Author: newsdesk

  • After Rupi Kaur, several prominent South Asian celebrities chose to boycott White House Diwali event

    After Rupi Kaur, several prominent South Asian celebrities chose to boycott White House Diwali event

    South-Asian poet Rupi Kaur went viral on social media on Tuesday when she announced that she had refused o attend a Diwali celebration being held at the White House. In an open letter, the poetess condemned President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over their complicity in the on-going Gaza genocide, adding she will not be used as a token to white-wash their crimes. She further urged her fellow South Asian colleagues to also refuse to participate in the White House event.

    READ MORE: Poet Rupi Kaur rejects White House invitation for Diwali citing ‘genocide’ of Palestinians

    Wall Street Journal has reported that more South Asian celebrities have boycotted the White House event. This includes ‘Never Have I Ever’ actress Richa Moorjani, who also signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire along with fellow actor Poorna Jagannathan. Journalist Sabrina Siddiqui shared screenshots of the article on her Instagram account.

    TikTok influencer Payal Desai, who has more than 293K followers on the platform, as well as prominent desi magazine Brown Girl Magazine, were among those who rejected the invite.

    Speaking to Siddiqui, tech entrepreneur and investor Anjula Acharia revealed she had declined the invite to Vice President Kamala Haris’ Diwali party, as had filmmaker Shruti Ganguly.

    “At this very moment, at a time of war, I find that their specifically one-sided stance is creating even more devastation,” Shruti responded. “The fact that there is little or no support or acknowledgement of the pain that Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims are facing at this moment, it’s really been disappointing.”

  • Next four days crucial for Lahore, says caretaker CM Naqvi

    Next four days crucial for Lahore, says caretaker CM Naqvi

    Caretaker CM Punjab Mohsin Naqvi has said that, “The next four days are highly important regarding smog.” He was visiting construction sites in Saggiyan.

    Section 144 has been imposed in Lahore as part of a health and environmental emergency. The Chief Minister asserted that people should not come out of their houses unnecessarily. “There will not be much restriction on Iqbal Day but later anti-smog measures will be strictly implemented,” he said.

    The lesser number of traffic on the roads will provide ease in improving the environment and for that Punjab Government has requested traders to comply with the decision and announce the shutdown of the markets. This, he believes, will reduce the traffic and that will lessen the intensity of the smog.

    It is important to mention that Lahore is topping the charts for having a hazardous air-quality index for the last one week.

  • IMF pressures Pakistan for tax reforms, calls for intensified recovery efforts

    IMF pressures Pakistan for tax reforms, calls for intensified recovery efforts

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is urging Pakistan to intensify efforts towards tax recovery. 

    Specifically, the IMF calls for increased income tax collection from retailers and the real estate sector, alongside a heightened focus on agriculture income. 

    The IMF emphasises collaborative actions between the federal government and provinces to enhance tax recovery, considering the imposition of a fixed tax on retailers in case of collection shortfalls after December. 

    Additionally, the IMF recommends consultations with provinces for taxing agriculture and real estate. Proposals for tax policy amendments and addressing taxation flaws have been extended to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) by the IMF mission, emphasising effective taxation policies and enforcement in sectors with insufficient tax recovery. 

    The FBR has presented a revenue projection report to the IMF team for the current fiscal year, with the IMF expected to respond by Saturday. During the discussions, the FBR briefed the IMF on the task force dedicated to tax policy and administration. 

    As part of an agreement with the IMF, Pakistan commits to sharing data on tax evaders through collaboration with the FBR, banks, and NADRA, aiming to enhance overall tax collection. 

    This agreement was reportedly reached during policy review talks, facilitating the release of a $700 million loan tranche under the Standby Agreement (SBA).

  • 2023 likely to be the hottest year on record

    2023 likely to be the hottest year on record

    The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service report has claimed that 2023 was the warmest October on record globally, noting an average surface temperature of 15.3 degrees Celsius (59.54 degrees Fahrenheit) over the month. The report is “virtually certain” that 2023 is the warmest year ever recorded.

    The mean temperature was 0.85 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average for October and 1.7 degrees Celsius warmer than the preindustrial period of 1850-1900.

    Earlier, 2016 was declared as the hottest year in world history. Climate change experts find the shocking data to be “like something out of a Hollywood movie”

    COP28 is scheduled to take place by the end of November and this finding makes it more crucial than ever because the current temperature rise is 1.43 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average which was aimed to be curbed to just 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. The figures are alarming and demand the world’s attention.

    The world has already warmed by around 1.1 degrees Celsius after over a century of burning fossil fuels as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use. Indeed, it is this temperature increase that is fueling a series of extreme weather events around the world.

  • Shami outraged at former Pakistani cricketer’s allegation

    Shami outraged at former Pakistani cricketer’s allegation

    The star bowler of the Indian cricket team, Mohammad Shami, has reacted strongly to the accusations of bias against International Cricket Council (ICC) and Board of control for cricket in India (BCCI) by former Pakistani cricketer Hasan Raza.

    On a recent episode of Soch ki Jeet on ABN News, former national cricketer Hasan Raza was asked by host Hasnain Liaqat, “Is ICC giving different balls to Indian bowlers, as the way they are swinging the ball is more than other bowlers.”

    In response, Hassan replied, “The way Siraj and Shami were swinging the ball, it looked like ICC or BCCI were giving them different and suspicious balls in the second innings. The ball needs to be inspected, for swing. The ball may also have an additional layer of coating.”

    Over at Wasim Akram’s show Ask the Pavilion, the legendary fast bowler was asked by a fan if there is any chance of the ICC giving different balls to Indian bowlers.

    “All these assertions are ridiculous. By talking like this, you get yourself and us humiliated in the world. This is a very common thing, the team wins the toss and bowls, then the umpire comes with 12 balls-box from which the bowling team selects two balls. The umpire is accompanied by other people such as refs, etc”.

    Indian fast bowler Muhammad Shami also shared the video of Hasan Raza’s viral clip on his Instagram story and wrote, ‘Shame on you, focus on the game and not on unnecessary nonsense, sometimes enjoy the success of others, this is an ICC tournament. , not your local tournament, you were the player, right?’

    Shami added “Wasim bhai has explained, still, you don’t believe in your player Wasim Akram? You are busy in praising yourself.”

  • ‘IBA ya Pagal khaana’: Asim Azhar shuts down ‘Hania Amir’ chants at literary festival

    ‘IBA ya Pagal khaana’: Asim Azhar shuts down ‘Hania Amir’ chants at literary festival

    Asim Azhar was attending a literary festival held at the Institute of Public and Business Adminstration (IBA) when he was heckled by some members of the crowd while talking to Yasir Hussain. The crowd began taunting the singer by chanting the name of Hania Amir, the actress Asim had previously dated.

    In a viral video clip, Asim can be seen shutting down the misogynist chants by responding “IBA hai ya pagal khaana?”

    Yasir also slammed the hecklers by telling them to act like educated people.

    We have to applaud Asim for refusing to be bullied by hecklers. It’s not so hard to understand that nobody deserves to be taunted in such a demeaning manner about their private lives, let alone at an institute that is recognised as one of the superior universities of Pakistan.

  • Robot mistakes man for box, crushes him to death

    Robot mistakes man for box, crushes him to death

    A South Korean man was misidentified as a box by a robot that crushed him to death, local media has reported.

    The incident took place when the worker, reportedly in his 40s, was inspecting the robot’s sensor at a warehouse for agricultural products.

    Yonhap news agency reports that the robot was lifting boxes of bell peppers when it mistook the man for a receptacle.

    According to police sources, the “Mechanical arm pushed the man’s upper body onto a conveyor belt and crushed his face and chest”.

    The man later died in hospital.

    In an official statement released by the Donggoseong Export Agricultural Complex, the plant owner, called for a “precise and safe” system to be established.

    Sky News reports that in March, another South Korean man in his 50s, endured serious injuries after getting trapped by a robot while working at a vehicle parts manufacturing plant.

  • Renowned Washington Post faced extreme backlash for cartoon dehumanising Palestinian children, deleted later

    Renowned Washington Post faced extreme backlash for cartoon dehumanising Palestinian children, deleted later

    Washington Post was slammed on the internet on Wednesday for a racist cartoon dehumanising the Palestinians. Right now the number of Gazans killed in Israeli airstrikes has reached 10,000. The cartoon has since been deleted, while Post has put out an editorial note.

    The offensive drawing shows a crudely drawn Arabic man labeled Hamas with three children and a woman tied around him with ropes.

    “This is the kind of anti-Palestinian racism that they think is acceptable for publication,” slammed Palestinian poet Remi Kanazi.

    Palestinian journalist Ahmed Eldin re-shared the post to point out how the racism Palestinians are enduring in the Western media is similar to how the Jews were drawn as evil with physical features that compared them to rats or cockroaches.

    “Before the Holocaust, Jews were portrayed as irrational and evil, with physical features that made them appear akin to cockroaches and rats. These images dehumanized Jews to justify their mass extermination. Now, the Western press is doing the same to Palestinians. The source of this obscene and offensive piece of propaganda masquerading as a “political cartoon” by Michael Pramirez is not a lesser-known publication, but rather the widely recognized

    @washingtonpost. Regardless of the validity of the claims regarding Hamas using human shields, the notion that thousands of children being killed can be justified or deemed acceptable as collateral damage is absolutely unacceptable. The dehumanization of Palestinians, which serves as a pretext to permit and rationalize their mass killing, is a disturbing trend that seems to have no boundaries within American discussions and debates.”

    ‘What’s more troubling than this racist depiction,” Palestinian-American poet Mohammad El-Kurd wrote. “Is that the Washington Post thinks it’s OK to kill civilians if, hypothetically, ‘terrorists’ hid behind them. Even if the “human-shields” myth was true, only those who kill civilians are responsible for the act of killing.”

    Columnist and writer Fatima Bhutto tweeted her outrage:

    “This cartoon is so anti-Muslim, so racist it boggles the mind that any newspaper could print it. Beyond which, Israel has murdered over 4,000 children- do you have absolutely no shame depicting Palestinian children in this manner? What a disgrace.”

    The Washington Post opinion editor David Shipley published an apology for the cartoon on their website and took it down:

    “A cartoon we published by Michael Ramirez on the war in Gaza, a cartoon whose publication I approved, was seen by many readers as racist. This was not my intent. I saw the drawing as a caricature of a specific individual, the Hamas spokesperson who celebrated the attacks on unarmed civilians in Israel. However, the reaction to the image convinced me that I had missed something profound, and divisive, and I regret that. Our section is aimed at finding commonalities, understanding the bonds that hold us together, even in the darkest times.”

  • Imran Khan should receive ‘exemplary punishment’ for May 9 attacks, says Sindh Governor

    Imran Khan should receive ‘exemplary punishment’ for May 9 attacks, says Sindh Governor

    Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori has called for severe punishment for Imran Khan, the Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, emphasizing that the former Prime Minister should be held accountable for planning and carrying out the attacks that targeted the Pakistan Army in various cities of Pakistan.

    Speaking at a press conference held at the Pakistan High Commission in London, the Governor stated that he believes Khan should have been swiftly punished within a week after the attacks to send a strong message to deter others from trying to harm the country’s armed forces in a similar way.
    “I believe that those involved in the May 9 attacks should not have been processed through the courts, they should have been publicly sentenced. Those put in jail should have been sentenced a long time ago for their attacks on Pakistan army installations, for attacking the corp commander’s house, for attacking the [General Headquarters] GHQ, for attacking the Pakistan Army physically and for the vandalism. What they did were acts of terrorism.

    “Nobody anywhere is allowed to attack even a police station. Protests happen all over the world but terrorism and vandalism are not allowed in the civilised world. It shouldn’t be like this where you get involved in acts of terror and then the cases go on in courts for years without any punishment for anyone. Our patriotism demands it,” he said.

    Tessori emphasized that we shouldn’t forget that the events of May 9 made Pakistan look bad in front of the entire world. The attackers showed no respect for the people who died and their families. Those who were responsible for these actions also showed a great lack of respect for the people who protect our country.

  • Inzamam-ul-Haq’s resignation accepted

    Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has accepted the resignation of former Chief Selector Inzamam-ul-Haq.

    In the past few weeks, the issue of Inzamam-ul-Haq being a shareholder in a company came to light, a matter, it was alleged, that clashed with his position within PCB. Inzamam resigned from the post of chief selector before the formation of a committee to probe the matter.

    The five-member committee will look into the team selection process and conflict of interest. However, Inzamam-ul-Haq’s resignation was not immediately accepted.

    Sources say that now PCB has accepted the resignation.

    In a TV program (Capital Talk) Inzamam-ul-Haq said that the allegations were made during the World Cup but the board is not calling for an inquiry now, nor is it contacting or responding to emails, nor is the board telling him what the inquiry is about. “Even I learned from the TV that the resignation was not accepted,” he remarked.

    PCB has now said that Inzamam-ul-Haq’s email was received yesterday, he will be given a definite reply. The statement confirmed that an investigation is being conducted for conflict of interest and Inzamam knows everything. He will be informed when all the investigations are completed and he will be called.

    PCB said that they did not accept Inzamam-ul-Haq’s resignation due to respect.

    PCB says that Inzamam-ul-Haq spoke against board rules in a TV program, after which, PCB accepted his resignation.