Category: Uncategorized

  • Strong earthquake jolts country

    Strong earthquake jolts country

    An earthquake of high intensity jolted different parts of the country on Tuesday, injuring over 50 people.

    According to the geological wing of the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), tremors measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale were felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Lahore among other parts of northern and central Punjab besides Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

    People of the areas where the quake was felt, rushed out of their homes and offices in panic reciting Quranic verses. At least 50 people were injured and rushed to nearby hospitals in Mirpur.

    The epicenter of the quake was stated to be one kilometer (km) southeast of Mirpur, 10 km beneath the earth’s surface.

  • Corruption worth over Rs18bn discovered in PML-N’s motorway projects

    Corruption worth over Rs18bn discovered in PML-N’s motorway projects

    A recent audit of the National Highway Authority (NHA) has unearthed corruption worth Rs18.9 billion in three motorway projects completed during the tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government.

    According to a private media outlet, a report by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has revealed the irregularities in the Karachi-Lahore, Sukkur-Multan and Havelian-Thakot motorways.

    Irregularities of over Rs7.31 billion were discovered in Lahore’s Abdul Hakeem section of the Karachi-Lahore Motorway, Rs4.9 billion in the Sukkur-Multan section, while those worth Rs6.7 billion were unearthed in the Havelian-Thakot section.

    The report mentions that the contractors reduced the scope of work, however, the cost was not revised. It added that the contractors did not return the extra amount to the NHA.

    The AGP also mentioned that the first notification about the problem was sent to NHA in September last year. Responding to the report, NHA spokesperson Mushtaq Ahmed said that any excess payment made during the projects will be recovered.

  • President Alvi spotted picking up trash on hiking trip

    President Alvi spotted picking up trash on hiking trip

    In a photo shared by his son on Twitter, President Dr Arif Alvi has been spotted picking up trash on his hiking trip with family in Changla Gali mountain resort town of Galyat.

    According to the details, the president was seen collecting garbage in a trash bag and then disposing it of in a bin by the side of a road.

    “During our treks, we usually take trash bags, but accidentally forgot them, next time will do more [sic],” the president’s son, Awab Alvi, wrote and added that Pakistanis should “behave like responsible tourists when they visit such beautiful places in the country”.

    He further said that it was sad to see “tourists taking treks, but leaving plastic bottles on the ground when they left”. 

  • Kashmir crisis: Modi govt to open 50,000 temples in held valley

    In another attempt to turn majority-Muslim Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) into majority-Hindu, the Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi-led government has decided to re-open around 50,000 temples in the held valley, Samaa TV reported.

    According to the details, Indian Minister for Home Affairs Kishan Reddy has announced opening the temples and said that a survey has been ordered to reopen or rebuild all the temples closed or destroyed over the years.

    The move comes amid fears that the Hindu nationalist government in India abrogated Article 370 of its constitution to pave way for a Muslim genocide in the disputed territory.

    The Supreme Court of India (SCI) had earlier ordered the government to restore normalcy in IoK “as soon as possible while keeping in mind national safety and security”.

    The court had further ordered the government to submit a report mentioning the actual situation in the region that has been lockdown with communication blackout.

    People of the Muslim-majority troubled valley have been held hostage by Indian occupying forces since August 5 when New Delhi abrogated the article to rob the disputed territory of its autonomy.

  • Mental agony costs Careem Rs 50,000

    Mental agony costs Careem Rs 50,000

    People who regularly use Careem for conveyance are well aware of the problems one faces while availing this cab service so it will come as no surprise that the private ride-hailing service was fined Rs 50,000 by a consumer court for providing bad service and causing mental distress to a customer.

    Careem Pakistan CEO Junaid Iqbal was directed to deposit Rs 25,000 in fines to the court, Rs 15,000 to the complainant for causing mental agony and Rs 10,000 litigation fee. Judge Javed Ali Korejo delivered the verdict on a complaint filed by a Careem user.

    As per reports, petitioner Advocate Mehmood Ahmed Khan stated in his complaint that he had booked a Careem cab from Gulistan-e-Jauhar to Saadi Garden. He and some of his guests were picked by a Careem captain, who ignored directions and drove in a rash manner. Instead of following Khan’s friends who were on a motorcycle, as Khan requested him to, the captain got angry at being repeatedly asked to follow the motorcycle and dropped the passengers in the middle of the road. Khan mentioned that the passengers were all fasting when the ride ended halfway. He added that the driver also used offensive language.

    Khan further said that he had lodged an online complaint with the company before approaching the court but after receiving no satisfactory response from the management he was left with no other option.

    “They did not even reply to the legal notice he sent”, said Khan.

  • VIDEO: Man dies while proposing to his girlfriend underwater

    VIDEO: Man dies while proposing to his girlfriend underwater

    A man has drowned while proposing to his girlfriend underwater at an idyllic island off the coast of Tanzania. It is unclear what went wrong during the proposal at a popular honeymoon destination.

    His girlfriend Kenesha Antoine posted a video on her Facebook page. Video shows her boyfriend proposing to her through the window of their underwater hotel room at the luxury resort.

    “You never emerged from
    those depths so you never got to hear my answer, ‘Yes! Yes! A million times,
    yes, I will marry you!!’,” she wrote in a post confirming his death.

    Her video shows Steven Weber swimming up to the window, and pressing a handwritten note against it which read: “I can’t hold my breath long enough to tell you everything I love about you, but everything I love about you I love more every day. Will you please be my wife, marry me.”

    He then pulled out a ring as Antoine squealed with joy while filming. It is unclear what went wrong
    during the proposal.

  • Rounding up the best Emmy looks

    Rounding up the best Emmy looks

    The annual Emmy’s took place last night and TV’s hottest stars, actors, and writers put forward their best looks. The dresses on the Emmys red carpet were nothing short of glamorous, ranging from designer pieces like Ralph Lauren to outfits that haven’t even debuted at the Fashion Week yet.

    With Hollywood’s most elite all in one place, it was no surprise that the Emmys were a high-fashion affair. Here are some of the best looks from the night.

    Games of Thrones stars Emilia Clarke and Sophie Turner stunned in Valentino and Louis Vuitton respectively.

    • Emilia Clarke
    • Sophie Turner

    Kendall Jenner and half-sister Kim Kardashian looked effortlessly glam in black outfits. While Kendall donned a Richard Quinn dress over a Viex bodysuit, we’re still trying to find out which designer Kim wore.

    Kristen Bell wore a Dior dress with platinum Harry Winston jewelry and Brian Atwood shoes.

    Annie Murphy is a sure-shot head-turner in this midnight blue sequenced dress.

  • Why was Hasan Minhaj banned from entering #HowdyModi?

    Why was Hasan Minhaj banned from entering #HowdyModi?

    Indian-American comedian Hasan Minhaj was barred from entering Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s rally at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.

    Videos posted on the Instagram account of Adam Matthew Weiss, president and CEO of AMWPR, which handled the event, showed Minhaj being told there were no press credentials or space available for him and his crew despite other videos showing that there was ample space inside.

    But why would an Indian-American comedian, who has a massive following all over the world be banned from an Indian Prime Minister’s event?

    Hasan’s Patriot Act

    Hasan Minhaj is the host of Netflix’s Patriot Act and is very critical of Modi’s government. He spoke (and posted) for the right to Independence for the people of Kashmir, which had more than 2M views on twitter.

    https://twitter.com/hasanminhaj/status/1162070236155318274?lang=en

    Later, Indian actor Anupam Kher took a dig at Hasan, saying he was a “Kashmiri Pundit” and understood its plight.

    Hasan has also been vocal against Modi’s re-election and did a segment on it on his program. He posted the clip on twitter which included jokes about Modi’s interview with actor Akshay Kumar and Modi’s video of him meditating in a cave.

    https://twitter.com/hasanminhaj/status/1135323607356379136?lang=en

    Hasan mentioned how he is being trolled by BJP supporters, who thought he was trying to swing the elections. “Let me make this thing very clear. Comedians can’t swing elections,” he said.

    His anti-Modi and pro-Kashmir stance is most likely the reason why he was not allowed to attend Modi’s “Howdy” event but we are still waiting for Hasan to reveal why he thinks he wasn’t let in.

    Earlier in the day, Minhaj had shared a picture of himself outside the stadium.

    https://twitter.com/hasanminhaj/status/1175796958985936896?s=20

  • 200 kgs of dead frogs recovered, were to be used by Lahore eateries?

    200 kgs of dead frogs recovered, were to be used by Lahore eateries?

    After the entire donkey meat episode, Lahore police have recovered 200 kgs of dead frogs, which reports claim were to be used in burgers and shawarmas across the provincial capital of Punjab.

    According to a newspaper clipping doing rounds on social media, police caught a rickshaw loaded with 200 kgs of dead frogs being transported to an unknown location.

    Patrolling in the New Ravi Bridge area, police noticed a shady rickshaw carrying a heavy sack, the report said and added that when the cops attempted to stop the vehicle, the suspects tried to flee.

    https://twitter.com/AliAsad_Abbas/status/1176034925788762112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1176034925788762112&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.natcour.com%2Fnews%2F2019%2F09%2Flahore-frog%2F

    Managing to stop the rickshaw, the police took two people, namely Shahid and Manzoor, into custody for allegedly delivering dead frogs to restaurants across the city.

    An investigation is underway to determine what the frogs were to be used for, while suspects claim they were “only delivering the frogs to a medical college”. Medical students dissect the frogs and practice suturing on them.

    Other reports claim the police only stopped the men because they thought the frogs were of some rare species. Having the frogs is not a crime and neither the police nor the Punjab Wildlife Department has any issue with the case. “The men were released and were free to go with their frogs.”

  • Irregularities worth Rs97b detected in Pakistan Railways

    Irregularities worth Rs97b detected in Pakistan Railways

    The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has detected billions of rupees worth of irregularities in Pakistan Railways (PR), exposing gross mismanagement within the state-run transport service that continues to incur losses, The Express Tribune reported Monday.

    In his report for 2018-19, the top auditor pointed out
    irregularities that amount to a whopping Rs97 billion and later directed PR
    authorities to take action against those responsible for the massive loss to
    the national exchequer.

    “Pakistan Railways generated Rs49.6 billion in the last
    fiscal year against operational costs worth Rs85.5 billion. As a result, the
    state-run service had to bear a loss of Rs36.6 billion,” the report said.

    Of the audit objections noted in the report, 56 per cent
    pertain to PR lands, 20 per cent pertain to recoveries and 12 per cent pertain
    to the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). The remainder concern losses
    from theft, fiscal irregularities and embezzlement.

    The report also revealed that Pakistan Railways suffered a
    loss of nearly Rs15 billion due to the failure of its management to recover
    dues from other federal government wings, like the Port Qasim Authority,
    Pakistan Post, Water and Power Development Authority and the departments of
    irrigation, food and education, and provincial and district authorities.

    It pointed out that maladministration in the Railways Ministry cost a PSDP project Rs10.5 billion. It also noted that the PR administration had granted a contract worth Rs3.2 billion in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) rules.

    “Railways authorities also unable to recover Rs2.6 billion
    from provincial governments to repair level crossings and wasted Rs2 billion
    worth of scrap as well,” the report added.

    Delays in the repair of damaged railway coaches also cost
    the state-run service nearly Rs2 billion, the report pointed out. It also made
    note of Rs380 million worth of ‘fake expenditure’ in the repair process. The
    AGP also criticised PR authorities for losing Rs3.8 billion due to inaction
    while auctioning off railways roads and steel.

    A staggering Rs52 billion worth of irregularities in the
    state-run transport service occurred at the administrative level, the AGP’s
    report mentioned. Another Rs50 billion in losses were a result of embezzlement,
    fraud and theft. Around Rs6.5 billion were lost due to PPRA rule violations.