Federal Minister of Planning and Development Asad Umar while addressing a press conference has said that cinemas, theatres, public parks, and restaurants will be reopened from August 10 (Monday) under strict SOPs.
According to details, Umar said that Pakistan has recorded a decline in cases of COVID-19.
He said that Educational institutions are expected to reopen on September 15 but all the SOPs will be monitored on September 7.
ANNOUNCEMENT: All Public & Private Schools of Punjab to open September 15th, 2020. This is a tentative date depending on COVID 19 situation in Punjab. SOPs for opening Schools are in place which will be conveyed to everyone. All other news is “FAKE NEWS”
The authorities have detained five persons for killing a snow leopard in Hoper Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan. Three of them have been sentenced to jail by the wildlife magistrate.
As per reports, a female snow leopard was killed in Hoper while her two cubs lost. The wildlife team was able to recover the skin of the slain leopard and a search operation to find the missing cubs is underway.
⚠️Warning: Distressing images
We are extremely saddened to learn about the recent poaching incident involving a female snow leopard, which was killed in Hopper Valley. As per the reports, there is a search operation underway to recover the two cubs of the dead mother.
We really appreciate the efforts of the Gilgit-Baltistan Forest, Wildlife, Parks and Environment Department and law enforcement agencies on arresting the culprits. These efforts must continue.
The wildlife department arrested a man with the help of law enforcement agencies on Tuesday after getting information about the killing of the snow leopard. 25-year old Mohammad Saleem, a resident of Hoper valley confessed to his crime and told the authorities that he along with his friends killed a female snow leopard near Hoper glacier almost 12 days ago. He said that the leopard was living with her two cubs in the mountain near the glacier and they set the cubs free after killing the leopard.
Later the police also arrested four more culprits involved in the crime. They were identified as Mohammad and Jaffar Ali, residents of Hoper and Mohammad Amin and Jan Alam, residents of Hunza.
Mohammad Saleem and Mohammad were sentenced to one year jail with a fine of Rs5,000,000 on each of them while another accused man was sentenced to one-month imprisonment.
According to details, Mohammad Saleem posted the pictures of the snow leopard on social media after killing it.
Following are some snippets that stood out from Urdu newspapers on August 6, 2020, which The Current takes no responsibility for.
‘Martial Law Se Behtar Angrezo Ki Hukoomat Hai’
It has been reported by Daily Dunya that Supreme Court’s Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who is known for being a critic of certain quarters, has taken notice of irregularities in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and remarked “Marshal law se behtar hai hukoomat Angrezo ko de di jaaye.”
‘Kashmir Aik Namukamal Agenda Hai’
Daily Jang has quoted Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar as saying “Kashmir, Taqseeme Hind ka namukammal agenda hai. Aaj maqbooza Kashmir Pakistan k naqshay mein shaamil hua hai, kal yeh Pakistan ka hissa hoga.”
Buzdar was referring to Pakistan’s new political map approved by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Tuesday. It shows the troubled valley as a part of Pakistan.
‘Substandard’ Construction Work of Peshawar BRT
According to Daily Dunya, Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is assisting the construction of Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, has identified “substandard” construction work.
The Peshawar BRT is rather infamous for its incompletion as the authorities concerned have failed to meet deadlines time and again. The government has now issued yet another deadline for completion of the much-delayed project, the cost of which has also swollen over the years.
WhatsApp has recently announced a new feature ‘search the web’ that would allow the user to gather information on the internet about all the sent links and images.
Not only WhatsApp but most of the social media platforms have turned into a hub of fake videos and news, since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement, the spokesperson of WhatsApp said: “Today, we’re piloting a simple way to double-check these messages by tapping a magnifying glass button in the chat. Providing a simple way to search messages that have been forwarded many times may help people find news results or other sources of information about the content they have received.”
WhatsApp has also included double arrows to let users know that messages have not originated from their close contact. The update also informed about the authenticity of the chain messages.
Search the web is being rolled out in Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) for those on the latest versions of WhatsApp for Android, iOS and WhatsApp Web.
In what appears to be a major foreign policy shift for Pakistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has asked Saudi Arabia-led Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to stop dragging feet on the convening of a meeting of its Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) on the Kashmir issue.
“I am once again respectfully telling OIC that a meeting of the CFM is our expectation. If you cannot convene it, then I’ll be compelled to ask Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support the oppressed Kashmiris,” he said while speaking to a private media outlet.
When asked if Pakistan will “move forward” with or without Saudi Arabia, the foreign minister said, “with or without…”. In response to another question, he said Pakistan could not wait any further.
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According to Dawn, Pakistan has been pushing for the foreign ministers’ meeting of the 57-member bloc of Muslim countries, which is the second-largest intergovernmental body after the United Nations (UN), since India annexed occupied Kashmir in August 2019.
Qureshi had at an earlier presser explained the importance of CFM for Pakistan. He had then said that it was needed to send a clear message from Ummah on the Kashmir issue.
Although there has been a meeting of the contact group on Kashmir on the sidelines of UN General Assembly session in New York since last August and OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission has made statements on the rights abuses in the occupied valley, but no progress could be made towards the CFM meeting.
A major reason behind the failure to call the foreign ministers’ meeting has been Saudi Arabia’s reluctance to accept Pakistan’s request for one specifically on Kashmir. Riyadh’s support is crucial for any move at the OIC, which is dominated by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.
Qureshi said Pakistan skipped Kuala Lumpur Summit last December on Saudi request and now Pakistani Muslims, who are ready to lay down their lives for the Kingdom, are demanding of Riyadh to “show leadership on the issue”.
“We have our own sensitivities. You have to realise this. Gulf countries should understand this,” the foreign minister said, adding that he could no more indulge in diplomatic niceties.
“We cannot stay silent anymore on the sufferings of the Kashmiris,” he said.
As the season wraps up, so do many dramas and with the weather expected to change in the upcoming weeks, our TV screens will also witness the winds of change. Three new dramas –Mushk, Saraab and Prem Gali – are scheduled to air in the near future and their teasers have already dropped. Check them out below:
Mushk
Featuring Imran Ashraf, Urwa Hocane, Moomal Sheikh and Osama Tahir, Mushk is a layered love story. Speaking to a local media outlet, Ashraf said that “Mushk revolves around the concept of love, in all forms – good, bad and ugly. It presents a sharp contrast between good and evil.”
He adds: “It is not a formula play, it has been created differently. The dialogues are very poetic.”
The drama has been written by Ashraf himself and directed by Aehsun Talish (Suno Chanda, Ye Dil Mera). It also marks the return of Hocane to the small screen after a break of almost three years.
Penned by Faiza Iftikhar (Akbari Asghari, Aunn Zara, Dil Lagi, Ranjha Ranjha Kardi) Prem Gali has been directed by Qasim Ali Mureed and features Farhan Saeed and Sohai Ali Abro in the lead. Not much is known about the drama except that it is a romantic comedy. From the teasers, it is also safe to say that Saeed is playing a similar character to that of Arsal in the superhit Suno Chanda.
According to the director, the drama “will remind people of old school romance, where setting up a meeting with the beloved used to be a big task.”
“It is a light-hearted project. We’ve tried to create something exceptional with major themes including love, family values, neighbourhood, etc,” he adds.
It has been produced by Humayun Saeed under his production house Six Sigma Plus.
As the conversation on mental health gains traction, it is also being explored in more depth on our drama screen. Sonya Hussayn and Sami Khan’s upcoming drama Saraab aims to highlight schizophrenia and the plight of those suffering from the illness. It has been written by Edison Idrees and directed by Mohsin Talat.
In an interview, Sonya said that the makers of the drama did thorough research on the project, including visiting mental asylums and rehab centres to understand the conditions of these patients, before beginning work on the drama so that it could be as realistic as possible.
Huawei Technologies Pakistan is going to launch a training programme for the government employees of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication.
Delegation of Huawei Technologies Pakistan led by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) @HuaweiPK Mr. Mark Meng, Deputy CEO Mr. Ahmed Bilal Masud and Director Government Sector (Huawei) Mr. Fawad Ul Haque called on Federal Minister for IT and Telecom @SyedAminulHaque today. pic.twitter.com/hpIewprWTA
— Ministry of IT & Telecom (@MoitOfficial) August 5, 2020
Huawei, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mark Meng, and a delegation of Huawei Technologies Pakistan called on Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Amin Ul Haque on Wednesday.
The Minister welcomed the delegation in his office and matters related to information and communication technology (ICT), connectivity, and digitization were discussed during the meeting.
CEO Huawei Pakistan briefed the Federal Minister about the company’s programs and its initiatives in the ICT sector.
The Federal Minister also praised Huawei Technologies Pakistan for it’s IT training program for government employees and development projects for ICT sector. He also assured Ministry full support to Huawei.
A six-year-old girl choked on pieces of a face mask found inside McDonald’s chicken nuggets, her mother claims.
Laura Arber said she discovered this in at least two of the 20 nuggets she had bought for her children from the fast food branch in Aldershot, Hampshire, yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zOpS7CXHFw
According to details, the 32-year-old had taken three of her four children to the restaurant to pick up the order. Laura says she saw her daughter having difficulty eating before claiming to find parts of a blue disposal face mask.
She said: “My little daughter just started choking and I put my fingers down her throat to loop it out there was just blue with the sick. I thought what on earth is this? I didn’t even think it could be the chicken nugget but looked over at the box and all you could see was this blue coming out of another chicken nugget in the box of 20.”
“And the mask is cooked into it, like a part of the mixture and it’s clearly a mask. You can see the seam and how solid it is in there.”
She spoke to the manager and claims she was told that the nuggets were not cooked on site.
Laura claimed she did not receive an apology and was shocked that the restaurant did not stop serving nuggets.
The mother added: “And the worst thing was that they carried on serving them. Before I left I said: ‘Are you going to keep serving them?’”
“And they were carrying on serving them and that was the big thing for me. I just couldn’t believe the way the management were handling it.”
“What if I had walked out of the room and my daughter had choked?,” asked the mother. “She could have died. It’s a split second thing. And I am just thinking, we have just come out of a pandemic and there is a face mask in my child’s chicken nugget.”
Laura’s son was born in intensive care and she stayed in accommodation provided by Ronald McDonald House Charities UK for families whose children are very ill in hospital.
She said she had always held the company in high esteem because of the way they helped her but said her experience yesterday left her feeling a disappointed.
A McDonald’s spokesperson said: “We are very sorry to hear about this customer’s experience. Food safety is of the utmost importance to us and we place great emphasis on quality control, following rigorous standards to avoid any imperfections.”
“When the matter was brought to the attention of our staff, we apologised, offered a full refund and asked the customer to return the item so we could further investigate the matter and isolate the affected product.”
Two enormous explosions ripped through Beirut’s port on Tuesday, wrecking buildings across the Lebanese capital. The explosions — which were heard in Nicosia, 240 kilometres (150 miles) away in Cyprus — were logged by seismologists, registering as the equivalent of a 3.3-magnitude earthquake. According to the Lebanese Red Cross, more than 100 people have been killed while over 4,000 have been injured.
“Until now over 4,000 people have been injured and over 100 have lost their lives. Our teams are still conducting search and rescue operations in the surrounding areas,” a statement said.
Following the devastating incident, Pakistani celebrities including Mahira Khan, Humayun Saeed, Mehwish Hayat, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Saba Qamar and Asim Azhar extended their prayers to those affected by the tragedy.
Prime Minister Imran Khan also said that he was “deeply pained to hear” of the incident.
Deeply pained to hear of the massive explosions in Beirut with precious lives lost & thousand injured.We stand in solidarity with our Lebanese brethren in their difficult hour, sharing their sorrow & grief. May Allah grant speedy recovery to the injured & strength to the bereaved
My heart goes out to you Beirut! Heartiest prayers for all those who have been affected by this tragic blast. Such a beautiful country going through the worst of times! #Beirut#Lebanon
The footage coming in from Beirut is truly devastating. My heart grieves for all the people suffering… Sending them lots of prayers and love #Beirut#BeirutExplosion#Lebanon
This is devastating. I just called every friend and family member I have in Beirut and each of them were directly impacted. Praying for Lebanon. https://t.co/jvElTyCEOU
Authorities are appealing to residents of #Beirut to remain indoors, wear a mask or leave the city for the mountains as the air has become highly toxic. But the residents are out on the streets going through rubble or to hospitals looking for their loved ones. #BeirutBlast
The apocalyptic carnage caused by the #BeirutExplosion has left me speechless. May the people of #Beirut find strength somehow – sending lots of love and prayers their way#Lebanon لبنان#
Horrific scenes emerging from videos regarding the Beirut Blast. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their people in this time of need. Stay strong Lebanon #PrayForLebanon#prayforbeirut#BeirutBlast#Beruit
A man accidentally set fire to his flat after a romantic gesture he had planned to propose to his girlfriend went wrong.
According to South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, the man wanted to ask his partner in a room “filled with hundreds of tea lights”, balloons and a bottle of wine. But he left the candles burning while he went to pick her up from work. When he returned he found his flat burning in flames.
He and his girlfriend thankfully managed to escape the fire unharmed.
Three fire engines were sent to the home above a newsagent in Sheffield on Monday night.
The fire service in a series of Tweets described the incident and wrote in one of the Tweets, “As a bonus, she said YES!
So here’s the deal…
Last night three crews were mobilised to a flat fire in Sheffield. They dealt with it quickly, as ever, before trying to establish what caused it.
So, a quick chat with the occupant revealed that this room had been filled with 100s of tea lights.
