Author: newsdesk

  • PM Shehbaz’s wife attended Fatima Bhutto’s wedding

    PM Shehbaz’s wife attended Fatima Bhutto’s wedding

    First Lady of Pakistan and bestselling author Tehmina Durrani attended former Prime Minister (PM) Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s granddaughter Fatima Bhutto’s wedding which took place in Karachi a few days ago.

    While sharing a picture of herself with the newlyweds, Durrani wrote: “Fatima Bhutto and Gibran’s marriage is an important message of simplicity for the entire nation.”

    It is pertinent to mention that the history of ties between the Bhutto family and Tehmina goes way back to the 1970s when she was married to former Punjab Governor Ghulam Mustafa Khar, who was one of Bhutto’s closest confidants. However, after Tehmina got divorced from Khar, she remained in touch with Bhutto’s son Murtaza’s family.

    Fatima Bhutto, who is also a famous writer, got married in an intimate ceremony at her family home in Karachi’s 70 Clifton on April 28, with the simple nuptials held in her grandfather’s library.

  • ‘Look who’s talking’: Twitter has no patience for Salman Khan’s hypocrisy on women’s clothes

    Bollywood star Salman Khan is no stranger to controversy and scandals, but it now seems like the aging lothario has forgotten his past.

    The ‘Kisi Ka Bhai, Kisi Ki Jaan’ actor was speaking at Rajat Sharma’s show ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ where he defended his rule that women on the sets of his films couldn’t wearing plunging necklines. The superstar said that women’s bodies are precious and it was boys who have bad intentions:

    “It’s not a matter of girls, it’s about the boys. The way they look at girls, at your sister, wife or mother, I do not like it. So, I do not want them to go through this.”

    When asked about whether this statement imposes double standards by blaming women for their harassment, the actor responded:

    “There is no double standard in it. I feel that a woman’s body is a lot more precious, the more that is covered, the better, I feel.”

    Twitter users have slammed Khan’s comments as degrading and sexist for blaming women once more for the actions of men.

    Many had to point out that Khan had a lot of skeletons in his closet to go and preach modesty to women, by printing out receipts of the actor’s history of abusing ex-girlfriends.

  • ‘Kabhi petrol bomb phainknay waalon se mazaakraat nahin hotay: Javed Latif calls PTI ‘terrorist’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Javed Latif, has expressed disapproval of the ongoing talks between the government and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), saying that dialogue should never be held with a “terrorist wing” and the “ones who throw petrol bombs”.

    Addressing a press conference, Latif, who is considered close to PML-N head Nawaz Sharif, went on to say that dialogue could never be held with a person who “is spreading anarchy in the country, especially at a time when Pakistan’s economy is stabilising and the country is progressing without IMF’s aid”.

    He urged “individuals in institutions” to take responsibility for “producing” a person like Imran Khan, Chairman of PTI, and for the consequences of their actions. He also claimed that some people are trying to reinstate the PTI chairman as Prime Minister.

    The PML-N leader said that the elections won’t be held without the participation of his party supremo Nawaz Sharif.

    The third and final round of talks will be held tomorrow. As of yet, no census is in sight.

  • Meta’s AI strategy pays off with Q1 profit of $5.7 billion

    Meta’s AI strategy pays off with Q1 profit of $5.7 billion

    Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has exceeded expectations by reporting a first quarter profit of $5.7 billion (£4.6 billion), despite a period of job cuts. The success has been attributed to the use of artificial intelligence (AI), which has helped to drive positive results across the business.

    Meta’s total revenue reached $28.6 billion, while the number of monthly Facebook users rose to just under three billion. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company was becoming more efficient, allowing it to build better products faster and to put itself in a stronger position to deliver its long-term vision.

    He also announced Meta’s intention to commercialize its privately-run generative AI, which can instantly create sentences and graphics, for practical applications such as chat experiences in WhatsApp and Messenger, visual creation tools for Facebook and Instagram posts, and ads. Zuckerberg assured investors that the move would not detract from Meta’s metaverse project, and confirmed that the company planned to release its next Quest VR headset later this year.

    Despite a net loss of $4 billion last quarter in its Reality Labs division, Meta still expects operating losses to increase year over year in 2023. However, the company’s cost-cutting measures have proved successful, with Meta having shed almost a quarter of its global workforce in the past few months.

  • ‘Backbone of our economy’: President, PM Shebaz pay rich tribute to workforce on Labour Day

    ‘Backbone of our economy’: President, PM Shebaz pay rich tribute to workforce on Labour Day

    On Monday, President Dr. Arif Alvi remarked that the observance of this year’s International Labour Day is an opportunity to reaffirm the significance of labour and recognise the brave and heroic struggle of workers to secure their basic rights. He also paid tribute to the workers who fought for their rights with great courage and dedication. The President’s statement emphasizes the importance of upholding the dignity of labor and acknowledging the efforts of workers in achieving their rights.

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif in a sperate message stated that ensuring labour rights and providing people with a stake in the system are still significant challenges for the global economy.

    “While we pay rich tributes to the working classes & celebrate their contributions today, the fact is that the disruption in global markets has led to a severe cost of living crisis. Together with increase in commodity prices, the working people find themselves under tremendous stress,” he wrote.
    “The edifice of material development that stands on the foundation of hard work will come crumbling if those who made it possible are excluded from its benefits. Fulfilling the labour rights & making people shareholders in the system remains a fundamental challenge for the global economy,” he added.

  • Washington doc leak says Pakistan doesn’t want to appease West anymore

    Washington doc leak says Pakistan doesn’t want to appease West anymore

    Several documents regarding the declining support of key allied countries to the United States (US) have been leaked, a report published by Washington Post has stated.

    According to one of the leaked documents, Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, argued in March that her country can “no longer try to maintain a middle ground between China and the United States.”

    In an internal memo she titled “Pakistan’s Difficult Choices,” Khar cautioned that Islamabad should avoid giving the appearance of appeasing the West. She said that in order to preserve Pakistan’s partnership with the United States, the country will be sacrificing the full benefits of a “real strategic” partnership with China.

    According to another leaked document, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif’s aide ask him to remain neutral in the Ukraine conflict because it could jeopardise the country’s ties with Russia.

    India, likewise, appeared to avoid taking sides between Washington and Moscow during a conversation on February 22 between Indian national security adviser Ajit Kumar Doval and his Russian counterpart, Nikolay Patrushev, another of the leaked documents indicates.

    The leaked documents have surfaced when the US is no longer the unchallenged sole superpower in the world, as its former allies make strategic ties with China and Russia while the Middle East goes through its own course correction as former rivals reconcile with deals brokered by China.

  • Petrol price unchanged, diesel price slashed by Rs5 per litre

    Petrol price unchanged, diesel price slashed by Rs5 per litre

    The federal government has announced a reduction in the price of diesel by Rs5 per litre, effective immediately, while maintaining the price of petrol for the next two weeks.

    Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the prices are revised to provide “maximum relief” to the public, following the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. In addition to the decrease in diesel prices, there will be a reduction of Rs10 per litre in the prices of Kerosene oil and Light Diesel Oil (LDO).

    The new prices have been set at Rs282 per litre for petrol, Rs288 per litre for high-speed diesel, Rs176.07 per litre for kerosene oil, and Rs164.68 per litre for light diesel oil. Diesel is widely used in the transport and agriculture sectors, so the price reduction could have a positive impact on inflation and provide some relief to farmers, particularly as the crop-harvesting season is underway.

    However, consumers are already facing high prices, which are especially burdensome for the low-income group who use motorbikes and small cars.

    In its previous fortnightly announcement, the federal government increased the price of petrol by Rs10 and the price of kerosene oil by Rs5.78, citing the increase in petroleum prices in the international market and exchange rate variations as the reason for the increase.

  • Fact Check: Did Pakistani parents lock daughter’s grave to prevent rape?

    Fact Check: Did Pakistani parents lock daughter’s grave to prevent rape?

    Claim

    Last week, a photo of a padlocked grave with a metal grate was being widely shared on social media and in news reports. It was being reported that the grave was in Pakistan and was the result of purported increase in necrophilia cases. The claim suggests that the grave is an illustration of how Pakistani mothers use locks to secure the graves of their daughters and protect the corpse from being raped.

    Indian media outlets also carried the story.

    .

    Fact

    Indian fact-checker Mohammed Zubair has said that the photo is, in fact, from Hyderabad city in India. “The image used by the media outlets was actually from a cemetery in Hyderabad. The cemetery is located opposite Masjid E Salar Mulk, a mosque in Darab Jung Colony, Madannapet, Hyderabad,” read the fact check piece written by Mohammed Zubair and Shinjine Majumder.

    “Alt News also spoke to a local resident whose house is near the mosque. He informed us that the grave belonged to an aged woman who had passed away in her seventies. Her son constructed the grille over the grave about 40 days after she had been buried.”

    The grill and padlock was installed to stop the grave from being reopened to put a fresh corpse inside.

    Several indian media outlets picked up the story while crediting Twitter for the image. The picture ANI picked up was tweeted by author Harris Sultan. He has now deleted the tweet.

    The EU DisinfoLab in a report published this year said that ANI repeatedly quotes non-existent bloggers, experts, journalists and think tanks spreading anti-Pakistan/China narratives in India.

    Verdict

    The claim is false.

  • Pakistan free of monkeypox?

    Pakistan free of monkeypox?

    On Sunday, Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel announced that the country had been declared free of monkeypox as the only verified patient who was suffering from the disease had fully recovered.

    A statement released by Ministry of National Health Services spokesperson Sajid Shah on Sunday confirmed that there had been only one reported case of mpox in the country, and that the patient was being treated at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). Patel mentioned that the patient was given top-notch medical care and had successfully recuperated.

    “The patient has been discharged after testing negative [for the virus]. There are no cases of mpox in Pakistan. Kudos to the hospital staff for taking the best measures,” he said.

    He further said that the government was taking all essential precautions to ensure the safety of the public and that the country’s institutions were prepared to handle any type of epidemic or illness. Patel also shared that out of the 22 suspected mpox cases and all of the samples sent for testing came back negative.
    The Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination confirmed the first case of monkeypox in the country on April 25.

    The infected person was deported from Saudi Arabia and arrived in Pakistan on April 17 with symptoms of the viral disease. The patient has recovered now.

  • Iranian minister impeached over rising inflation

    Iranian minister impeached over rising inflation

    Iranian lawmakers have voted to impeach Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Reza Fatemi Amin over his poor performance.

    The country is under a financial crisis because of international sanctions and rising inflation.

    Reza Fatemi Amin failed to gain enough support in a vote of confidence that saw 162 MPs vote in favour of his removal and 102 against it.

    The development took place due to the rising price of domestically manufactured vehicles after foreign imports dried up because of sanctions.