Author: newsdesk

  • ‘Poor judgment’, President Alvi reacts to promoting own family business

    ‘Poor judgment’, President Alvi reacts to promoting own family business

    President Dr Arif Alvi has regretted the choice of the place where his son Dr Awab Alvi signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bringing Smiles Unites States of America (USA) signatory ceremony. The MoU was signed at the Governor’s House.

    Taking to Twitter Alvi said, “For the signing ceremony of an MOU between Dr Awab [his son] and his friend in my presence, the venue selection was a matter of poor judgment.”

    Taking the president’s side, federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry tweeted, “The President is a very respected person, his honesty and personality is witnessed by everyone who knows him.”

    Earlier today, President Alvi’s son announced about the MoU on social media along with a picture in which Dr Arif Alvi and his wife can be seen standing along with their son.

    Despite Dr Awab’s clarification, an online debate was generated on whether there was a conflict of interest for the president or not.

    When the official website “Alvi Dentals” was checked, the president is still enlisted as a dentist and part of the Alvi Dental team. The website also provides an option to “schedule an appointment” with the president.

  • Which Pakistani designer has won Deepika’s heart?

    Which Pakistani designer has won Deepika’s heart?

    In the past we have seen designer Faraz Manan’s love affair with Kareena Kapoor Khan, but it seems like the designer is becoming the favourite of all the Bollywood A-listers as Deepika Padukone recently opted for Pakistani designer’s couture wear.

    Deepika recently shared pictures of herself wearing a dress designed by Faraz Manan.

    The designer also shared the pictures of Bollywood actor on his Instagram.

    Earlier, this year in October, Shah Rukh Khan donned Faraz Manan’s white royal jacket on a shalwar kameez. The jacket was customised for the Don 2 star with detailed embroidery work.

    Faraz has alo collaborated with India’s top actresses Sridevi, Jacqueline Fernandez and Karishma Kapoor.

  • Moderna chief warns vaccines less effective against Omicron, doctor who discovered it says it is mild

    Moderna chief warns vaccines less effective against Omicron, doctor who discovered it says it is mild

    Moderna Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Stephane Bancel said that the existing vaccines might get failed to protect against a new variant of coronavirus, Omicron, reports DW

    Banel added that there are a large number of mutations in the latest variant that anti-bodies induced in vaccines may not resist.

    “There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level… we had with Delta,” she said, adding, “I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to… are like ‘this is not going to be good.” Banel told.

    The comments given by Banel raised the fears against the low-level resistance of existing antibodies in vaccines, which could lead to more sickness and hospitalisation.

    It will take days to several weeks to understand the severity of the Omicron variant however, Dr Angelique Coetzee, the South African doctor who first spotted the new Covid variant Omicron claimed that the mild symptoms were spotted in the patients so far, reports BBC

    The emergence of Omicron alarmed the whole world. It is drastically spreading in European countries and the first case was reported in India on Tuesday. Several countries already banned the flights from the countries where it first originated including Pakistan.

  • ‘Law did not allow land meant for defence purposes to be used for commercial gains’: CJP Gulzar

    ‘Law did not allow land meant for defence purposes to be used for commercial gains’: CJP Gulzar

    Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed on Tuesday said that the law did not allow land meant for defence purposes to be used for commercial gains, reports Dawn.

    CJP Gulzar further said that such land should be returned to the government once its strategic use has ended. He said this during the hearing on the issue of military lands being used for commercial purposes.

    Grilling Defence Secretary Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) Mian Mohammad Hilal Hussain, CJP Gulzar said, “The law’s intention is not that defence land is used for any other purpose,” Justice Gulzar reiterated. “If [the land] is not being used for defence then it will go back to the government.”

    “This is government land,” CJP Gulzar said, further taking notice that cinemas, petrol pumps, housing societies, shopping malls and marriage halls were being constructed on land meant for defence.

    “General sahib, these are not defence purposes,” he told the defence secretary, asking the attorney general to explain how the defence ministry would “limit the land’s use to defence”.

    Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmed, one of the judges present on the bench during the hearing, said, “The army should not compromise on its bigger objectives for petty business.”

    The CJP further said that “allotting houses to senior army officers does not fall under defence purposes”.

    “How can the army carry out commercial activities on state land?” he questioned, emphasising that state land should not be “exploited”.

  • Messi wins record seventh Ballon d’Or, Ronaldo slams false claims

    Messi wins record seventh Ballon d’Or, Ronaldo slams false claims

    The Paris Saint Germain (PSG) star Lionell Messi has grabbed another record seventh Ballon d’Or on Monday night.

    Messi, 34, effectively retained the trophy he last won in 2019 — controversially, the award was not handed out by France Football last year because of the coronavirus pandemic — after a year in which he ended his long wait for an international honour, winning the Copa América with Argentina, and left Barcelona, the club where he had spent all of his career, for Paris St.-Germain.

    “It’s incredible to be here again,” Messi said. “Two years ago I thought it was the last time. Winning the Copa América was the key.”

    “I don’t know how many years I have left,” he added, “but I hope many more.”

    The Argentinian footballer also took to his Instagram to express his joy on winning the award again. He also thanked people who supported him.

    Messi finished with 613 points in the voting, only 33 more than the runner-up, Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski. In 2019, the last time the trophy was awarded, Messi beat Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk by only seven points.

    Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo has hit back at the editor of France Football who claimed the Manchester United forward’s only ambition is to “retire with more Ballons d’Or than Lionel Messi”.

    Ferré told the New York Times: “Ronaldo has only one ambition and that is to retire with more Ballon d’Or [awards] than Messi. I know because he has told me.”

    However, Ronaldo has disputed that version of events and took to Instagram to claim that Ferré “lied” during the interview.

  • Much-talked Harry Potter festival begins at Government College University in Lahore

    Much-talked Harry Potter festival begins at Government College University in Lahore

    The famous fantasy novel character Harry Potter festival has begun at the Government College University (GCU).

    The one-week festival kicked off yesterday (November 29) with the grand release and screening of Pakistan’s first Harry Potter fan movie titled ‘The Last Follower and the Resurrection of Voldemort’.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is gggg.jpg

    The university will hold the festival till December 5. The Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi of the university has enthusiastically taken part in all the promotional videos. He said, “Our youth has immense potential and we just need to provide them opportunities, little guidance and support.”

    The movie is based on the years after Lord Voldemort’s death. Waleed Akram, who is a director, editor and cinematographer revealed that they started working on this project in 2018 but it got delayed due to Covid-19. He said they are premiering an updated version of the film after re-shooting.

    Other than the screening of movies, the festival includes Harry Potter experiential space, Harry Potter-themed food stalls, face paint and posters, photo booths and much more.

    The teaser of this non-commercial movie is making rounds on social media gaining attention from the youngsters.

  • Elon Musk praises Indian talent as Indian takes over Twitter

    Elon Musk praises Indian talent as Indian takes over Twitter

    Billionaire Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla Motors, took to Twitter to share his admiration for the Indian talent that contributed to America’s economy as Jack Dorsey (CEO) of Twitter stepped down and announced his successor, Indian Parag Agrawal.

    Last night, Dorsey announced his resignation on Twitter and confirmed that his replacement was Indian-born Parag Agrawal. Dorsey will remain a member of the board until his term expires in May 2022 and assist Parag with the transition.

    A 37-year-old immigrant from India, Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011 as a Software Engineer and was later promoted to Chief Technical Officer (CTO) in 2017. While working as CTO, he worked as in-charge of strategy involving Artificial Intelligence, reports CNBC.

    A colleague of Agrawal, Chklovski, who worked with him from 2012 to 2014 said, “Parag is phenomenal, understands the problems, stays up late to get it done, mentors others — he’s the whole package.”

    Yoel Roth who is Twitter’s head of site integrity, tweeted, “Parag was one of the first engineers I worked with when I started at Twitter (when we were first working on timeline ranking). The rigor he brings to every decision was clear then, and I’m delighted to see it recognized today.”

    https://twitter.com/yoyoel/status/1465360091348041731?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1465360091348041731%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2021%2F11%2F29%2Ftwitter-ceo-parag-agrawal-key-to-dorseys-plans-to-revamp-social-media.html

    Apart from Twitter, five giant companies Google, Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, Palo Alto Networks have been headed currently by Indian-origin immigrants.

  • ‘Schedule a dental appointment’ with the President of Pakistan

    ‘Schedule a dental appointment’ with the President of Pakistan

    President Dr Arif Alvi’s son, Dr Awab Alvi, recently took to Twitter to announce that his family business, Alvi Dental, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bringing Smiles USA. 

    With the president in attendance, a debate started amongst netizens questioning if it was a direct conflict of interest for Alvi to be a president and promote the family business as well.

    After receiving backlash from Twitterati, Dr Awab Alvi clarified that his father had resigned from the family business after he became president.

    “The President resigned from Alvi Dental when he became President. This venture is between me & my Pakistani US diaspora dentist-alumnus friend,” tweeted Awab.

    Awab further tweeted, “President encourages all startups much smaller than ours & is on record to have hosted a startup in dentistry at Presidency last year.”

    However, when we checked the official website of “Alvi Dentals”, the president is still enlisted as a dentist and part of the Alvi Dental team. The website also provides an option to “schedule an appointment” with the president.

    Screengrab from the official website of Alvi Dental

    The Current talked to Shiagan Ijaz, a Lahore-based lawyer, to know if the matter was a conflict of interest for the president. “Yes, the perception that is being created very much puts the present scenario as a conflict of interest for the president.”

    “Even if it was a private venture, the president was present there, which certainly gives the impression and can be perceived as misuse of his office. So there has been a misuse of his authority here,” said Shaighan.

    The presidential oath also says, “As a President of Pakistan, I will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct.”

  • Pakistan offers to host OIC summit to discuss Afghan crisis

    Pakistan offers to host OIC summit to discuss Afghan crisis

    Foreign Minister (FM) of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi has announced that Pakistan fully endorses Saudi Arabia’s move to request an extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the current Afghanistan situation after the Taliban takeover.

    Qureshi said, “Afghanistan is a founding member of the OIC. As part of the Islamic Ummah, we are bound by fraternal bonds of amity and brotherhood with the people of Afghanistan,” he said stressing that, “today, our Afghan brothers and sisters need us more than ever before.”

    In a video message, shared by the Foreign Office (FO), the minister also announced that Pakistan has offered to host the meeting in Islamabad on December 17.

    Saudi Arabia also made the call for the session on the same day, as per the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

    According to the minister, the arrival of winter has worsened the humanitarian crisis in the worn-torn country. ​He emphasised the need for the OIC to “step in to help our Afghan brothers.”

    According to Qureshi, the first extraordinary session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers was held in Islamabad in January 1980, also on the situation in Afghanistan at that time.

    “Next month, we would, once again, gather in Islamabad, to reaffirm our abiding solidarity with and support to the Afghan people,” Qureshi concluded.

    Since the Taliban takeover, the country has been facing obstacles in the face of violations of human rights and economic collapse.

  • ’90’s called, their sofa is missing’: Netizens disapprove Priyanka’s look for British fashion awards

    ’90’s called, their sofa is missing’: Netizens disapprove Priyanka’s look for British fashion awards

    Priyanka Chopra and husband Nick Jonas took to the red carpet at the British Fashion Awards 2021 on Tuesday morning. Priyanka wore a floral jumpsuit which featured an extravagant matching coat and train. Her husband Nick opted for a black suit. The couple also had their fare share of cute PDA moments on the red carpet. Chopra was all smiles when Nick took the time out to fix her dress.

    Social media is going crazy over the chemistry of the couple. However, some people did not like Priyanka’s floral outfit.

    Have a look at the reactions:

     Priyanka recently spoke about her marriage while sharing a video of her roast session from The Jonas Brothers Family Roast which premiered on Netflix on November 23.

    Read more- Are Priyanka and Nick expecting? Priyanka’s statement leaves husband stunned

    During her roast, Priyanka also talked about having kids with Nick and said that they are the only couple who do not have any kids. Nick’s brothers Kevin Jonas has two daughters, and Joe Jonas also shares a daughter with his wife Sophie Turner.

    Read more-Are Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas splitting up?

    Earlier, Priyanka caught the attention of the social media users fueling the rumours of an alleged divorce, by removing her husband Nick Jonas’ last name from her Instagram profile. However, the rumours died after multiple public appearances by the couple.