Category: Uncategorized

  • Imran Khan suspects he can be arrested on Tuesday

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that he might get arrested again when he appears before a court in Islamabad on Tuesday.

    “On Tuesday, I’m going to appear before court in Islamabad for various bails and there are 80% chances that I will be arrested,” Imran said that while speaking to Fareed Zakaria on CNN.

    “Everything is being done just to dismantle our democracy, so right now, as we speak, over 10,000 workers have been arrested. My entire senior leadership is in jail,” he added.

    Imran Khan further said that the government is taking such actions against him because they fear they would lose upcoming elections.

  • Your Future iPhone will clone your voice within 15 minutes

    If you have an iPhone or iPad, you will soon be able to hear it speak in your own voice, Apple announced earlier this week.

    The upcoming feature, “Personal Voice,” will give users randomized text prompts to generate 15 minutes of audio.
    There will be another new tool called “Live Speech” which lets users type in a phrase, and save commonly used ones, for the device to speak during phone and FaceTime calls or in-person conversations.

    Apple says it will use machine learning, a type of AI, to create the voice on the device itself rather than externally so the data can be more secure and private.

    It might sound like a quirky feature at first, but it is actually part of the company’s latest drive for accessibility. Apple pointed to conditions like ALS where people are at risk of losing their ability to speak.

    “At Apple, we have always believed that the best technology is technology built for everyone,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
    The new “Personal Voice” feature, expected as part of iOS 17, will let iPhones and iPads generate digital reproductions of the voice of user for in-person conversations and on phone, FaceTime and audio calls.

    Apple said Personal Voice will create a synthesized voice that sounds like a user and can be used to connect with family and friends. The feature is aimed at users who have conditions that can affect their speaking ability over time.

    Users can create their Personal Voice by recording 15 minutes of audio on their device. Apple said the feature will use local machine-learning technology to maximize privacy.

    It’s part of a larger suite of accessibility improvements for iOS devices, including a new Assistive Access feature that helps users with cognitive disabilities, and their caretakers, more easily take advantage of iOS devices.

    Apple also announced another machine learning-backed technology, augmenting its existing Magnifier feature with a new point-and-speak-backed Detection Mode. The new functionality will combine Camera input, LiDAR input, and machine-learning technology to announce the text on the screen.

    Apple typically launches software at WWDC in beta, meaning that the features are first available to developers and to members of the public who want to opt in. Those features will typically remain in beta throughout the summer and launch to the public in the fall when new iPhones hit the market.

    Apple’s 2023 WWDC conference begins June 5. The company is expected to unveil its first virtual reality headset among other software and hardware announcements.

  • ‘No new military courts’: Khawaja Asif says govt is not snatching anyone’s basic rights

    ‘No new military courts’: Khawaja Asif says govt is not snatching anyone’s basic rights

    Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said on Sunday that there no new military courts are being established.

    “No new military courts are being established. Law is already present at this time. Courts are present and they have been working for the past 75 years continuously,” said the minister while talking to media in Sialkot.

    He further said that cases would be pursued against individuals whose “footage, faces and identity is showing that they are attacking military installations”, adding that the government was not “snatching anyone’s basic rights”.

    Khawaja termed May 09 protests as “an attack on Pakistan’s integrity and existence”.

    On May 09, supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took to the streets after party Chairman Imran Khan was arrested from Islamabad High Court. In the ensuing riots, many military and government installations sustained damage, most notably, Jinnah House, the residence of Corp Commander Lahore.

  • Man kills elder brother over property dispute in Karachi

    Man kills elder brother over property dispute in Karachi

    A man in Karachi killed his elder brother over a property dispute, ARY has reported.

    The suspect has been identified as Abdur Rauf.

    According to police, Rauf opened fire on his brother, who then lost his life on the spot.

    Police have arrested the suspect from the place of the incident.

    The initial investigation has revealed that the suspect had a dispute with his brother over their father’s property.

  • ‘I stand by it’: Tere Bin writer Nooran Makhdoom defends controversial rape scene

    Trigger warning: victim blaming, discussions of marital rape, assault

    Pakistani drama ‘Tere Bin’ has been in the eye of a social media storm since yesterday a controversial scene from the drama serial went viral on Twitter. In the scene, the female lead Meerab (played by Yumna Zaidi) is raped by her husband Murtasim (played by Wahaj Ali) after she accuses him of attempting to start an affair with Haya.

    Social media users, who had already labelled the drama as problematic for past controversies like slaps, attempted suicide, stalking and poor story pacing, declared that they were dropping their support for the once-popular drama. But it turns out, the writer behind the drama Nooran Makhdoom, is not moved by the backlash, defending it as a ‘a demand of the serial’, in an interview with Arab News Pk.

    “It’s a situation which was the demand of the serial that will lead to the climax,” explained Makhdoom.

    She also went on to defend the story by saying she won’t be changing the script because of fans:

    “If the audience isn’t getting it, I can’t change it,” she said. “It’s just a drama. They should wait for the entire story to unfold instead of taking issue with every episode.”

    Makhdoom also pointed out that such a horrfiying trope is not being used for the first time, and that the entire production team or director had not objected to the scene:

    “It’s not like this has happened onscreen for the first time. It’s just that this project has received such wide recognition that people reacted strongly to the recent twist.”

    Makhdoom also shared with Arab News that she had not initially added the slap and the spit scene, which was added in before filming, but she took complete responsibility for writing the script:

    “If you speak of my social responsibility, I created a story and I stand by it,” she said. “And this is not an unusual occurrence; it has happened before.”

    This revelation has led to more backlash on social media, with hasthags like ‘Shame on Tere Bin makers’ and ‘Nooran’ trending on Twitter, and users calling for a boycott of the drama.

  • ‘Depression is something only rich people get’: Nawazuddin Siddiqui

    Nawazuddin Siddiqui gave an interview to Mashable India, where his comments about mental illness have triggered a debate on social media. According to Indian Express, the actor was quoted as saying that mental illnesses like depression and anxiety only happened to privileged people because they tend to glorify their emotions.

    The ‘Sacred Games’ actor revealed that while growing up, he would never have been able to tell his father that he was depressed or he would have been slapped:

    “I come from a place where, if I would tell my father that I am feeling depressed, he would give me one tight slap… Depression waha nahi tha, kisi ko bhi nahi hota waha depression, sab khush hai. But I learnt about anxiety, depression, bipolar after coming to the city.”

    “Ye shehro mein aake hoti hai, yaha pe har aadmi apne chhote emotions ko bhi bohot glorify karta hai.”

    The actor, who faced a recent controversy after his ex-wife accused him of kicking her and their children out of their house, went on to say that it was working class people who never get depressed because they work hard and make the most out of their conditions, unlike rich people.

    “If you ask a labourer, or someone who is sleeping on the footpath, what is depression. When it rains, they dance even then, usko gh***a depression nahi pata hota. Jab aapke paas paise aajate hai toh iss tareeke ki beemariya aati jaati hai.”

  • Lahore High court orders release of 123 PTI workers

    Lahore High court orders release of 123 PTI workers

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered the release of 123 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers who were arrested in connection with May 9 protests following the arrest of party chairman Imran Khan.

    Justice Anwarul Haq heard PTI leader Farrukh Habib’s plea who sought the release of detained party activists.

    The PTI leader’s lawyer told the court that all of the prisoners are political activists.

    The court directed the government to release them without delay.
    The workers were arrested from Faisalabad and are currently detained in different jails throughout Punjab.

  • Fact-Check: Have Imran Khan’s sons joined Twitter?

    Fact-Check: Have Imran Khan’s sons joined Twitter?

    Claim:

    Twitter accounts of both the sons of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan have emerged on the micro-blogging site with usernames @SulemanIsaKhan and @kasimkhanreal. Many people are sharing tweets from the accounts, believing them to be Qasim and Suleman Khan.

    Fact:

    However, the screenshots of the accounts are fake, as are the accounts themselves.

    Imran Khan’s ex-wife and mother of his sons, Jemima Goldsmith, has confirmed that both accounts are imposters.
    “Fake accounts pretending to be my children, created by imposters with a political agenda in Pakistan. This is exactly what I feared would happen when you took away Twitter’s verification blue ticks. FYI my children are not on social media & have no plans to be,” she wrote in a tweet.

    Verdict: The verdict is false.

  • ‘Ignored all science, history, humanity’: Activist expresses anger over Shariah Court’s decision to declare changing gender ‘unislamic’

    ‘Ignored all science, history, humanity’: Activist expresses anger over Shariah Court’s decision to declare changing gender ‘unislamic’

    The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) has announced its verdict on pleas against the Transgender Persons Rights Act 2018, stating that no one can change their gender on the basis of their self-perceived identity, which means a person cannot change their gender at will.

    Gender will remain the same as it is assigned at the time of birth.

    Lawyer Asad Jamil wrote in a tweet,” FSC has accepted petitions challenging Transgender Persons Rights Act2018. Principle of self-perceived identity is declared unIslamic and cert defs in s.2 & 2020 Rules also declared unIslamic.”

    Transgender people’s gender will be decided on physical factors rather than their emotions. Section 2F has been repealed by the court, and section 3 of the act has also been declared null and void.

    Dr Mehrub Moiz Awan, while talking to The Current, expressed her disappointment with the verdict, “Federal Shariah Court has ignored all science, history, and humanity, to give a decision that looks like a copy paste out of a Western transphobic playbook.”

    “Ironic that Pakistani Shariah is much closer to JK Rowling and Candace Owens now, then it is to the fatwas of Imam Khomeini and Shah Tantawi that affirmed transgender existence back in the 80s,” she added.

  • ‘Horrifying’: Twitter users slam ‘Tere Bin’ promo for depicting assault

    Trigger warning: discussions of marital rape, assault

    In the topsy-turvy world that is Pakistan right now, ‘Tere Bin’ is playing its part by keeping fans running around in circles. With the love-hate relationship between the main leads Murtasim (played by Wahaj Ali) and Meerab (Yumna Zaidi) switching from adorable to toxic to downright horrifying in the recent episode, fans have had enough.

    The recent episode of the drama tried to one-up itself to see how low it can go in disappointing its viewers, with once again the writers deciding to bring out the Murtasim caught cheating with Haya card, and ending the episode with Meerab’s assault.

    From the promo, viewers can definitely assume that Meerab has been assaulted by her husband and has chosen to leave him.

    Was it necessary that Murtasim, who is currently one of the most feminist male leads on our screens, be thrown under the bus just to churn up some views? Why did the writer even assume that after stalking, slapping and attempted suicide, this ‘love story’ had to hit its peak with the most heinous thing: domestic violence?

    Legal analyst Reema Omer criticised the scene on Twitter, writing:

    “TW: After months of justifying Murtasim slapping, shoving, dragging, asking Meerab to jump off the roof to prove her chastity + other toxic/violent behaviour, even #TereBin fan club is up in arms over the possible marital r*pe suggested by the promo Some silver lining, I guess.”

    Founder of ‘Something Haute, Aamna Isani wrote that she was shocked by the depiction of assault, and how could this possibly be a chance after this that Murtasim’s character would be redeemed.

    Users were tweeting that they were heartbroken at how the writer of the show has completely destroyed Murtasim’s character

    Many were tweeting that this was the end of their support for the drama, given that there is no possible justification to depict marital rape and domestic abuse.