The University of Oxford has faced backlash, and protests have erupted after former Prime Minister Imran Khan confirmed his candidacy for the Chancellor election, Mail Online reported.
The University received numerous emails concerning Khan’s past support for the Taliban and Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden (OBL), given his current incarceration.
Imran Khan, founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), says he wants to ‘give back’ to his alma mater, where he studied fifty years ago.
The university’s incumbent chancellor will retire this year, and Imran Khan is motivated to replace him while currently in prison and facing multiple cases.
According to Oxford University’s criteria, any graduate of the university can contest in the Chancellor election, and the voting process will occur online.
Indonesian authorities arrested a man trying to sell elephant tusks and the horns of critically endangered rhinos via social media.
The illegal wildlife trade remains rampant in Indonesia, where law enforcement is lax, but the arrested man could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted, the environmental ministry said in a statement late Wednesday.
South Sumatra police began an investigation after seeing posts on Facebook earlier this year offering parts of protected wildlife for sale.
A 60-year-old man, identified only by the initials “ZA”, was arrested last week during a transaction while trying to sell a rhino horn and a pipe made of an elephant tusk in Palembang, South Sumatra.
Police found seven more rhino horns and at least four elephant tusks at his house.
“It seems like he’s very experienced in wildlife trading,” the environmental ministry said.
In June police arrested a gang of poachers suspected of killing 26 critically endangered Javan rhinos in Ujung Kulon National Park since 2018.
They once numbered in the thousands across Southeast Asia, but have been hard hit by rampant poaching and human encroachment on their habitat, and the environment ministry says there are only around 80 of the beasts left in the wild.
Sumatran rhinos have also been declared critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN with fewer than 50 remaining.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has hired five mentors who have decided to pay 50 lakh rupees per year. Waqar Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq will be available for the entire year under a three-year deal and will also act as advisors.
They will be accompanied by a 10-member support staff including head coach, batting coach, bowling coach and fielding coach who will be posted in Lahore, Pindi, Sialkot, Multan and Karachi. Mentors will also provide support to the coaching staff of the Pakistan team.
They will not only work for the teams, but will also be in touch with the board regarding the form and fitness of the players. The mentors have been hired primarily for the Champions Cup which is said to be a ‘game changer tournament’. No further details about the tournament are currently available.
Makeup artist and actor Waqar Hussain shared his concerns about the industry in a recent interview. Waqar, who has worked for years with the leading celebrities of TV and film, appeared as a guest on Fahad Den’s YouTube channel.
The host asked, “You’ve practically worked with everyone in the industry. How difficult is it for celebrities to understand that there are limits? That they need to work a certain way and that creative freedom isn’t always given by the agency. Do they understand this, or do they tend to set their own boundaries?”
Waqar Hussain replied, “Let me tell you, back in the day, the celebrities we had like Meera, Reema, and Resham, and our drama stars like Saniya aapa so many of them we worked with. Never did any artist tell us, This is all you can do today, or you can’t do more than this.”
Waqar Hussain also talked about the current situation in the entertainment industry.
“Unfortunately, now, with the current celebrities, many have their favorite teams they prefer to work with, and that is fine. But I think that unless you do work with different people, you don’t grow. I can just say that I’m not the makeup artist for any star. I’m a makeup artist, and I want to do makeup for everyone. For me, every face is equally precious, whether it’s a junior artist, a senior artist, or a star. I do the work of every face which I can do. I have a lot of passion for my work, and it should be that whenever I apply makeup on someone’s face, the result should be so beautiful.”
He went on to say, “Unfortunately, I do have some concerns. Quite often we compromise, and what happens is that everybody has their own favorites. The senior makeup artists tend to get overlooked, and unfortunately, this is the truth here. Some of the senior makeup artists who were quite famous are not working at all in the industry; they’ve started their own salons.”
Waqar Hussain also worked in the drama Quddusi Sahab Ki Bewah, in which he played the character of Wadood Ahmed. Currently he is running his own salon in Karachi.
President Asif Ali Zardari will present Hilal-e-Imtiaz to Olympic gold medalist Arshad Nadeem today in a special ceremony at the President’s House. The ceremony of awarding the Halal-e-Imtiaz will be telecast live.
Arshad set a world record by throwing the javelin to 92.97 meters in the javelin throw game of the Paris Olympics 2024 and won the gold medal for Pakistan for the first time in athletics.
Swedish prosecutors on Wednesday charged two men with inciting ethnic hatred over several protests involving the burning of Qurans in 2023, which sparked widespread outrage in Muslim countries.
Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned the Quran at a slew of protests, and co-protester Salwan Najem were charged with “agitation against an ethnic group” on four occasions in the summer of 2023.
“Both men are prosecuted for having on these four occasions made statements and treated the Quran in a manner intended to express contempt for Muslims because of their faith,” senior prosecutor Anna Hankkio said in a statement.
According to the charge sheet, the duo desecrated the Quran, including burning it, while making derogatory remarks about Muslims — in one case, outside a Stockholm mosque.
“In my opinion, the men’s statements and actions fall under the provisions on agitation against an ethnic or national group, and it is important that this matter is tried in court,” the prosecutor added.
Relations between Sweden and several Middle Eastern countries were strained by the pair’s protests.
Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.
In August last year, Sweden’s intelligence service Sapo raised its threat level to four on a scale of five after the Koran burnings had made the country a “prioritised target”.
The Swedish government condemned the desecrations while noting the country’s constitutionally protected freedom of speech and assembly laws.
Earlier this month, prosecutors charged Swedish-Danish right-wing activist Rasmus Paludan with the same crime over a 2022 protest in the southern city of Malmo, which also included burning the Koran.
In October 2023, a Swedish court convicted a man of inciting ethnic hatred with a 2020 Quran burning, the first time the country’s court system had tried the charge for desecrating Islam’s holy book.
Prosecutors have previously said that under Swedish law, the burning of a Quran can be seen as a critique of the book and the religion and thus be protected under free speech.
However, depending on the context and statements made at the time, it can also be considered “agitation against an ethnic group.”
Two new players have been included in the national cricket team for the second Test match against Bangladesh.
Mystery spinners Abrar Ahmed and Kamran Ghulam have been included in the national Test squad. They were released from the Test squad before the start of the first Test match and were playing for the Pakistan Shaheens in the 4-day match against Bangladesh ‘A’ at Islamabad Club.
Apart from this, fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi came to Karachi for the birth of his son and he has now rejoined the squad in Pindi.
Amir Jamal, who left the squad to work on his fitness at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), was also recalled during his participation in the second Test. He will be subjected to fitness clearance.
The team management and senior players are not happy with the overall fast bowlers’ performance in the first Test.
The second Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh will be played from August 30 to September 3 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
In the first Test, Bangladesh defeated Pakistan by ten wickets in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan International Airline (PIA), the country’s flag carrier, has banned mobile phone photography and vlogging during flights.
A preliminary implementation of the ban has been initiated.
Action can be taken against those who record videos or take pictures of other passengers during the flight. Incidents falling under harassment or immoral acts could be reprimanded for doing so.
Geo News reported that photography during international flights, especially take-off and landing, will be strictly banned.
PIA sources told Geo that the ban is being imposed to protect passengers and prevent the making of unauthorized videos, photography, and any emergency incidents.
A proper announcement of the prohibition on photography and video making will also be made during the flight.
The Taliban government of Afghanistan has imposed a ban on mixed martial arts (MMA), declaring the sport illegal in the country.
Officials of the Ministry of Sports of Afghanistan said in a statement, “The government has banned mixed martial arts, considering it illegal. An investigation revealed that the sport has Shariah-related issues and many aspects that are against Islamic teachings.”
MMA was partially banned once before because it was considered violent and risked injury or death.
Martial arts is one of the most popular sports in Afghanistan. At the recent Paris Olympics, four of Afghanistan’s 11 athletes were from martial arts, representing the national or refugee Olympic teams.
MMA has not been recognized as a sport in the Olympics, partly because of concerns about the sport.
Taliban came to power in August 2021 and habe since banned girls’ from going to school or colleges, stoped women from working, and has introduced other strict laws including banning women from singing in public.
