Author: newsdesk

  • Police ranked Pakistan’s most corrupt sector once again in 2022

    Police ranked Pakistan’s most corrupt sector once again in 2022

    Police were found to be on the top rung of the corruption ladder in Pakistan, according to Transparency International Pakistan’s (TIP) National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS).

    The police ranked the highest in the previous year’s survey as well.

    According to Geo, education was identified as the “most corrupt” sector in Sindh, followed by the police and tendering and contracting, according to a provincial analysis of the three “most corrupt” sectors.

    In Punjab, the police once more took first place, followed by tendering and contracting and the courts.

    The judiciary was thought to be the most corrupt institution in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the police coming in second and tendering and contracting coming in third.

    In Balochistan, contracting and tendering claimed the top spots, with the judiciary and police coming in second and third, respectively.

    The 2022 survey was given to partner organisations by TI Pakistan’s chairman, Justice (retd) Zia Pervez, with the aim of boosting the NCPS’s legitimacy and educating partner organisations on public survey processes.

    He hoped that other government agencies would use the survey’s findings to implement reforms.

    “This will help in reducing corruption and making the lives of the public a little better,” he said.

  • Nadia Jamil extensively scrutinises Danish Taimoor’s ‘Kesi Teri Khudgarzi’ character

    Nadia Jamil extensively scrutinises Danish Taimoor’s ‘Kesi Teri Khudgarzi’ character

    ARY drama serial Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi just aired its second last episode recently and it has naturally left the viewers in an informal panel of their own, discussing the trajectory of the drama. Actor Nadia Jamil shared her thoughts on the show and called out the male leads for being cloaked with toxic masculinity. She said that our dramas are setting the bar too low for heroes.

    Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi stars Danish Taimoor (Shamsher), Dure Fishan (Mehak), Nauman Ijaz (Dilawar), and Atiqa Odho (Shamsher’s mother). The drama is about the son of a business tycoon, Shamsher, falling in love with Mehak, who belongs to a middle-class background. His family does not approve of their relationship and drama ensues.

    On Friday, she retweeted a tweet by journalist Fifi Haroon describing the drama as ‘well developed’, saying it was very much possible for Mehak to fall for the first man she gets close to despite all his red flags. Jamil responded by bringing up all the messed up things the male lead has done to manipulate the woman he loves into staying with him.

    In response, the journalist said that her point was not to romanticize the behaviour, to say that it wasn’t “implausible” for a girl with such a background to develop feelings for a guy like that.

    The Mujhay Jeenay Do actor said that though she is horrified, it is entirely plausible that she did. “Many many women forgive their abusers. Low worth. The ultimate fantasy being validation from the abuser,” she wrote, adding that what was actually implausible was the personality change the guy went through “from the extreme devil to extreme angel”.

    Referring to real-life cases of abusive men, she said that compared to other horrible crimes, Shamsher could be considered a hero, which sets such a low bar for men.

    She affirmed that it was Stockholm syndrome on the woman’s part and said it was entertaining since there was some sense of justice around the end. Calling toxic masculinity “nauseating”, the Behadd actor said that so many dramas propagate it, such as Habs starring Feroze Khan and Ushna Shah and Fraud starring Saba Qamar, Mikaal Zulfiqar and Ahsan Khan.

    She criticised Shamsher’s “change”, terming it “a bit far fetched”. Bringing up his obsessive codependent love, she also called out Mehak’s father for the toxic elements in his personality. “CONSTANT crying about being a dad of daughters. That was the worst. Much as I love the actor playing the dad — and he’s acted well. But those dialogues against being a dad of two daughters, uff.”

  • Fact Check: Morocco is not the first Muslim country to reach FIFA World Cup Semi-Finals

    Fact Check: Morocco is not the first Muslim country to reach FIFA World Cup Semi-Finals

    Morocco advanced to the FIFA World Cup semi finals on Saturday, defeating Portugal 1-0 and becoming the first Arab and African country to make it to the round of four in tournament history.

    Since the stunning victory, various news reports have stated that Morocco is the first Muslim country to reach the World Cup semi-finals. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan also wrote the same in a tweet.

    Fact: In 2002, Turkey became the first Muslim country to qualify for semi-final.

    Twenty years after Turkey’s feat, Morocco has became only the second Muslim country to qualify for the semis. Turkey finished the 2002 tournament in third place, after losing their semi-final clash 1-0 to eventual champions Brazil

    Verdict: False

  • Twitter to relaunch its subscription service on Monday at higher price for Apple users

    Twitter to relaunch its subscription service on Monday at higher price for Apple users

    After many failed attempts, Twitter announced on Saturday that its subscription service, which features a procedure for platform account authentication, will be relaunched on Monday.

    “We’re relaunching TwitterBlue on Monday — subscribe on web for $8/month or on (Apple’s) iOS for $11/month to get access to subscriber-only features, including the blue checkmark,” the company tweeted.

    In an attempt to prevent impersonation and false information, Twitter now only allows organisations and public figures to use the blue checkmark that signifies their accounts have been verified.

    Elon Musk announced his plan to diversify Twitter’s revenue source beyond advertising after purchasing the firm in October. He would do this by implementing additional payment methods for premium services.

    Ten days after Musk assumed leadership at the beginning of November, the first version was released, but there was a stir when several phoney accounts that claimed to represent businesses or celebrities started to appear.

    The version was abruptly halted.

    As part of the new deal, Twitter will once more assess accounts that want blue checkmarks, according to the company. Later in the week, the checkmark will change from grey for government organisations to gold for companies.

    Additionally, subscribers will have access to features like the ability to download higher-quality videos and modify tweets after they are published.

    “Thanks for your patience as we’ve worked to make Blue better,” the company tweet said.

    Musk first stated that Twitter Blue will be back by the end of November but then revealed a few days later that the project had been put on hold temporarily as specialists worked to create a method to combat impersonation.

  • ‘Singham 3’: Deepika Padukone enters Rohit Shetty’s cop universe as the first female cop

    ‘Singham 3’: Deepika Padukone enters Rohit Shetty’s cop universe as the first female cop

    Bollywood director Rohit Shetty has revealed at the trailer launch of Ranveer Singh starrer Cirkus that actor Deepika Padukone has joined his cop universe. She will play the role of a cop in Ajay Devgn’s Singham 3.  

    Singham 3: Rohit Shetty confirms Deepika Padukone to headline the third installment as a lady cop

    At the event, Rohit Shetty said, “We are making Singham next. Everyone kept asking me who is the lady cop in my universe. So today, let me confirm that Deepika Padukone will be the lady Singham, the lady cop in Singham 3. We start shooting next year.”

    Ranveer said that Deepika Padukone’s performance as Meenaamma in Rohit Shetty’s Chennai Express is one of her best performances. He also expressed that he can’t wait for Deepika and Rohit to join forces once again. “Deepika’s best performance for me is Meenaamma from Chennai Express. She has done so many great films, but this one is just special. I can’t wait for Rohit Shetty and Deepika to team up on a feature film.”

    Singham 3 marks Ajay Devgn and Deepika’s first on-screen collaboration.

    In 2011, Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and director Rohit Shetty collaborated on the cop entertainer, Singham, followed by its sequel which culminated into a cop universe today with Simmba and Sooryavanshi joining in.  

    “Singham was set in Goa, followed by Singham Returns which went a notch higher with the premise being set in Mumbai. And now, Rohit and Ajay are all set to take things to the next level as Singham 3 is set again the backdrop of terrorism with the protagonist traveling all the way to Pakistan to grab hold of terror outfits,” reported Pinkvilla.

    Azad Kashmir - Wikipedia

    In Singham 3, it’s going to be a battle between Ajay Devgn and Jackie Shroff. “The story takes off from where Sooryavanshi ended.  The lion-hearted cop will be off to Azad Kashmir to trace down the head of terror outfits, who have an eye to destroy India from the world map,” the source added.

  • Lahore gets its first transgender school, will provide free education

    Lahore gets its first transgender school, will provide free education

    The Punjab School Education Department (SED) has opened the first school exclusively for transgender people in Lahore on Wednesday. The school was inaugurated in New Garden Town near Barkat Market by
    Provincial Education Minister Punjab Murad Raas.

    The school, which was opened on Wednesday, will work in two shifts where the first half will be dedicated to imparting mainstream education while the second half will focus on teaching technical skills. Students will be provided with free books, uniforms, school bags, and pick and drop service.

    Three transgender schools in the province are already being run in Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.

  • Number of Pakistanis who think the country’s economy will become worse reduces by 20 per cent

    Number of Pakistanis who think the country’s economy will become worse reduces by 20 per cent

    About 57 per cent of Pakistanis currently hold the opinion that the country’s economic situation will continue to worsen in the future, down from 77 per cent in September. This is a 20 per cent decrease in the percentage of people who think this would happen.

    This information was provided in the quarterly report of the IPSOS Pakistan study 2022 on Consumers Confidence Survey, which included responses from over a thousand participants. In 2022, the survey was carried out between November 29 and December 4th.

    According to The News, for the first time since the PDM-led government took office, the respondents expressed optimism about the improvement of the nation’s economic and general circumstances.

    According to the survey, the per centage of people who believe that the economy will improve in the future has climbed from 10 per cent to 17 per cent, while the per centage of people who hold a moderate view has gone from 10 per cent to 26 per cent.

    Additionally, the per centage of people who are dissatisfied with the country’s present economic position has decreased from 61 per cent to 55 per cent, while the per centage of people who describe it as stable has climbed from 1 per cent to 4 per cent. In the most recent study, the per centage of people who have a moderate opinion of the economic condition in the nation has climbed by 5 per cent to reach 41.

    The IPSOS survey shows that for the first time since the PDM took office, the per centage of Pakistanis who believe their country is heading in the wrong direction has decreased by 2 per cent to 86 per cent, while the per centage who think it is heading in the right direction has increased by 2 per cent to 14 per cent.

    According to the research report, 74 per cent of Pakistanis thought the country was headed in the right direction during the 2018 elections, but the trend continued to drop following the elections.

  • Netizens react to Salman Khan’s alleged affair with Pooja Hegde

    Netizens react to Salman Khan’s alleged affair with Pooja Hegde

    News portals in India are abuzz that Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has started dating his Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ka Jaan co-star Pooja Hegde.

    A self-claimed film critic called Umair Sandhu took to his Twitter account to post this news, “BREAKING NEWS: New Couple in Town !!! Mega Star #SalmanKhan fell in love with #PoojaHegde !! His production house also signed her for the next 2 films !! They are spending time together nowadays!! Confirmed by Salman Khan’s close sources.”

    Pooja Hegde, Salman Khan: Salman Khan who fell in love with Pooja Hegde.. Do you believe his words..? – salman khan fell in love with pooja hegde is it true

    Soon after the news went viral, netizens flooded Twitter with polarising reactions.

    https://twitter.com/Abrar_Ahmed/status/1600471906481999872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1600471906481999872%7Ctwgr%5E58c3063225a5dffbb799ed62707fdca5badbfb4e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.koimoi.com%2Fbollywood-news%2Fsalman-khan-is-dating-pooja-hegde-rumours-break-the-blackhole-of-internet-inviting-memes-like-shera-se-breakup-by-netizens%2F

  • Sanam Jung claps back at troll for body shaming her

    Sanam Jung claps back at troll for body shaming her

    Actor Sanam Jung clapped back at a social media troll on Instagram for body shaming her. The Akhri Khilari Kon host gave a befitting response to the netizen’s comment, “Thori tangy km karlo (Make your legs slimmer) “.

    Sanam was quick to give him a shut-up call by replying, “You keep your mouth shut”.

    Earlier this year, Jung responded to a netizen’s question regarding her equation with her husband Syed Abdul Qassam Jafri on Instagram. The netizen questioned the lack of interaction between the couple and its impact on their daughter Alaya.

    In July 2021, a netizen commented a derogatory remark about her daughter’s dress, to which Sanam was quick to reply with a stern statement.

  • Rana Sanaullah acquitted in narcotics case by Lahore court

    Rana Sanaullah acquitted in narcotics case by Lahore court

    A special court in Lahore on Saturday acquitted Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah in a narcotics case filed against him during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s tenure.

    In his plea filed today, Sanaullah argued that the case against him was “concocted, devised and fabricated”.

    The minister urged the court to acquit him of the charge “in the interest of justice, equity and fair play”.

    Sanaullah was arrested in 2019 by the Anti-Narcotics Force’s (ANF) Lahore team while he was travelling from Faisalabad to Lahore.

    The ANF claimed to have seized 15 kilogrammes of heroin from his vehicle. A special team of the force had also arrested five others, including the driver and security guards of the PML-N leader.

    He was twice denied bail by the trial court, however, the Lahore High Court ordered his release on December 24, 2019.