Blog

  • Abid Ali set to fly back after ‘post operational rehab’

    Abid Ali set to fly back after ‘post operational rehab’

    Pakistan Test opener Abid Ali is flying back home to his family in Lahore after completing his two-week post operational rehab in Karachi. The cricketer posted the update about his health on Twitter.

    “Alhumdulilah, by the grace of Allah Almighty, I have completed my two-week post operational rehab in Karachi. The medical staff was amazing there. I am flying back to Lahore tomorrow to meet my family,” he tweeted while sharing a picture with his medical team.

    He thanked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the help and requested his fans to “keep praying”.

    Abid was taken to the hospital during a match of Quaid-e-Azam trophy in Karachi after he complained of chest pain. The cricketer was later dignosed with Acute Coronary Syndrome.

    Abid underwent two heart procedures, two stents were put into his blocked arteries through angioplasty.

    Earlier, the cricketer updated his fans about his improving health and said that he is getting better.

  • Anushka Sharma ends 3-year long break with biopic ‘Chakda Xpress’, netizens react

    Anushka Sharma ends 3-year long break with biopic ‘Chakda Xpress’, netizens react

    Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma shared the first look teaser of ‘Chakda Xpress’, a biopic on the former captain of India national women’s cricket team Jhulan Goswami. The film will mark Anushka’s return to acting after a break of three years.

    “It is a really special film because it is essentially a story of tremendous sacrifice,” she wrote while sharing the teaser of the Netflix movie on Instagram. It shows her leading her team to a cricket field, wearing jerseys with slips of their own names slapped on the male cricketers’ names, as she makes a promise: “Today, you see us. Tomorrow, you’ll remember our names.”

    Talking about the film, Anushka wrote in her post: “Chakda Xpress is inspired by the life and times of former Indian captain Jhulan Goswami and it will be an eye-opener into the world of women’s cricket. At a time when Jhulan decided to become a cricketer and make her country proud on the global stage, it was very tough for women to even think of playing the sport. This film is a dramatic retelling of several instances that shaped her life and also women’s cricket.”

    Some of the netizens loved the teaser and welcomed Anushka after the break while some did not like her Bengali accent and called it a poor attempt at darkening her skin.

    https://twitter.com/LuckyBoY558/status/1479052040521363462?s=20

    Before Anushka, several Bollywood actresses like Kangana Ranaut, Taapsee Pannu, Parineeti Chopra and more have played sportswoman in movies.

    The film will be premiered on Netflix, official release date is not announced yet.

  • PM Khan special adviser, donor awarded multi-million dollar hotel deal in Nathiagali: report

    PM Khan special adviser, donor awarded multi-million dollar hotel deal in Nathiagali: report

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) received funding from an individual Mumtaz Ahmed Muslim who owns an offshore company named Dreshak Security Solutions Inc. The security firm claims it has provided around 15,000 specialised non-combat security personnel to the American forces in the Iraq war, reports The News.

    The PTI-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) returned the ‘favor’ to its donor by awarding a multi-million dollars contract to build a luxury hotel in the tourist destination Nathiagali in October 2021.

    The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s scrutiny committee report reveals that Mumtaz Ahmed Muslim is one of the party donors who gifted $24,979 to the PTI.

    Mumtaz Muslim is the president and owner of the hotel chain. Mumtaz is not just a party donor but he also has close ties with PTI leadership.

    On April 15, 2018, he met Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan at his Banigala residence. After this meeting, PM Khan decided to appoint him as his special adviser. On April 26, 2018, the PTI chief signed a notification to appoint Mumtaz Muslim as a special adviser to the chairman on special projects on April 26, 2018. Mumtaz’s name also appeared in the media as a PTI leader when the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) released a list of Pakistanis who own properties in the UAE.

    The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) recently released the Pandora Papers containing around 12 million confidential files from 14 offshore services firms. One of the leaked files contains Mumtaz Ahmed Muslim’s name who owns an offshore company Dreshak Security Solutions Inc.

    The Pandora Papers documents reveal that on August 06, 2006, Mumtaz Ahmed Muslim incorporated an offshore company Dreshak Security Solutions Inc. in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) jurisdiction. As per the documents, Mumtaz Ahmed Muslim and Imtiaz Ahmed Muslim are the officers and shareholders of the company. Imtiaz Ahmed Muslim is also the managing director of Dreshak Security Solutions Inc.

    Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, while talking to The News, said he has no information about Mumtaz Muslim’s security company. About the hotel contract, he said Mumtaz Muslim won it in open bidding.

    When asked about Mumtaz Muslim’s meeting with Chief Minister KP a month prior to the contract awarding, he said as far as he knows, the KP government did not award the contract but the army did. Talking about his affiliation with Imran Khan, the information minister said Mumtaz Muslim is a staunch party supporter and a former party member.

  • PM Khan sets record as most followed Pakistani politician on Twitter

    PM Khan sets record as most followed Pakistani politician on Twitter

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan is currently topping the charts among Pakistani politicians in the race of Twitter followers with 15 million.

    This has made him the most followed Pakistan politician. Earlier in 2019, PM Khan had been ranked the fifth most influential world leader on Twitter.

    He had an average of 6K RT (retweet per tweet) ratio on Twitter.

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif has 5.5 million and Vice President Maryam Nawaz has 6.5 million. Pakistan People Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has 4.4 million.

    Meanwhile, former United States (US) President Barack Obama is the most-followed account holder on Twitter with 130.5 million. Indian Prime Minister (PM) has 74.1 million followers, which makes him the second-most followed in the world.

  • ‘No lockdown for now,’ says NCOC chief despite rising cases

    ‘No lockdown for now,’ says NCOC chief despite rising cases

    The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) chief Asad Umar said that the government has no intentions of imposing a coronavirus lockdown for now in the country.

    According to Geo News, Asad highlighted that instead of lockdowns, the government is focusing on ramping up vaccinations and strict implementation of the bans placed earlier on certain activities if one is not vaccinated.

    50 per cent of the cases in Sindh are of Omicron and the statistics show that the city’s positivity ratio reached 9.23 per cent on Wednesday.

    Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) Acting Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Shahid Rasul said, “Coronavirus cases of the Omicron variant are going up in Karachi because of a lack of vaccinations.”

    Meanwhile, Pakistan’s coronavirus positivity ratio exceeded 2 per cent for the first time since October 14 last year, as 1,085 new infections were detected.

  • COVID-positive Singer Sonu Nigam and family can’t wait for home quarantine to end

    COVID-positive Singer Sonu Nigam and family can’t wait for home quarantine to end

    Singer Sonu Nigam and his family have tested positive for COVID-19 as a new wave of the Omicron variant takes over, reported The Hindustan Times.

    Singer Sonu Nigam, who is currently in Dubai with his family, has announced that he has tested positive for Covid-19, along with his wife, son and sister-in-law.

    Captioning the post, “I tested (positive for) COVID. Happy New Year 2022 to the extended family,” Nigam shared that he tested positive for the virus multiple times although his symptoms are mild.

    “I feel we will have to live with it. Many times, I have performed at concerts while being down with viral fever, having a bad throat or congestion. This feels a lot better than that, I am not dying,” he explained in the video.

    Nigam further quipped that being down with Covid meant he could spend more time with his son, dubbing it a “happy COVID family”.

  • ‘Lifafa replaces Basket’: Netizens give Pakistani journalists a new name

    ‘Lifafa replaces Basket’: Netizens give Pakistani journalists a new name

    In a 2022 first, another leaked audio conversation between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz and PML-N Leader Pervaiz Rashid left netizens full of anger and sarcasm.

    While the two politicians could be heard allegedly planning to control independent media, the audio claims that certain journalists received ‘baskets’ from former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

    Journalists in Pakistan for a long have been associated with the word “Lifafa”, a term used to discredit them for taking a bribe. However, after the leaked audio, Twitterati has given a new name to journalists and started calling them “basket journalists” instead. The term was coined after Maryam said in the alleged audio that two baskets should be sent to journalists.

    Here are a few of the memes doing the rounds calling journalists “basket”.

    As per the leaked audio, Pervaiz Rashid, referring to how criticism was directed towards PML-N on a political talk show on Geo News, said to Maryam Nawaz, “They have a programme called ‘Score Card’ [Report Card], Hassan Nisar is a part of its [panel] he abuses us a lot.”

    Rashid lamented the fact that there was not one single person [journalist/analyst] whom they could call a spokesperson for the party.

    Towards the end of the clip, Maryam allegedly passes instructions that a pair of baskets that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif brought from Azerbaijan should be sent to journalists Nusrat Javeed and Rana Jawad.

  • Netflix movie ‘Don’t Look Up’ advertised sex hotline number

    Netflix movie ‘Don’t Look Up’ advertised sex hotline number

    Hollywood A-list actors starrer Netflix movie ‘Don’t Look Up’ used a number in a scene meant to give “peace of mind” which in reality belongs to a sex hotline.

    The apocalypse movie has been the talk of the town since its release and gauged a lot of attention.

    Spoiler alert:

    The not-so-serious discussion about the end of the world in the movie took an unexpected turn when viewers decided to call a phone number that’s advertised in the movie.

    A commercial in the latest movie shows a phone number, promising “peace of mind” which led to viewers actually calling it.

    According to various outlets, the number immediately directed callers to a sex hotline.

    “Welcome to America’s hottest hotline. Guys, hot ladies are waiting to talk to you. Press 1 now,” the call apparently stated. “Ladies, to talk to interesting and exciting guys free, press 2 to connect free now.”

    The movie is about two astronomers (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) who discover that a comet is headed directly towards Earth and is set to smash into our planet in six months.

  • Woman who made $50,000 a week selling her farts hospitalised, announces retirement

    Woman who made $50,000 a week selling her farts hospitalised, announces retirement

    Stepanka Matto a Czech-American YouTuber, social media influencer, reality TV show star and model who claimed have made $50,000 in a week by selling her farts in a jar was hospitalised for “overdoing it”. She sold each jar for $1000. She has now announced her retirement after the health scare.

    The Daily mail quoted Matto in a statement, “I thought i was having a stroke and that these were my final moments. I was overdoing it.”

    “I remember within one day I had about three protein shakes and a huge bowl of black bean soup,” she said while explaining the events that led her to hospital.

    “I could tell that something was not right that evening when I was lying in bed and I could feel a pressure in my stomach moving upward.” 

    She continued by adding, “It was quite hard to breathe and every time I tried to breathe in I’d feel a pinching sensation around my heart. And that, of course, made my anxiety escalate.”

    “I actually called my friend and asked if they could come over to drive me to the hospital because I thought I was experiencing a heart attack.

    “I ended up going to the hospital that evening. I didn’t tell my doctors about the farting in the jar but I did tell them about my diet,” the influencer added.

    “It was made clear that what I was experiencing wasn’t a stroke or heart attack but very intense gas pains.” “I was advised to change my diet and to take a gas suppressant medication, which has effectively ended my business.”

  • ‘Rules are rules’, Australia cancels Novak Djokovic’s visa, #BoycottAustralianOpen trends

    ‘Rules are rules’, Australia cancels Novak Djokovic’s visa, #BoycottAustralianOpen trends

    Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic has had his visa to enter Australia dramatically revoked on his arrival in Melbourne.

    The world number one was held on the city’s airport for several hours before border officials announced he had not met entry rules and would be deported.

    Djokovic was then taken to a government detention hotel. His lawyers have launched an urgent appeal in court.

    The decision follows a massive backlash over a vaccine exemption Djokovic said he got to play in the Australian Open.

    The Serbian player has not spoken about his vaccination status, but last year said he was “opposed to vaccination”.

    As per reports, Tennis Australia said his medical exemption had been granted by two independent medical panels, but border officials said he had “failed to provide appropriate evidence” for entry after arriving on Wednesday from Dubai.

    “Non-citizens who do not hold a valid visa on entry or who have had their visa cancelled will be detained and removed from Australia,” the Australian Border Force (ABF) said in a statement.

    The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has reported that two other people were now having their medical exemptions reviewed.

    Meanwhile, The Federal Circuit Court adjourned Djokovic’s legal challenge after two brief administrative hearings.

    “Rules are rules,” the Australian PM said, about Novak Djokovic being deported.

    Djokovic is now at a hotel in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton which is used for immigration detention. The facility has been the site of Covid-19 outbreaks and a recent fire.

    Outside the hotel, supporters of Djokovic were angry at his treatment. His fans took to Twitter and expressed their anguish over the decison.

    One of the user said: “Australia denied entry to Djokovic, the defending champion, even though he provided medical exemption as they requested.

    “Other players have to decide whether to participate or boycott the tournament. A choice between eternal shame or honor,” he added.

    https://twitter.com/DrEliDavid/status/1478855930485878785?s=20

    While several people Tweeted on a trend #BoycottAustralianOpen.

    https://twitter.com/zmajdragacevac/status/1478884906650546178?s=20

    The 34-year-old Serb was Australian Open champion in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2021. His hopes of another title in 2022 were derailed after his visa was cancelled.