Author: newsdesk

  • Meesha Shafi sings for Juhi Chawla’s Amazon Prime series, but this isn’t her Bollywood debut

    Meesha Shafi sings for Juhi Chawla’s Amazon Prime series, but this isn’t her Bollywood debut

    A new cross-border collaboration has made it’s way to the digital space, and its Meesha Shafi’s soulful voice for Amazon Prime India’s new series Hush Hush. The show stars, Juhi Chawla, Soha Ali Khan, Kritika Kamra, Karishma Tanna, Shahana Goswami among others.

    The song called Mere Mahru dropped on YouTube on Sunday that opens to Chawla working out at dusk, her daily life featuring the other female leads and Shafi’s belting notes. The show director, Tanuja Chandra took to Instagram and shared her experience of when she first heard the song. “Arijit Datta sent me [‘Mere Mahru’] as a voice note, I loved it. I’m so happy to have it in Hush Hush, it’s kind of the beating heart of the series,” she wrote.

    <p>Photos: Meesha Shafi and Juhi Chawla /instagram</p> <p>” width=”643″ height=”362″/></figure> <p>She credited the song writer Sameer Rahat and Shafi’s “gorgeous voice” while encouraging her followers to let the song “transport” them.</p> <p>The music video features the women of the show, Chawla, Ali Khan, Tanna, Kamra, Goswami and others. Taking to her Instagram stories, Shafi wrote, “Thank you for trusting me with this Tanuja Chandra. Arijit Datta and Sameer Rahat it was an absolute pleasure to sing this most special song.”</p> <blockquote class=

    Chandra re-shared her Instagram story and thanked Shafi for singing for them “from across oceans”. She also expressed that she’s glad Shafi came to her mind after she spoke with actor Sania Saeed and asked if she could get her the ‘Muaziz Saarif’ singer’s contact details.

    According to Amazon Prime, Hush Hush is about “four friends that find themselves hurling down a rabbit hole of lies, deceit and secrets after a dangerous encounter at a party. As their privileged and safe world turns upside down, the secrets become the reason to bond for their survival.”

    The show is now available to watch on the OTT platform and has seven episodes in total.

    Well this isn’t the first time that Meesha has made her way to Bollywood. Earlier she starred opposite Farhan Akhtar in the superhit film, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

    Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)

    She has also starred in the Hollywood film, Reluctant Fundamentalist which also starred Bollywood actors.

    THE TALENTED MEESHA SHAFI - Fashion & Lifestyle Blog - Pakistani Fashion Blog | SiddySays
  • PKR loses for 6th straight session due to declining reserves

    PKR loses for 6th straight session due to declining reserves

    The Pakistani rupee dropped against the US dollar for the sixth straight session on Wednesday, losing 0.53 per cent in the inter-bank market.

    According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the local currency dropped by Rs1.17, or 0.53 per cent, to close at Rs220.88. In the last six trading sessions, the rupee has lost Rs3.09, or 1.4 per cent, of its value overall.

    The rupee lost value against the US dollar on Tuesday for the fifth consecutive session, closing at Rs219.71 after losing Rs0.82 (0.37 per cent).

    According to market analysts, the local currency’s weakness is caused by declining reserves and a lack of evidence of foreign capital inflows.

    In an interview with Bloomberg, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the rupee has been “heavily undervalued”.

    “It is due to speculation – and some players in the market have been responsible for that,” he added.

    Globally, the greenback hung close to a 32-year peak versus the yen on Wednesday while edging up from a two-week trough against a basket of major peers as traders weighed improved risk sentiment against the prospect of aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes.

    The dollar index – which measures the currency against six peers including the yen, sterling and euro – edged up to Rs112.01, after dropping to the lowest since October 6 at Rs111.76 overnight.

    On Wednesday, oil prices increased marginally despite bearish factors like unclear Chinese demand growth and falling gas costs, which were offset by bullish factors like declining crude stocks and a generally undersupplied market.

  • No decision has been reached so far on COAS appointment: Khawaja Asif

    No decision has been reached so far on COAS appointment: Khawaja Asif

    Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has revealed that no decision has been reached by the federal government yet about the appointment of a new Chief of Army Staff (COAS).

    According to the defence minister, the selection process for the new army chief will likely begin within the next five to seven days.

    Talking in Geo News’ programme “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath”, the minister said five names will be forwarded and then Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif will pick one of those names. He was of the view that the appointment is quite a simple method as this exercise has been conducted several times in the past too.

    The appointment for the COAS position is due to take place in November.

    About the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) planned long march, the federal minister said that the government will not be blackmailed by the PTI if the party comes to Islamabad.

    The minister also said that no negotiations have taken place with PTI. “A couple of meetings took place because of Imran’s old acquaintances”, he added.

    On the contrary, Khan has claimed that negotiations were indeed held. He also warned the government to give a date for early general elections or else he will announce a date for the long march within the current month.

    Discussing the recent by-elections held on the past Sunday, Asif said that if Khan had let his party candidates run from their respective constituencies instead of contesting himself, the results would have been different.

    During the show, he also hinted towards keeping the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance in place in the next elections.

  • ‘Surprise, disappointment’ PCB responds to India’s decision not to come to Pak

    ‘Surprise, disappointment’ PCB responds to India’s decision not to come to Pak

    Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reacted to a statement made by Board of Cricket Control in India secretary Jay Shah regarding Asia Cup 2023.

    Jay Shah, who is also secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), had said that the Asia Cup 2023 which is to be hosted by Pakistan, will be shifted to a neutral venue.

    In response, PCB has issued the following statement:

    “The PCB has noted with surprise and disappointment yesterday’s comments made by the ACC President Mr Jay Shah with regards to shifting next year’s Asia Cup to a neutral venue. The comments were made without any discussion or consultation with the Board of the Asian Cricket Council or the Pakistan Cricket Board (event host) and without any thoughts towards their long-term consequences and implications.
    After having presided over the ACC meeting during which Pakistan was awarded the ACC Asia Cup with an overwhelming support and response from the ACC Board Members, Mr Shah’s statement of shifting of the ACC Asia Cup has clearly been made unilaterally. This is contrary to the philosophy and spirit for which the Asian Cricket Council was formed in September 1983 – a united Asian cricket body to safeguard the interests of its Members and organise, develop, and promote the game of cricket in Asia.
    The overall impact of such statements have the potential to split the Asian and international cricketing communities, and can impact Pakistan’s visit to India for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and future ICC Events in India in the 2024-2031 cycle.
    The PCB has to date not received any official communication or clarification from the ACC on the statement of the ACC President. As such, the PCB has now requested the Asian Cricket Council to convene an emergency meeting of its Board as soon as practically possible to discuss this important and sensitive matter.”

  • ‘Prepare to die’: KP minister Atif Khan gets extortion letter from TTP

    ‘Prepare to die’: KP minister Atif Khan gets extortion letter from TTP

    The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) has allegedly sent a letter to Minister for Science and Technology, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Atif Khan, demanding he pay Rs.8 million within three days or prepare to get killed.

    “You know who we are and what we want. We know you very closely and have all your data and records because you are on TTP Mardan’s wanted list and your turn has come,” the letter reads, as shared by Dawn.

    “Thus, you will have to either fulfill our demand to exit this list, or you will lose your life. Our demand is for Rs.8 million. We want an answer within three days,” the threatening letter stated.

    “The way ransom [letters] come normally … some people have received them,” Khan said, confirming that he had received the letter while talking to media on Wednesday.

    The minister said he had shared the letter with all security agencies and now the onus for taking action was on them.

    Later, the outlawed group rejected the reports that it had sent the letter to the minister, saying that it was “fake”.

    The incident comes amid renewed concerns about increasing militancy and TTP’s resurgence in the country’s northern areas.

  • WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage, says Mark Zuckerberg

    WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage, says Mark Zuckerberg

    Apple iMessage is the target of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s most recent Instagram post. He asserts that WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, is much more private and safe than iMessages.

    He continued by listing capabilities of WhatsApp that are not found in iMessage, such as end-to-end encryption and message disappearance.

    A billboard in New York City for Meta advertising promotes WhatsApp over SMS or iMessage in conjunction with the Instagram post. It provides a side-by-side comparison of WhatsApp’s “Private” bubble with the Green and Blue bubble technique used in iMessage.

     “WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage, with end-to-end encryption that works across both iPhones and Android, including group chats. With WhatsApp you can also set all new chats to disappear with the tap of a button. And last year we introduced end-to-end encrypted backups too. All of which iMessage still doesn’t have,” reads the Instagram post shared by Zuckerberg.

    According to The Verge, the privacy ad campaign is a big push for Meta. Spokesperson Vispi Bhopti told the publication that it “will appear on broadcast TV, digital video, outdoor, and social across the United States,” and billboards will be popping up in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

    Over 2 billion people use WhatsApp worldwide. In the US, it is not the default texting app. Meta seeks to increase WhatsApp’s US user base. Recently, Meta has promoted WhatsApp focused on security and privacy.

    Not just Meta, but other tech firms have criticised iMessage from Apple. Apple’s Messages app should support RCS, the SMS replacement, according to Google’s pressure on Apple. A valid criticism of Apple’s privacy-focused iPhone advertising is the reality that iMessage still relies on SMS and cannot be used to securely message people who use Android phones.

  • ‘Misogynistic, bigoted’: Twitter calls out Imran Khan’s ‘mardon mein ghustee hai’ comment

    ‘Misogynistic, bigoted’: Twitter calls out Imran Khan’s ‘mardon mein ghustee hai’ comment

    Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, on Tuesday, passed sexist comments about journalist Gharidah Farooqi, saying: “Woh mardon mei ghussay gi toh aisa hi hoga” (If she will enter into men’s sphere, then this is what will happen).

    During a meeting with the delegation of the National Press Club and the Rawalpindi/Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ), Khan said that “Farooqi goes into the crowd and then says that she is being harassed”.

    Along with these remarks, he stated that he will also ask his party workers to act in right manner.

    Twitter did not take kindly to the former Prime Minister’s remarks.

    https://twitter.com/KhawajaUsmanUk/status/1582499392241946626?s=20&t=ko0ajmHMlYDkl2WbeQbVNg

    ‘Agar ilzaam saabit huva toh mai sahafat chorr doonga’: Saleem Safi challenges IK for calling him a ‘lifafa’

    On the same occasion, Khan alleged that Journalist Saleem Safi is a lifafa (biased) journalist.

    When asked by a journalist that why he [Imran Khan] called journalists lifafa, he responded by saying that he has never called any journalist lifafa except for Saleem Safi.

    Responding to this, Safi challenged Imran Khan to prove himself. The senior journalist said in a statement that a committee consisting of PTI’s Murad Saeed, Shibli Faraz and Fawad Chaudhry should be formed under the leadership of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) president to investigate this matter.

    He said that if he is proved to be a liar, then the punishment of a thief will be his punishment and he will leave journalism and if Imran Khan is proved to be a liar, then he will have to leave politics and apologise.

    He also said that he will get to the end of this matter.

  • ‘Power ki game, shameful’: Mahira, Aiman, others react to Shahrukh Jatoi’s acquittal

    ‘Power ki game, shameful’: Mahira, Aiman, others react to Shahrukh Jatoi’s acquittal

    The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday acquitted Shahrukh Jatoi and others in Shahzeb Khan’s murder case. Shahzeb was murdered in Karachi in 2012.

    An Anti-Terrorism Court handed Jatoi a death sentence in 2013. However, in 2017, the complainant side had ‘pardoned’ Jatoi under the country’s Qisas and Diyat law. The hearing at the apex court was headed by a three-judge bench that included Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Munib Akhtar, and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.

    Shahzeb murder case: SC asks govt to put Shahrukh Jatoi, co-accused on ECL

    The son of Deputy Superintendent of Police, Aurangzeb Khan, the 20-years-old Shahzeb Khan was shot and killed at Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority on December 24, 2012. He was returning home from a wedding with his sister.
    Shahzeb was slain after he got into an altercation with one of the suspects’ servants who had verbally threatened and tormented his sister.

    Celebrities are expressing their anger over the acquittal of Shahrukh Jatoi.

  • Meesha Shafi, Zeb Bangash call out Lux Style Awards for snubbing female singers

    Meesha Shafi, Zeb Bangash call out Lux Style Awards for snubbing female singers

    Pakistan’s most acclaimed entertainment award show, Lux Style Awards has begun its nomination process. However female singers Meesha Shafi and Zeb Bangash have highlight how there are no women nominated in the music category.

    The veteran singer took to her instagram stories to state, “Not a single woman nominated in the LSA music nominations. Erasure at this scale (there is an exceptionally high number of nominations this time) of the entire female population occupying the Pakistani music industry is unjustifiable and highly problematic.”

    She also tagged the likes of Hadiqa Kiani, Natasha Noorani, Naseebo Lal, Eva B and Arooj Aftab.

    Fellow musician, Zeb Bangash reshared Shafi’s story and wrote that awards and nominations are not necessarily a measure of an artist’s caliber or popularity but they do still play an important role in sending out a message. “To complete ignore women on platform fueled by a woman-centric brand that has always been run by women is surprise and gives cause for concern,” she expressed.

  • Sarah murder case: Police arrest mother of Shah Nawaz

    Sarah murder case: Police arrest mother of Shah Nawaz

    Samina Shah, the mother of Shah Nawaz, the prime accused in the Sarah Inam murder case and the wife of renowned political analyst Ayaz Amir, was detained by Islamabad Police on Wednesday.

    Shah was detained by the police after Additional Sessions Judge Sohail Sheikh rejected her request for release.

    The Capital Police arrested Samina Shah upon rejection of her bail extension by the Additional Sessions Judge Sheikh Sohail. Earlier, Samina’s interim bail was extended till October 19.

    Sameena, in a petition filed with an Islamabad sessions court, has said that she has no link with the murder. Offering details of the grisly incident, she has stated that her son had sent her a message on Whatsapp to arrange his wife’s rukhsati by speaking to her father just one night before the crime.

    She further said that Shah Nawaz called her on her mobile phone at 9:12 am the following day to inform her about the incident.

    “The petitioner asked Shahnawaz to sit in her room and Ayaz … had called the police and within a few minutes, the police had arrived and took custody of Shahnawaz,” she said in the plea.

    The Canadian national who had been working in the United Arab Emirates since a few years, was killed with a blow to her head with a dumbell, allegedly by her husband Shah Nawaz. The high-profile murder rocked Islamabad in the last week of September.