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.

  • US Airport: Advanced security system asks ‘Are you a Terrorist?’ from people

    The United States (US) has installed self-check-in kiosks at airports across the country for advanced security measures. People are being asked the problematic query, “Are You a Terrorist?” with a “Yes” or “No” option.

    A freelance journalist, Asaad Sam Hanna shared an image of the kiosk on his Twitter where users started debating the query with amusement on how it provides security at airports.

    One user commented jokingly, “there should be a third option: “Yes” “No” and “It’s complicated.”

    Another user considered it a bad step was taken for security, “I really don’t understand how, since 9/11, our airport check-in has become more computerized, w much less human-to-human interactions. Given past observations by agents who have noticed suspicious behavior, seems like a bad thing for security.”

    One user raised the question, “Does this question appears to white ppl or do they recognize their features and skip this question?”

    One user explained the purpose of this query, “If you are (terrorist), and you lie, it’s a way for law enforcement to bring additional charges. Then they will go for what they can make stick.”

    https://twitter.com/lisaborel/status/1511580182410268672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1511580182410268672%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geo.tv%2Flatest%2F409911-are-you-a-terrorist-asks-us-airports-advance-security
  • Rapid melting in West Antarctica to push sea levels 10ft high

    Rapid melting in West Antarctica to push sea levels 10ft high

    Scientists have warned that the melting of ice in the West Antarctica Ice sheet can cause global sea levels to rise up to 10 feet as the Antarctic ice reaches a second-lowest level in 44 years, Daily Mail reported. 

    New satellite data has revealed that the Antarctic sea has reached its second-lowest ice level in the last 44 years. Scientists have warned that the melting of ice in West Antarctica could cause global sea levels to rise by up to 10 feet.

    The data analysis, done in March, revealed that the amount of sea ice in the Antarctic region was 26 % less than the 1991-2020 average.

    The data collected by the Copernicus Climate Change Service(C3S) also revealed that, with a global average temperature rise of 0.4C, March 2022 was the fifth warmest March ever recorded.

    Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have warned that the melting of ice in the West Antarctic Sheet could cause global sea levels to rise by up to 10 feet (3 metres).

    Ice melt in the West Antarctic region in the Amundsen Sea Antarctica is one the most rapidly growing and concerning contributions to global sea levels rise.

    The ice loss patterns hint that the ocean may have been warming in the Amundsen Sea over the past century but observations in the region only began in 1994.

    The lead author of the study and ocean-ice modeller at BAS Dr Kaitlin Naughten said that their simulations show how the Amundsen Sea responds to long-term trends in the atmosphere, specifically the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds.

  • Largest virus outbreak: China relies on TCM to fight Covid-19

    Largest virus outbreak: China relies on TCM to fight Covid-19

    Shanghai is distributing to residents millions of boxes of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), such as herbal products and flu capsules, which it says can treat Covid-19 in the battle to control its largest virus outbreak.

    China’s commercial capital, now under an extended lockdown, reported more than 17,000 new Covid-19 infections on April 5, including 311 symptomatic cases, among a population of more than 26 million.

    “Facing the extremely transmissible Omicron variant, we should use TCM treatment as soon as possible,” said Fang Min, president of the city’s Shuguang Hospital.

    “For general public, including high-risk groups, taking TCM treatment when the epidemic is severe has good preventive effect,” he told a news briefing on Tuesday, adding that such treatments for more than 21 million people had been handed out.

    Several residents told Reuters they had received free boxes of over-the-counter flu medicine Lianhua Qingwen from neighbourhood committees in recent weeks. Others who caught Covid said they got TCM medication to be dissolved in hot water.

    About 98% of Shanghai’s Covid-19 patients are taking TCM treatment, and teams of TCM workers have fanned out to designated hospitals and quarantine sites since the latest outbreak began in March, Fang said.

    China’s health authority has recommended several TCM drugs and ingredients, such as Lianhua Qingwen, for use by Covid-19 patients, although a lack of reliable clinical data limits their use outside the country.

    China approved several treatments including Pfizer’s Paxlovid and Brii Biosciences Ltd’s antibody-based medicine to treat Covid patients, but it is not clear how widely they are used.

    Reuters

  • India detects first case of Covid Variant XE

    India detects first case of Covid Variant XE

    India’s first case of coronavirus variant XE was detected in Mumbai on Wednesday, Indian media reported.

    The patient is a 50-year-old costume designer who returned from South Africa in February. She tested positive for Covid on March 2, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in its release.

    This strain was detected in the UK at the start of the New Year. Britain’s health agency had on April 3 said that XE was first detected on January 19 and 637 cases of the new variant have been reported in the country so far.

    The new mutation XE appears to be 10 per cent more transmissible than the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

    A case of the Kappa variant has also been detected in India.

  • Motorway Police distribute prizes to the best drivers

    Motorway Police distribute prizes to the best drivers

    Inspector-General National Highways and Motorways Police (NHMP), Inam Ghani recently paid a visit to the Public Service Vehicles Management Centre (PSVMC) at the Motorway (M-2) North Toll Plaza.

    IG Inam Ghani presented prizes to the safest drivers on motorways/highways who did not violate any traffic rules including overspeeding, seat belt violations, lane violations while driving 30,000 to 40,000 kilometers, and made strict adherence to traffic rules.

    On the occasion, IG Ghani said that information technology plays a significant role in revamping the Motorway Police.

    He was of the view that linking NHMP’s system with NADRA can also help in arresting prominent offenders besides feeding information regarding vehicle registration, vehicle fitness, driving licenses, and benefitting from contemporary technologies. These advancements would help boost the performance of Motorway Police.

    In order to make motorways/highways safer and more convenient, the purview of information technology is being extended to facilitate motorists and encourage safe driving.

    Read more: Petroleum sales increase by 23% in March, despite hefty oil prices

    Inspector-General (IG) Inam Ghani was joined by the DIG Motorway (M-2) North, DIG Operations, Sector Commander, and other senior personnel at the event.

  • Man kills first-year student in Lahore for refusing to marry him

    A man in Lahore killed a first-year student for refusing to marry him. After killing the victim, the man named Bilal shot and injured himself.

    According to the police, the victim was on her way home from college when Bilal shot her. The police have taken the accused into custody. Forensic teams have collected evidence from the spot.

    According to the police, the deceased’s body has been transported to a hospital for a post-mortem examination.

    Separately, a man from Gujranwala city in Punjab identified as Ateeq burned his wife alive for not giving birth to a son, reports ARY. The incident took place in the Kot Shekju area of Gujranwala. He had three daughters.

    The man’s sister-in-law allegedly supported him in the crime. According to the authorities, after killing his wife, Ateeq fled the scene with his three daughters.

  • China reports highest daily covid tally since pandemic starts

    China reported more than 20,000 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest daily tally given since the start of the pandemic, as millions in locked-down Shanghai began a new round of testing.

    The country’s “zero-Covid” strategy has come under immense strain as cases spike, with around 25 million residents of Shanghai — China’s largest city and economic engine room — ordered to stay-at-home as the authorities struggle to contain the outbreak.

    Until March, China had kept daily cases low with snap localised lockdowns, mass testing, and strict restrictions on international travel.

    But the caseload has hit thousands per day in recent weeks, with Shanghai driving the surge of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.

    The city locked down its residents in phases last week, prompting scenes of panic-buying and mass testing.

    But state broadcaster CCTV reported that the city will launch a fresh round of tests on the entire population on Wednesday.

    Shanghai is “testing its strength against the virus,” senior city health official Wu Qianyu said at a press conference Wednesday, the latest dour warning from authorities suggesting a long run in lockdown may be ahead.

    The city is converting its landmark National Exhibition and Convention Center into a makeshift Covid hospital for 40,000 people, state news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday, just days after setting up a temporary quarantine centre in another expo hall.

    – Extended lockdown –

    The China’s National Health Commission said in a statement it is the country’s highest-ever daily infection number given by authorities, even during the peak of the initial outbreak which centered around Wuhan.

    The majority of the cases are, however, asymptomatic.

    Authorities reported no new deaths, in a country which says only one person has died of the virus in nearly two years.

    In Shanghai quarantine facilities are bulging with people who test positive — even if they are asymptomatic — as city officials stick rigidly to virus protocols.

    Those include separating Covid-positive babies and children from parents who test negative, a policy that has stirred anxiety and anguish from worried families.

    City officials said on Wednesday that parents of some child patients with “special needs” would now be allowed to remain with their Covid-positive children.

  • Rare Michelangelo drawing to fetch $33m in Paris sale

    A rare drawing by Michelangelo, discovered in 2019, will be offered for sale next month by Christie’s and could fetch 30 million euros ($33 million), the British auction house said.

    The drawing, one of the few works of the Renaissance Italian artist in private hands, was sold in 1907 in Paris and billed as a work of the school of Michelangelo. It was largely forgotten until 2019, when a Christie’s specialist recognised it as one of Michelangelo’s own.

    The drawing is thought to be one of the artist’s early works, from around the end of the 15th century. It reproduces a shivering man depicted in a fresco, “Baptism of the Neophytes”, by Masaccio. Two other people stand near him in the drawing.

    “This drawing I think is one of the most exciting discoveries made in the field of Old Masters drawings in a long time,” said Stijn Alsteens, Christie’s international head of the department for Old Master drawings.

    The work had been designated a French national treasure, which prevented it from being exported, but the French government recently removed the designation, allowing the drawing to be offered to collectors anywhere in the world, Christie’s said.

    The drawing is scheduled to be exhibited in Hong Kong and New York before it is auctioned in Paris on May 18.

    REUTERS

  • ‘Ugly’ girls can get married easily if they paid dowry: textbook

    ‘Ugly’ girls can get married easily if they paid dowry: textbook

    A topic on ‘merits of dowry’ in textbooks for nursing students has sparked a heated controversy in India. The image of the textbook page has gone viral on social media which started a debate among people on the negative impacts of such readings on young minds and society overall.

    NDTV reported that users claimed that this is the textbook of Sociology for Nursing students written by T K Indrani. The book cover says that this is written according to the Indian Nursing Council syllabus.

    The image of the textbook’s page has been shared by the Indian party Shiv Sena’s leader, MP Priyanka Chaturvedi. She requested the education minister to remove the content from the textbook.

    She stated, “A textbook elaborating merits of dowry can actually exist in our curriculum is a shame for the nation and its constitution”.

    The section on Merits of Dowry highlighted that it is helpful in establishing new a household with items including furniture, electronic goods, and a vehicle. Girls can receive a share of parental property through dowry. The most shocking point which provoked people is that ‘ugly looking girls can be married off with attractive dowry with well or ugly looking boys’.

  • Man allegedly gets 90 Covid shots to issue fake vaccination cards

    Man allegedly gets 90 Covid shots to issue fake vaccination cards

    A 60-year-old German man allegedly received 90 Covid shots in order to issue fake vaccination cards for those people who do not want to get the vaccines themselves, reports The Guardian.

    A man residing in Magdeburg, whose name was not publicly released due to the privacy policy of the country, has received up to 90 vaccine shots from vaccination centres for several months until he was arrested by the police on Sunday.

    The police did not detain the suspect but he is being investigated for issuing vaccination cards without authorisation and document forgery. When he went to the vaccination centre at Eilenburg, a town in Saxony state for a second time in a row, the police caught him.

    The police also confiscated several blank vaccination cards from him and initiated an interrogation for the criminal offence.

    There are no reported impacts of around 90 shots of vaccines on a man’s health until now. The vaccines that he received were from different brands.