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  • ‘Secrets between us’; Aima Baig talks about why relationship with Shahbaz Shigri ended

    ‘Secrets between us’; Aima Baig talks about why relationship with Shahbaz Shigri ended

    Singer Aima Baig recently appeared as a guest on a podcast where she discussed the end of her engagement with actor Shahbaz Shigri. “There were some secret stories circulating between us, which I didn’t want to discuss because they involved many people I didn’t want to name,” Baig said.

    She stressed that marriage builds a new relationship between two families. “There were never any issues between our families; both are very good families,” she remarked.

    “After the engagement ended, I posted a message on social media for my fans, which was misunderstood, and people began criticizing me,” she said.

    Her family supported her a lot, the singer recounted, adding that her siblings protected her from criticism on social media, although she was aware of it.

    During this tough time, when she saw her family worried because of her, she began having suicidal thoughts.

  • Maryam Nawaz set to become Punjab’s First female CM today

    Maryam Nawaz set to become Punjab’s First female CM today

    The Punjab Assembly will likely elect new a chief minister of the province today (Monday). Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz is expected become CM Punjab as her party has the majority in provincial assembly after February 8 elections.
    Maryam Nawaz will be the first female chief minister of the province in history.
    The session has been summoned to meet at 11am and will be presided by newly-elected Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan.
    The PML-N has support of 224 MPAs in the provincial assembly.

    The candidate fielded by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Aftab Ahmad Khan, who is a senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has the support of 103 MPAs. Maryam will face him as her opponent.
    Aftab has served as a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA thrice in the Punjab Assembly in 1988, 1993 and 2002. He joined PTI in 2013 and is now serving his fourth term.

  • Israeli military proposes ‘plan for evacuating’ Gaza civilians

    Israeli military proposes ‘plan for evacuating’ Gaza civilians

    Palestinian Territories – Israel’s military proposed a plan for evacuating civilians from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Monday, after he said a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory’s southern city Rafah was necessary for “total victory”.

    Foreign governments and aid organisations have repeatedly expressed fears that such an operation will inflict mass civilian casualties.

    More than 1.4 million Palestinians – most of them displaced from elsewhere – have converged on the last Gazan city untouched by Israel’s ground troops.

    It is also the entry point for desperately needed aid, brought in via neighbouring Egypt.

    Israel’s military “presented the War Cabinet with a plan for evacuating the population from areas of fighting in the Gaza Strip, and with the upcoming operational plan”, a statement in Hebrew from Netayahu’s office said Monday.

    The statement did not give any details about how or where the civilians would be moved.

    The announcement comes after Egyptian, Qatari and US “experts” met in Doha for talks also attended by Israeli and Hamas representatives, state-linked Egyptian media reported, the latest effort to secure a truce before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

    Israel’s ally the United States said ongoing mediation efforts produced “an understanding” towards a ceasefire and hostage release, while a Hamas source said the group insisted on the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

    But Netanyahu – who has dismissed the withdrawal demand as “delusional” – said a ground invasion of Rafah would put Israel within weeks of “total victory” over Hamas.

    “If we have a (truce) deal, it will be delayed somewhat, but it will happen,” he said of the ground invasion in an interview with CBS Sunday.

    “It has to be done because total victory is our goal and total victory is within reach — not months away, weeks away, once we begin the operation.”

    Amid a spiralling humanitarian crisis, the main UN aid agency for Palestinians urged political action to avert famine in Gaza.

    Dire food shortages in northern Gaza are “a man-made disaster” that can be mitigated, said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

    “Famine can still be avoided through genuine political will to grant access and protection to meaningful assistance.”

    The UN has said it faces restrictions, particularly on aid deliveries to northern Gaza.

    ‘No aid’

    Nearly five months into the war, desperate families in Gaza’s north have been forced to scavenge for something to eat.

    “We have no food or drink for ourselves or our children,” Omar al-Kahlout told AFP, as he waited near Gaza City for aid trucks to arrive.

    “We are trapped in the north and there is no aid reaching us — the situation is extremely difficult.”

    Hundreds of Palestinians headed south whichever way they could, walking down garbage-strewn roads between the blackened shells of bombed-out buildings, said an AFP correspondent.

    Israeli forces continued striking targets across the Palestinian territory and battling militants in heavy urban combat centred on the southern city of Khan Yunis, near Rafah.

    The Israeli military campaign has killed at least 29,692 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

    The war broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented attack, which killed about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

    ‘Expanding the conflict’

    Mediators have voiced hope that a temporary truce and a hostage-prisoner exchange can be secured before the start of Ramadan on March 10 or 11, depending on the lunar calendar.

    Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned fighting during the holy month “will increase the threat of expanding the conflict”, according to a royal statement.

    Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, whose country hosts Hamas leaders and had helped broker a one-week truce in November, is due in Paris this week, the French presidency said.

    Media reports suggest the warring parties are weighing a six-week halt to fighting and the initial exchange of dozens of female, underage and ill hostages for several hundred Palestinian detainees held by Israel.

    Hezbollah threat

    Across from overcrowded Rafah, neighbouring Egypt has kept its border closed, saying it will not help facilitate any operation to push Palestinians out of Gaza.

    But satellite images show it has built a walled enclosure next to Gaza, in an apparent effort to brace for the possible arrival of large numbers of refugees.

    Inside Israel, pressure has grown on Netanyahu from families of hostages demanding swifter action, and resurgent anti-government protests.

    Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said there would be no let-up in action against Hamas’s powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah, whose militants have traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces since early October.

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • PSL 9: Peshawar Zalmi defeats Lahore Qalandars by 8 runs in a thriller

    PSL 9: Peshawar Zalmi defeats Lahore Qalandars by 8 runs in a thriller

    In the twelfth match of the HBL Pakistan Super League, Peshawar Zalmi defeated the defending champion Lahore Qalandars by 8 runs after an interesting match.

    Lahore Qalandars captain Shaheen Afridi won the toss and invited Peshawar Zalmi to bat.

    Peshawar Zalmi’s innings

    Batting first at the invitation of Lahore, Peshawar Zalmi scored 211 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

    Opener Babar and Saim Ayub formed a brilliant partnership of 136 runs, with Saim scoring brilliant half-centuries. Babar scored 48 and Saim scored 88 runs.

    Apart from this, Romain Powell played a smoky innings of 46 runs off 20 balls, Asif Ali got out by scoring 6 runs while Mohammad Haris scored 12 runs and Walter remained unbeaten by scoring 2 runs.

    Shaheen Afridi took 3 wickets and Jahandad Khan took one wicket for Lahore Qalandars.

    Lahore Qalandars innings

    In pursuit of Zalmi’s target of 212 runs, the Lahore Qalandars team managed to score 203 runs in the allotted 20 overs.

    On behalf of Qalandars, van der Dusen scored the first century of HBL, PSL 9, he made a century with the help of 6 sixes and 7 fours, but even his 104 runs not out innings could not give Qalandars their first victory. .

    Apart from this, Shai Hope 29, Ahsan Hafeez 20 and Sahibzada Farhan scored 15 runs, Jahandad Khan 13, Fakhar Zaman 4 and Sikandar Raza scored 1 run.

    Naveen ul Haq dismissed 2 players for Zalmi, Luke Wood, Paul Walter and Salman Irshad took one wicket each.

  • Utility Stores to implement Rs7.492 billion relief package ahead of Ramzan

    Utility Stores to implement Rs7.492 billion relief package ahead of Ramzan

    The federal government is set to implement the Ramzan Relief Package, totaling Rs7.492 billion, through the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) starting March 4, 2024. This initiative aims to provide relief to targeted beneficiaries by offering subsidies on 19 essential items.

    The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet approved this decision based on a proposal from the Ministry of Industries and Production. The proposal sought approval for providing subsidies to targeted beneficiaries registered under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) with a net amount of Rs7.492 billion.

    Of this, Rs 5 billion was allocated in the current fiscal year 2023–24 for the Ramzan Relief Package 2024, with the remaining Rs 2.492 billion to be re-appropriated from the current fiscal year budget allocations for the Prime Minister Relief Package (PMRP).

    The ECC directed the Finance Division to release the full subsidy amount of Rs7.492 billion to ensure timely purchases and necessary arrangements for the availability of these items at USC outlets.

    With Ramzan expected to commence on March 11, 2024, the implementation date for the Ramzan Relief Package-2024 was proposed from March 4, 2024, until the last day of Ramzan.

    Since 1991, the government has been providing relief during Ramzan by selling 19 items at subsidised rates through USC outlets. For the fiscal year 2023–24, the federal government allocated Rs35 billion for subsidies on essential items, including Rs30 billion for PMRP and Rs5 billion for the Ramzan Relief Package 2024.

    The Ramzan Relief Package aims to provide maximum relief to the masses. Due to restrictions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on untargeted subsidies, subsidies are provided to targeted beneficiaries registered under PMT-40 of BISP for the fiscal year 2023–24.

    The USC is currently serving 26.92 million households registered under PMT-40. To extend assistance to more beneficiaries during Ramzan-2024, it is proposed to provide subsidies on 19 items to targeted beneficiaries registered under PMT-60, reaching an additional 12.73 million households.

  • PSL 9: Multan Sultans defeats Quetta Gladiators by 13 runs

    PSL 9: Multan Sultans defeats Quetta Gladiators by 13 runs

    In the 11th match of Pakistan Super League 9, Multan Sultans defeats Quetta Gladiators by 13 runs.

    Quetta Gladiators won the toss and decided to bowl first against Multan Sultans.

    Multan Sultan’s inning

    Sultans scored 180 runs for the loss of three wickets in the allotted 20 overs, Reza Hendricks scored 72 runs, captain Mohammad Rizwan scored 51 runs.

    Apart from this, Usman Khan scored 14 runs and Tayyab Tahir scored 35 runs. Multan Sultans set Quetta Gladiators a target of 181 runs to win.

    Quetta Gladiator’s inning

    Quetta Gladiators scored 167 in the alloted 20 overs. From Quetta Gladiators, Khawaja Naffay scored 36 runs, Captain Rilley Rossow scored 30 runs, Saud Shakeel 24 runs and Sherfane Rutherford scored 21 runs.

    From Multan Sultan David Willy and Muhammad Ali took three wickets each, while Aftab Ibrahim took two wickets.

  • Babar Azam angry video; what is the reality?

    Babar Azam angry video; what is the reality?

    Recently, a video of Peshawar Zalmi captain Babar Azam surfaced on social media site X, which has become a subject of controversy.

    In the video, it can be seen that during the match, Babar is sitting in the stadium with members of his squad, while the crowd chants ‘Zimbabar Zimbabar’.

    Babar looks back in anger and then motions for the shouting audience to come to him. When the shouting does not stop, Babar gestures as if he will throw the water bottle he is holding.

    What is the reality of viral video?

    According to Geo News sources, the voice has been edited, which was confirmed by journalist Arfa Firoz Zaki on X (formerly Twitter).

    He wrote in his tweet “The voice in the video is fake.” In another tweet, he explained, “Babar Azam is a very cold-tempered person, Babar was sitting in the dugout of Peshawar Zalmi when a person in the enclosure continuously used foul language. Babar ignored at first but suddenly got angry when the man started using bad language for his family.”

  • Big blow to Lahore Qalandars, Haris Rauf out of PSL 9

    Big blow to Lahore Qalandars, Haris Rauf out of PSL 9

    Pakistan Super League (PSL) defending champions Lahore Qalandars have suffered a major setback. The team’s fast bowler Haris Rauf has been ruled out for this season, which was confirmed by the verified X (formerly Twitter) account of Lahore Qalandars.

    Haris Rauf suffered a shoulder injury while fielding in a match against Karachi Kings at Gaddafi Stadium on January 24.

    According to the spokesperson of Lahore Qalandars, Haris Rauf’s shoulder is dislocated, it may take four to six weeks for him to be fully fit.

    Director Samin Rana’s Statement:

    Samin Rana says that Haris Rauf was an important member of our bowling attack, he will be missed, Haris has not suffered a major injury, he has broken a bone, he is an asset of Pakistan and does not want to take any risk.

  • Israel to discuss ‘next steps’ in Gaza truce talks

    Israel to discuss ‘next steps’ in Gaza truce talks

    Palestinian Territories – Israel sounded a positive note Saturday on efforts to broker a new hostage release and ceasefire deal in its war on Gaza, as concern deepened over the growing humanitarian crisis in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

    As aid agencies warned of unprecedented levels of desperation and looming famine, dozens more Gazans were killed in Israeli strikes, the health ministry said.

    An Israeli delegation led by Mossad intelligence agency chief David Barnea travelled to Paris for a fresh push towards a deal over a ceasefire.

    National security advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said Israel’s war cabinet would meet later Saturday to hear an update after the delegation returned from the talks with mediators.

    “There is probably room to move towards an agreement,” Hanegbi told N12 News television in an interview, without elaborating.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Saturday’s meeting would discuss the “next steps in the negotiations”.

    As with a previous week-long truce in November that saw more than 100 hostages freed, Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been spearheading efforts to secure a deal.

    White House envoy Brett McGurk held talks this week with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv, after speaking to other mediators in Cairo who had met Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.

    As civilians in the besieged territory struggled to get food and supplies, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees warned Gazans were “in extreme peril while the world watches”.

    In northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, bedraggled children held plastic containers and battered cooking pots for what little food was available.

    – ‘Unprecedented desperation’ –

    Food is running out, with aid agencies unable to get into the area because of the bombing, while the trucks that do try to get through face frenzied looting.

    Residents have taken to eating scavenged scraps of rotten corn, animal fodder unfit for human consumption and even leaves.

    The World Food Programme said this week its teams reported “unprecedented levels of desperation” while the United Nations warned that 2.2 million people were on the brink of famine.

    The health ministry said on Saturday that a two-month-old baby identified as Mahmud Fatuh had died of “malnutrition” in Gaza City.

    Save the Children said the risk of famine would continue to “increase as long as the government of Israel continues to impede the entry of aid into Gaza”.

    Israel has defended its track record on allowing aid into Gaza, saying that 13,000 trucks carrying relief supplies had entered the territory since the start of the war.

    With tempers rising dozens of people in the Jabalia camp on Friday held an impromptu protest.

    “We didn’t die from air strikes but we are dying from hunger,” read a sign held by one child.

    ‘Bring them back’

    Following October 7 attack, Hamas took hostages, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 30 presumed dead, according to Israel.

    Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 29,606 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest tally from Gaza’s health ministry.

    Pressure has mounted on Netanyahu’s government to negotiate a ceasefire and secure the release of the hostages.

    A group representing their families held a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening to demand swifter action.

    “We keep telling you: bring them back to us! And no matter how,” said Avivit Yablonka, 45, whose sister Hanan was captured on October 7.

    Hamas said Saturday that Israeli forces launched more than 70 strikes on civilian homes in Gazan cities including Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis and Rafah over the previous 24 hours.

    The health ministry said at least 92 people were killed.

    More Rafah strikes

    An AFP reporter in Rafah said there had been at least six air strikes on the city on Saturday evening.

    At Najjar hospital in the city, AFP saw bodies carried from ambulances and placed in the courtyard of the hospital in body bags, while relatives grieved nearby.

    Inside the hospital, medics treated several wounded men who were laid out on the floor, one with his head wrapped in bandages.

    In Khan Yunis, which has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks, Israel’s military said it was “intensifying the operations” using tanks, close-range fire and aircraft.

    “The soldiers raided the residence of a senior military intelligence operative” in the area, a military statement said.

    With war still raging after more than four months, Netanyahu unveiled a plan for post-war Gaza this week which envisages civil affairs being run by Palestinian officials without links to Hamas.

    It also says Israel will continue with the establishment of a security buffer zone inside Gaza along the territory’s border.

    The plan has been rejected by both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

    Israel’s key ally the United States said it did not support a “reoccupation” or a “reduction of the size of Gaza”, and said “Palestinian people should have a voice and a vote… through a revitalised Palestinian Authority”.

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • Gaza needs food to be airdropped to prevent starvation

    Gaza needs food to be airdropped to prevent starvation

    The people in Gaza who have managed to escape death by Israeli strikes in a war that has been forced on them are now dying of hunger and starvation. Videos of bread made out of animal feed and kids collecting flour accidently spilled on the ground are making rounds on social media leading to the drive for the ceasefire taking momentum. As recently as February 20, the UN Food Agency put a pause on its deliveries in the North of Gaza until the conditions are in place that allow for safe distributions.

    Families in Gaza are forced to forage for scraps of food left by rats and eating leaves out of desperation to survive with nearly five months of war and rapidly declining aid supplies leaving all 1.1 million children in Gaza facing starvation, Save the Children said. 

    Hind Khoudary, the Palestinian Journalist in Gaza reporting from the ground, took to her Instagram to plead to the world to airdrop food in Gaza as people have started eating leaves and are making bread out of animal feed. “People are eating leaves and animal food. “I am calling the world and all the countries to Airdrop food to Gaza,” she said in an Instagram story.

    Ali Jadallah, a photojournalist from Gaza, shared how her mother, a dialysis patient, is suffering because of the food and health crisis in Gaza. Finding food in Gaza is the most difficult thing nowadays.

    Journalist Anas Ajmal reported how he has been searching for a meal but could not find one in days.

    “Gaza has become a place of death and despair,” stated the Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths.

    Videos of hundreds of desperate and hungry Gazans heckling the UNRWA aid truck emerged from the besieged strip. Many reports from Gaza have already been warning the global authorities of impending famine and loss of lives due to hunger.

    Back in December, Human Rights Watch had accused the Israeli government of intentionally starving civilians in Gaza as part of its offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory. “The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime,” the New York-based group charged in a report.

    Additionally, The Times posted a report about the famine-stricken conditions of the people of Gaza where a mother revealed how her breasts no longer produce milk because of long periods of starvation and how her children are suffering immensely. Explaining the food crisis the article explained how Gazans are forced to eat rotten food and hunt cats to fulfill their needs as famine hits Gaza.

    More than a million people are displaced in Gaza but none is safe from hunger. It is rampant in Gaza, it is in the wasteland of al-Mawasi encampment in Gaza where handfuls of dirty flour are kneaded by mothers to make bread for their children.

    It is in the fires, stoked with plastic bottles, which produce nothing but choking black smoke. Children in Gaza no longer play but lie around, exhausted by hunger. It is in food that is rotten and makes you sick but is eaten just the same. Bissan shared in one of her videos how people have been having the only bread they have with the salt.

    The last nail in the coffin has duly been the suspension of the aid program of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, the agency provides services including schooling, primary healthcare, and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. It is important to note that since the onset of the war on Gaza, Israeli authorities, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have accused it of fuelling anti-Israeli incitement – allegations it denies. UNRWA says it has provided aid to desperate people in Gaza and used its facilities to shelter those fleeing Israeli attacks. Meanwhile, the situation is getting worse with time.

    Time recently shared in an article, the hurdles around the idea of food airdrops in Gaza. “Some experts warn that humanitarian airdrops are not as simple as they sound. Aside from the cost of conducting them (up to seven times more than land transport, according to the U.N.’s World Food Programme), airdrops tend to be less efficient and more hazardous than other methods of providing humanitarian relief,” the article read.

    The biggest hurdle in Gaza’s case is the lack of safety in terms of the ongoing airstrikes of Israel and the damage it has done to the land of Gaza. Michel Schaffner, the head of air operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross, told TIME in an email that for this operation the specified land needs to be secure, large, and clean enough to be free of obstacles and people. “Once the cargo is on the ground, there need to be arrangements in place as regards who will collect it, where it will be stored, and how it will be distributed. … We do not do airdrops without these measures in place,” Time quotes him.

    Even though Israeli aggression is again the biggest opposing factor in this proposed solution, it is important to note that it is not a permanent solution to this problem, a ceasefire is.

    An Arabic saying implies that if someone dies of hunger, the neighbour should be charged with murder yet the whole world is watching a huge population dying of hunger and there is no action regarding that.