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  • Govt awards cash prizes to winners of South Asian Games

    Govt awards cash prizes to winners of South Asian Games

    Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Dr Fehmida Mirza recently awarded cash prizes in the form of cheques to members of Pakistan’s Weightlifting and Tennis Team, who won medals at the 13th South Asian Games held in Nepal from December 1 – 10, 2019.

    https://twitter.com/SportsBoardPak/status/1257955629790003200?s=20
    https://twitter.com/SportsBoardPak/status/1257252535066378241?s=20

    According to a press release, “In line with approved cash award policy, gold medalists were given Rs 1 million each, silver medalists got Rs 500,000 while bronze medalists received cheques of Rs 250,000 each. In total, Rs 6.250 million and Rs 5.500 million were distributed to the weightlifters and tennis players respectively.”

    Speaking on the occasion, Dr Fehmida Mirza appreciated the athletes for their win and lauded parents for encouraging their daughters to take part in sport. The minister said that these winners are the ambassadors of Pakistan who portray the soft image of the country.

    https://twitter.com/SportsBoardPak/status/1258010085986631680?s=20

    She added the work was being done by the Pakistan Sports Board to resolve players issues and encourage more people to come forward in the field. She added that the Federal Government would continue to support talented players.

    Meanwhile, the athletes thanked the minister and government for appreciating their hard work and boosting their morale. They remarked that this is the first time that players are receiving rewards in the form of cash prize money, something that would help them in their future endeavours. The winners also requested the government to continue their support so that more people come forward in the field of sports.

    Some of the winners even took to social media to thank the government for their support.

    https://twitter.com/SportsBoardPak/status/1258011583453827072?s=20

    Here is a breakdown of the wins:

    Weightlifting

    The Weightlifting Team won 5 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals.

    Weightlifters Talha Talib, Haider Ali, Usman Amjad Rathore, Hanzla Dastgir Butt and Muhammad Nooh Dastgir Butt won gold medals while Abu Sufyan and Rabbia Razzaq won silver medals. Saima Shahzad won a bronze medal.

    Tennis

    Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Aqeel Khan, Muzammil Murtaza, Muhammad Abid won silver in men’s team event while Sara Mansoor, Ushna Sohail, Mahin Aftaz Qureshi and Sarah Mehboob Khan won bronze medals in the women’s team event.

    In the mixed doubles event, Aisam and Wushna, and Muhammad Abid and Sara Mansoor won the bronze medals.

    In the men’s double Aisam and Aqeel Khan won a bronze medal as did Muzammil Murtaza and Muhammad Abid.

    Read more – Pakistani javelin thrower creates history, qualifies for 2020 Olympics

    Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, who broke all records at the SAG also received an award. The 22-year-old created history with his throw of 86.29m and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.

  • Sajal Aly says ‘it’s not easy to capture Ahad’s beauty’

    Sajal Aly says ‘it’s not easy to capture Ahad’s beauty’

    Looks like Sajal Aly is using her time off to explore other art forms including sketching and painting.

    The actor, who tied the knot with co-star Ahad Raza Mir just before the lockdown, sketched a portrait of her husband and joked that it is not easy to capture “Ahad’s beauty”.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B_zQPfDFjgf/

    Meanwhile, Sajal’s best friend Zara Noor Abbas commented that the sketch does not look anything like Ahad. In response, Yasir Hussain remarked that it is definitely Ahad and that men change after marriage.

    Sajal later shared another picture of herself – this time while painting.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B_1tzbyFeia/

    Sajal and Ahad tied the knot in late March in Abu Dhabi in the presence of their close friends and family. Their drama Ye Dil Mera is currently on-air and is being widely appreciated by critics and audiences.

    Read more – Intense, thrilling and mysterious: Why ‘Ye Dil Mera’ is a must-watch

  • Malala to join the Obamas for virtual Graduation Ceremony on YouTube

    Malala to join the Obamas for virtual Graduation Ceremony on YouTube

    Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai will join former U.S. President Barack Obama, Lady Gaga, LeBron James and K-Pop band BTS and dozens of others celebrities to salute and celebrate the class of 2020 in virtual graduation ceremonies replacing the traditional end of high school and college.

    Read more – Malala declared decade’s most famous teenager by UN

    According to Reuters, Obama, with his wife Michelle, will headline two separate graduation events.

    In a one-hour multimedia event called “Graduate Together,” to be broadcast on May 16 across multiple TV networks, Obama will deliver a message to high school seniors and reflect on the coronavirus pandemic.

    In a separate YouTube event called “Dear Class of 2020,” to be hosted by Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher initiative and streamed on June 6, Obama will join Malala, Lady Gaga, BTS and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in celebrating graduates across the United States. Variety added that the festival-style lineup will feature talks on traditional graduation-day themes mixed in with music performances. Both Michelle and Obama will each deliver individual commencement speeches — and a joint message — to graduates.

    Others taking part in the two events include U.S. women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe, the Jonas Brothers, musician Bad Bunny, Alicia Keys and Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai.

    Read more – Greta Thunberg calls Malala Yousafzai her ‘role model’

    With schools and colleges shut down across the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic, students who are set to graduate this summer are unable to celebrate their milestone achievement the traditional way.

    Other virtual events on offer include a podcast called “Commencement: Speeches for the Class of 2020” on May 15 in which Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Fallon, John Legend and Eli Manning will be among some two dozen personalities offering words of wisdom to graduates.

  • Star-narrated ‘Harry Potter’ book streaming for free

    Star-narrated ‘Harry Potter’ book streaming for free

    Potter fans heads up. The first book of the immensely popular Harry Potter series will be read by a lineup of celebrities, including Daniel Radcliffe, chapter-by-chapter, in a series of free videos and audio recordings which will be released over the next few months.

    Spotify and author JK Rowling announced the release of these free recordings to help children – and perhaps adults – cope with confinement measures,

    Radcliffe, the actor who played the beloved wizard character in the books’ cinematic renditions, voiced the first chapter of the series’ premiere novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers’ Stone. Watch his read the first chapter here.

    He will be joined by a handful of stars including soccer legend David Beckham along with actors Stephen Fry and Dakota Fanning, who will lend their voices to the book’s subsequent chapters.

    All 17 chapters will be out by mid-summer, Spotify said, and the recordings will be available free of cost on the music platform, which recently began making strides in the audiobook and podcast department.

    Read more – GCU students produce Pakistan’s first-ever fan-made Harry Potter movie

    Videos of the celebrity recordings will stream on the website Harry Potter At Home.

    “Parents, teachers and carers working to keep children amused and interested while we’re on lockdown might need a bit of magic,” said Rowling in launching that site last month.

    The series’ publishers have also temporarily relaxed licensing restrictions, which allows teachers to read the Harry Potter books to their students during remote classes.

    Rowling’s seven-part Harry Potter series is the best-selling book collection ever, with more than 500 million copies sold to date. The first novel, published in 1997, is the series’ best-seller, with more than 120 million editions purchased.

  • Pakistan to lose Rs628,000,000,000 by June

    Pakistan to lose Rs628,000,000,000 by June

    A report prepared by the sub-committee of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) for coronavirus has said that the country, due to an adverse impact of COVID-19 on the economy, will record a loss of over Rs628 billion by the end of the current financial year.

    The report ‘COVID-19: Preliminary Macroeconomic and Socioeconomic Assessment’ said almost all the departments of the country were going in a loss due to lack of human activity in the wake of the pandemic that has killed over 200,000 people worldwide.

    Giving a breakdown of the losses, the report said the Aviation Division will face an estimated financial loss of Rs13.6bn; the Pakistan Stock Exchange Rs250bn; Petroleum Division Rs 87bn; Ministry of Energy (Power Division) Rs136bn; Pakistan Railways over Rs7 bn; National Food Security Rs 55bn; Overseas Pakistanis over Rs 76bn; Ministry of Information Technology Rs1-5bn under the head of withholding tax; and Maritime Affairs will report a loss of Rs30 million.

    It further said that the Federal Board of Revenue will face a total estimated revenue shortfall of Rs600bn in the last three months of the current financial year.

    The report also suggested the way forward to deal with losses, saying some measures have already been taken.

  • Can’t test people only to see if they have coronavirus or not: Dr Yasmin Rashid

    Can’t test people only to see if they have coronavirus or not: Dr Yasmin Rashid

    In a statement for which she is being trolled, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid has said that the government cannot conduct tests of people “only to check if they have coronavirus or not”.

    Reports quoted the minister as contradicting the only utility of the tests amid the global COVID-19 outbreak, leaving people wondering what else were tests being conducted for.

    She further said that 90 per cent of coronavirus patients reported to the health officials had shown no symptoms after contracting the virus.

    “We need to create awareness among the masses regarding coronavirus and how it could be avoided,” the minister said, adding that Pakistan had less cases as compared to several other countries across the globe.

    Dr Yasmin further said that the nation had to show a compassionate behavior towards the masses at the time of the pandemic.

    Separately, she said that the Punjab government had conducted 101,897 tests so far, out of which 5,043 were conducted in a single day on May 4.

    “8103 cases were reported positive, we sadly lost 136 people but by the grace of Allah SWT 2,716 patients recovered fully to return home safe & sound [sic],” she tweeted.

    PUNJAB LOCKDOWN:

    Meanwhile, the Punjab government has decided to ease the ongoing lockdown after May 9 as the provincial tally of COVID-19 infections reaches 8,693 — highest in the country.

    Textile, steel and spare part shops will be allowed to operate for six hours. Shopkeepers have reportedly been directed to strictly follow SOPs while dealing with the public.

    Parks will also be reopened but swings will remain closed.

    The province made the announcement prior to the National Command and Operation Centre meeting that is due to take place today.

    Planning Minister Asad Umar will chair the meeting in Islamabad to decide whether the country-wide lockdown will be extended after May 9 or not. The chief ministers from all provinces will attend the meeting via video link.

    It is expected that the provinces will be told to decide on lockdown restrictions by themselves.

  • VIDEO: ‘Pakistan’s only mind reader’ leaves Maulana Tariq Jamil shocked

    VIDEO: ‘Pakistan’s only mind reader’ leaves Maulana Tariq Jamil shocked

    Renowned preacher Maulana Tariq Jameel, who had recently made headlines for his controversial remarks during a live telethon to raise funds for coronavirus relief, was left astonished by the ability of a mentalist who read his mind, an undated viral video showed on Wednesday.

    In the video, Shaheer Khan, who is known for his mind reading skills, asks Maulana to imagine a situation that he has not written down or shared with people.

    He then holds the religious scholar’s hand and starts revealing what the latter is thinking.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Breaking into laughter after the mentalist hits the bullseye, Maulana Tariq lauds Shaheer and jokingly offers to become his follower.

    Shaheer Khan, who rose to fame owing to his mind-boggling ability to read minds, is the country’s first-ever and “only” mentalist. His shows have proven his rising popularity and left many scratching their heads.

    He has been able to guess Rameez Raja’s ATM pin, Waseem Akram’s favourite cricketer and the name of Harsha Bhogle’s first childhood crush.

    While many people claim that the only way to explain his abilities is by the use of the supernatural powers, Shaheer himself says he has just been extremely intuitive ever since he was a kid.

  • ‘U-Turn’: Ahmadis excluded from National Commission for Minorities

    ‘U-Turn’: Ahmadis excluded from National Commission for Minorities

    In what netizens are calling “another U-Turn by the ruling party”, the federal government has reportedly withdrawn its decision of including Ahmadis to the National Commission for Minorities.

    According to reports, following recommendations from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the government on Tuesday withdrew its earlier decision to give representation to the Ahmadi community in the minorities commission.

    They said that the decision was reconsidered after the move sparked fierce criticism from the religious right on mainstream and social media.

    Meanwhile, the federal cabinet has approved the reconstitution of the commission.

    A Hindu community member from Sindh, Chela Ram Kewlani has been named as chairman of the commission while Maulana Syed Muhammad Abdul Khabir Azad and Mufti Gulzar Ahmed Naeemi will represent the Muslim community.

    Three members each have been selected from the Hindu and Christian communities, while two members have been named from the Sikh community and one member each will represent Kelash and Parsi communities in the commission. The chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) will be the commission’s ex-officio member while the religious affairs secretary will also act as the commission’s secretary.

    The federal cabinet on April 15 had decided in principle that the Ahmadi community, being a minority in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan, should also be represented in the commission.

    The Ahmadi community of Pakistan was to be included in the commission for the first time since 1974, when they were declared non-Muslim by the then Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government.

  • ‘Death by massage’: police arrest serial killer masseur

    ‘Death by massage’: police arrest serial killer masseur

    The Lahore police have arrested a serial killer identified as Ejaz alias Jajji, who killed his victims by giving them massages.

    According to a report in The Express Tribune, the accused confessed to killing five people during initial interrogation. The police revealed that Jajji worked as a masseur (a person who provides massage professionally) and used his profession to lure victims. He would convince his clients to go to a deserted place to avail his services and would snap their neck bone or stab them to death while giving them a massage.

    After murdering them, he would rob them of their valuables and escape.

    Jajji murdered at least four men in Lahore and also confessed to committing a murder in Rawalpindi. While he has now been nabbed by the police, the search for his two accomplices is still underway.

    The police said that though this case was unique, it was not unheard of. They explained that masseurs are experts in veins and blood pressure points in the body that are closely linked with the nervous system. In the past, dozens of cases have been reported in which people were rendered unconscious using massaging techniques so that swindlers could loot their ‘clients’. The practise is reportedly common in areas like Data Darbar and Yadgar. Such looting tactics are locally known as “applying formula”.

    The police expressed their concern over this new trend of murdering people and said that they are investigating it.

  • ‘Kitna khoobsurat lagta hai’: Irrfan Khan about PM Imran Khan

    ‘Kitna khoobsurat lagta hai’: Irrfan Khan about PM Imran Khan

    Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan, who passed away last week, was not only a cricket buff but was also a big fan of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

    In an interview with Telegraph India, Irrfan had expressed his fondness for two legendary Pakistani cricketers Imran Khan and Zaheer Abbas and recalled his meeting with them.

    “There was an India-Pakistan match. I was very young. Zaheer Abbas was there. I went to take his autograph. That was the first time as I never took autographs from anybody in my life. He just looked at me… and I felt so humiliated. I felt really bad,” said the late actor. “I was a Zaheer Abbas and Imran Khan fan.”

    Speaking about PM Imran, Irrfan had said, “Imran kitna khubsoorat lagta hai! What a persona… open-chested, aisi uchhal ke bowling karta tha. Even now, he looks great.”

    Read more – Sherry Rehman calls Irrfan Khan ‘one of Pakistan’s best’

    Irrfan had also expressed his appreciation about other sportsmen including Kapil Dev and David Beckham.

    “David Beckham is also very good-looking. Beckham ka ajeeb sa hai… anything suits him. Very stylish,” he said about Beckham.

    He added, “At one point in time, I used to like Sachin (Tendulkar). Kapil (Dev) was also a favourite. (M.S.) Dhoni has shown some character. He is a great captain.”

    It is a well-known fact that Irrfan was a huge cricket fan. In fact back in 2018, while he was in London for his treatment, Irrfan was spotted in the stands during Pakistan versus England Test match.

    Irrfan had also expressed his desire to be a cricketer but due to financial issues, he decided to give up that dream and pursue acting instead.

    “I played cricket. I wanted to become a cricketer. I was an all-rounder and the youngest one in my team in Jaipur. I wanted to make a career out of it. I was selected for the CK Nayudu tournament I think and then I needed money and didn’t know who to ask. That day I decided I cannot pursue it,” Khan had said in the same interview.