Blog

  • VIDEO: ‘Moment when Ukraine plane was hit by Iranian missile’

    VIDEO: ‘Moment when Ukraine plane was hit by Iranian missile’

    A newly-surfaced video released by The New York Times and CNN among other foreign media outlets, appears to show the moment a Ukrainian airliner was hit by a missile before crashing not far from Iran’s airport in Tehran on Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported.

    Ukrainian International Airlines’ Kyiv-bound flight PS752 crashed minutes after takeoff from the Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran on Wednesday amid escalating tensions between the United States (US) and Iran.

    All 176 passengers on board were killed in the crash that came as Iran fired missiles at US forces in Iraq.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    The video is consistent with statements made by Canadian, US and UK officials, who said intelligence indicated that an Iranian missile brought down the airliner. They, however, say it may have been a mistake.

    Iran, on the other hand, rejects the same and blames engine failure for the crash.

    While it is unclear why the person was recording a video at the time, reports say it is possible that two missiles were fired, prompting the person filming to start recording. The New York Times also reported that the person started filming after hearing “some sort of shot fired”.

  • Megxit: Harry, Meghan’s waxworks removed from royal family display at Madame Tussauds

    Megxit: Harry, Meghan’s waxworks removed from royal family display at Madame Tussauds

    Madame Tussauds waxwork museum has removed the figures of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan from its British royal family display, in response to the couple’s announcement that they will be stepping back from royal duties.

    The wax museum announced their move on social media with a cheeky caption.

    Madame Tussauds, which contains more than 250 wax models of celebrities, said the two figures will be placed in a separate section, away from that which includes Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, and Prince William and his wife Kate.

    On Wednesday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that they intend to divide their time between North America and the UK to carve out a “progressive new role” and step back from their senior positions.

    According to British media, senior members of the royal family, including the Queen, Prince William and Prince Charles were disappointed by the move. Some reports suggested that the Queen was furious with Harry.

    Read more – Queen deeply upset with Harry, Meghan’s decision to quit front-line roles

    Meanwhile, Twitter users are referring to the Sussex’s decision as Megxit.

  • Rihanna proves, yet again, that she is the ultimate queen

    Rihanna proves, yet again, that she is the ultimate queen

    When Rihanna posted her first selfie of the decade, the responses from her fans just wouldn’t stop. And the selfie garnered 5.4 million likes.

    To mark the beginning of the new decade, the singer chose a makeup-free photo. Rihanna posted a pic with a red pimple near her jawline (Yeah, she keeps it real).

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B6_ngxfHaLH/

    The pimple didn’t go unnoticed of course. One fan requested: “Let me pop your pimple.”

    Rihanna just had to respond with amazing humour: “let her have her shine, PLEASE.”

    This comment led to many pro-pimple comments from the singer’s fans.

    One fan wrote: “WE STAN YOUR PIMPLE” and “even riri’s pimple has unmatched power.”

    Another follower shared, “love that you posted this pic! Natural Beauty pimples n all ❤❤”

    Apparently, Rihanna’s skin care routine is very simple.

    “When I feel like my skin has had it, I overdo the water. Mix moisturizer and a drop of foundation. That, some mascara, lipstick, and you’re good. And fix those brows,” she told Elle in an interview.

  • Spanish hunter pays $83,500 to kill season’s third markhor in Gilgit

    Spanish hunter pays $83,500 to kill season’s third markhor in Gilgit

    A Spanish hunter in Gilgit has killed the third markhor of the season after paying a whopping $83,500 as the permit fee, ARY reported.

    According to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Wildlife Department, Carlo Pasco successfully hunted a flared-horned markhor in the conservation area.

    The hunting fees for different local species were decided in November last year as the Wildlife Department auctioned off the permits for markhor for $83,500. In 2018-19, the hunters paid $110,000 for hunting the animal.

    The Wildlife Department claims that 80 per cent of the amount paid by hunters is given to the local community to invest in themselves and the conversation of these animals. The remaining 20 per cent is deposited to the national exchequer.

    Pakistan’s national animal, markhor, is a large Capra species native to Central Asia, Karakoram and the Himalayas. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, it is listed as a near-threatened species since 2015.

    Earlier on December 12, an Italian citizen had hunted the first markhor of the season.

  • Twitter to allow users to decide who can reply to their tweets

    Twitter to allow users to decide who can reply to their tweets

    In a surprising tech twist, Twitter announces that it is testing new ways to limit online abuse and will allow users to control who can reply to their tweets.

    Kayvon Beykpour, VP of product at Twitter revealed the plan at a conference in Las Vegas saying that, “the primary motivation is control…We want to build on the theme of authors getting more control, ” reports TechCrunch.

    Twitter will be experimenting with different options on who can reply and how much control to give the author of a tweet.

    The most private option would prevent anyone from replying to a tweet and users can select who they want to reply to their tweet. Other options include in limiting replies to people mentioned in the tweet or followers only.

    WATCH: PTI’s supporter Dr. Farhan Virk reveals why his Twitter account was deactivated

    It is unclear when this option will be released.

    Many Pakistani journalists, especially female anchors, have complained about on-going abuse on Twitter.

    Watch what anchor Gharidah Faruqi had to say when asked about being heavily trolled online in this The Current Life interview.

  • Last two episodes of Meray Paas Tum Ho left: Hold on to your medicine, warns the writer

    Last two episodes of Meray Paas Tum Ho left: Hold on to your medicine, warns the writer

    The episode ended without much of a bang, but the teaser for the next episode was the shocker. Two episodes left. Its time for the big reveal: Will Danish (Humayun Saeed) take back Mehwish (Ayeza Khan) or marry Hania (Hira Mani)?

    The series has been anything but typical. But what is frustrating is that there are moments that are so problematic and anti-women.

    WATCH: Problematic Dialogues from Meray Paas Tum Ho

    The most recent episode of the drama shows Maham (Savera Nadeem) accepting Shahwar (Adnan Siddiqui) back into her life. He has to prove himself, as she removes him from his position in the company, but why is he forgiven for that ultimate sin that the writer, Khalil ur Rehman Qamar isn’t allowing a woman to be forgiven for?

    Maham ‘forgives’ Shehwar but demotes him from his position in the company until he ‘deserves’ it again

    The controversial writer is no stranger to backlash and seems like he doesn’t mind it much either. He has passed many controversial comments about women and recently made new ones and some revelations of the program.

    The episode, airing on Saturday, January 11th on ARY Digital, is going to be longer and not ‘for the faint-hearted’. The writer warns that it’s a real tear-jerker and if someone is emotional, they should keep their medicines close by. He also says that ‘God might forgive sins, but love does not,’ when asked about the ending of the drama.

    Qamar’s interview with Entertainment Pakistan where he reveals details about the second episode

    Roomi, Danish and Mehwish’s son also goes out on a limb and literally proposes to Hania and asks her to marry his father. What’s also stranger is how Roomi is allowed to go to her house on his own and do these crazy gestures but obviously, his role defines what his father will do.

    Rumi proposing to Hania on his father’s behalf (his father doesn’t know he is doing this)

    It will be disappointing if Danish doesn’t forgive Mehwish. Especially since Maham has taken Shehwar back in his life. But based on what the writer is saying about the end, Danish and Mehwish might not be ending up together.

    Mehwish tears the shirt she was wearing when Danish found her returning back to Karachi with Shehwar

    Mehwish is repenting. She buys her old apartment, where she lived with Danish and her son, she prays and cries and admits her mistakes, asking Danish to let her live with him, for their son’s sake. But all that might not be enough.

  • Queen deeply upset with Harry, Meghan’s decision to quit front-line roles

    Queen deeply upset with Harry, Meghan’s decision to quit front-line roles

    Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bombshell resignation from front-line royal duties rocked the British monarchy, with reports suggesting Queen Elizabeth II had not been informed in advance.

    The couple said they would now “balance” their time between Britain and North America and rip up long-established relations with the press.

    In a short, terse response a short time later, a palace statement said discussions with Harry and Meghan were “at an early stage”.

    “We understand their desire to take a different approach, but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through,” the palace said.

    Media reports said the couple made their shock statement – released on their Instagram account, own website and through Buckingham Palace’s email communications system – without notifying either Harry’s grandmother, the monarch, or father, the future king Prince Charles.

    The mood in the palace was understood to be one of disappointment and even “hurt”, according the BBC.

    The decision follows a turbulent year for the pair, who have admitted to struggling in the spotlight and growing apart from Harry’s brother Prince William.

    They have also complained of negative news coverage and taken several papers to court, another unusual move.

    “We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the royal family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen,” they said.

    “We have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution.”

    Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38, are among the most senior, core members of the royal family, and, along with William and his wife Kate.

    The couple spent six weeks over Christmas in Canada after speaking of the pressure of being in the spotlight following their fairytale wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018.

    They skipped the royal family’s traditional Christmas at Sandringham, the sovereign’s private estate in eastern England, spending the festive season instead with Meghan’s American mother Doria Ragland.

    Rumours that all was not well with the Sussexes surfaced in October when Harry, sixth in line to the throne, admitted that he and William were “on different paths” and had good and bad days in their relationship.

    “We don’t see each other as much as we used to,” Harry had said in an interview.

    The couple also said they would no longer take part in the royal rota.

    The rota system is an established arrangement between the palace and the press in which news organisations take turns covering events and then share the pictures, text and video with everyone else, avoiding the mass media scrambles of the past.

    Instead the couple will attempt to invite only “specialist”, “grassroots”, “credible” and “young, up-and-coming” media to events.

  • Woman who came ‘back to life’ in Karachi passes away

    Woman who came ‘back to life’ in Karachi passes away

    A woman who was pronounced dead by doctors on Wednesday and later found to be alive has now passed away.

    According to latest reports, 50-year-old Rashida Bibi passed away a few hours after she was found to be alive.

    Rashida Bibi had been pronounced medically dead by doctors at Karachi’s Abbasi Shaheed healthcare facility but came back to life as she was being bathed before her burial.

    A formal death certificate had been issued and the her body was shifted to the cold storage for remaining rituals before her burial. However, when the women were bathing her, she came back to life.

    The occurence had sent waves of shock and horror and the women designated with bathing Rashid Bibi’s corpse ran out of the mortuary in fear.

    After recovering from their shock, Rashida Bibi’s family had shifted her back to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

    KMC health director Dr Salma Kausar said strict action will be taken against the doctors who declared her dead.

  • Canadian traveller Rosie Gabrielle converts to Islam after Pakistan visit

    Canadian traveller Rosie Gabrielle converts to Islam after Pakistan visit

    Canadian traveller Rosie Gabrielle has converted to Islam after visiting Pakistan. The traveller took to social media to make the announcement and share the reasons behind the decision.

    Rosie wrote that last year was one of the hardest one of her life, and the challenges she faced the previous year led her to this point.

    “From a young child, I’ve always had a unique connection with creation and special relationship to God. My path was far from easy and I carried a lot of anger in my heart from a lifetime of pain, always begging God, why me? Until ultimately coming to the conclusion that all is meant to be, and even my suffering is a gift,” she wrote.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B7F7JC-gmPR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Rosie also shared that though she had called it quits with Christianity four years ago, she continued to tread upon the path of self-discovery and “never let go the sight of the Creator.” 

    “Never resonating with what I was brought up with, I denounced my religion 4 years ago, going down a deep path of spiritual discovery. Exploration of self, and the great Divine. I never let go the sight of the Creator, in fact, my curiosity and connection only grew stronger. Now no longer dictated by fear, I was able to fully explore this righteous path,” she elaborated.

    She then wrote how Pakistan played its part. “The universe brought me to Pakistan, not only to challenge myself to let go of the last remaining traces of pain and ego, but also to show me the way.”

    “Through kindness and humbled grace of the people I met along my pilgrimage, inspired my heart to seek further. Living in a Muslim country for 10 + years and traveling extensively through these regions, I observed one thing: peace. A kind of peace that one can only dream of having in their hearts.”

    Rosie also highlighted Islamophobia in her post.

    “The true meaning of Islam, is peace, love and oneness,” she asserted, adding “It’s not a religion, but a way of life. The life of humanity, humility and love.”

    Rosie first visited Pakistan in December 2018.  She had extensively documented her trip on social media.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B5X5AyAAY6I/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
    https://www.instagram.com/p/B44Ro98Ag6h/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Meanwhile, Hamza Ali Abbasi congratulated her on this and sent blessings her way.

  • Armeena Khan opens up about the time she was ‘severely malnourished’

    Armeena Khan opens up about the time she was ‘severely malnourished’

    Following Adnan Malik and Mawra Hocane, Armeena Khan is the latest celeb to open up about her battle with stress, anxiety, low self-esteem and poor mental health.

    In an Instagram post, the actor shared that this decade she conquered her eating disorders caused by her stressful media job. She revealed that she lost a lot of weight and ended up weighing 39 kgs only because of which she was “severely malnourished”.

    Armeena explained that she was “sharing this story not as a victim but as a victor.”

    “I conquered these and so I class them as some of my biggest achievements these last few years. I am happy in my skin now, I meditate and I eat healthy and I have a general feeling of well-being,” she wrote.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B7CUx3UD8fM/?utm_source=ig_embed

    Armeena is one of the most vocal actors in the industry. Last year she made headlines after she heavily criticised Priyanka Chopra for her pro-war statements.

    The actor has also been part of several successful projects including Bin Roye and Janaan.