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.

  • Passengers strip, faint after AC breaks down on Qatar Airways plane

    Passengers strip, faint after AC breaks down on Qatar Airways plane

    A Qatar Airways flight endured three hours without air conditioning while the plane waited in the heat at Athens airport.

    Passengers scheduled to head to Doha on Monday (June 10) nearly suffocated after the plane’s air-conditioning system stopped working while it was waiting to take off.

    The heat resulted in some passengers stripping off their clothes while others fainted.

    Some passengers reportedly suffered nosebleeds, while others relied on oxygen masks to help with breathing.

    While passengers were stuck in the stifling heat inside the plane, the outside temperature reached a high of 43 degrees Celsius.

    A physical confrontation also nearly broke out between passengers and flight crew during the incident.

    Smoke was emitting from the aircraft’s rear while it was waiting to take off, prompting airport officials to put fire trucks on standby in case of fire.

    The passengers included 49 members of the Thai Muay Thai team returning from the world championship.

    Muay Thai athlete Thananchai Sitsongpeenong told reporters that he only spotted the smoke after he got off the plane.

    “I consider myself lucky to have survived this,” he told The Nation, adding that he and other passengers were practically melting in the sauna-like heat on board.

  • Two missing Japanese climbers spotted in Pakistan’s north

    Two missing Japanese climbers spotted in Pakistan’s north

    Two missing Japanese climbers were spotted by helicopter on Thursday in Pakistan’s mountainous north, home to some of the world’s tallest peaks, but their condition remains unknown, a tour operator said.

    The Japanese climbers Ryuseki Hiraoka and Atsushi Taguchi were attempting to summit the 7,027-metre (23,054-foot) Spantik mountain in the Karakoram range before they went missing.

    “The rescuers saw the climbers and recognised them by their clothes, but they could not determine their condition,” Naiknam Karim, the CEO of Adventure Tours Pakistan (ATP) which organised the tour, told AFP.

    The two were spotted during a military helicopter search on Thursday that was called off due to poor weather conditions.

    “There has been no communication between the two Japanese climbers and officials at basecamp since they started their expedition,” Karim earlier said.

    “They were seen on June 10 (for the) last time at above 5,000 metres.”

    Another team of Japanese climbers raised the alarm on Tuesday after arriving at Camp 2, at around 5,650 metres, where Hiraoka and Taguchi were scheduled to be.

    The search is scheduled to resume on Friday.

    “An 8-member rescue team including five Japanese climbers will ascent on foot and search for them,” Karim Added.

    The pair had reached base camp on June 3 and were attempting the climb without the help of porters.

    Spantik, also known as the Golden Peak, is described as a “relatively accessible and straightforward peak” on the website of a separate tourist company, Adventure Tours.

    The country is home to five of the world’s 14 mountains higher than 8,000 metres — including K2, the world’s second highest.

    More than 8,900 foreigners visited the remote Gilgit-Baltistan region in 2023, according to official figures from the government, where the summer climbing season runs from early June to late August.

  • No relief for babies: Heavy tax on formula milk

    No relief for babies: Heavy tax on formula milk

    The budget for 2024-25 was unveiled this Wednesday, on June 12, by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.

    As the government depends on the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) bailout package, citizens were further burdened with heavy taxes as per the administration’s commitments to the lender. Milk products for infants, a necessary item for many families, will now carry an 18 per cent tax.

    But why is this issue noteworthy?

    On January 21, 2022, the Finance (Supplementary) Bill—a ‘mini budget’—was passed by the National Assembly following extensive debate over the proposed taxes by the Pakistan Tehreek Pakistan (PTI) government. Among the contentious proposals was a 17 per cent sales tax on locally produced infant formula milk, classified as a “luxury product.”

    This classification sparked heavy criticism from both the public and the opposition, who argued that labelling a basic necessity for children as a luxury was unjust. In response, the-then Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin promised to push for the exclusion of children’s milk products from the Bill.

    However, two years later, heavy taxes are being imposed on infant milk products once again.

    According to Statista, a German data-centric platform, the Baby Milk & Infant Formula Market in Pakistan is projected to grow by 0.76 per cent from 2024 to 2029. This trend indicates increasing reliance on infant milk products due to various reasons.

    Traditionally, in South Asian countries like Pakistan, reliance on infant milk products is frowned upon, with a cultural preference for breastfeeding. However, several factors can make breastfeeding unfeasible.

    Certain health conditions, such as infections or breast surgeries, can prevent mothers from breastfeeding. Additionally, some mothers can not produce enough milk due to lactation insufficiency. In other cases, babies are born with conditions like galactosemia, which prevents them from digesting breast milk. Furthermore, specific nutritional deficiencies can not be addressed by breast milk alone and require formula milk supplementation.

    Moreover, not every mother is comfortable with breastfeeding, and many prefer to use formula milk to feed their children. Working mothers, in particular, may not have the flexibility to breastfeed and thus rely on formula milk.

  • Israeli soldiers turn mosque to ‘cooking place’ in Rafah

    Israeli soldiers turn mosque to ‘cooking place’ in Rafah

    Israeli soldiers have turned a mosque in Rafah in southern Gaza into a cooking place.

    A clip that emerged on social media showed a mosque being used by soldiers to serve meals.

    The video features large tables inside the mosque on which Israeli soldiers had placed various types of food items.

    A sticker affixed to a cardboard food box used by soldiers is also shown, with a production date of May 22, which is likely when the video was shot.

    Israeli military vehicles also appear stationed inside the Rafah border crossing near the mosque.

    Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

    More than 37,200 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 84,900 others injured, according to local health authorities.

    Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid rampant starvation.

  • Indian customer shocked by human finger in ice cream

    Indian customer shocked by human finger in ice cream

    An online ice cream delivery took a macabre turn in India when a doctor received an order with a human finger in the dessert.

    The incident happened in Mumbai when Brandon, a 26-year-old MBBS doctor, ordered a butterscotch ice cream cone from Yumno’s app.

    In a video statement shared by Dr Brandon on Indian media, he says that when he ate half of the ice cream, he felt something hard in his mouth, which he took out instead of swallowing.

    Brandon says that being a doctor, he soon realized that the hard object coming out of the mouth was a severed human finger with visible fingernails rather than a culinary addition to the ice cream.

    The doctor asserted that instead of throwing the ice cream away, he stored it in the freezer to give it to the police as evidence.

    An FIR has been registered against the company, while the 1.5 cm long piece of the finger recovered from the ice cream cone has been sent for forensics.

  • Coke ad faces backlash in Bangladesh as actors forced to apologize

    Coke ad faces backlash in Bangladesh as actors forced to apologize

    A 60-second-long Coke ad faces backlash in Bangladesh has caused a storm of criticism for the brand over its attempt to distance itself from Israel amid the genocide in Gaza.

    A report by Al-Jazeera says that Coca-Cola sales have declined by about 23 per cent in Bangladesh since the genocide in Gaza started.

    Consequently, the beverage brand’s advertising campaign in the country has moved from full-page newspaper advertisements to prominent placements on news websites in order to convince people otherwise.

    On Sunday, the company released an advertisement on television and social media to dispel the “misinformation” that Coca-Cola is an Israeli product.

    The advertisement argued that the beverage “has been enjoyed for 138 years by people in 190 countries.

    The advertisement opens on a hot day in a market, with a young man approaching a middle-aged shopkeeper as the latter is watching a song from Coke Studio.

    “How are you, Sohail? Should I give you a [bottle of] Coke?” asks the shopkeeper, turning a table fan towards his sweaty customer.
    The man replies: “No, Bablu bhai [brother], I am not drinking this stuff anymore.”

    When the shopkeeper asks about the reason, the young man says: “This stuff is from ‘that place’.” He does not name the “place” — but it soon becomes clear that he is referring to Israel.

    Through a conversation with the man and his friends, the shopkeeper explains that Coca-Cola is not from “that place” and that claims linking it to “that place” are misinformation.

    The shopkeeper tells them: “Listen, guys, Coke is not at all from ‘that place.’ For the past 138 years, people in 190 countries have been drinking Coke.
    They drink it in Turkey, Spain, and Dubai. Even Palestine has a Coke factory.”

    In the end, relieved Sohail asks for a bottle of Coke.

    The ad, which featured famous Bengali actors Saraf Ahmed Zibon and Shimul Sharma, drew intense criticism and threats of boycott, forcing the two of them to issue apologies.

    In an opinion piece for The Daily Star, authors Nahalay Nafisa Khan and Azmim Azran called it the “power of boycott.”

  • B Form no longer needed for admission to federal government schools

    B Form no longer needed for admission to federal government schools

    The government has abolished the B-form — or Child Registration Certificate (CRC) — requirement for admission to federal government schools.

    Geo reports that according to Education Secretary Mohiuddin Wani, the B-form has been one of the major reasons for the growing number of out-of-school children, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations.

    All children residing in Islamabad, regardless of their documentation status, will now be eligible for admission to government schools.

  • Gadhe aur Insaan; Massive surge reported in Pakistani donkey, human population

    Gadhe aur Insaan; Massive surge reported in Pakistani donkey, human population

    Pakistan’s Economic Survey 2023-24 has revealed a shocking rise in the population of both donkeys and humans in the country.

    Pakistan’s donkey population has climbed to 5.9 million, marking a significant increase from the previous financial year’s count of 5.8 million, according to the survey.

    The upward trend in donkey numbers has persisted over the past two years, with an additional 0.2 million donkeys born within this time.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan’s population has increased by 16.3 percent to 241.5 million compared to 2017 (excluding Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan), showing that the country is facing a population explosion.

    According to Economic Survey 2023-24, population growth rate at the national level is 2.55 percent. In contrast, the growth rate in urban areas is 3.65 percent, which is higher than the population growth rate in rural areas—1.90 percent—due to rural-urban migration.

    Population density increased from 260.88 persons per square km in 2017 to 303 in 2023. Additionally, the average household size has decreased from 6.39 in 2017 to 6.30 in 2023.

    Pakistan’s urban population increased from 75.67 million to 93.75 million between 2017 and 2023, making it one of the most urbanised nations in South Asia.

    Almost 39 percent of its population lives in urban areas. Urbanisation impacts a country’s economy and development, leading to changes in various areas such as labour market opportunities, family structures, education, health, environment management, security systems, and governance.

    The literacy rate has gone up in all provinces, with Punjab (increased 66.1 percent to 66.3 percent), Sindh (61.6 percent to 61.8 percent), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (52.4 percent to 55.1 percent), and Balochistan (53.9 percent to 54.5 percent).

  • 14 sets of twins and one set of triplets graduate from same high school

    14 sets of twins and one set of triplets graduate from same high school

    Fourteen sets of twins and one set of triplets graduated from Cooper City High School in Cooper City, Florida, on June 5.

    The group comprised about 6 percent of the 543 graduates.

    The school’s principal took the momentous occasion to state, “It was very special as they would come across the stage; I would shake their hand and give one a diploma, and then the second one would come over to do the same thing.”

    “It kind of just symbolized they’re their own person, but also, they have been together all these years as twins,” she adds.

    Gabrielle and Jocelyn Reed are one such set of identical twins.

    The sisters have attended school together since pre-K. Come August, they will go their separate ways for college.

    Gabrielle is headed to Cornell University, while Jocelyn will attend Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

    “Everywhere I go, I’m lumped together with her and not really seen as my own person, so I’m really excited to be able to have my own experiences,” Gabrielle told TODAY.com.

    Broward County Public Schools believes the graduates have set a county record as most sets of twins to simultaneously graduate from one school.

    Students even created a slogan to remember their unique graduating class: “Twice as nice and triple the fun.”

  • Man sent to hospital after trying to set up gay club in Abbottabad

    Man sent to hospital after trying to set up gay club in Abbottabad

    A man who tried to establish a gay club has been detained in a mental hospital by local authorities.

    He had filed an application to set up the club in Abbottabad.

    In the application filed to the deputy commissioner (DC) of the city, the man said the club was to be a “great convenience and resource for many homosexual, bisexual and even some heterosexual people residing in Abbottabad in particular, and in other parts of the country in general.”

    Homosexuality is illegal in Pakistan and can be punished by two years to life in prison.

    The application stated that in “the envisaged gay club, tentatively to be called Lorenzo gay club, there would be no gay (or non-gay) sex (other than kissing).”

    “A clearly visible notice on the wall would warn: no sex on premises. This would mean that no legal constraints (even obsolete ones like [anti-sodomy] PPC section 377) would be flouted on the premises”.

    Abbottabad’s DC office confirmed to The Telegraph it had received the application for a gay club and was reviewing it like any other proposal.