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  • Saheefa Jabbar launches her own clothing brand

    Saheefa Jabbar launches her own clothing brand

    Model-turned-actor Saheefa Jabbar Khattak has launched her own clothing brand by the name Evervanna, becoming the latest celebrity to do so, after the Hocane sisters (Urwa and Mawra), Khan twins (Aiman and Minal) and Nida Yasir.

    Read more – Nida Yasir is also launching her own clothing collection

    Announcing the news on social media, the actor said: “I’m really excited and happy to share something very close and dear to my heart. Months of hard work, creative planning and excellent craftsmanship have gone into designing my very own fashion label, Evervanna.”

    Khattak shared that the idea behind the brand was “to use my personal style and preferences to create a line of clothing with one of a kind designs, accessible to everyone”.

    “Evervanna is in part an extension of my experience in Pakistani fashion, and I believe the first line exhibits a new direction for streetwear. My experiences as a fashion curator over the years has left me encouraged, this collection in part does follow the imagination, creativity and style of my favoured international designers,” continued Khattak.

    “Being able to launch Evervanna is a proud moment and I’m thrilled to share it with everyone. I hope you take to the label and wear it, own it and find yourself in my clothes” she concluded.

    View this post on Instagram

    I’m really excited and happy to share something very close and dear to my heart. Months of hard work, creative planning and excellent craftsmanship has gone into designing my very own fashion label, Evervanna. The idea was to use my personal style and preferences to create a line of clothing with one of a kind designs, accessible to everyone. I’ve always been inspired by the designers for whom I model and the unique clothes Pakistani fashion keeps churning out. Evervanna is in part an extension of my experience in Pakistani fashion, and I believe the first line exhibits a new direction for streetwear. My experiences as a fashion curator over the years has left me encouraged, this collection in part does follow the imagination, creativity and style of my favored international designers. Through the years the support, love and encouragement of my fans and followers has kept me going and allowed me to scale new heights and begin new chapters in my life with certainty and confidence. Being able to launch Evervanna is a proud moment in this journey, and I’m thrilled to share it with everyone. I hope you take to the label and wear it, own it and find yourself in my clothes!! #IWearEVS #saheefajabbarkhattak @evervanna

    A post shared by Saheefa Jabbar Khattak (@saheefajabbarkhattak) on

    Evervanna offers a vast range of clothing options from casual wear to office wear, as well as traditional clothing. The brand caters to both men and women.

    While Saheefa modeled for the womenswear, her husband Khawaja Khizer Hussain modeled for the men’s collection.

    There is no outlet address given on the website as yet but the brand is taking online orders. Pre-order bookings option is also available.

  • 830 COVID-19 hot-spots sealed in Punjab

    830 COVID-19 hot-spots sealed in Punjab

    Provincial authorities have sealed numerous areas in Lahore under the micro-smart lockdown strategy. 

    As per reports, the Punjab government has sealed 830 areas across the province after a rise in COVID-19 cases. A total of 1416 coronavirus cases were reported in these areas.

    The micro-smart lockdown has been imposed in 435 spots in Lahore, 37 hot-spots in Bahawalpur, 35 places in Bhakkar, 17 areas in Dera Ghazi Khan, 34 places in Faisalabad and 14 in Gujranwala district.

    Moreover, 44 places in Multan, 29 in Gujrat and many areas in Sahiwal, Sargodha, Shekhupura, Sialkot and other districts of Punjab have been sealed under the micro-smart lockdown.

    Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Planning and Development and NCOC Chairman Asad Umar has stressed for strict implementation of SOPs to control the COVID-19 spread in the country.

    Read more – COVID-19: Pakistan’s positivity rate exceeds 3% after 70 days 

    NCOC has also recently launched a helpline to report COVID-19 related violations by the public.

     People can report the violation of COVID-19 SOPs like non-wearing of the mask, non-adherence to Social distancing, over-crowding at public places, etc, at 03353336262 (0335333NCOC) along with a picture and the following details:

    Location Name:

    Tehsil/district/city:

    Date and Time:

    Event:

    Coronavirus seems to be gradually spreading again across the country as 1,078 new cases have reported over the past 24 hours. According to the NCOC, the total number of confirmed patients of coronavirus has risen to 332,186. 20 people succumbed to the infection during the past 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 6,795.

  • Who will win the US presidential race?

    Who will win the US presidential race?

    Voters in the United States (US) will decide on November 3 whether Donald Trump remains in the White House for another four years.

    The Republican president is being challenged by Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden, who is best known as Barack Obama’s vice-president but has been in US politics since the 1970s.

    As election day approaches, polling companies will be trying to gauge the mood of the nation by asking voters which candidate they prefer.

    Biden is currently leading Trump in the national polls. The 10-poll average indicates that just over half of Americans intend to back Biden while Trump’s support trails this by around seven or eight points.

    BUT WHO WILL WIN?

    Trump triumphed in 2016 despite losing the popular vote, and pollsters misjudged the size of his support, so despite Biden’s lead, it is still difficult to predict who will win the keys to the White House.

    However, according to the latest polling averages, Biden’s lead over the incumbent is remaining solid despite a slight downfall in the wake of the US presidential debates and Trump’s diagnosis with coronavirus, The Telegraph reports.

    Who do you think will win the US presidential race?

    Donald Trump
    Joe Biden

    Biden’s polling average has remained above 50 per cent since October 4, and the Democratic nominee has consistently polled in the lead since the race began.

    If state polls are close to the final result, it suggests Biden is on course for gains in at least two swing states — Michigan and Wisconsin — and Arizona, which has been more likely to vote Republican in recent years.

    WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW:

    In American politics, the term swing state refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican presidential candidate by a swing in votes. These states are usually targeted by both major-party campaigns, especially in competitive elections.

    While Florida and Texas are too close to call — carrying 67 electoral college votes between them — Pennsylvania and its 20 votes for the presidency are leaning Democrat according to the latest polls.

    The electoral college is a process and not an actual place. To become president, what really counts is winning a majority of electoral votes. Each state has been allotted electoral votes based on the size of its population and whoever wins a particular state is expected to bag all the electoral votes allotted to that state.

    There are 538 electoral votes in total which means that a candidate needs to secure 270 to win.

    To put it simply, when the US public votes in the election, they are not voting for the president. Instead, they are voting for a group of people who will then choose the president and vice president.

    The word “college” here simply refers to a group of people with a shared task, BBC says. The electoral college meets every four years, a few weeks after election day, to carry out that task.

    Of the states that could go either way based on the latest polls, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida all flipped to Donald Trump from the Democrats in the 2016 election, and his chances of retaining the presidency could rest on reclaiming victory here and holding on to Texas.

    Having voted Republican in every election since 2000, Texas is now a toss-up and could be pivotal to the final result.

  • Court orders police to recover teenage Christian bride Arzoo Raja

    Court orders police to recover teenage Christian bride Arzoo Raja

    The Sindh High Court has asked the Karachi police to recover and produce Arzoo Raja — a teenage Christian girl allegedly abducted and forced to marry a man thrice her age after conversion to Islam– in the court on Nov 5.

    Sindh Chief Minister’s spokesperson Murtaza Wahab confirmed this development. He said the high court ordered the police to recover the teenage girl in response to an application filed by the SHC. The girl is supposed to located within five days and then moved to a shelter home, he tweeted.

    The CASE:

    On Oct 27, a two-member bench of SHC had admitted a petition filed on behalf of Arzoo Raja that claimed that she was 18 years old and had married Ali Azhar and converted to Islam with her free will, according to a report in Newsday Pakistan.

    The petition also sought protection against alleged harassment of the girl’s family. Underage girls in such cases in Pakistan come under intense pressure, including threats to them and their families, to give false statements in court.

    Azhar allegedly abducted Arzoo in Karachi’s Muhalla Railway Colony West Camp Road locality on Oct. 13, according to the family, which registered a kidnapping case on the same day. On Oct. 15 police summoned them to the local station and showed them documents claiming that Arzoo was 18 years old and had willingly converted to Islam after marrying Azhar.

  • Pakistan rejects Indian statements on Gilgit-Baltistan status

    Pakistan rejects Indian statements on Gilgit-Baltistan status

    Pakistan has rejected the Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ irresponsible and unwarranted statement regarding Gilgit-Baltistan.

    A Foreign Ministry statement said India has no legal, moral or historical standing on the issue.

    “For more than 73 years, India has been in illegal and forcible occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir. Regurgitation of false and fabricated claims by India can neither change the facts nor divert attention from India’s illegal actions and continuing humanitarian crisis resulting from the perpetration of the worst human rights violations in Indian illegally occupied valley,” the statement said.

    Pakistan’s position on the Jammu & Kashmir dispute remains firmly anchored in the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions, it said, adding that the final resolution of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute was only possible through the exercise of the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination by holding free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the UN.

    “Administrative, political and economic reforms are a long-standing demand of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan. The envisaged provisional reforms reflect the aspirations of the indigenous populace of Gilgit-Baltistan,” it said.

    Pakistan called upon India to immediately end its illegal and forcible occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir and “comply with its international obligations by allowing the Kashmiris to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”

    India had earlier rejected what it called an attempt by Pakistan to bring material changes to a “disputed territory”, after Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan declared the provisional provincial status to Gilgit-Baltistan.

  • Cracks in PML-N ranks over party’s ‘anti-establishment’ stance

    Cracks in PML-N ranks over party’s ‘anti-establishment’ stance

    The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is in quandary for taking an anti-establishment stance, as a number of its leaders from Punjab and Balochistan have distanced themselves from the “anti-state” narrative of the party.

    Amid these reservations, PML-N leader Abdul Qadir Baloch has also decided to bid goodbye to the Nawaz league for allegedly speaking against the army.

    The decision to quit the party was taken after the PML-N leaders refused to invite former chief minister Sanaullah Zehri to the Quetta rally over his feud with Akhtar Mengal, the chief of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M). However, Qadir said he was leaving the party with “heavy heart” over “anti-army” rhetoric of the PDM leadership.

    “I am product of the army and cannot stand by the narrative of disobedience since it would be extremely injurious to the country. I have taken the decision of parting ways with heavy heart,” said the retired general who had served as Corps Commander in Quetta.

    This resignation was followed by several leaders of the PML-N going public with their reservations over the rhetoric employed by the PDM leaders against the state institutions of Pakistan.

    The statement of Ayaz Sadiq, wherein he said Indian pilot Abhinandan was released by Pakistan because it feared an Indian attack, also irked some PML-N leaders, who decided to disown the statement and the party line.

    PML-N MPAs Nishat Daha and Younas Ansari said that their heads hang in shame because of MNA Ayaz Sadiq’s controversial statement.

    “The entire nation was hurt by the statements of Nawaz Sharif and Ayaz Sadiq, what they are doing is not good for the country,” Daha added.

    Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, Younas Ansari said, “Our family has been in politics for 35 years but I am ashamed at what is happening in the National Assembly. Ayaz Sadiq should be remorseful at his statement.”

    The party leaders in Attock district also disagreed with the leadership over its so-called anti-state remarks.

    At separate press conferences in different towns of the district on Sunday, PML-N MPA Jehangir Khan­zada, former MNA Malik Itabar Khan and former MPA Shahwaiz Khan criticised the recent remarks of Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Ayaz Sadiq.

    Khanzada termed Ayaz Sadiq’s statement “anti-state”. “He should not have talked in such a way while speaking in parliament,” the MPA said while highlighting sacrifices rendered by the armed forces.

    Itabar Khan said he could not support the “anti-national narrative”, adding that Maryam Nawaz, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Maulana Fazlur Rehman had made statements which did not “serve the interest of the country”.

    Shahwaiz Khan, former MPA from Hassanabdal, said he did not support the party leadership’s recent “anti-state” stance and condemned their criticism of state institutions.

    PML-N MPA from Shakargarh Allama Ghiyasuddin has also condemned the statements of the opposition parties against the Army. Former PML-N MNA Sardar Mansab Dogar has also announced to quit the party over what he said the “anti-state” statements of the party leadership.

    RELEASE OF ABHINANDAN:

    Sadiq, a former National Assembly speaker, is under fire for accusing the government of taking the decision to release the India pilot under pressure.

    Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi had “begged the opposition to release Abhinandan, otherwise, according to the FM, India would have attacked Pakistan at 9 pm that day,” the lawmaker had said during a session of the National Assembly.

    In response, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major General Babar Iftikhar held a press conference to set the record straight about the events surrounding the capture and release of the Indian wing commander.

    “Yesterday such a statement was given in which facts were attempted to be twisted surrounding the events that day,” the military spokesperson said during the media briefing.

    On Friday, Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz hinted at legal action against Ayaz Sadiq for accusing the government of releasing Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of the Indian Air Force (IAF) under pressure. “What Ayaz Sadiq said is not forgivable,” he tweeted, adding that law will take its course now.

  • Inspired by ‘Crime Patrol’, 17 -year-old kills father

    Inspired by ‘Crime Patrol’, 17 -year-old kills father

    A 17- year-old boy from India’s Uttar Pradesh reportedly murdered his father and then watched Indian TV series Crime Patrol to destroy the evidence of his crime.

    According to Indian media reports, the incident took place on May 2 when the boy got upset at his father who yelled at him. He reportedly killed his 42-year old father, Manoj Mishra, by hitting him on the head with an iron rod and then strangling him to death as he lay unconscious.

    Later, the same night, the boy with the help of his mother, carried the body on his scooty to a forest area about five kilometers away and burnt it with petrol and a toilet cleaner to destroy the identity.

    On May 3, police found the partially burnt body that remained unidentified for almost three weeks as no missing person report was filed in any police station.

    The family, finally, lodged a missing person complaint on May 27 under pressure from ISKCON officials since Manoj Mishra worked there as a donation collector.

    Some of his colleagues identified that the body was of Manoj from his spectacles. The victim’s colleagues at ISKCON said that they did not doubt his prolonged absence since Manoj often used to travel to preach Bhagavad Gita.

    Mathura Superintendent of Police Udai Shanker Singh said that whenever police called Manoj’s son for questioning, he would evade coming and would instead ask the police under what provisions of the law they were trying to interrogate him.

    However, when police checked his mobile phone, they found a history of the boy watching Crime Patrol episodes at least 100 times. Police said after several rounds of questioning, the boy finally broke down and admitted to his crime.

    The police arrested the boy and his mother Sangeeta Mishra, 39. They have been booked for murder and destroying evidence.

    The 11-year-old sister of the accused has been handed over to the grandparents.

  • Two men cheat London-returned doctor, sell him ‘Aladdin’s lamp’ for Rs 2.5 crore

    Two men cheat London-returned doctor, sell him ‘Aladdin’s lamp’ for Rs 2.5 crore

    Two men allegedly cheated an Indian man from Uttar Pardesh by selling him “Aladdin ka Chiragh” or Aladdin’s Lamp for Rs 2.5 crore.

    According to reports, Dr Laeek Khan had returned to India from London a few years ago. He approached the police to register a complaint against the two men. In his complaint, the doctor stated that the men pretending to be tantriks or occultists and told him that the gold lamp would help him fulfill all his wishes.

    Dr Khan said that it all started in 2018 when he would frequently visit a female patient named Sameena for post-surgery dressing.

    It was through her that the doctor met a tantrik, who claimed that he had magical powers. The man promised to give the doctor ‘Aladdin Ka Chiragh‘ and make him a billionaire.

    According to Indian news reports, the tantrik and his friend would show the doctor a ‘jinn‘ (genie) appear from the lamp but would not allow him to take it home, saying that touching it would be ominous for him.

    Believing what he saw, the doctor said he paid the men Rs 2.5 crore in installments and was finally able to take home the lamp recently. However, later, the doctor realised that the ‘jinn’ he had been seeing was the husband of the woman.

    Khan realised that he was being cheated on and contacted the local police. This week, the police arrested the two accused Islamuddin and his friend Anees while a search for the woman is underway.

  • PM Imran trolled for saying his ‘selection was right’

    PM Imran trolled for saying his ‘selection was right’

    With Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan saying the fact that the opposition was criticising the chiefs of the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) proves he appointed the right people to the posts, he is being trolled by those who have misconstrued his words.

    The premier, who on Sunday arrived in Gilgit-Baltistan to mark the 73rd Independence Day of the region, was speaking to the attendees and participants of the Azadi Parade.

    “If these thieves [opposition] are speaking against them, it means they [chiefs] are the right people,” he said, responding to the recent remarks from the opposition.

    Lawmakers of opposition parties have time and again referred to the premier as “selected” for they allege that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came to power after “stealing the mandate of the people”.

    While PM Imran was referring to the people he has selected, the headline of a report carried by Dawn led to people trolling the premier for “conceding that he himself was selected”.

    While the tweet is flooded with comments by those who were cracked up, a number of Twitterati have also pointed out that the premier was misinterpreted and his statement was taken out of context:

    Have something to add to the story? Let The Current know in the comments…

  • Woman fined Rs 0.65m for calling man ‘shameless’ in public

    Woman fined Rs 0.65m for calling man ‘shameless’ in public

    A woman has been fined Dh15,000 (Rs0.65 million) after she called a man ‘shameless’ in a public space, The News has reported.

    The verdict was announced by the Abu Dhabi Court of Appeals, according to which, the defendant had called a young man ‘shameless’ in a mall. 

    Following the incident, the man filed a complaint against the woman, followed up with a civil suit claiming Dh100,000 in moral damages.

    The civil court, in addition to court fees, ordered the defendant to pay Dh15,000 in compensation.

    However, the woman appealed the ruling, saying that the man had attempted to stalk her daughter and pass on his contact details to her. 

    The appellate court rejected this appeal, as there was no evidence regarding the provocation by the man.