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.

  • New Zealand passes world’s first tobacco law to prevent future generations from smoking

    New Zealand passes world’s first tobacco law to prevent future generations from smoking

    As part of its attempts to become smoke-free by 2025, New Zealand has passed new regulations. The newest legislation prohibits anyone under the age of 14 from ever being able to legally purchase cigarettes. The decision to ban smoking for the next generation would be a first in the world.

    According to associate health minister Ayesha Verrall, “Thousands of people will live longer, healthier lives and the health system will be $5bn better off from not needing to treat the illnesses caused by smoking, such as numerous types of cancer, heart attacks, strokes, amputations.”

    The laws passed their final reading on Tuesday evening and will come into force in 2023. The number of stores legally allowed to sell cigarettes will be reduced to a tenth of their existing levels – from 6,000 to just 600 countrywide.

    Tobacco will not be sold to anyone who was born on or after January 1, 2009, in New Zealand, which will be the first country in the world to specify the age for smoking that increases every year.

    The amount of nicotine that is legally allowed to be present in tobacco products will be drastically reduced, and instead of being sold in corner stores and supermarkets, they will have to only be sold through specific tobacco stores, according to The Guardian.

    These laws will also be accompanied by a number of other initiatives to make smoking more expensive and less accessible.

  • Back to 2020? Markets, restaurants to be closed by 10pm

    Back to 2020? Markets, restaurants to be closed by 10pm

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) has issued orders to close markets and restaurants in Lahore by 10pm in order to control the worsening smog in the city.

    The court gave out its ruling after a hearing on a petition seeking the court’s intervention to curb smog. According to the orders, the closure of markets and restaurants by 10pm will be enforced on weekdays.

    On weekends, however, restaurants will be allowed to close at 11pm. Although it has been suggested that markets should remain closed on Sundays but the suggestion has been put off for now.

    Regarding schools, the court said that schools that remained open on Fridays will be sealed and directed the education department to strictly implement its orders.

    Last week, the Punjab Government ordered closure of schools in the provincial capital for three days a week— Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

    Pakistan’s biggest cities have ranked among the most polluted in the world for the past few weeks, with Lahore, the capital of Punjab, having topped the list the metropolises with the most polluted air several times in the last month.

  • Climate Change can lead to humanitarian crisis in 2023

    Climate Change can lead to humanitarian crisis in 2023

    The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has released its annual Emergency Watchlist, highlighting the 20 countries most at risk of deteriorating humanitarian crises in 2023.

    According to the report, climate change will accelerate humanitarian crises around the world in 2023, adding to issues created by armed conflict and economic downturns.

    As per the study, Somalia, Ethiopia and Afghanistan top IRC’s list of countries most at risk of deteriorating humanitarian crises in 2023.
    David Miliband, President and CEO of the IRC said, “The Emergency Watchlist shows record levels of humanitarian need in 2022 and real peril ahead for 2023.

    “A year ago we diagnosed a global ‘System Failure’ – deficits in respect of state actions, diplomacy, legal rights and humanitarian operations that are driving the increased numbers of people in humanitarian need. Yet humanitarian need, forced displacement and food insecurity have all worsened since then,” he said. This system failure can be seen in this year’s figures: humanitarian need has jumped by 65 million people since last year, displacement has ballooned to over 100 million people.

    “The 2023 Watchlist reveals a need for a step change in the way the international community approaches humanitarian crises. At their heart, these are political crises, economic crises, security crises, and climate crises. But the erosion of guardrails meant to address these underlying issues means that humanitarian crises are spiraling. Aid as usual will not meet the moment. The nearly 340 million people who require aid in 2023 need more humanitarian funding for greater and better programs. But they also deserve more. They require a plan to break the cycle of runaway crises. This means new tools to protect people caught up in conflict, and a new commitment to confront – rather than compound- shared global risks,” he stated.

  • NASA records sound of ‘dust devil’ on Mars

    NASA records sound of ‘dust devil’ on Mars

    The sound of a ‘dust devil’ on Mars has been recorded for the first time by NASA’s Perseverance when a short whirlwind swept over the rover.

    Researchers believe that the recording will help to gain more information about climate behavior on Mars, including how the atmosphere of the red planet could possibly support life.

    Although dust devils and dust storms are very common on Mars, NASA’s rover has captured it for the first time on its microphone.
    The rover’s audio recording device is turned on only occasionally, leading to estimates that such events might be recorded just around 0.5 percent of the time. Wind speeds in the walls of the dust devil reached nearly 40kmph as with the last whirlwinds observed by other instruments, this early morning dust whirl caused a slight drop in atmospheric pressure and rise in temperature as it swept over the rover on September 27, 2021. It was 25 meters in diameter, at least 118 meters tall, and ambled by at about 20 kilometers per hour.

  • VIDEO: New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern calls rival ‘arrogant prick’, apologises later

    VIDEO: New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern calls rival ‘arrogant prick’, apologises later

    New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern apologised for calling a political rival an “arrogant prick” in parliament on Tuesday. She made the comment about David Seymour, the leader of the libertarian ACT party, after he asked Ardern if she could “give an example of her making a mistake, apologising for it properly, and fixing it” during question time.

    In response, Jacinda Ardern agreed that the people had a difficult time with managed isolation but said that she supported the job the government had accomplished during the previous term.

    After ending her reply, Ardern sat down next to her deputy, Grant Robertson, and murmured: “Such an arrogant prick”. Her comment was picked up in the background by her desk microphone as House Speaker Adrian Rurawhe was talking and was broadcast on parliament television.

    Speaking to the media after the session had ended, Seymour said that Ardern had texted him to say sorry. “[She] said, ‘I apologise, it’s not something I should have said’ and she said, ‘As my mum would say, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it’,” he added.

    Seymour went on to emphasise that the matter was resolved, closing his statement by saying: “At the end of the day, it’s not the end of the world.”

    Ardern’s office has also confirmed she had apologised to Seymour.

  • Girl kills big brother with boyfriend, younger brother for not letting her marry her lover

    Girl kills big brother with boyfriend, younger brother for not letting her marry her lover

    A girl from Gujranwala, with the help of her lover and younger brother killed her elder brother for not allowing her to marry the man she likes, SAMAA has reported.

    The incident took place in Dhullay area of Gujranwala city in Punjab. Asma and her brother Mudassar wanted her to marry the boyfriend but her elder brother Basharat stopped her.

    Initially, on October 2, the girl bribed a gunman with Rs.50,000 to assassinate Basharat. During the attempted shooting, Basharat was unharmed. On October 15, she again asked the hitman to shoot her brother. This time Basharan got injured and was admitted to hospital.

    In the hospital Asma and Mudassir killed Basharat by jabbing poison in his drip.

    Police have arrested the suspects.

  • 765,000 people left Pakistan in 2022

    765,000 people left Pakistan in 2022

    765,000 people left Pakistan in 2022 to seek better educational opportunities outside the country, Waqas Ahmed reports for Express Tribune. Compared to the 225,000 departures in 2021 and the 288,000 immigrants in 2020, these numbers are almost quadruple.

    Almost 92,000 people in the list are doctors, engineers, informational technology experts and accountants by profession

    .
    “The effects of the deteriorating economic situation as well as political uncertainty have begun to affect the workforce of Pakistan,” a bureau official said while talking to The Express Tribune.

    “Hundreds of thousands of young men, including highly educated people, who are worried about inflation, unemployment and uncertain economic and political situation, are going abroad every year in search of employment,” he added.

    According to the documents, more than 92,000 graduates, 350,000 trained workers, and the same number of untrained labourers left the country in 2022. The documents additionally revealed that 736,000 individuals visited the Gulf states.

  • Lahore police arrests three people involved in online gambling

    Lahore police arrests three people involved in online gambling

    Lahore police arrested three people for engaging in online (digital) gambling and recovered Rs1 lakh cash and three cell phones from their possession.

    According to The News, the accused were named as Shoaib, Salim, and the ringleader, Faizan.

    The accused Faizan developed the betting app, in which more than 100 people were involved. The accused used to bet on all sporting events, including football, hockey, tennis, and cricket, through the app.

    Besides this, there are still a number of gambling applications available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store that anybody can download and use for betting purposes.

    Numerous websites provide advice on how to gamble, such as by changing a few personal details or signing up to bet using a random name.

  • Police ranked Pakistan’s most corrupt sector once again in 2022

    Police ranked Pakistan’s most corrupt sector once again in 2022

    Police were found to be on the top rung of the corruption ladder in Pakistan, according to Transparency International Pakistan’s (TIP) National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS).

    The police ranked the highest in the previous year’s survey as well.

    According to Geo, education was identified as the “most corrupt” sector in Sindh, followed by the police and tendering and contracting, according to a provincial analysis of the three “most corrupt” sectors.

    In Punjab, the police once more took first place, followed by tendering and contracting and the courts.

    The judiciary was thought to be the most corrupt institution in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the police coming in second and tendering and contracting coming in third.

    In Balochistan, contracting and tendering claimed the top spots, with the judiciary and police coming in second and third, respectively.

    The 2022 survey was given to partner organisations by TI Pakistan’s chairman, Justice (retd) Zia Pervez, with the aim of boosting the NCPS’s legitimacy and educating partner organisations on public survey processes.

    He hoped that other government agencies would use the survey’s findings to implement reforms.

    “This will help in reducing corruption and making the lives of the public a little better,” he said.

  • DJ Khaled, Mike Tyson perform Umrah

    DJ Khaled, Mike Tyson perform Umrah

    American singer DJ Khaled and former professional boxer Mike Tyson recently performed Umrah.

    “The second I walked into Mecca, tears came down my eyes. Tears of joy. My whole life I wanted to go to Mecca to pray and to give gratitude to Allah. I prayed for the world for more love, more life, more peace more joy, more health and protection for all of us,” wrote DJ Khaled while sharing a video of his visit.

    Mike Tyson reportedly accepted Islam when he was jailed in 1992.

    Earlier in the month, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was spotted at Mecca, performing Umrah. Photos and videos of him at the Holy Kaaba in Mecca were widely shared online.