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.

  • Pakistan sends aid to earthquake-stricken Afghanistan

    Pakistan sends aid to earthquake-stricken Afghanistan

    The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Thursday dispatched relief supplies for the earthquake victims in Afghanistan on the special directives of Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif.

    Details indicate that the NDMA dispatched a shipment containing family tents, tarpaulins, blankets, and emergency medications, according to the NDMA spokesperson.

    “Pakistan has assured all possible support to ameliorate the sufferings of the Afghan people affected by the 6.1 magnitude earthquake which hit parts of Afghanistan on Wednesday, (June 22, 2022)”, it said.

    The relevant authorities were told on Wednesday by the PM Shehbaz Sharif, to assist Afghanistan when necessary. The PM expressed his grief over the earthquake in Afghanistan that claimed innocent lives in a message posted on his Twitter account. He said, “People in Pakistan share the sorrow and grief of their Afghan brethren.”

    Additionally, Imran Khan, a former minister, gave instructions to his KP government to arrange for medical facilities for the affected people in the neighbouring nation.

    Mahmood Khan, the chief minister of KP, has instructed the chief secretary and the health minister to send medical teams and aid to the nation’s earthquake-affected regions in accordance with orders from Imran Khan.

    A 6.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Afghanistan early on Wednesday left 950 people dead, and more than 600 injured. The death toll is expected to rise as news from isolated mountain villages trickles in, according to a report by Reuters.

    Images posted on Afghan media showed houses in ruins and bodies lying on the ground covered in blankets.

    According to Salahuddin Ayubi, an official with the interior ministry, helicopters were used in the rescue effort to transport food and medical supplies to the injured.

    The earthquake on Wednesday was the deadliest since 2002. The US Geological Survey (USGC) reported that it struck about 44 kilometres (27 miles) from the southeast Afghan city of Khost, close to the Pakistani border.

  • French court bans ‘burkinis’ in city’s swimming pools

    French court bans ‘burkinis’ in city’s swimming pools

    Women in France will not be able to wear full-length swimsuits or ‘burkinis’ in public swimming pools. France’s high administrative court ruled on Tuesday that public swimming pools in Grenoble should not allow full-body swimsuits, including burkini, upholding a lower court ruling.

    On May 16, the City Council of Grenoble voted in favour of allowing burkini, prompting protests from conservative and far-right politicians of France who say the move has destroyed France’s principle of secularism in public life.

    What is Burkini:

    Burkini is a full body-covering swimsuit. It only has the face, hands and feet exposed. Muslim women often wear these to maintain their modesty according to their beliefs.

    The debate over burkini in France has been heating up since 2016 when a southern city tried to ban it on public beaches. On that occasion, the Conseil d’Etat declared the ban null and void, saying it violated fundamental freedoms.

    Muslim rights groups in France say that the ban on burkini limits basic human rights and it is discrimination against Muslim women.

    France is known for its Muslim discrimination laws, as it banned full-face niqab and burqa veils in public in 2010.

  • Son files complaint against father for not allowing him to marry

    Son files complaint against father for not allowing him to marry

    A 28-year-old man in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mahmoodullah, has lodged a complaint against his father for not allowing him to get married. A complaint lodged by Mahmoodullah states that he is trying to avoid sinful activities but his parents do not care about him and no efforts are being made by them to get him married, BBC Urdu reports.

    Mahmoodullah’s father Moin Gul was called by the police for clarification.

    Moin said: “I am aware of my responsibilities towards my son but if he is disobedient and irresponsible, then how can I put someone’s daughter’s future at stake for him?”

    Moin Gul said that his son is a troublemaker who sometimes takes money from him and then spends it unwisely. He told the police that his son had been arrested once.

    According to DSP Asif Khan, Mahmoodullah has now promised to improve himself. His father says that if he shows responsibility, they will get Mahmoodullah married.

  • Mohammed Hanif withdraws from Germany conference after Palestinian journalist disinvited

    Mohammed Hanif withdraws from Germany conference after Palestinian journalist disinvited

    Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif has announced that he would no longer attend a Goethe Institute conference being held in Hamburg, Germany, after Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian writer and poet, was disinvited. The conference is to be held from June 23 to 26.

    “Withdrawing from @goerheinstut’s Hamburg conference where they first invited and then disinvited Palestinian journalist and poet Mohammed El Kurd. Reason is even more offensive. Apparently Kurd is not respectful enough towards Israel. How do you say bugger off in German?,” wrote Hanif.

    “Mohammed El Kurd’s house was taken over by settlers when he was elven. Kurd and his sister Muna have been protesting since they were children. Haven’t read much Goethe but I don’t think he wanted the world to be respectful towards a ruthless apartheid regime,” Hanif wrote in another tweet.

    Hanif was invited to talk about the Dynamics of Right Wing Structures.

    Goeth Institute on June 17 tweeted that El-Kurd was “not an appropriate speaker for this forum: in previous posts on social media, he had made several comments about Israel in a way the Goethe-Institut does not find acceptable”.

    Who is Mohammed El-Kurd?

    Kurd is an internationally acclaimed award-winning writer from Jerusalem-occupied Palestine. His work has been featured in numerous international outlets and he is currently the Palestine correspondent for The Nation. RIFQA, his debut collection of poetry, was published by Haymarket Books.

    Kurd has been quite vocal about Israeli occupation and atrocities in Palestine.

  • Sixth Covid wave expected, warn medical experts

    Sixth Covid wave expected, warn medical experts

    Pakistan is expecting another Covid-19 wave, according to medical experts. Karachi is the most affected city with 340 positive cases, raising Sindh’s positivity rate to 10.69 per cent in seven days.

    Medical experts say a new variant — BA.5 — is fast spreading in other countries and had been reported in Pakistan, including Karachi.

    “While other [old] sub-variants of Omicron are also being reported in Karachi, this one is more contagious since it’s a new one and has been a cause of concern in other parts of the world,” said Dr Saeed Khan, a professor of molecular pathology heading the Sindh Public Health Lab at the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), while speaking with Dawn.

    “If we don’t pay heed to medical advice and start implementing the Covid-related preventive measures seriously, the spike in cases might turn into the sixth wave of coronavirus,” he said.

    “They are genetically different, which helps them transmit fast. Other reasons include waning of vaccine immunity after six months, reluctance on part of the general public to get a booster shot and absence of Covid-19 preventive measures at public places,” said Dr Khan.

    According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), 204 cases of Covid-19 with a positivity rate of 1.53 per cent were reported in Pakistan today (June 22).

  • IN PICTURES: Earthquake kills 950 people in Afghanistan

    IN PICTURES: Earthquake kills 950 people in Afghanistan

    At least 950 people have died in Afghanistan as a result of an earthquake. The earthquake was magnitude 6.1 at a depth of 51 km while the epicentre was about 44 km from Khost city in Afghanistan, said the US Geological Survey (USGS). 

    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed his grief over the loss of innocent lives in the earthquake. “Deeply grieved to learn about the earthquake in Afghanistan, resulting in loss of innocent lives. People in Pakistan share the grief & sorrow of their Afghan brethren. Relevant authorities working to support Afghanistan in this time of need.”

    Disturbing images of the Paktika province near the Pakistani border are being widely shared on social media, including wrecked stone dwellings, people being carried on stretchers, rubble and ruined homes.

    Helicopters are being used by the Afghan authorities in a rescue effort to transport food and medical supplies to the injured.

  • ITP fines hundreds of vehicles for causing environmental pollution

    ITP fines hundreds of vehicles for causing environmental pollution

    The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police fined 315 vehicles for causing environmental pollution as the ban on smoke-emitting vehicles entering the Federal Capital went into effect on Tuesday.

    Islamabad police intensified the crackdown to protect the environment, and as a result, 239 vehicles with pressure horns and 76 smoke-emitting vehicles received fines, according to a police spokesman.

    He claimed that Dr Akbar Nasir Khan, the Inspector General of Police in Islamabad, had recently announced the ban with a specific directive to start an awareness campaign for environmental preservation.

    The representative said that major thoroughfares like the Islamabad Expressway, IJP Road, Srinagar Highway, and others have special enforcement squads stationed there. Additionally, social media platforms were used to educate drivers about the ban.

    The IGP was quoted as saying, “Fitness certificates will not be issued to any unfit vehicles and no laxity in the implementation of traffic rules will be tolerated”.

    To carry out the campaign against smoke-emitting vehicles, ITP has organised mobile squads. These teams would patrol different areas and ticket any vehicles that were causing noise pollution or smoke.

  • Baby’s head cut in womb in Tharparkar

    Baby’s head cut in womb in Tharparkar

    A 32-year-old Hindu woman from a village in Chhachhro, Tharparkar, delivered a dead breech baby girl at a charity hospital on June 16.

    Breech delivery is when a baby’s bottom comes out first during the delivery.

    In Chhachhro the hospital staff tried to deliver the breech baby’s head for half an hour but failed. After failing to deliver the rest of the baby, the hospital staff cut off the head before the mother was sent to Mithi hospital. The procedure was done in the absence of a gynaecologist and female staffers. The woman was then taken to the Mithi district headquarters hospital, where she was advised to rush to Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences, Jamshoro (LUH), which was 220 km away from Mithi. Altogether, she had to travel 319 km with the baby’s head inside her womb.

    According to the baby’s father, they had an X-ray taken from a hospital, where the doctor had told him that his wife would have an operation because the baby was upside down in the mother’s womb. According to him, the doctor also told him the date of delivery. He said that as soon as his wife’s condition deteriorated, he took her to a local midwife who said that she was not feeling well, after which he took his wife to the hospital.

    In LUH, an abdomen surgery was performed on her and the baby’s head was taken out after 18 hours of back-to-back delivery pains. This was the woman’s fifth child who died during delivery.

    Prof Dr Raheel Sikandar of LUH said that usually breech babies are delivered and they survive. According to him, the woman had a ruptured uterus.

    “Healthcare providers [in Chhachhro] might have tried to save the baby, but in vain. The baby’s head was entrapped. In such breech baby cases, deaths occur in one minute if they are not fully delivered.”

    “The baby’s buttocks and legs were fully developed, but unfortunately it was a dead breech baby,” Dr Sikandar added. However, the woman’s life has been saved. She is currently admitted to the gynecology unit of LUH.

    The charity hospital in Chhachhro said that while the nurses were cleaning the patient, the dead baby’s torso detached from the neck because the neck had already been broken. They revealed that at the time they didn’t have any gynaecologist, which is why they could not operate. The hospital further claimed that the woman’s family was told to go to Mithi but they insisted on getting the treatment at the charity hospital, reports BBC Urdu.

    Action taken by the authorities:

    A notification issued by the Director-General (DG) Sindh Health on Saturday stated: “The fetus was not in a cephalic position. So the head got stuck after delivering the torso because the delivery was done by inexperienced hands.” DG Sindh Health said that an investigation has been started in which the statements of the staff of the missionary hospital have been recorded. An inquiry was also ordered by the provincial health secretary.

    Pakistan has the highest infant mortality rate in South Asia. According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the country reported 54 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

    News of infant deaths and the non-availability of doctors in hospitals have been circulating in the media for the last decade in Tharparkar. Several times, this issue was brought up in the Supreme Court (SC), High Court, and the Sindh Assembly but all in vain.

  • People’s Bus Service to be launched in Karachi and Larkana

    The People’s Bus Service will be launched in Karachi and Larkana today. Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will inaugurate the bus service in both cities today (June 21). The bus service is being launched by the Sindh government.

    In the initial phase, around 140 buses have been purchased for the service out of which 130 will be used in Karachi and 10 in Larkana.

    The bus will operate on the following routes in Karachi:

    Seats are also reserved for persons with disabilities and women on these buses. The ticket prices have yet to be announced by the Sindh government. However, according to unofficial reports, the government would establish a minimum and maximum tariff of Rs 25 and Rs55.

    The Peoples’ Bus Service is a separate project from the network of Bus Rapid Transit lines. 

  • Number of railway passengers increases after hike in bus fares

    Number of railway passengers increases after hike in bus fares

    The number of train passengers has enhanced as the cost of travelling by bus or private vehicle has elevated owing to skyrocketing fuel costs.

    Despite a slight increase in railway fares, a spokesperson for Pakistan Railways said that there was no comparison between train fares and bus or other forms of road transportation.

    According to AFP, Pakistan Railways had to jack up ticket prices by 10 per cent on some trains, but train travel was still affordable and convenient.

    On the other hand, due to an increase in petroleum prices throughout the country, bus fares have soared in the last month.

    Sardar Nasir, a passenger at the Lahore railway station, told this scribe that taking a bus with his family was too expensive, so he decided to take the train to Rawalpindi instead.

    Another passenger on the Allama Iqbal Express train to Bahawalpur with her family, explained that the pricing for Bahawalpur by bus was nearly doubled, so she chose to commute by train.

    The booking receptionist at the Faisalabad train station validated that train ticket sales had surged following the increase in petroleum product prices.