Divorce is a traumatic experience for the couple, but especially for women. The recent trend of celebrities talking about divorce is helping women deal with the trauma.
Actress and social media influencer Tamkenat Mansoor recently appeared as a guest on Ahmed Ali Butt’s podcast ‘Excuse Me’ where she opened up about her personal life.
The host asked, “The stigma that came with it, especially in our society, there’s an immediate reaction like, Oh, divorced (Talaq Yaftha), how did you deal with that?”
Tamkenat replied, “To be honest, I didn’t have to face much, because of being outspoken. I think a lot of people in my family never said anything to my face or to my parents’ faces because they knew that my family was totally on board with my decision. Secondly, it was my decision. It became entirely mine in the end because I actually had a nervous breakdown, and it was really bad. I had to be taken to a hospital, to a shrink, and you know how sometimes you’re so caught up in your situation that you only see a limited perspective? Like, in this room right now, our field of vision is only a small part. But if someone sees from the outside, they can see the whole room, every corner more clearly.”
Tamkenat shared why she does not bad mouth her ex-husband. “I don’t think anyone ever ends a relationship happily. I never go into the details. The biggest reason is that I have never spoken badly of their father to my children. I haven’t, and my family hasn’t either. My parents, my siblings, have never spoken badly about him. If my children ever bring up something, we tell them, ‘Son, you shouldn’t speak like that. He is your father and older than you.’ I never wanted to cause them any pain. Secondly, although their father is rarely present, they still see him occasionally,” the actress added.
Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi criticised KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur for defending Afghan diplomats and their disrespect of the national anthem yesterday.
“He is acting like the chief minister of a province of Afghanistan rather than Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” said the PPP affiliated Governor.
On Tuesday, intense criticism was directed towards Afghan Acting Consul General Muhib Ullah Shakil and his aide when they refused to stand up for Pakistan’s national anthem, defying diplomatic norms, at the National Rehmat-ul-Lil-Aalamin (PBUH) Conference in Peshawar.
Afghan Consulate Peshawar later clarified that the gentlemen did not stand up for the anthem due to the “music in them.”
Gandapur later defended the diplomat, saying, “There was no disrespect intended, and they explained why they didn’t stand up for the national anthem.”
Governor KP, while speaking on the Geo News programme last night, recalled, “ I spoke positively with the CM KP Gandapur, but he took advantage of that.”
“I am sitting on a constitutional position, I will not allow anything against the constitution, but if anyone works for the peace and development of the province, I will support him,” said Kundi.
He also emphasised that states talk to other states rather than a provincial chief minister.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk on Wednesday said that his country will back Pakistan’s endeavour to join BRICS, a bloc of the world’s five major emerging economies.
Speaking at a press conference along with Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Overchuk said, “We would be supportive of Pakistan’s request to be part of BRICS.”
Responding to Overchuk’s statement, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar remarked, “Pakistan is extremely grateful for Russian support in our bid for BRICS membership.”
Commenting on Russia’s visit to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) scheduled in Islamabad next month, Overchuk confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend it.
He also wished Pakistan to join the North-South Transport Corridor (NSTC), a Russian initiative to connect its economy with Asian countries.
BRICS is an acronym for five of the world’s emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Last year, the bloc also invited Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates.
Social media was abuzz in the recent days with reports of a Karachi-based medic, Dr Hina dying after falling into a road pit.
Geo News reports that a private university hospital has denied that the death was caused by a pit on a road.
Dr Hina, reportedly an employee of Hamdard University Hospital, was said to have died when the motorcycle she was riding on bumped into a broken part of the road.
However, Geo News quoted the spokesperson of the university, who said that Dr. Hina did not die by falling into a pit. Instead, she had a brain stroke.
The spokesperson elaborated that Dr Hina was going from Model Colony along with her husband on a motorcycle when she suffered a brain stroke near Gulshan Iqbal. Consequently, she fell off the motorcycle, suffering severe head injuries. Other parts of her body were also injured. She was brought to the hospital, where she remained under treatment for two days.
She later succumbed to the injuries and passed away.
Former Australian opener David Warner is starring in an action-packed Bollywood film. The aggressive batsman has been spotted taking part in a shoot on the Yarra River in Melbourne.
Warner’s unique pictures and videos are going viral. He has tattoos on his neck and hands and is also holding a weapon.
In the pictures, he can be seen jumping from a red helicopter and then carrying a large red poppy.
The film is reportedly a Bollywood project, in which he is playing the role of a don. He recently worked with an Indian advertising company.
Senior journalist and YouTuber Mansoor Ali Khan got angry at Afghan ambassador Hafiz Mohibullah Shakri for not standing up when Pakistan’s national anthem was played at the Rehmat-ul-Alameen Conference in Peshawar.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Mansoor said, “The cricket you play today? If Pakistan hadn’t helped you, we would have seen how you play cricket. But today, you have so much pain in your legs that you can’t stand for the national anthem of Pakistan. If you can’t stand, get out of here. Get out of this country if you can’t stand the national anthem of Pakistan. Then there is no need for people like you here.”
The visibily angry television anchor then said, “The government there should take care of themselves. Teach him manners. Tell him that when you step on Pakistani land, you will have to stand for the national anthem. You will have to stand up for it.”
Afghan Consul General Hafiz Mohibullah Shakri, posted in Peshawar, is under criticism for not standing in honour of the national anthem at the ceremony organized by the provincial government in Peshawar. A resolution of condemnation against the Afghan diplomat has also been submitted to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.
However, the Afghan consulate says that not standing for the national anthem is part of the Taliban government’s policy, which has been explained to the Afghan and Pakistani governments.
A second deadly wave of unprecedented explosions in the strongholds of Lebanon’s Hezbollah left it in disarray on Thursday, hours before a major speech by its beleaguered leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
The latest batch of device explosions killed 20 people and wounded more than 450 others on Wednesday, officials said, stoking fears of a full-blown war with Israel.
The blasts came a day after the simultaneous detonation of pagers used by Hezbollah killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800 others across Lebanon in an unprecedented attack blamed on Israel.
Walkie-talkies used by its members exploded in the latest blasts at Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold, a source close to the group said, with state media reporting similar detonations in south and east Lebanon.
AFPTV footage showed people running for cover when an explosion went off during a funeral for Hezbollah fighters in south Beirut in the afternoon.
“The wave of enemy explosions that targeted walkie talkies… killed 20 people and wounded more than 450,” Lebanon’s health ministry said in a statement.
There was no comment from Israel, which only hours before Tuesday’s explosions had announced it was broadening the aims of its offensive in Gaza to include its fight against Hamas’s ally Hezbollah.
“The centre of gravity is moving northward,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to an air base on Wednesday, adding, “We are at the start of a new phase in the war.”
Amos Harel of the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper said the pager and walkie-talkie blasts had put “Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of all-out war”.
Out of this world
With tensions in the Middle East spiralling, senior diplomats from the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Italy will meet on Thursday in Paris, sources said, ahead of a UN Security Council meeting planned for Friday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will join his counterparts in the French capital after discussing the possibility of a Gaza truce in Cairo.
The White House warned all sides against “an escalation of any kind”.
“We don’t believe that the way to solve where we’re at in this crisis is by additional military operations at all,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Hezbollah has traded near-daily cross-border fire with Israel since Hamas’s October 7 attacks sparked the conflict in Gaza.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib warned that the “blatant assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty and security” was a dangerous development that could “signal a wider war”.
Hezbollah said Israel was “fully responsible for this criminal aggression” and vowed revenge.
Iran’s envoy to the UN said the country “reserves the right to take retaliatory measures” after its ambassador in Beirut was wounded.
The influx of so many casualties all at once overwhelmed medics.
At a Beirut hospital, doctor Joelle Khadra said the “injuries were mainly to the eyes and hands, with finger amputations, shrapnel in the eyes — some people lost their sight”.
A doctor at another hospital in the Lebanese capital said he had worked through the night and that the injuries were “out of this world — never seen anything like it”.
Among the dead was the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member, killed in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley when her father’s pager exploded, the family and a source close to the group said.
Hezbollah fighters carry the coffins of people killed after hundreds of paging devices exploded in a deadly wave across Lebanon the previous day, during their funeral procession in Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 18, 2024. — AFP
Heavy blow
Analysts said operatives had likely planted explosives on the pagers before they were delivered to Hezbollah.
“A small plastic explosive was almost certainly concealed alongside the battery, for remote detonation via a call or page,” said Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute.
The preliminary findings of a Lebanese investigation into the blasts found the pagers had been booby-trapped, a security official said.
“Data indicates the devices were pre-programmed to detonate and contained explosive materials planted next to the battery,” the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
A source close to Hezbollah, asking not to be identified, said the pagers were “recently imported” and appeared to have been “sabotaged at source”.
After The New York Times reported that the pagers had been ordered from Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo, the company said they had been produced by its Hungarian partner BAC Consulting KFT.
A government spokesman in Budapest said the company was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary”.
The attack dealt a heavy blow to Hezbollah, which already had concerns about the security of its communications after losing several commanders to targeted strikes in recent months.
As fears surged of a regional conflagration nearly a year into the Gaza conflict, Lufthansa and Air France announced the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran and Beirut until Thursday.
‘Extremely volatile’
Since October, the exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and Hezbollah have killed hundreds of people, mostly fighters, in Lebanon, and dozens including soldiers on the Israeli side.
They have also forced tens of thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said Tuesday’s attack had come at an “extremely volatile time”, calling the blasts “shocking” and their impact on civilians “unacceptable”.
UN chief Antonio Guterres urged governments “not to weaponise civilian objects”.
The October 7 attacks that sparked the genocide in Gaza resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, on the Israeli side, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Out of 251 hostages seized by fighters, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s military offensive and strikes has killed at least 41,272 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to data provided by the territory’s health ministry. The UN has acknowledged these figures as reliable.
In Gaza on Wednesday, the civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter killed five people, while the Israeli military said it targeted Hamas.
Afghanistan created a new history by defeating South Africa by six wickets in the first match of the 3 ODI series.
In the match played in Sharjah, South Africa won the toss and decided to bat first against Afghanistan.
The South African batting line proved to be a wall of sand in front of the Afghan bowlers; half the team returned to the pavilion for only 29 runs.
The South African team was bowled out for 106 runs in the 34th over in the first ODI against Afghanistan.
Fazal Haq Farooqui and Ghazanfar did not let the South African top order stay at the crease. Farooqui dismissed four players, Ghazanfar dismissed three players, and Rashid Khan dismissed two players.
In response to the target of 107 runs, Afghanistan did not start well either. Opener Rehmanullah Gurbaz got out without scoring any runs, while Rahmat Shah scored eight runs. Apart from this, Riyaz Hasan and Rahmatullah Shahidi were also dismissed after scoring 16 runs each.
After the fall of 4 wickets, Gulbuddin Naib scored 34 runs, and Azmatullah Umarzai played an innings of 25 runs. Afghanistan achieved the target in 26 overs and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
This is Afghanistan’s first win against South Africa in any format.
Chief Minister (CM) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Ali Amin Gandapur has announced the removal of several checkpoints across the province.
Citing the convenience of the people, he stated that the KP government intends to demolish the majority of check posts and urges the public to cooperate in maintaining law and order.
He also clarified that the government plans to reinstate the elder jirga system in KP after reaching a consensus at district-level meetings.
In response to Afghan Acting Consul General Muhib Ullah Shakil and his aide’s refusal to stand for Pakistan’s national anthem at the Peshawar conference, Gandapur stated, “It is their policy not to stand before any anthem that includes music.”
However, Afghan Consulate Peshawar spokesperson Shahid Ullah clarified, “The Consul General did not stand due to the music in the anthem. We have even banned our own national anthem for the same reason.”
Actor Ali Raza, who stole hearts as Murad in the hit drama serial Noor Jahan, is taking over the entertainment industry. He recently appeared in an interview with Fuchsia Magazine where Raza talked about on modern day friendship.
The host Rabia Mughni asked “What are the red flags for you when it comes to girls?”
Ali Raza replied, “Male best friends that girls have apart from their boyfriends nowadays, it really puts me off. But the way things are nowadays, I think everyone understands that, and there’s no need to explain.”
“It’s hard for you to trust anyone. And I feel that the relationship doesn’t last long because mostly girls will have their best friend and having a best friend is acceptable, but you shouldn’t bond with them in the same way that you would with a lover.
For example, if you have plans with your boyfriend, don’t do those things with your best friend instead. Then what’s the point of having a boyfriend?” he explained.
“I think that’s a major red flag for me now. It wasn’t before, but after seeing things, I’ve come to understand. I used to tell my friends that nothing like this happens, that I have many friends too. But I’ve always kept a distance, and that’s why my friendships last because I maintain boundaries. If I meet my female friends, I try not to touch them or get too close,” the actor added.
“It’s not about them [women] or their husbands, but for me, I keep a distance, so in the future, if there’s ever a problem, her husband can’t say anything about me.
So maintaining that distance is important, and I think boundaries and respect are necessary,” Ali Raza believes.
