments, like this Bashir here, seems to assume Reham is a man-eater for marrying someone younger than her. Would he say the same for male politicians marrying and discarding their young wives as soon as they get bored?
Or like this man jumping in the bandwagon to accuse Reham of being a gold digger, marrying famous men to write explosive books about them. Sir jee, women don’t exist in boxes to depend on men in order to make their own fame. Reham Khan had a career before she married Imran Khan. She didn’t need him to make her place in the public sphere. No woman should be reduced to her personal connections, her hard work counting for naught.
If the men were not enough , a lot of women can’t find it in them to support another woman comfortably living her own life and doing whatever she wants. Like this one calling her ‘graceless’ and unwilling to settle down. Why should you put an age limit to settling down and getting married? Women don’t die after their forties. They cannot suddenly stop living life and exploring what they like. As far as Reham’s multiple marriages go, Islam has granted both men and women equal permission to marry or divorce, so she has not committed any crime.
As a popular feminist slogan goes: ‘Sexism is a social disease’. It reduces women down to mere objects, forces them to deal with the endless unsolicited comments from not only men in their lives, but outside their homes consistently. It demands them to keep moulding themselves according to what other people think of them, and never seek their own independence or choices. When the truth is: women don’t need to keep justifying their choices to others.
We saw this previously with Churails actress Yasra Rizvi, when she faced an endless amount of hateful comments calling her ‘gold digger’ and ‘power hungry’ when she married a man ten years younger than her. Last year after rumors spread of a split between the two, Rizvi uploaded a post of the couple reminding everyone that they chose to remain blissful about their union, despite what haters think.
Hopefully, with Reham Khan and other public figures finally putting the notion of settling in your 20s in its grave, our audiences, especially mard hazarat, can come to respect women as multi-facated beings who don’t need to get married at the age of 25 and give up on life. It’s necessary for women to realise that they don’t owe an explanation about their decisions to random men, and it doesn’t make them a failure if they choose to marry later in their lives.
Facebook parent Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the social media giant of allowing third parties to access users’ private data. The amount was disclosed in a court filing late on Thursday.
“The proposed settlement of $725,000,000 is the largest recovery ever achieved in a data privacy class action and the most Facebook has ever paid to resolve a private class action,” lawyers for the plaintiffs said in the filing.
As part of the settlement, Facebook has not admitted any wrongdoing, which must still be approved by a judge in the US District Court for the District of Columbia’s San Francisco division.
In August, it was reported that Facebook had struck a preliminary agreement, though the sum and specifics of the settlement were not disclosed at the time.
In 2018, Facebook users accused the social network of breaking privacy guidelines by sharing their data with third parties, including the British business Cambridge Analytica, which was tied to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
According to the lawsuit, Cambridge Analytica, which has since shut down, then gathered and abused the personal data of 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge.
This information was allegedly utilised to create software to sway US voters in Trump’s favour.
Since then, Facebook has banned access to its data from thousands of apps suspected of abusing it, limited the amount of information available to developers, and made it easier for users to calibrate personal data sharing settings.
In 2019, the federal government penalised Facebook $5 billion for deceiving its users and mandated independent control of its personal data handling.
The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) continued their declining spree, plunging by $584 million to reach $6.1 billion as of December 16.
According to SBP, this is the lowest level of reserves since April 2014.
SBP’s reserves have decreased by $11.6 billion over the past 12 months. The central bank’s reserves, which were $17.7 billion in December 2021 and are now at $6.1 billion, hardly cover a month’s worth of imports.
Pakistan’s total liquid foreign reserves are currently $12 billion, with $5.9 billion of that amount held by commercial banks as net foreign reserves.
The lack of foreign assistance along with a delay in the IMF program’s revival, a greater trade imbalance, and rising foreign debt payments severely depleted the reserves.
The Fund’s criticism over an elevated budget deficit is said to be the reason why the ninth review discussions have been postponed.
While the IMF urges that the government must stabilize the economy, the government seems unwilling to levy more taxes in order to raise income.
Hailing from diverse realms of showbiz, the Pakistani showbiz industry icons have dominated the Top 50 Asian Stars list. Having greatly contributed to the entertainment industry, these Pakistanis celebrities were recognised nationally and internationally.
The list is published annually and this time, Pakistani actors and singers have made their nation proud. From Fawad Khan to Arooj Aftab, there have been eight stars who were listed among other South Asian artists on Britain’s EasternEye.
The list includes Fawad Khan, Sajal Aly, Atif Aslam, Ali Sethi and Shae Gill, Humayun Saeed, Hadiqa Kiani, Arooj Aftab, and Riz Ahmed.
In ascending order, Fawad Khan sits at number two. The handsome hunk broke records with his terrific performance in The Legend of Maula Jatt smashing all Pakistani box-office records globally.
Following Khan is the iconic singer Atif Aslam securing the 13th spot. Aslam also became the most-streamed Pakistani singer of 2022.
Sitting at number 16 is actress Sajal Aly. The diva made her international debut with the English film What’s Love Got To Do With It? that propelled her to international stardom.
At the 17th spot, we have Riz Ahmed. This British Asian actor has been shining bright like a diamond by winning a Best Live Action Short Film Oscar at the 94th Academy Awards for The Long Goodbye.
For the 38th spot, Arooj Aftab jumped in to make it to the list. The New York-based singer is the first female Pakistani artist to win a Grammy award for Best Global Music Performance, along with securing a Best New Artist nomination.
At number 40 we have the talented singer Hadiqa Kiani. The Pakistani pop icon with her soldout concerts, philanthropy, and humanitarian work during the flash floods in Pakistan helped her secure a spot on the list of accomplished artists.
Another fine actor of Lollywood who recently made his Netflix debut is Humayun Saeed sitting at number 45. Saeed’s fine acting skills helped him land a key role as Dr. Hasnat Khan in the popular The Crown series.
At number 46 is the Pasoori duo Shae Gill and Ali Sethi for the roaring success of their Coke Studio 14 single.
Geo Entertainment drama Daraar directed by Sheherzade Sheikh and written by Misbah Nosheen concluded its run yesterday. The hit drama starring Syed Jibran, Momal Sheikh, Tara Mehmood, Amar Khan and Behroze Sabzwari is getting polarising responses for its finale episode.
Many viewers were left disappointed with the conclusion since they wanted to see Sajal (Momal), who was guilty of destroying her cousin sister’s family, getting mercilessly punished. Almost all viewers were angry by the incomplete conclusion. A few viewers appreciated the morally instructive ending of Shaheer, believing that unlawful partnerships are bad for society.
However, fans stated that the drama’s plot was too gruesome and required a decent ending that depicted Sajal’s punishment for destroying a home and deceiving Irha, her parents, and Shaheer. The majority of viewers were unhappy with the conclusion.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday withdrew the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, terming it unnecessary and ineffective after his de-notification as Chief Minister by the Governor of Punjab.
PML-N leader Khalil Tahir Sandhu said , “The no-trust move became ineffective as the governor has denotified the CM.” He added that PML-N had withdrawn only the motion against the chief minister, and the ones against Speaker Sibtain Khan and the deputy speaker are still pending.
On the other hand, Elahi and other MPAs of the PML-N and PML-Q started arriving at the Punjab Assembly on Friday afternoon.
It is pertinent to mention here that the provincial assembly’s ongoing session will be held today following the speaker’s disposal on Tuesday of the governor’s order for Elahi to obtain a vote of confidence from the house, terming it “against the Constitution and Rules of Procedure”.
Elahi on Friday filed a petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) challenging Governor Balighur Rehman’s de-notification from the chief minister’s office.
Governor Rehman de-notified Elahi in the late hours of Friday, citing a failure to take the vote of confidence from the provincial assembly as political turmoil in Pakistan’s largest province reached breaking point.
Reham Khan has tied the knot with an overseas Pakistani, 36-year-old Mirza Bilal Baig, who lives in the US. Mirza Bilal Baig is a corporate professional and has been married twice before. He has one child from a previous marriage.
Reham Khan and Bilal tied the knot in a simple ceremony in Seattle.
The news was shared by Reham from her official social media pages with pictures of the two.
Reham, while sharing the news about her marriage wrote, ” I am delighted to share the good news with my followers & well-wishers that I have tied the knot in a simple marriage ceremony with Mirza Bilal. In the absence of my parents I want to request you for your prayers and kind wishes as I embark on my new life. Life is about love and understanding, and after a very long lonely struggle I finally met a man who impressed me with his intelligence and won me with his honesty and his composure. Although Mirza is a good 13 years younger to me, he is the sage in my life. A man I can trust. A man who will be around me in my darkest hour. A man who I feel safe with. Like you have welcomed me in your hearts and prayers, I am sure you will extend the same warmth to the man who I have chosen to share my life with. I would like to thank Mirza’s parents for warmly welcoming me into their beautiful family, and my children for being supportive as always. Special thanks to my son for fulfilling duties of being my Vakeel. Finally, as we are both hoping it will be third time lucky for us, I would politely request you to respect the privacy of our respective immediate families & our children.”
Mirza Bilal Baig is a former model and has also been part of “The 4 Men Show”, “Dil Pey Mut Ley Yaar” and “National Alien Broadcast”.
We’ve seen the football and cricket world cups hosted in different countries around the world, and seen how the host would integrate their culture to bring a refreshing take. The internet went absolutely wild when Qatar topped the FIFA world cup ceremony by rewarding Messi with the bisht, a black cape that is given to Arab conquerers to symbolize them as revolutionary heroes.
One of the coldest photos you’ll ever see. Emir of Qatar putting the bisht on Messi as if he has ascended to the football thorne winning a great battle. Just clear your mind and throw of your phobia. You’ll see a picture worth thousand words. pic.twitter.com/5dgD5GaZP4
