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  • Mawra Hocane defends Urwa’s comments on mental health

    Mawra Hocane defends Urwa’s comments on mental health

    The Hocane sisters – Mawra and Urwa – who have launched their own clothing brand UxM recently made an appearance on Nida Yasir’s morning show to promote it.

    During the show, the sisters spoke on a variety of topics from their daily life, food and workout routine to relationships, and their clothing line.

    When the host, Nida asked them the secret behind their lean physiques, Mawra remarked that they are very conscious about what they eat and try their best to avoid eating unhealthy and processed foods. Urwa chimed in that one should be very careful about what they put in their body adding, “Aaj kal kitne maslay hain, ke yar depression hogaya, mental ‘disease’ hogai, it’s all because of food. Aur koi reason hi nahi hai. (These days we hear that so many people saying that they are suffering from depression or they have mental ‘disease’; it’s all because of food. There’s no other reason).

    She then went onto say that people of older generations had a longer life span and were fitter because the food they consumed was healthier. Both Mawra and Nida agreed with Urwa’s comments before moving onto the next topic.

    The clip from the morning show went viral and sparked uproar on social media as everyone started calling out the sisters for not understanding depression.

    Soon after Mawra took to social media to defend her and her sister’s comments.

  • PML-N’s Miftah Ismail NAB-ed

    PML-N’s Miftah Ismail NAB-ed

    The National Accountancy Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday arrested Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance minister Miftah Ismail.

    Ismail, who was taken into custody from outside the courtroom after his pre-arrest bail plea was rejected, was wanted in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) case in which ex-prime minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan was also arrested last month.

    The arrest comes a month after the PML-N leader was granted bail by the Sindh High Court (SHC). Earlier, a NAB team had also raided his residence in Karachi, but Ismail had evaded arrest and the bureau had to return empty-handed.

    After the expiration of his bail, Ismail had approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

    LNG CASE:

    The apex court in September 2018 had directed NAB to complete the inquiry against former premier Abbasi, Ismail and others for alleged corruption in the LNG contract.

    According to NAB, the contract allegedly cost billions of rupees to the national exchequer. In January 2019, NAB had interrogated Ismail in the same case.

    NAB documents show that the contract for LNG import and distribution was awarded to Elengy Terminal, a subsidiary of Engro, in 2013, in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and relevant laws.

  • Pakistan makes its first move, ‘to close airspace for India again’

    Pakistan makes its first move, ‘to close airspace for India again’

    As tensions soar on either side of the border ever since India abrogated Article 370 of its constitution, which makes way for ethnic cleansing in Muslim-majority Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK), Pakistan has reportedly finally made its first move.

    According to local media reports, Islamabad is set to close its airspace for Indian flights for the second time this year, a decision that earlier cost India a whopping $80.1 million (Rs12,800,000,000).

    Pakistan opened its air space for all types of civil traffic in July. It had been fully closed since February when Pakistan shot down two intruding Indian Air Force (IAF) jets.

    Over 800 flights use the Pakistani and Indian airspace to transport passengers from South Asia, South East Asia to Europe and North America.

  • Zardari, Shehbaz, Bilawal ridicule Imran by entering one by one, interrupting his NA speech

    Zardari, Shehbaz, Bilawal ridicule Imran by entering one by one, interrupting his NA speech

    A video showing opposition leaders Asif Ali Zardari, Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari entering the National Assembly (NA) one by one as Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan tries to address the house, has gone viral over the internet.

    As per the details, the parliament on Tuesday held a joint session to devise a joint strategy after India abolished Article 370 of its constitution, paving way for a Muslim genocide in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

    With PM Imran arriving in the house to deliver a policy statement as proceedings continued, opposition leaders ridiculed the premier by entering one by one and interrupting his speech as non-government benches’ applause escorted them to their seats.

    PM Imran continued to struggle with his address until finally Shehbaz asked the opposition members to keep quiet.

    The premier was also heard requesting the opposition benches to understand the significance of the session.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    The Indian government on Monday abolished Article 370 that granted special status to IoK — a development that can pave way for ethnic cleansing in the Muslim-majority region.

    With Pakistan’s opposition parties demanding answers from the government over the episode in the disputed territory of Kashmir, President Dr Arif Alvi had on Monday summoned the joint session of the parliament.

  • PCB sacks Mickey Arthur as head coach

    PCB sacks Mickey Arthur as head coach

    The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced its decision to not renew the contracts of head coach Mickey Arthur, bowling coach Azhar Mahmood, batting coach Grant Flower and trainer Grant Luden.

    The board’s decision to end its association with the team’s coaching staff comes following a review process undertaken in the aftermath of the 2019 World Cup, where Pakistan even failed to reach the semi-finals.

    “I am thankful to the PCB Cricket Committee for submitting their recommendations following an exhaustive and detailed review process. The committee comprised of individuals who possess tremendous acumen, experience and knowledge,” PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani, who approved the changes, was quoted as saying.

    “The unanimous recommendation of the committee was that it was time for new leadership and a fresh approach. I am happy to accept their strong recommendations.”

    “On behalf of the PCB, I want to sincerely thank Mickey Arthur, Grant Flower, Grant Luden and Azhar Mahmood for their hard work and unwavering commitment during their tenures with the national men’s team. We wish them every success in their future endeavors,” the press release read.

    According to BBC, Mickey Arthur is one of the names being considered as a replacement for England team coach Trevor Bayliss when the latter leaves at the end of summer.

  • US knew about India’s plans for occupied Kashmir: report

    US knew about India’s plans for occupied Kashmir: report

    With Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) being robbed of its special status, it has emerged that the United States (US) already knew about the development that could lead to a Muslim genocide in the troubled valley.

    In a move to tighten its grip on occupied Jammu and Kashmir, India on Monday dropped a constitutional provision that allowed the disputed territory to make its own laws.

    According to The Print, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi-led government’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had told his American counterpart Mike Pompeo of his government’s plan last week.

    It, however, wasn’t the first time Washington was briefed on the matter as two days after February 14’s Pulwama attack, India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had also called his US counterpart John Bolton and shared New Delhi’s plans to do away with the special status, reports said.

    While the decision to bifurcate the state came much later than the Doval-Bolton phonecall, Jaishankar’s meeting with the US secretary of state came on the sidelines of the 9th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Bangkok on August 1.

    Jaishankar had also reiterated to Pompeo that the US does not need to mediate in the Kashmir dispute and that any discussion on this issue, “if at all warranted”, will only be with Pakistan unilaterally.

    The Modi government did not want to take any chances when it came to the US, and so, all necessary safeguards were taken, the report quoted sources as saying.

    KASHMIR ROBBED OF SPECIAL STATUS:

    The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Monday revoked the disputed Himalayan territory’s special status by abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution.

    With IoK’s autonomy snatched, people from the rest of India would have the right to acquire property in the valley and settle there permanently.

    Kashmiris fear the move would lead to a demographic transformation of the region from majority-Muslim to majority-Hindu, paving way for Modi’s hardliner BJP and resulting in major setbacks to their freedom struggle.

  • Dwayne Johnson thanks Pakistani fan for ‘Hobbs and Shaw’ love

    Dwayne Johnson thanks Pakistani fan for ‘Hobbs and Shaw’ love

    Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson recently made a Pakistani fan’s day.

    Ali Faraz had tweeted to Johnson praising his new movie Hobbs and Shaw and guess what? Wrestler turned actor Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock replied to his tweet and thanked him for the love.

    Hobbs & Shaw‘s revolves around sworn enemies Hobbs (Johnson), a US Diplomatic Security Service agent and ex-British military operative Shaw (Jason Statham) being forced to partner up to fight Brixton, a rebel played by Idris Elba.

    The film opened in cinemas on July 31.

  • #RedForKashmir: Social media goes red in solidarity with Indian occupied Kashmir

    #RedForKashmir: Social media goes red in solidarity with Indian occupied Kashmir

    After the Indian government scrapped the Article 370
    of the constitution which allowed Indian occupied Kashmir to have special
    status.

     By eliminating Article 370 of the constitution,
    people from the rest of India will have the right to get property in occupied
    Kashmir and settle there permanently. This is seen as an attempt to dilute the
    demographics of  Indian occupied Kashmir.

      Thousands have taken to social media to show their support and stand with the citizens of the disputed valley. This action of the Modi-led BJP government was widely condemned by social media users from across the globe.

    A large number of social media users are changing their profile pictures to red and using hashtags like #RedForKashmir, #BleedForKashmir, #StandWithKashmir, and #Kashmirunderthreat to express solidarity with Kashmiris.

    https://twitter.com/youdawood/status/1158146341371076613
    https://twitter.com/nrafiqii/status/1158127648658341890

  • Pakistan’s IT exports increase to $1bn

    Pakistan earned $1 billion through information technology (IT) services in various countries during the first eleven months of the fiscal year 2018-19, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) has reported.

    According to reports, this year’s growth is 4.37% more as compared to $966.240 million earned through the provision of services during the fiscal year 2017-18.

    During the period under review, the computer services increased by 12.21, from $654.170 million last year to $734.020 million during July-May (2018-19).

    Among the computer services, the exports of software consultancy services and repair and maintenance of computers related services increased by 26.87% and 231.93%, respectively.

    In addition, other computer services also saw an increase of 34.77%.

    The exports of call centers services also increased by 7.95%, from $93.039 million to $100.436 million, whereas the exports of other information services increased by 53.28%, from $1.068 million to $1.637 million.