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  • Danyal Zafar shares favourite scene from ‘Tanaa Banaa’

    Danyal Zafar has shared one of his favourite scenes from his ongoing Ramzan special drama Taana Baana.

    The scene which shows Danyal and Alizeh on the beach was “coincidently” also the last scene they shot together.

    “One of my favourite scenes between Zain and Zoya, which coincidentally [also] happened to be the last scene we shot for the drama,” wrote Danyal. “It was a wrap right after this.”

    “When I read in the script that Zain sings for Zoya, I asked Saife Hasan [director] bhai, if I could sing a few lines of the OST, which would kinda break the fourth wall, but could also serve to be the icing on the cake, since it’s been their song and could elevate the ‘romance’ between Zain and Zoya,” he added.

    “In the entirety of the scene, I realised Saife bhai didn’t say anything to us, he was smiling throughout while looking at the monitor; a moment I felt kinda proud of myself because for me that indicated we were doing it right,” continued Zafar, adding: “Or at least well enough to strum a few chords in everyone’s hearts, because everyone was just smiling.”

    Zafar also gave a shot out to his co-actor Alizeh Shah for doing a “phenomenal job”.

    While Taana Baana appears to be a typical romantic comedy, when you start watching it you are immediately pulled into it due to a variety of reasons ranging from the script to the cast and their performances. 

    Featuring Zafar (Zain), Alizeh (Zoya), Javeria Abbasi (Fozia), Aamir Qureshi (Zain’s Father), Ismat Zaidi (Zain’s Dadi ), Komal Rizvi (Zebunnisa) and Hassan Noman(Shahid, Zebnunnisa’s husband), Taana Baana revolves around the newly married couple of Zain and Zoya and the challenges they face.

  • ‘Japan to hire thousands of IT experts from Pakistan’

    ‘Japan to hire thousands of IT experts from Pakistan’

    The Government of Japan has decided to hire thousands of IT professionals from Pakistan in the coming years. As per details, the Japanese government is looking for people with expertise in cloud computing, data sciences, programming and artificial intelligence (AI).

    Delegations from the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) met officials from the Ministry of Overseas and Human Resources Development and experts from the Pakistan Association of Software Houses for IT and ITES (P@SHA) for recruitment.

    It is also mandatory to learn the basic Japanese language besides degrees and required skills to avail job opportunities in Japan.

    Furthermore, the above-stated organisations and departments will give visas, funds for travel and other expenses to the hired candidates.

    Both countries have collaborated because Japan needs programmers and people with expertise in AI and data sciences. But, they added that the Pakistani government have to arrange boot camps for six months to one year to train people with the required skills.

    This step has been taken to balance the cultural diversity as Indians and Bangladeshi IT companies are already dominating the Japanese market.

    The Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC) has recently begun to advertise jobs for hiring different professionals.

    Pakistan is currently producing over 25,000 IT graduates every year in various disciplines of IT and computer sciences.

    Experts say that Pakistan’s export of IT professionals could reach nearly 1,000 per year, which is a good number in the prevailing circumstances.

    The local industry has been expanding its businesses in various dimensions in the past one and half years to meet the demand of the local and foreign markets, which has resulted in significant job openings for new graduates in recent months.

    More than 16,000 Pakistanis reside in various cities of Japan. This community maintains a positive image in Japan and linkages with the department of the host country that help Pakistani students in the pursuit of their careers and businesses.

  • Govt will complete its term: CM Punjab

    Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Usman Buzdar on Wednesday said that the government will definitely complete five years and the next general elections will be held in 2023. Talking to Punjab cabinet members and Punjab Assembly parliamentarians, CM Punjab said that Punjab is significantly ahead of all other provinces. Buzdar said that the politics of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is over. He added that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is spending money on backward areas as well, and not just Lahore. “People only want development and prosperity, the PTI government is pursuing equal development of every city,” added Buzdar.

    CM Punjab’s statement comes a day after analyst Sabir Shakir’s video went viral on social media where Shakir claims that the government will not complete its tenure and new elections will be held soon.

    PML-N’s Marriyum Aurangzeb said that this (new election) is the need of the hour. The country is facing high inflation and the people are suffering under the governance of PTI, She said.

  • Is ‘Bennifer’ back after seventeen years?

    Is ‘Bennifer’ back after seventeen years?

    Jennifer Lopez, who recently called off her engagement with Alex Rodriguez after four years together, was spotted hanging out with ex-beau Ben Affleck. Lopez and Affleck dated from 2002 to 2004 and their relationship also ended with a broken engagement.

    According to reports, the couple formerly known as ‘Bennifer,’ spent an entire week in Los Angeles. Despite having split up for more than seventeen years, the duo was spotted spending time together at Lopez’s LA mansion. The Oscar winner was photographed multiple times going to J Lo’s California home during the day after having been picked up in a white Escalade SUV that allegedly belongs to Lopez.

    While the pair have not been spotted together, Page Six reported that “security picks him [Affleck] up at a nearby location and drops him off after spending a few hours at her house.”

    “They have spent time together in L.A. over the past week,” reported People Magazine. “They have a lot of love for each other. They have always admired each other.”

    Meanwhile, an insider reportedly shut down rumours of a rekindling romance, saying that the duo have “always been friends and they have seen each other through the years.”

    Affleck and Lopez were engaged in 2002 but they postponed their wedding in 2003. They split months later in January 2004. Lopez called her breakup with Affleck “probably my first big heartbreak.”

    It has also been reported that J Lo has been seeing famous friends after her breakup with Rodriguez. She allegedly also met up with another ex Marc Anthony.

  • Woman gives birth inside a polling station in Khushab

    Woman gives birth inside a polling station in Khushab

    Polling is in full swing in the PP-84 Khushab constituency, where the seat fell vacant after the death of the PML-N MPA on March 12 from COVID-19.

    Khushab’s by-election saw something interesting today when a woman gave birth in a polling station located at the constituency. The child was born at the Mith Tiwana Rural Health Centre, which has been turned into a polling station for the by-poll.

    The newborn’s father, Salamat, said he was overjoyed over the birth of his child. “I am very happy at the birth of my child on the election day. Insha’Allah we will name the child after giving some though to it. Whichever name we think is suitable,” he added. 

    The baby born is the first child to the family.

    Residents of Khushab are exercising the right to vote for their preferred candidate in to the PP-84 Punjab Assembly seat. PTI’s Sardar Ali Hussain Khan Baloch and PML-N’s Malik Moazzam Sher Kallu are the top contenders.

  • Shahid Afridi honoured to receive MCC’s ‘lifetime’ membership

    Shahid Afridi honoured to receive MCC’s ‘lifetime’ membership

    Shahid Afridi has said that he is honoured to receive Marylebone Cricket Club’s (MCC), which owns the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground and is the guardian of the sport’s laws, lifetime membership.

    VIDEO: The Current Life with Shahid Afridi

    “A big honour to receive Marylebone Cricket Club lifetime membership,” wrote Afridi on Twitter.

    Thanking MCC, Lala wrote: “I want to thank the most prestigious cricket club in the world for the respect and recognition. I would continue to play my part in promotion of this wonderful sport both on and off the cricket field.”

    https://twitter.com/SAfridiOfficial/status/1389527971367686144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1389527971367686144%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-4943728772336014564.ampproject.net%2F2104170104001%2Fframe.html

    Back in 2017, Afridi — along with Pakistan’s highest Test run-getter Younis Khan and current Pakistan team coach Misbah ul Haq — was made an “honourary life member”.

    MCC was founded in 1787, taking as its home a cricket ground set up by the ambitious entrepreneur Thomas Lord who had staged his first match on the ground on Dorset Fields in Marylebone in the UK.

    Soon after its founding, the club issued a Code of Laws for modern-day cricket, which it continues to do so till date.

  • Waqar Zaka claims he can settle Pakistan’s debt if given chance to run the country

    Waqar Zaka has claimed that he can pay off Pakistan’s debt using crypto currency if given the chance to “run the country”.

    “I can pay off Pakistan’s debt using crypto[currency] but the condition is Imran Khan, should step down and let me run the country,” wrote the reality show host on social media.

    Zaka also asked supporters of the ruling party what they have to pay off the debt.

    “If not, then Pakistanis should demand what solution respectable, olive plantation, tourism, anti-corruption lovers IK has?” asked Zaka, challenging “all politicians” to present a better idea.

    Meanwhile, Twitter had a field day over Zaka’s Tweet.

    https://twitter.com/bouquetvibes/status/1389650242224590848

    Waqar Zaka got famous from the reality tv show, Living on the edge. Earlier this year he submitted his documents to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to launch his own political party. Zaka has been at the forefront of many trending causes including demanding cancellation of exams and ban on PUBG and TikTok.

  • ‘We are all the same’: Barcelona church opens doors to Ramzan dinners

    ‘We are all the same’: Barcelona church opens doors to Ramzan dinners

    With COVID-19 limitations holding Barcelona’s Islamic population from celebrating Ramadan at the usual indoor venues, a Catholic church has opened its open-air cloisters for Muslims to eat and pray together.

    As per details, every evening almost 50 to 60 Muslims, many of them homeless, walk into the centuries-old stone passages of the Santa Anna church where they are offered with home-cooked food by the volunteers.

    “We are all the same… If you are Catholic or of another religion and I am Muslim, that’s fine,” said Hafid Oubrahim, a 27-year old Moroccan of Berber descent who attends the dinners.

    “We are all like brothers and we must help each other too.”

    Photo via Reuters
    People eat during a charity Ramazan dinner in the cloister at Santa Anna church during the coronavirus outbreak, in Barcelona, Spain on April 28. — Reuters
    Photo via Reuters

    Faouzia Chati, president of the Catalan Association of Moroccan Women, used to organise Iftar gatherings in the city, but restrictions on indoor dining due to the pandemic made her to find an alternative space with good ventilation and area for distancing.

    Read more – Indian man turns rickshaw into oxygen-equipped ambulance, serves people for free

    “People are very happy that Muslims can do Iftar in a Catholic church, because religions serve to unite us, not to separate us,” said Chati.

    Photo via Reuters

    Sanchez looked on as a man intoned the Muslim evening call to prayer beneath the orange trees of the church’s central courtyard, illuminated by the flames of gas heaters.

    “Even with different cultures, different languages, different religions, we are more capable of sitting down and talking than some politicians,” said the rector.

  • Police arrest man for throwing four children into canal after dispute over eid clothes

    Police arrest man for throwing four children into canal after dispute over eid clothes

    The police on Tuesday arrested a man in Faisalabad for throwing his four children into a canal at Sheikhupura Road.

    According to details, the man had an argument with his wife four days ago over not having new Eid clothes for their children.

    In a fit of rage, the man took the children and threw them into the canal. Meanwhile, he made his wife believe that he had left them with relatives, said the police.

    When the children did not return, the mother after four days filed a complaint against her husband.

    The police said that when they detained the man, “he confessed to the crime and said he had thrown them into the Bhhikhi canal”.

    Read more – 10 million Pakistanis to fall below poverty line

    District Police Officer Mubashir Maikan said that the children were as young as seven, four, and two, with the youngest being only a year old. Three were girls and one a boy.

    The police added that the man, in his statement to the police, also “cast aspersions on his wife’s character”.

    Maikan said that an operation to search the bodies of the children is underway.

  • ‘Emily in Paris’ season 2 begins production in France

    ‘Emily in Paris’ season 2 begins production in France

    Bonjour friends! Our beloved Emily (Lily Collins) is back in Paris as filming for the record-breaker series officially commenced on May 3 in France. As per details, filming began in Villefranche-sur-Mer and the paparazzi managed to snap pictures from the sets.

    Emily in Paris’ official Instagram announced the news with a star laden video featuring Emily and all her friends.

    Cast members returning for the second season include Collins, Ashley Park (Mindy), William Abadie (Antoine), Samuel Arnold (Julien), Leroy-Beaulieu, Bruno Gouery (Luc), and Camille Razat (Camille).

    Talking about the second season, creator Darren Star told E! News that Emily might be in for some “surprisingly tough choices”.

    “The show’s so much about the culture undermining her expectations of how things are and how things seem. And everything will not be as it seems. It’s always about challenging her American worldview. We certainly have a lot of forks in the road and a lot of places to go,” he added.

    Meanwhile, it was reported that the second season will shed more light on Emily’s equation with Gabriel and his girlfriend Camille.

    Earlier, in an interview with Vogue UK, Collins had said: “Does Camille like Emily? You can’t really get a vibe, and I feel like that ambiguity is what keeps Emily intrigued. I think anyone in that position would be like, you’re my friend, but now I have this romantic connection [with Gabriel], and I don’t want to hurt you, but… Oh my God! So, you know what, it’s really confusing. I feel like the next season will only create more love triangle drama, although maybe Emily will have a little bit of a stronger handle on the situation… Or maybe not.”

    Released on October 3, 2020, Emily in Paris became Netflix’s most-watched comedy of 2020 conquering a viewership of about 58 million households. The series revolves around the life of Emily, a marketing enthusiast from a Chicago-based firm, who is sent to France to help renew the social media marketing strategy of their newly acquired French organisation.

    Read more – Every Pakistani girl wants to be ‘Emily in Paris’

    Emily is faced with difficult expectations to live up to, amusing culture shocks, and a steaming romance with the boy next door.

    A release date has not yet been announced.