Author: newsdesk

  • PTI’s likely candidates for Senate elections

    PTI’s likely candidates for Senate elections

    The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) hasn’t announced its nominees for the upcoming Senate elections in March, but many of the party leaders, among them prime minister’s special aides, are vying for the Senate tickets.

    With the elections round the corner, the PTI believes it’s in a comfortable spot to undo the opposition majority in the upper house of parliament, and PM Imran Khan is confident that the post-polls Senate would be dominated by the government and its allied parties.

    Media reports say that PM’s Special Assistant on Accountability Shahzad Akbar, SAPM Zulfi Bukhari, party’s chief organiser Saifullah Niazi, Ejaz Chaudhry, Dr Zarqa Soharwardi and Tanzeela Imran among others are among the aspirants for Senate.

    Sources also claimed that Firdous Ashiq Awan, special assistant to CM Usman Buzdar, will be a nominee for the Senate seat.

    However, these names have yet to be finalised after a committee to choose the Senate nominees is established and the PM Imran Khan finalises the list and makes it public.  

    If Senate elections are to be held in March’s first week, then the party must choose its candidates and finalise the strategy by mid-February, reports quoted the party leaders as saying.

    BRING TAREEN BACK:

    Recently, PTI lawmaker Raja Riaz had asked the prime minister to make estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen the chairman of the committee formed to choose the candidates for the Senate elections.

    During a parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday with PM Imran Khan in the chair, the PTI lawmaker, who hails from Faisalabad, had said that Tareen’s services for the PTI cannot be ignored and demanded that the senior leader be made the head of the committee.

    He had also asked the PM to include Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Amir Kiyani, and Ijaz Chaudhry in the body formed to choose Senate candidates.

  • Multan: Woman declared dead by hospital returns to life a day later

    Multan: Woman declared dead by hospital returns to life a day later

    A woman pronounced dead at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital has come back to life and walked away a day later.

    According to reports, the woman, who was brought to hospital for a gunshot wound after getting caught in crossfire, was declared dead on Tuesday and is currently being treated for her injuries after spending one night “dead”.

    Doctors are providing her proper treatment and investigating whether declaring her dead was a mistake or if she has really returned to life as in a rare situation called Near Death Experience (NDE).

    In NDE people, for all intents and purposes, die but return to life.

    Nishtar Hospital Emergency Director Dr Amjad Chandio claims the woman was not pronounced dead in the emergency room, but a death certificate was issued by the hospital.

    “It is being investigated whether a blunder was committed and by whom,” he said.

  • Newsletter- 28th January 2021, Thursday

    Newsletter- 28th January 2021, Thursday









    *|MC:SUBJECT|*

    Good morning *|MERGE1|*. Hey, it’s Laila from The Current. It’s Thursday, the 28th of January. It may sound cliché but never give up on your dreams. Luck is great, but most of life is hard work so keep trying hard to achieve your dreams. Today is the third day of the first PAKvSA Test and Pakistan is leading with 88 runs. There will be plenty of sunshine in Lahore, Karachi and Quetta and it will be cloudy in Islamabad and Peshawar.

    Morning Meme

    PTI leader asks PM to bring Tareen back ahead of Senate polls

    Ruling party ke lawmaker Raja Riaz has asked the prime minister to make estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen the chairman of the committee formed to choose candidates for the upcoming Senate elections.
     

    Read on

    VIDEO: Visibly annoyed info minister stops Shahbaz Gill from speaking to media after PTI meeting

    Information Miniter Shibli Faraz Sahib ko Shahbaz Gill ka media se informal baat krna pasand nae aya and he looks clearly annoyed in the video which you can see in the story below.
     

    Read on

    VIDEO: PIA pilots spot and record UFO above their plane in Karachi

    Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilots have spotted an unidentified flying object (UFO) flying at 35,000 feet above Karachi. To learn more, checkout the story below.

    Read on

    Here’s how you can register for COVID-19 vaccine in Pakistan

    The government has approved three COVID-19 vaccines including Russia’s Sputnik-V, China’s Sinopharm and UK’s Oxford-AstraZeneca so far. Checkout the story for the step by step guide to get your self registered for the vaccine. Also, vaccine se mutaliq conspiracy theories per believe krne se pehle thori se research kar lijye ga! 

    Read

    Rajkummar Rao thanks Zara Noor Abbas for appreciating ‘The White Tiger’
     

    In an Instagram story, Zara had called the film a “masterpiece” and had urged her followers to “Watch this Now.” Responding to Zara’s story, Rao expressed his gratitude, writing: “Thank you so much.”

    Read On

    Baby on the way for Zaid Ali T and Yumnah

    Zaid Ali T and his wife Yumnah Ali T have announced that they are expecting their first child, and they both look the happiest in the picture shared by Zaid

    Read On

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    Current Baba’s prediction

    Today, If you don’t express yourself, people might get the impression that something is wrong so make sure you contribute something to the conversation.

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  • Kristen Stewart embodies Princess Diana in the first look of ‘Spencer’

    After Emma Corrin’s brilliant performance in the fourth season of Netflix’s The Crown, Hollywood star Kristen Stewart is all set to step into the role of the ‘People’s Princess’, Diana, in an upcoming film titled Spencer.

    Read more – Season Four of ‘The Crown’ is a Pakistani arranged marriage nightmare

    As per details, Stewart was roped in for the role in June 2020. The film is helmed by Pablo Larraín.

    In a first look unveiled on Wednesday, January 27, the Twilight actress embodies Princess Diana in a red blazer and a black hat with a veil. Stewart is also sporting Di’s signature short blonde hair.

    According to Deadline, the film will be “a drama that shapes up to be a hot package for the virtual Cannes Market. The Steven Knight-scripted film covers a critical weekend in the early ‘90s when Diana decided her marriage to Prince Charles wasn’t working, and that she needed to veer from a path that put her in line to one day be queen.”

    “The drama takes place over three days, in one of her final Christmas holidays in the House of Windsor in their Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England.”

    Timothy Spall, Sally Hawkins and Sean Harris are also part of the cast.

    Spencer has begun principal photography. It will be shot in both Germany and the UK. Spencer is scheduled to release in Fall 2021, ahead of Diana’s 25th death anniversary in 2022.

  • ‘Bridgerton’ smashes records to become Netflix’s biggest show ever

    ‘Bridgerton’ smashes records to become Netflix’s biggest show ever

    Regency-era British drama Bridgerton is Netflix’s biggest series ever with more than 82 million households tuning in to watch the show, the streaming platform has announced. That is a 19M households higher than the four-week projection Netflix issued 10 days into the Shondaland series’ run (63 million), at the time the streamer’s fifth-biggest launch in history.

    Read more – ‘Bridgerton’ is the arranged marriage we all want

    The series which continues to be a sensation is now Netflix’s biggest series ever, pushing down the previous record-holder The Witcher (76M in its first 28 days) to number two.

    Read more – Netflix’s five most-watched original series revealed

    Created by Shondaland veteran, Chris Van Dusen, Bridgerton ranked number one overall in 83 countries including the US, UK, Pakistan, India, and South Africa, and made the top 10 in every country except Japan, Netflix stated in a blogpost. The series is based on Julia Quinn’s novels of the same name. The first season followed Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) as she made her debut in Regency London, seeking a husband.

    Analysts say that the series’ timing likely played a role in its breakout success. It arrived amid the latest deadly COVID-19 surge with people in many countries exhausted after months in quarantine.

    “I think the show really provides an incredible escape for audiences at a time where that’s exactly what’s needed,” Van Dusen said last week when the series Season 2 renewal was announced. ”Bridgerton is this lavish, vibrant, steamy Regency love story; it is about romance, love, and joy; I think all of those things are really universal themes people are responding to.”

    Meanwhile, the cast and creators of the drama have also expressed their shock and delight over the show’s success.

    It is pertinent to add here that The Queen’s Gambit still ranks as Netflix’s biggest scripted limited series to date.

  • Gauhar Khan responds to Indian SC’s refusal to grant ‘Tandav’ makers protection from arrest

    Gauhar Khan responds to Indian SC’s refusal to grant ‘Tandav’ makers protection from arrest

    Gauhar Khan has responded to the Indian Supreme Court’s refusal to grant the makers and actors of the controversial Amazon Prime Video series Tandav protection from arrest. According to reports, the top court has denied relief to director Ali Abbas Zafar and others seeking quashing of FIRs against them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus. The top court has also issued notices to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and other states on their pleas.

    As per details, the bench hearing the case said that the “right to freedom of speech is not absolute”.

    “Your right to freedom of speech is not absolute. You cannot play the role of character that hurts the sentiments of a community,” said the bench.

    When Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub’s lawyer argued that he was just an actor under contract and that the views expressed by his character could not be attributed to him, Justice MR Shah said, “You accepted the contract after reading the script. You cannot hurt religious sentiments.”

    Responding to the bench’s comment, a Twitter user said: “Excellent. Next people playing murderers on screen might be tried for the same. After all, they read the script.”

    Gauahar retweeted the tweet along with three ‘face with monocle’ emojis.

    Tandav has been accused of disrespecting Hindu deities, with several political leaders including Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya demanding legal action against the team.

    Read more – India’s Karni Sena announces INR 1 crore award to whoever cuts tongue of ‘Tandav’ makers

    Following the backlash and outrage, Tandav creator Ali Abbas Zafar issued an “unconditional apology” on behalf of the team. Calling any resemblance to real-life persons and incidents coincidental, he wrote in a statement, “The cast and crew did not have any intention to offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead. The cast and crew of Tandav take cognizance of the concerns expressed by the people and unconditionally apologize if it has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments.”

    Later, Ali issued another statement, in which he said that the makers decided to ‘implement changes’ to the web series after concerns were raised. At least two scenes were removed from the show.

    Tandav is a nine-episode series that takes viewers inside the corridors of power and politics. It was released on Amazon Prime Video on January 15.

  • Serial killer kills two more women after release on bail

    Serial killer kills two more women after release on bail

    Indian police have arrested a serial killer who allegedly murdered two more women after the court released him on bail.

    Hyderabad city police commissioner Anjani Kumar told the media that Maina Ramulu was involved in the murder of 18 women over the last 24 years and was arrested and convicted earlier in 16 cases of murder.

    Police said Ramulu became a psychopath at the age of 21 and started targetting married women after his wife eloped with her boyfriend.

    Hyderabad Police Task Force arrested 45-year-old Ramulu in the city in connection with the murder of two women in Ghatkesar and Siddipet towns in December 2020. According to police, Ramulu used to approach women in their 30s and intoxicate them by offering liquor and took them to isolated areas apparently to have sex.

    In many cases after killing women with stones or strangulating them, he would burn their faces by pouring alcohol to make identification difficult. He continued to commit the crimes even after serving an eight-year term in jail and coming out on bail.

    In the latest incident, he picked up one Venkatamma from a liquor vend in Yusufguda area of Hyderabad on December 30 and killed her at an isolated spot in Ghatkesar. The other victim, an unidentified woman in her 30s, was picked up from a vend to death at a village.

    After his first arrest in 2009, a local court sentenced Ramulu to life imprisonment on February 2011.

    During his sentence he was admitted to mental hospital for treatment. While he was in hospital he escaped with five other inmates on December 30, 2011.

    During the next two years, he committed five more murders on the borders of the city and was re-arrested by the police in May 2013. Later, he approached a high court for release and committed two more murders while on bail.

    “I suffered a lot because of what my wife did to me. I killed these women to see that others don’t suffer like me,” Maina Ramulu had told the police after his arrest.

  • IN PICTURES: Fahad Mustafa celebrates son’s birthday with a cricket-themed party

    Fahad Mustafa recently celebrated his son Musa’s 5th birthday with a cricket-themed birthday party.

    The star’s wife Sana Fahad shared pictures from the celebrations on social media. Check them out below:

  • I have always been a ‘Churail’, says Sarwat Gilani

    Sarwat Gilani says that she has always been a churail.

    In a recent interview Sarwat candidly talked about her character in Churails and her definition of feminism.

    Responding to a question about who her favourite character, Sarwat said: “Sara in Churails. Undoubtedly.”

    IN PICTURES: Sarwat Gilani’s ‘Churail’ themed birthday

    When asked how the web series changed her, Sarwat said: “I was a very Churail-like person myself, I have always tried to carry women along.”

    “I have travelled in all kinds of public transport during my university days to save money, so I have always been a Churail,” she continued. “But Churails taught me how to take ownership of your own problems.”

    Later while talking about her thoughts on feminism, Sarwat said: “I would not say I am a feminist.”

    She continued: “I feel a man has his own place. I feel that a certain time a woman needs a man, no matter how independent she is. I am an independent woman, but at the end of the day I feel like I need somebody, who would say that I will take care of you and who I can depend on.”

    “But at the same time, especially in Pakistan when we talk about feminism, people think that men have nothing to do with it but there are so many men who help to promote feminism because they support their women to come forward, so I feel feminism is a very balance sort of idea where you say everything belongs to whoever earns it,” she added.

    When the host questioned if Sarwat why she is hesitating to call herself a feminist, the actor said: “A lot of people think that feminism is all about women. I feel it has to do with men also. If a man is making changes in himself we can also call that feminism.”

    “We misunderstand feminism, that is why I don’t call myself a feminist,” said Sarwat. “But yes I talk about equal rights.”

    “I’m feminist but I also talk about the problems faced by men,” she added.

    Read more – Who banned ‘Churails’?

    Meanwhile, in a recent interview with The Current, Sarwat talked about her experience of working in Churails and how she felt when the series received backlash in Pakistan.

  • HEC allows online exams after ‘violent’ student protests

    HEC allows online exams after ‘violent’ student protests

    A day after several students were injured as a result of a violent protest against on-campus examination outside the University of Central Punjab in Lahore, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has allowed universities across Pakistan to conduct online examinations with “adequate safeguards”.

    In a statement, the HEC said it “already allowed universities to use their discretion to conduct exams, either on-campus or online as long as the chosen mode provides a fair assessment of students’ performance”.

    “Online exams either can be used if the universities administer ‘Open Book Exams’ or establish an invigilation system in a supervised environment. In this mode, universities will also have to use Turnitin software to detect plagiarism. Further, viva/oral exam may be integrated with the assessment where necessary, the statement added.

    The HEC said the universities can hold “on-campus exams under strict compliance” of coronavirus SOPs.

    “Universities may also have to organize make-up classes for two weeks in case students consider the course coverage to be deficient,” it said, adding that assessment of all “courses requiring psychomotor skills, such as medicine, engineering, subjects involving lab/studio work must be held on campus”.

    Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood also shared the HEC decision on his Twitter. He said he was “happy to note that HEC has formally allowed the universities to conduct online exams with adequate safeguards”.

    Sharing a picture of the HEC notification, Mahmood said that the decision would “pave the way for [universities] to devise the right procedures to quickly” hold online exams, adding that “education standards must be kept up.”

    On Tuesday, a student protest outside turned ugly when security guards of a private university baton-charged students after they tried to enter the university and march towards the vice chancellor office. Five of them received injuries, with two in critical condition.

    A day before, the police also used force to disperse the students who had gathered to record their protest against the on-campus examination despite the second wave of coronavirus.