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  • The Current’s guide to Eid planning

    The Current’s guide to Eid planning

    Eid-ul-Fitr is just around the corner and preparations for it are or should be, in full swing. The event marks the end of Ramazan and the beginning of three days of festivities, meeting relatives you haven’t seen in eons and eating till you go into food coma.

    This year, The Current decided to make your life easier by putting down a list of things you should be doing before Eid so that you can enjoy the Eid holidays to the fullest.

    Store frozen food

    Food is the way to everyone’s hearts so prepare some special food with your family and freeze it. Or stock up on frozen foods. So when the day comes, you just have to heat up and food and serve. Most of favourite Eid memories somehow always revolve around eating shami kababs, samosas and haleem with chai at our Khala’s or Taya’s house.

    Eid decorations

    Do things differently this Eid and add some festive vibes to your home with some colorful decorations and lights. People with children should definitely take note of this.

    Eid-themed decorations are now available at a lot of stores, so you can get your hands on those. But if you’re feeling creative and want to make it a family thing, get some art and craft supplies and make the banners and decorations yourself.

    Shopping

    How can Eid even be complete without shopping? It is one of those happy occasions when one can dress up to the nines. So putting together an Eid look can be stressful, especially for girls who have to make sure they have everything from the clothes to the shoes to bangles and other accessories. The best way to ensure that you have Eid outfits ready for all three days is to start ahead. Hit the mall and start shopping.

    Eid Games

    Before the advent of technology and iPads, what did we all do for fun? Play games right? Who else remembers playing endless games of Bluff, Rang, Monopoly and Ludo on Eid with cousins? This year gather all the games, ditch the phones and iPads and plan a fun game night with your friends or family just like old times. And let us tell you, we’re pretty sure this will be the highlight of your Eid.

  • Rihanna launches her new fashion brand in Paris with LVMH

    Rihanna launches her new fashion brand in Paris with LVMH

    Rihanna is followed almost as much for her style as her music in the West. Rihanna has partnered with the luxury multinational brand LVMH (Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy) to launch Fenty Maison, a ready-to-wear, shoes, and accessories. The brand is called Fenty after the singer’s full name – Robyn Rihanna Fenty

     The pop star will become the first black woman in charge of a major luxury fashion house in Paris. “My fashion will be different and non-traditional because I do not come from this industry,” says the singer and hopes to bring a “new vision of fashion”.

    Rihanna’s
    Fenty line has a luxury price point, with pieces going for Rs 31,000 to  166,485. The lower priced pieces are in there
    too minimum for Rs 9400.

    The brand will first be available in 14 countries, in Europe and the United States, and will open in Asia by the end of the year.

  • Hindu mob beats up Muslim couple over beef rumour in India

    Hindu mob beats up Muslim couple over beef rumour in India

    Days after Narendra Modi’s hardliner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected to power for a second consecutive term, a Hindu extremist mob has severely thrashed three Muslims, including a woman, over beef rumours.

    According to India Today, the incident took place in the Seoni city of Madhya Pradesh.

    A video of the incident, which shows self-claimed gau rakshaks [cow vigilantes] hitting the young Muslims with sticks, has gone viral. The video also shows the Muslim man being forced to thrash his wife with a slipper and say Jai Shree Ram.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Five suspects have been arrested from Seoni city, 350 km from state capital Bhopal, the police was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, the victims have been identified as local residents Dilip Malviya, Taufik and Anjum Shama.

    Former Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) chief minister Mehbooba Mufti took to Twitter to condemn the incident.

    “Horrified to see cow vigilantes thrash an innocent Muslim with such impunity in MP. Hope the chief minister will take swift action against these goons,” she said.

  • Human traffic jam on Mount Everest

    Human traffic jam on Mount Everest

    Nepal has issued a record 381 permits, costing $11,000 each, for the current spring climbing season causing a traffic jam of climbers on Everest’s “death zone.” Though this was done to bring in the much-needed money for the impoverished Himayalan country, it appears to have done more damage.

    A traffic jam of climbers has resulted in a total of eight deaths as hundreds of climbers attempt to achieve the ultimate in mountaineering. These include two Indians and a Nepali on the Nepal side and an Austrian on the way down on the northern Tibetan side, officials and expedition organisers said.

    Ang Tsering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said that the weather window to summit this season was narrow, meaning that many teams had to wait to go up.

    “Spending a long time above the death zone increases the risk of frostbite, altitude sickness and even death,” he said. It is important to note that most of the climbers were “stuck in traffic” for approximately 12 hours.

    The summit of Mount Everest has an elevation of 8,848 meters (29,029 feet). At that level, each breath contains only one-third of the oxygen found at sea level. The human body is also rapidly deteriorating at that altitude, meaning most people can spend only a matter of minutes at the top, without extra oxygen supplies, before it becomes intolerable.

    “The weather has not been very great this climbing season, so when there is a small window when the weather clears up, climbers make the move,” director general of Nepal’s Tourism Department Danduraj Ghimire said, rejecting claims that the deaths were caused by overcrowding. “On May 22, after several days of bad weather, there was a small window of clear weather, when more than 200 mountaineers ascended Everest. The main cause of deaths on Everest has been high altitude sickness which is what happened with most of the climbers who lost their lives this season as well.”

    Mountaineering in Nepal has become a lucrative business since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first ascent of Everest in 1953.

    Most Everest hopefuls are escorted by a Nepali guide, meaning more than 750 climbers were expected to tread the same path to the top in the current season. At least 140 others have been granted permits to scale Everest from the northern flank in Tibet, according to expedition operators. This could take the total past last year’s record of 807 people reaching the summit.

  • How do celebs boost their energy?

    How do celebs boost their energy?

    For a healthy and happy fast one must drink a lot of refreshing, healthy drinks to stay hydrated throughout the day. These easy-to-make Iftar drinks will energize you, revive your senses and prepare your drained body for next day’s fasting. The Current is making the celeb’s favorite iftar and sehri. Here are the seasonal drink recipes of renowned TV anchors.

    Hamid Mir’s Mint Lemonade

    Have you ever seen Hamid Mir lose his cool? Well, we haven’t either and we’ve found out the secret behind this. One of Pakistan’s renowned journalist, Hamid Mir, likes to have Mint Lemonade for aftari. Here’s how you can make one for yourself too and beat this heat.

    Syed Shafaat Ali’s Falsa Juice

    From an impressionist to an actor, Syed Shafaat Ali has emerged to hail the comedy and entertainment industry.The man who entertains us to the fullest has a very seasonal favorite drink for iftar.

    Rabia Anam’s Watermelon juice

    Watermelon is a wonderful summer gift from nature and craving for a chilled yummy drink is right on point before iftar. Rabia Anam, who is hosting Geo’s Ramazan Transmission this year likes to drink watermelon juice in iftar. Here is an upscaled version of her favorite iftar drink.

  • Indian election: Man cries after getting only five votes, says has nine family members

    Indian election: Man cries after getting only five votes, says has nine family members

    An electoral candidate in Indian Punjab on Thursday broke down in an interview after he received only five votes when “there are nine members in his own family”.

    According to reports, Neetu Shuttern Wala, who hails from Jalandhar, stood independently in the recently held general polls.

    When he was being interviewed, he started crying before the camera not because of the alleged five votes, but because there are nine people in his own family.

    The interview clip went viral, with some calling it the “biggest election story” of the day.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    “Sir there are nine votes from my family, but I have only received five,” he can be heard as telling the reporter in the viral video. When asked if his family hadn’t voted for him, he replied, “No sir, they have been dishonest in voting.”

    Meanwhile, Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clinched its second consecutive term after receiving a huge mandate in the election.

    Far from falling behind its 2014 score of 282, which was a historic record at the time, BJP succeeded in climbing a new summit of 300 seats in the lower house of the Indian parliament.

  • Amazon is working on a device that can read human emotions

    Amazon is working on a device that can read human emotions

    The report said the device would come equipped with a microphone to listen into a user’s voice and detect their emotional state.  It is not clear how far along the project is or if it would ever become a commercial product.

    The wrist-worn gadget is described as a health
    and wellness product indicating another big leap by a
    major tech company into health. Amazon has previously indicated its interest in
    the health sector with its $753 million deal to buy the online pharmacy
    PillPack.

    Amazon declined to comment on the
    report.

  • World Cup 2019: Warm-up fixtures

    World Cup 2019: Warm-up fixtures

    The ICC World Cup is just around the corner and it is time for the teams to get a bit warmed up.

    Here is the schedule for the 10 official warm-up matches to be played from Friday (May 24) to Tuesday (May 28).

    Day, Date Fixture Venue
    Friday, May 24 Pakistan vs Afghanistan Bristol
    Sri Lanka vs South Africa Cardiff
    Saturday, May 25 England vs Australia Southampton
    India vs New Zealand London
    Sunday, May 26 South Africa vs West Indies Bristol
    Pakistan vs Bangladesh Cardiff
    Monday, May 27 Australia vs Sri Lanka Southampton
    England vs Afghanistan London
    Tuesday, May 28 West Indies vs New Zealand Bristol
    Bangladesh vs India Cardiff

    The real World Cup action begins on May 30 and will be telecast in Pakistan on Ten Sports and PTV Sports.

  • Mahira Khan, Shehzad Roy protest against child sexual abuse

    Mahira Khan, Shehzad Roy protest against child sexual abuse

    Following the case of 10-year-old Farishta, who was raped and murdered, celebrities including Mahira Khan, Shehzad Roy and Zeba Bakhtiyar held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday to shed light on the matter of child sexual abuse and the urgent need to overcome it. They were joined by cricketer Younis Khan.

    Speaking at the press conference, Mahira said that given the outrage after Zainab’s case, abuse cases should have lessened but they haven’t. Sharing some statistics, Mahira said that most cases often go unreported because of the shame attached to them.

    “We are ashamed [of sharing such incidences] because, as children, we are not taught which touch is wrong,” Mahira said.

    She then called for spreading awareness on the matter by educating children on abuse and allowing them to discuss it and letting go of the shame.

    “Please, when these things are not talked about in your homes, don’t hush your children up… because you can’t even think what those children must be experiencing at the time,” she asserted.

    Singer-turned-activist Shehzad Roy was more aggressive on the matter. He raised some serious points of concern and questioned: “Why are children not being taught how to protect themselves? Why isn’t our child protection unit working on making this happen? Why is the social welfare department not active? Why are the police not being trained to handle such cases?”

    Shehzad explained that the cycle of abuse starts slowly before getting to a point of no return. He emphasised that we should prevent that point from being reached by being more alert and educating the children.

    Zeba Bakhtiar speaking on the issue said that most cases are kept under wraps because of the matter of honour. She called for awareness and unity in order to solve this problem. She further went on to say that Pakistan is supposed to be “an Islamic country” but where is Islam?

    Meanwhile, after the press conference, a social media user accused Mahira and others of using “rape cases to promote their agenda” and blamed the showbiz industry for the rise in the cases. Here’s what Mahira had to say to him:

  • Frozen parathas are life savers

    Frozen parathas are life savers

    Frozen parathas are life savers for those times when you forget to set the sehri alarm and barely make it to sehri. Watch TheCurrentWala reviews frozen parathas from two popular brands.

    DISCLAIMER: The Current’s food reviews are not sponsored and are unpaid.