Author: newsdesk

  • PM Khan to receive Bahrain’s highest civilian award

    PM Khan to receive Bahrain’s highest civilian award

    Prime Minister Imran Khan will receive Bahrain’s highest civil award, the King Hamad Order of the Renaissance, during an upcoming visit to the Kingdom.

    According to Arab News, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis, Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari said that PM Khan will be going on an official visit to Bahrain in mid-December, where he will be conferred Bahrain’s highest civilian award at a special ceremony.

    During this visit to Bahrain, the premiere will meet his counterpart Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. He will also participate in Bahrain’s national day celebrations.

    The National Guard of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Lt. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, on his visit to Pakistan earlier this year, had invited PM Khan to visit Bahrain on behalf of the prime minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

    PM Khan is expected to depart on a three-country tour on December 15, starting with Bahrain, followed by Switzerland where he will address a global conference on refugees in Geneva, before concluding his tour in Malaysia.

    It is pertinent to mention that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also received the King Hamad Order of the Renaissance by Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa during a visit to the Kingdom in August.

  • Islamabad is getting Shaheen Squad

    Islamabad is getting Shaheen Squad

    With rising incidents of street crime in Islamabad, a new mobile team was introduced to prevent street crimes in the city.

    The motorbike-mounted Shaheen Squad will patrol all the public places to keep an eye on muggers and check doubtful activities. Operations DIG Waqaruddin Syed said that the squad has been deployed at model police stations in Islamabad to curb street crimes in different areas.

    Officers in the squad will be armed with modern weapons and radios to directly respond to situations as per directions received from the control room. Senior police officers will check the performance of the squad daily. As per reports, all personnel has been instructed to be alert while on duty. During checking, the squad members have been directed to follow policy and be courteous with the people.

  • London bridge attacker laid to rest in Pakistan

    London bridge attacker laid to rest in Pakistan

    British national Usman Khan who attacked people on London Bridge was laid to rest in his family’s ancestral village in a southern district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Friday, Dawn reported.

    According to the details, the body of the 28-year-old Usman was brought by his family from Islamabad airport to Kijlani village in district Kotli where the funeral took place at 4pm, following which he was buried in a local graveyard.

    Pakistan International Airline’s (PIA) General Manager Public Relations Abdul Hafeez has said that Usman Khan’s body was shifted to Islamabad from London aboard a PIA flight PK-792, which was later handed over to his family.

    Abdul Hafeez said that it was the PIA’s policy that it carried bodies on the basis of genuine documentation, including foreign-origin card of the deceased and Pakistan High Com­mission’s letter.

    The body was handed over to his relatives after passing through the immigration and customs process.

    Usman’s relatives drove the body to the town of Kotli for burial as his family didn’t want to bury him in the United Kingdom (UK). His funeral prayers were earlier offered in a Birmingham mosque.

    After Usman’s funeral people, on social media have pointed out that the government had earlier tried to cover up the fact that the London Bridge attacker was a Pakistani and now they have allowed him burial in the country.

    Usman Khan had earlier stabbed two people to death and left three others injured in an attack in London. He had been residing in the Staffordshire area of UK.

    According to reports, Khan was part of a gang of nine extremists, mostly of Bangladeshi origin, who were sentenced in February 2012 after being convicted. However, he was released in December 2018, but was required to wear a GPS [an electronic tag].

    After the London Bridge attack, Usman was shot dead by security personnel.

  • Parents forgive daughter for murdering younger sister

    Parents forgive daughter for murdering younger sister

    A teenage girl charged with killing her own sister was acquitted by a model court in Karachi after her parents pardoned her and her three accomplices, one of which was her fiancé at the time.

    According to reports, eighteen-year-old Alveena along with her fiancé Mazhar Mehfooz had murdered her 16-year-old sister Aleena in December 2017 in what police claimed was a staged robbery.

    According to the prosecution, the female accused and her fiancé had confessed to slitting the throat of the victim since she shared a friendship with one of the two accused brothers and allegedly helped both visit her home in the absence of her parents and to blackmail the female accused after getting her intimate pictures in their mobile phones.

    According to the FIR registered at the time of the incident, two men broke into the house for robbery and stabbed the 16-year-old to death for putting up resistance. They also took away cash, jewellery and other valuables.

    The two co-accused brothers Ahsan and Abbas were charged with blackmailing the female accused and forcing her to kill her own sister.

    After recording evidence and hearing final arguments from both sides, an additional district and sessions judge acquitted the accused.

    The judge also accepted the compromise applications moved by the accused persons and the parents of the victim. In their application and affidavits, the parents of the victim said that they had pardoned all four accused, including their daughter Alveena and her husband Mazhar, in the name of the Almighty, without any duress and pressure and waived off their right to claim compensation as well.

  • Pantone chooses ‘Classic Blue’ as the colour of the year for 2020

    Pantone chooses ‘Classic Blue’ as the colour of the year for 2020

    The Pantone Color Institute has chosen the calming, confident Classic Blue as its colour of the year for 2020. Kate Middleton wore an outfit of this colour on her recent trip to Pakistan.

    According to the vice president of the global purveyors of colour consulting, trendspotting and analysis Laurie Pressman, “the colour is an anchor offering stability, constancy and connection.”

    “It’s a reassuring presence,” she said.

    Pressman and her team scoured the worlds of art, fashion and home decor, along with commercial, graphic and industrial design, to come up with the pick.

    Patone began the decade by choosing Cerulean, the colour of the daytime sky, to begin the new millennium (2000), while Classic Blue is the sky at dusk as the new decade commences.

    “It has depth to it, but it’s a colour of anticipation because we’re looking ahead,” Pressman said speaking about the colour. “The day is over. We’re looking forward to the evening. What’s going to come?”

    Classic Blue is a vibrant yet non-aggressive and easily relatable colour, she said. It’s also among nature’s anthocyanin pigments possessing antioxidant and other health-fostering benefits.

    “Many of us feel stressed, completely overloaded,” Pressman said. “We live these 24/7 lifestyles. We’re anxious. There’s so much uncertainty and unrest, no matter where you are. With that we’ve seen this whole increased focus on wellness and self-care.”

    The timeless colour is also gender neutral and seasonless, mixing well with other shades throughout the spectrum yet making a strong statement on its own.

    The anointed blue also plays into the sustainability movement.

    “We have all this focus on buy less, buy good, so people aren’t throwing things into a landfill,” Pressman said. “You read about buying things to last and this is a timeless blue shade. It’s always there and you’re comfortable with it, like blue jeans.”

    For offices, it offers an air of security, she said. For kitchens, it’s a top accent color in appliances and walls.

    “Everybody’s comfortable with blue,” Pressman said. “We know it. We like it.”

  • After UK, ‘Muhammad’ among top 10 names in US

    After UK, ‘Muhammad’ among top 10 names in US

    After topping the list of popular baby names in the United Kingdom (UK), Muhammad is also one of the top 10 most popular baby names for boys in the United States.

    According to data from the parenting website BabyCenter, Muhammad ranks at number 10, up four spots from the last year. The name has gradually been rising on BabyCenter’s rankings over the years and first entered the top 100 in 2013.

    Liam was the most popular name
    for boys, pushing out Jackson, which was consecutively on the top for six
    years. Sophia was on the top for girls.   

    BabyCenter says its data comes from almost 600,000 parents who shared their baby’s name with the organisation in 2019. Its rankings also combine names that sound the same but have multiple spellings (like Mohammad and Muhammad).

    Names of Arabic origin are on the rise, according to BabyCenter. As Muhammad broke into the top 10 for boys, Aaliyah made it to the list of top 10 names for girls.

    These are the top 10 baby names for boys and girls this year, according to BabyCenter’s rankings.

  • IN PICTURES: Hum Bridal Couture Week Day 1

    IN PICTURES: Hum Bridal Couture Week Day 1

    The first day of the 17th edition of the Pantene HUM Bridal Couture Week (PHBCW) took place Friday night in Lahore.

    Here’s a look at the event in pictures:

    Labyagawachi – Fahad Hussayn

    Showstopper – Abrarul Haq

    Shadi Mubarik – Aisha Imran

    Showstopper – Minal Khan

    Ethnic Seams – Almirah

    Showstopper – Aijaz Aslam

    Hayal – Samsara Couture House

    Showstopper – Saba Qamar

    Zoella – Zonia Anwar

    Showstopper – Nausheen Shah

    Nitasha Bilal Haute Couture – Abooro

    Showstopper – Noor Khan

    Ishq – Haris Shakeel

    Showstopper – Kinza Hashmi

    Royal Tag

    Showstopper – Adnan Siddiqui

    Nilofer Shahid – A tribute to Kashmir

    Showstopper – Sarah Khan

  • Norway to distribute 10,000 copies of Holy Quran to combat extremism, hate

    Norway to distribute 10,000 copies of Holy Quran to combat extremism, hate

    Norway’s Muslim associations have announced they would distribute 10,000 copies of the Holy Quran with Norwegian translations in an effort to fight racism, hate and extremism.

    According to the the Norwegian Muslim Arts and Culture Association reported, it will be a collaboration with the Islam Literature Association and the Minhajul Quran mosque.

    “We want to respond to negative actions by spreading love and knowledge as taught by the Holy Quran,” said Muslim Arts and Culture Association in a statement, indicating that the copies would be handed out via the internet.

    The decision comes after an extreme right-wing group tried to burn a copy of the holy book during a protest in Kristiansand, a city populated with migrants.

    ‘Stop the Islamisation of Norway (SION)’ members were prevented from the desecrating by police, however, the group’s leader threw the holy book in the garbage.

    Turkey, Pakistan, Iran reacted strongly to the November 16 incident by issuing their formal condemnations.

    After receiving reactions from the Muslim community, Norwegian Politician Jøran Kallmyr held a meeting with the Islam Council of Norway and assured them that “Norway has distanced itself from the anti-Islamic organisation and said it does not provide any support to this organisation.”

    Kallmyr said that the Norwegian Muslim community’s safety was as important as the Norwegian citizens.

  • £190 million recovery: TV channel mutes ex-governor upon mentioning Malik Riaz’s name

    £190 million recovery: TV channel mutes ex-governor upon mentioning Malik Riaz’s name

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair was muted on-air by a private media outlet when he took property tycoon Malik Riaz’s name in relation with the £190 million settlement of United Kingdom’s (UK) National Crime Agency.

    Discussing the issue, Zubair highlighted how the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was hesitating when it came to naming the Bahria Town founder publicly. He then went on to take Malik Riaz’s name twice, but it was censored by the TV channel both times.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Media has largely been ignoring the news of Riaz’s settlement with the National Crime Agency, with majority of the English daily newspapers refraining from posting the news on their front page. While some are avoiding mentioning Riaz’s name, others are not reporting the settlement at all.

    Government officials, including the premier’s aide on information and broadcasting, have also been spotted avoiding mentioning the name of the Bahria Town founder.

    Sharing the details of the settlement with the media, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Thursday avoided mentioning Riaz’s name when asked about the family in question. “The report contains the name of the family that made the settlement,” she said.

  • US, UK govts issue safety travel advisory for women citizens visiting India

    US, UK govts issue safety travel advisory for women citizens visiting India

    India is fast building a reputation of being an unsafe place for women, resulting in the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) governments issuing a detailed information sheet for survivours of rape and sexual assault for its citizens travelling or staying in India, Times of India reported.

    The advisory by the British government to their citizens was released on its websites, and stated that rape and sexual assault survivours should insist on a police report. It also added that the police are not bound to provide an English translation, but the survivour could get the statement read and explained in English before signing it.

    Referring to this, Kartikeya Tripathi, a lecturer from University College London (UCL), said that in an unfortunate case, if a British national is sexually assaulted in India, the advisory tells them about their rights and that it needs to be dealt with by a female police officer, which many are not aware of.

    Also, the US government’s India travel advisory, which was issued earlier in March 2019 and which places India at ‘level 2’ security, advises travellers to ‘exercise increased caution’. It also stated that Indian authorities report rape as one of the fastest-growing crimes in India, and violent crime, such as sexual assault, has occurred at tourist sites and in other locations.

    The advisories have explained everything in detail, and also urge women to be aware of their rights when they are visiting India.