Category: Lifestyle

The lifestyle of millennials is underreported in our mainstream media. The Current’s lifestyle news covers social events and issues that are unique.

  • Miami girl shifts to Hunza, says its more comfortable than ‘toxic’ America

    Samantha Shea, a Miami native, has penned a loving essay about her adopted home Hunza, saying that her quality of life here is infinitely better.

    “I save thousands each month compared with living in a US city, and my quality of life is infinitely better,” Shea wrote for Business Insider.

    Stating that she finds American hustling culture “toxic”, Shea said that the people in Hunza are generally polite and respectful.

    “I breathe clean air and eat organic, home-cooked food for every meal,” she writes.

    Shea writes that people from back home think Pakistan is a desert, and she herself didn’t know much about it before travelling to the country after college.

    When she first came to Pakistan in 2019, she had never lived outside of the US.

    “In Hunza, electricity comes on for only a few hours a day, you walk to the local market if you need anything – Amazon doesn’t deliver to the mountainous valley region – and running hot water isn’t guaranteed,” she says.

    However she writes that the valley is now her home:
    “Here, I don’t lock up my bike or my front door, I can walk everywhere, and my recent major home renovation cost me only $3,000.”

    And though she travelled to Pakistan from India, she says she found it easier to travel here.

    “I found it easier and more fun to travel here than in India, a much more ‘mainstream’ backpacking destination. I encountered fewer scammers traveling in Pakistan. I also found Pakistan had less trash on the streets, and the roads were in better condition.”

    Samantha, who is now a travel blogger, says she has learnt Urdu and is now learning Burushaski, one of the two major languages spoken in Hunza.

  • Woman who wrote book on grief after husband’s death charged with his murder

    Woman who wrote book on grief after husband’s death charged with his murder

    Kouri Richins, a mother of three and author of a book about grief following the death of her husband, has been charged with his murder.

    According to prosecutors, she allegedly poisoned Eric Richins with a lethal dose of the synthetic drug fentanyl, which was found in his system after he died on March 4, 2022.

    Ms Richins was detained in Provo, Utah, on Monday and is also charged with possessing GHB, a drug commonly associated with “date rape” cases due to its sedative effects.

    Search warrants seen by KPCW revealed that Mr Richins’ family had expressed suspicion that Ms Richins was responsible for his death, and he had reportedly warned them that she was to blame if anything happened to him. The charges also come after an “unnamed acquaintance” claimed to have sold fentanyl to Ms Richins.

    Ms Richins claimed to have found her husband “cold to the touch” after she had given him a THC gummy and a Moscow Mule to celebrate him selling a house. Following his death, she wrote a picture book titled “Are you with me?” to help children dealing with the loss of a loved one.

    She had been promoting the book in recent television interviews, including an appearance on “Good Things Utah,” where she explained that children needed to be reminded that a loved one’s spirit is always present in the home.

    In addition to the murder charge, Ms Richins is also accused of altering her husband’s life insurance policy to make herself the sole beneficiary. She is currently in custody, and the case is ongoing.

  • Man kills wife for not cooking rice with curry

    Man kills wife for not cooking rice with curry

    According to the police, a man was apprehended in Odisha’s Sambalpur district on Monday on suspicion of murdering his wife because she didn’t cook rice with curry.

    The incident occurred in Nuadhi village in the Jamankira Police Station region on Sunday evening. The accused has been identified as Sanatan Dharua, a 40-year-old man, while his wife has been identified as Pushpa Dharua, a 35-year-old woman.

    Sanatan and Pushpa have a daughter and a son, with their daughter working as a domestic help in Kuchinda while their son was spending the night at a friend’s house on Sunday.

    Upon returning home, Sanatan discovered that Pushpa had prepared only curry and not rice, sparking an argument that resulted in him assaulting and killing his wife, as per a police officer.

    The matter came to light when Pushpa’s son returned home to find his mother dead. He contacted the authorities, who took the body and detained the husband.

    Jamankira Police Station Inspector-in-charge Premjit Das stated that an autopsy was conducted on Monday and the accused husband was held in custody.

  • Woman demands a refund for wedding photos from photographer after divorce

    Woman demands a refund for wedding photos from photographer after divorce

    A South African woman has made headlines after contacting her wedding photographer, four years after her wedding, to request a refund due to her recent divorce.

    The woman claimed that she and her ex-husband no longer needed the wedding photos, and therefore, they should be entitled to a refund.

    The photographer, Lance Romeo, initially thought it was a prank, but after realising the woman was serious, he respectfully declined her request.

    Still, the woman did not accept his refusal and requested to meet in person to discuss the matter, but the photographer refused and instructed her to communicate through her lawyers.

    The photographer shared the WhatsApp chat with the woman on Twitter, which soon went viral. The woman’s ex-husband later contacted the photographer and apologised on her behalf.

    Despite the woman’s demands, the photographer remained professional throughout the exchange, and the incident garnered widespread attention on social media.

  • From prisoner to artist: Guantanamo Bay detainee showcases work at Karachi exhibition

    From prisoner to artist: Guantanamo Bay detainee showcases work at Karachi exhibition

    Ahmed Rabbani, a 53-year-old Pakistani who was recently released after 20 years of detention at Guantanamo Bay, turned to painting to satisfy his artistic yearnings. When he ran out of paint, he used whatever he could find, including dirt, coffee grinds, and spices such as turmeric from the prison canteen.

    “Through painting, I would feel myself outside Guantanamo,” he said at an exhibition of his work in Karachi. Rabbani was detained in September 2002 and handed over to the US Central Intelligence Agency for a bounty of $5,000. He was accused of being a notorious militant known as Hassan Ghul, but Rabbani always insisted it was a case of mistaken identity. He and his brother were never charged or faced trial during their detention.

    The US Senate published a Rendition Report in 2014, which revealed that Ghul was captured and brought to the same prison, only to be released back to Pakistan for “cooperating.” While Ghul went back to his terrorist ways and was killed in a drone strike in 2012, Ahmed got a one-way trip to Guantanamo Bay.

    Born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Rabbani moved back to Karachi as a teen and was a taxi driver at the time of his detention. He specialised in guiding visitors from the Middle East, which contributed to him being misidentified.

    While imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, painting became an obsession for Rabbani, although years spent on hunger strike meant he was often too frail to even hold a brush. If he ran out of materials, he would improvise by using a piece of discarded or torn clothes as a canvas. He would also use coffee or turmeric as a medium.

    Around two dozen pieces of Rabbani’s artwork, which he was allowed to take from prison, are on display at “The Unforgotten Moon: Liberating Art from Guantanamo Bay” exhibition. The works are displayed alongside pieces by local artists who have “re-imagined” paintings that were confiscated. “He is someone who has lost so much of his life, so to produce images of this quality is a miracle… it’s remarkable,” said Natasha Malik, curator and organiser of the exhibition.

    Rabbani, sporting a salt-and-pepper beard and wearing a traditional shalwar kameez and waistcoat, was the centre of attention at the exhibition opening. He plans to publish a cookery book with his memoirs in it and wants to open a restaurant based on recipes he learned while in prison. He hopes to use funds raised from the sale of his artwork to achieve this.

    His artwork depicts his hopes and despair, and some pieces express his yearnings for freedom, such as nature seen through narrow openings, birds flying, and endless oceans. One painting shows a cage containing bright orange fish, the colour of overalls Guantanamo prisoners were forced to wear. “I spent many years in orange,” he said. “I never accepted their laws. I would always break their laws.”

  • Female wrestlers in India are protesting on roads, but why?

    Female wrestlers in India are protesting on roads, but why?

    Top female wrestlers in India are protesting against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, an influential politician who has been accused of sexually harassing and intimidating female athletes, calling for him to be held responsible.

    Singh has been accused of harassing seven female wrestlers and one minor.

    Who is Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh?

    Singh, who has been heading the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) since 2011, is a six-time member of parliament from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

    No action against harassment:

    Following accusations of sexual harassments, a panel was formed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in January to investigate the matter. The Sports Minister of India, Anurag Singh Thakur, had stated that the investigation would be concluded within four weeks. Although the inquiry report was prepared in April, the conclusions were not disclosed to the public.

    Despite mounting pressure for his resignation as President of the WFI, Singh has chosen to disregard these demands He has refuted the accusations, stating that they are part of a scheme to tarnish his image.

    The wrestlers in India have claimed that the government has not acted quickly enough in response to allegations of sexual harassment, despite the sport ministry’s January announcement that it would investigate the matter. This complaint comes three months after the ministry’s statement.

    Singh was booked by the Delhi Police on April 28, but has escaped further action thus far.

    Background of female wrestlers in India:

    Wrestling in India is plagued by sexual harassment, with many wrestlers hailing from humble backgrounds in the northern state of Haryana, which can make them vulnerable to intimidation by powerful officials.

    This problem is not limited to wrestling, as other sports in India have also seen incidents of sexual harassment, including the national cycling team and the women’s under-17 football team. The Sports Authority of India received 30 complaints of sexual harassment in the past five years, according to the sports minister’s response to a parliamentary query.

  • Loneliness as dangerous to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day: US Surgeon General

    Loneliness as dangerous to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day: US Surgeon General

    The Surgeon General of the United States of America (USA), Vivek Murthy, has said that loneliness poses a health risk equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. He made the comments while talking to the BBC regarding the prevalence of loneliness in the US.

    Murthy – one of the highest ranking health officials in the country-said that the problem affects nearly half of all Americans and he has also experienced it himself.

    He urged US health authorities to treat loneliness as seriously as they treat obesity or drug abuse.

    “I had neglected my family and my friends during that time, thinking that it was too hard to focus on work, and focus on family and friends,” said Murthy while talking about his own experience.

    “I was really suffering from the consequences of that, which were a profound sense of loneliness that followed me for weeks, which stretched into months,” he added.
    Experiencing loneliness has been linked to a significant increase in the chances of premature death, by up to almost 30 per cent. This increased risk is associated with various health problems such as diabetes, hearts attacks, insomnia, and dementia.

  • Former UK PM Liz Truss refuses to pay £12,000 back to govt for bathrobes, wine, slippers

    Former UK PM Liz Truss refuses to pay £12,000 back to govt for bathrobes, wine, slippers

    Liz Truss, the United Kingdom’s shortest-serving prime minister, has declined to reimburse the British government for a sum of £12,000 ($15,000) for her stay at Chevening House while she was Foreign Secretary.

    The bill mostly covered hospitality expenditure but also included missing items, such as bathrobes and slippers.

    According to a Daily Mail source, officials have informed Liz Truss that she must cover the expenses for items that went missing during her stat at the Chevening estate, which also includes food and wine charges.

    A spokesman for Ms Truss said: “Liz always paid for the costs of her personal guests at Chevening.”

    The latest invoice contains a mixture of costs for her personal business and costs for official government business with civil servants including [Cabinet Secretary] Simon Case and senior officials from other departments who met at Chevening during the transition preparations.”

    “The latter constitutes the majority of the bill. It would be inappropriate for her to pay the costs for officials as it would have breached the Civil Service Code for civil servants to accept hospitality during the leadership campaign. She has therefore asked for this to be billed separately.”

    Liz Truss’s tenure as prime minister of the United Kingdom began on 6 September 2022 when she accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding Boris Johnson, and ended 49 days later on 25 October upon her resignation.

  • Karachi may face flour shortage this week

    Karachi may face flour shortage this week

    Karachi is experiencing a crisis in flour supply as a disagreement between the flour mills association and the Sindh Food Department shows no sign of abating, ARY has reported.

    The chairman of the association stated that 70 per cent of the city’s flour mills have run out of wheat, accusing Sindh government of not reaching out to them. He added that the remaining 30 per cent of mills have only 3,000 to 4,000 bags of wheat, which is insufficient to meet even 5 per cent of the metropolis’s demand for flour.

    The Chairman of the flour mills association also stated that if wheat is not made available by Tuesday, all flour mills in Karachi will be closed until a new shipment arrives, as almost all mills would have run out of wheat by then.

    The shortage of wheat has led to a flour crisis, according to the head of the Sindh Food Department. The Sindh government had aimed to buy 1.4 million tons of wheat, but despite purchases made since March, the target has not been met. Meanwhile, the Punjab government has already purchased 40 per cent of its required wheat.

    The Sindh Food Department disclosed that the cost of flour in Karachi could rise to Rs200 per kg, as only 10 per cent of the city’s flour supply can be sustained while all flour mills are closed due to the unavailability of wheat to the millers.