Author: newsdesk

  • ‘Cultural shock’: Kangana Ranaut reveals Mumbai men split bills on dates, Delhi men pay for both

    ‘Cultural shock’: Kangana Ranaut reveals Mumbai men split bills on dates, Delhi men pay for both

    Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut recently appeared on the YouTube Channel, Curly Tales’ show ‘Sunday Brunch’, where the Gangster diva revealed her observation about men from different Indian states.

    Ranaut shared that when she was new in Mumbai as a model, she was slightly shocked to see how men in Mumbai ask to split the bills on dates which was a culture shock for her as she is from Manali. Earlier she also did theater and modelling in Delhi and no man ever asked her to pay the bills on dates.

    Kangana mentioned that in the initial days of her career, she used to live with 5-6 other girls as a paying guest when she had a limited amount of money. When she was asked how her food choices used to be in those days, the actress said that for her Delhi was a very different experience. She said that friends of friends or their boyfriends used to often take them out on rides and pay for their food too. She added that though they used eat very little, they often visited fancy places. Kangana added that when she started earning, she too used to pay at times, but there was no stress about paying. The actress said that in Mumbai, things were different.

    She said, “But when I came to Mumbai, even if you go on a date, you have to Dutch. So this was very new to me, it was a bit of a culture shock. Even in Chandigarh I never paid on a date. But in Mumbai everybody is so practical that even if you are on a date you have to pay equal. If you have water then you pay for it. I think it’s fine. I don’t think it’s not cool, it’s cool.”

  • Fahad Mustafa, Mahira Khan stun with dancing skills in chartbuster ‘Loota Rey’

    Fahad Mustafa, Mahira Khan stun with dancing skills in chartbuster ‘Loota Rey’

    The makers of forthcoming film Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad starring Fahad Mustafa and Mahira Khan recently released the first song of their film, Loota Rey.

    The leading pair exudes good chemistry, despite working for the first time together. They compliment each other visually and yet stay true to their parts.

    A very colourful and fun track with the lead pair oozing impressive chemistry, Loota Rey is a vibrant display of ‘sing and dance’ culture on a mammoth scale. With the music by Shani Arshad, and Aima Baig and Asrar Shah helming the vocals, the song is upbeat, has loads of masala, and is extremely peppy as well.

    Choreographer Nigah Jee has choreographed easy yet enjoyable hook steps.

    Mahira Khan looks breathtakingly gorgeous whereas Fahad Mustafa brings his superstardom and charisma on-screen. All in all, the song is as fun as it is entertaining.

    Loota Rey: First peppy romance song from Fahad, Mahira starrer 'Quaid-i-Azam Zindabad' is out now!

    The film is set to release in cinemas all across Pakistan on Eid-ul-Azha this year.

    Written by Fizza Ali Meerza and directed by Nabeel Qureshi, it is touted to be amongst the costliest film productions of Pakistan till date.

  • Abrar-ul-Haq takes legal action over the ‘Nach Punjaban’ plagiarism controversy

    Singer and politician Abrar-ul-Haq has issued a legal notice to UK record label Moviebox Birmingham Limited which claims to have rights to the song. The legal notice comes days after Haq had said that he will be taking legal action against Bollywood director Karan Johar for stealing his song Nach Panjaban for his movie Jugjugg Jeeyo.

    Taking to Twitter on Sunday, Haq said: “My lawyers in the United Kingdom have issued a legal notice to Moviebox with respect to the misappropriation of my song Nach Punjaban.” He said that he will share the updates soon with people. The singer ended his tweet with the hashtag “Stop Stealing Our Songs”.

    Earlier the record label had said that the song had been “licensed to be included” to use in Karan Johar’s song. It claimed that Dharma Productions have the “legal rights to use the song for their upcoming movie. It called the statements of Abrar-ul-Haq “defamatory and completely unacceptable.”

    Following this, Haq reiterated that this song has not been licensed to any entity. “Nach Punjaban has not been licensed to anyone. If someone is claiming it, then produce the agreement. I will be taking legal action,” he tweeted.

    The Bheega December crooner has taken this action after Bollywood star and the film’s leading man Varun Dhawan praised him in a video message while recording an interview with Bollywood Hungama.

    “I want to say to Abrar that he sung the song so well, the original one,” the actor told the outlet. “It is amazing, outstanding and we loved it.”

    He added, “Our music company, they bought the rights and now our song is doing so well, so thank you.”

    In 2019, a petition against Haq’s wedding song, Chamkeeli featuring Mehwish Hayat and Shahveer Jafry was filed in the civil court.

    According to reports, the plea submitted by lawyer Rana Adnan Asghar stated that the song is encouraging disrespectful attitude for men and women, asserting that the song ridiculed men and must therefore must be removed from YouTube. The petitioner also wanted the singer to apologise for the song.

    However the legal mess later died down.

  • Indian girl stopped from crossing border to meet Pakistani guy

    Indian girl stopped from crossing border to meet Pakistani guy

    An Indian Muslim 24-year-old woman from Madhya Pradesh (MP) was caught by the authorities at the Attari border in Amritsar, Punjab on Thursday when she was trying to cross the border to meet her Pakistani boyfriend, reports The Times of India.

    Fiza met the Pakistan man Dilshad, who lives in Karachi through social media. They fell in love and decided to get married.

    According to the Indian media, Fiza Khan had a valid visa and travel documents but was stopped at Integrated Check Post (ICP), Attari, due to a Lookout Circular (LOC) issued against her.

    Fiza, a teacher working in a private school went missing from Rewa district in MP on June 16. According to the police, after her disappearance, Fiza’s family members lodged a missing complaint. Since she had already discussed traveling to Pakistan, a LOC was issued against her.

    When she was held, the Gharinda police station recorded her statement and sent her to Nari Niketan orphanage. Later on Saturday, she was handed over to a police team from Rewa.

    This is not the first time that such an incident has happened. In 2018 a woman crossed the border and married a Gujranwala-based man whom she met while playing an online game.

  • Crypto heist: Hackers steal $100 million from Harmony blockchain bridge

    Crypto heist: Hackers steal $100 million from Harmony blockchain bridge

    A blockchain bridge titled Harmony, which helps in transferring cryptocurrency tokens between each other, recently disclosed that $100 million in digital currency was stolen on Thursday morning from its Horizon bridge.

    Harmony revealed that its Horizon Ethereum Bridge was a victim of a “malicious attack” in a blog post outlining the incident.

    Harmony said that its separate bridge used for bitcoin wasn’t affected by the hack and that its funds and assets are safe. They have notified other exchanges and stopped its bridge “Horizon” to prevent further transactions as the company investigates the heist. 

    In order to track down the hacker and recover the stolen money, the platform has started working with local law enforcement and forensic experts.

    The hack and ransacking of Horizon weren’t the first this year. In March, cybercriminals stole about $620 million worth of cryptocurrency from a network used to process in-game transactions for Axie Infinity, one of the world’s most popular NFT video games.

  • Pakistan aims to enhance Saudi oil facility to $3.6 billion

    Pakistan aims to enhance Saudi oil facility to $3.6 billion

    A spokesperson for the Petroleum Division said that Pakistan is in talks with Saudi Arabia to increase the size of an oil facility on deferred payments from its current $1.2 billion to $3.6 billion.

    According to The News, when former Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Riyadh in October of last year, Saudi Arabia made a $4.2 billion support agreement, which included a $1.2 billion oil loan facility for Pakistan.

    Syed Zakria Ali Shah, joint secretary of international and joint ventures at the Pakistani petroleum division, revealed that the division was attempting to increase the value of its current facility with Saudi Arabia from $1.2 billion to $3.6 billion.

    Pakistan receives monthly oil deliveries worth $100 million under the current Saudi oil facility with deferred payment. Oil prices were low when the deal was struck, but because of their exponential rise, we are currently negotiating with the Saudis to increase their oil facility from $100 million to $300 million every month.

    A member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) group, the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), Shah claimed Saudi Arabia was also assisting Pakistan in using another existing oil financing facility.

    The last framework agreement for this facility was signed between our economic affairs division and ITFC on February 21, 2022, according to Shah. “The government of Pakistan has this facility for oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports under the framework agreement with ITFC since 2017–18,” he said.

    The facility will cost a total of $4.5 billion over three years, from 2022 to 2024, or roughly $1.5 billion per year on a best-effort basis, the official continued.

  • 21 teenagers found dead in South African bar

    21 teenagers found dead in South African bar

    At least 21 teenagers were found dead early Sunday morning at a nightclub under mysterious circumstances in South African city of East London. The cause of this tragedy still remains unclear.

    Nine of the deceased were female, and 12 were boys. Victims affected at the party were young people aged between 13 and 20. Most of the affectees were students who were celebrating a party after exams.

    The South African Police Service has launched an investigation into the incident. According to the police, none of the dead bodies possesses any bruises or injury marks.

    The youngest of those who died was 13, according to the Police Minister. However, a detailed list of the victims has not yet been produced.

    The minimum drinking age in South Africa is 18, so teenagers should not have been allowed in the night club.

  • APS survivor takes charge as Oxford Union President; Shehbaz, Alvi congratulate

    APS survivor takes charge as Oxford Union President; Shehbaz, Alvi congratulate

    Ahmad Nawaz, survivor of the Pakistan Army Public School (APS) massacre, has assumed his responsibilities as President of the Oxford Union. He was selected for the post earlier this year. He announced the development in a tweet.

    “Immensely proud to have finally assumed my duties as the President of Oxford Union,” he wrote.

    “In my time as President, I look forward to having world leaders debate the most pressing issues, empowering young people through this platform & upholding freedom of speech,” added Ahmad.

    President Arif Alvi congratulated Ahmad Nawaz and said that the youth of Pakistan are his greatest hope. “We must register that despite all setbacks Pakistan will keep on shining and rising.”

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a tweet also congratulated Ahmad.

    “Ahmad Nawaz, who survived the horrific attack on APS Peshawar, has become President of the prestigious Oxford Union. He has set an example worthy of emulation by our youth. Pakistan is proud of you, Ahmad,” he wrote.

    Ahmad moved to Britain in 2014 after the worst militant attack on an Army Public School, killing 150 people. His younger brother was martyred in the attack.

    Ahmad escaped death by pretending to be dead when the terrorists were roaming the school building. Ahmad Nawaz was taken to Birmingham for treatment after being shot in the arm.

  • LG Electronics is stepping into EV charging business

    LG Electronics is stepping into EV charging business

    As the worldwide competition to produce everything linked to EVs intensifies, LG Electronics has acquired AppleMango, a South Korean developer of electric car battery chargers.

    The acquisition, which was done in partnership with GS Energy, a producer of EV charging stations, and GS Neotek, a provider of IT services, will enable LG to take advantage of upcoming commercial prospects.

    According to Paik Ki-mun, senior vice president of LG Electronics, “the EV charging market is likely to increase significantly due to the surging demand for more environmentally friendly automobiles.”

    “We will provide specialised, integrated vehicle charging solutions for a variety of customers, boosting the competitiveness of our existing and assuring our preparation for future prospects,” the statement reads.

    In AppleMango, which will now be a subsidiary of LG Electronics, LG Electronics purchased a 60 per cent share, while GS Energy and GS Neotek acquired 34 and 6 per cent, respectively.

    The deal’s financial details were kept between the firms. The projected cost of the transaction is $7.8 million, according to rumours.

    In order to concentrate on its growing markets, such as electric cars, the internet of things (IoT), and B2B solutions, LG Electronics shut down its loss-making mobile business about a year ago.

    To make EV charging in South Korea a pleasant and simple experience for drivers, LG Electronics is prepared to take advantage of its experience in developing user-friendly interfaces.

    The company added that by entering the EV charging market, LG can increase the synergy between its work on EV batteries, energy storage systems, energy management solutions, and chargers.

    By the end of this year, the tech giant intends to establish an EV charger production line at LG Digital Park in South Korea with the goal of offering specialised EV charging options for private houses, retail establishments, lodging facilities, and public organisations.

    The acquired company brings to the acquisition a wide range of EV charging solution technologies, from slow chargers to rapid chargers for household and commercial use.

    LG did not specify whether it planned to continue selling AppleMango’s chargers.

  • ‘Will never compromise on defence and security of Pakistan’: PM Shehbaz

    ‘Will never compromise on defence and security of Pakistan’: PM Shehbaz

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif expressed commitment to restoring the role of provinces in the National Action Plan (NAP), which the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had allegedly ignored, in a meeting on 26 June.

    The 20-point NAP was drawn up after the December 2014 terrorist attack on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar.

    Sharif was of the view that the increase in terrorism was due to the ignorance of the NAP.

    “This role of the provinces will be restored that remained missing during the last four years,” said the PM.

    “Ensuring law and order is essential for restoring the national economy and development in the country. The fight against terrorism would continue till its elimination,” said Shehbaz. He further pledged to never compromise on the defence and security of Pakistan.

    He said that the entire country was united in the effort to eradicate terrorism, standing behind the armed forces and law-enforcement agencies.

    The meeting also reviewed the steps taken to eliminate the source of terror financing and relevant laws.