Tag: Canada

  • Canadian university announces scholarships in honour of Pakistani family

    Canadian university announces scholarships in honour of Pakistani family

    The Western University in Ontario, Canada, announced that they have set up two scholarships in honour of their two students Salman Afzaal and his wife Madiha Salman who got murdered along with two other family members last month. The horrific incident on June 6 sparked shock and anger throughout Canada and across the world.

    The Madiha Afzal scholarship will be awarded each year to a female student enrolled in a doctoral or master’s programme in the department of civil and environmental engineering. The Salman Afzaal Memorial Scholarship in Physical therapy will be given to a full-time graduate student studying in a doctoral or master’s programme in health and rehabilitation sciences, reported Dawn.

    Madiha was close to completing her Ph.D. before being murdered and was awarded a posthumous doctorate in June. However, Salman earned his master’s at the university in 2010.

    As per Geo, Alan Shepard, President of Western University, announced that the families of the victims endorsed the scholarships. “We hope these scholarships will help to carry on the incredibly positive legacies they have left at Western.”

    The horrifying incident happened when the couple went out for a walk with their daughter, son, and Salman’s mother. Then, 20-year-old Nathaniel Veltman jumped the curb in his vehicle, struck the family, and drove off at high speed. He targeted the family for being Muslims. Veltman is now serving his time for terrorism, first-degree murders, and attempted murder charges.

  • ‘A model family,’ friends remember Muslim Canadian family killed in a targeted attack

    ‘A model family,’ friends remember Muslim Canadian family killed in a targeted attack

    The victims of Sunday’s truck-ramming attack in Canada were a “model family,” friends say. People from around the world mourned the killing of four members of a Muslim Pakistani-origin Canadian family, reports Geo News.

    The lives of three generations were snuffed out in a moment. Madiha Salman, age 44, who was doing postgraduate work in civil and environmental engineering; her 46-year-old husband, Salman Afzaal, who loved to greet people at the mosque; their 15-year-old daughter, Yumna Salman; and Afzaal’s 74-year-old mother, who has not been named.

    The couple’s son, nine-year-old Fayez, remains in hospital with serious injuries but is recovering, relatives said.

    UN Secretary-GeneraI Antonio Guterres expressed his outrage over the targeted killing of a Pakistani-origin Muslim family in Canada, and called for unitedly standing against Islamophobia.

    “I am appalled by the targeted and heinous attack on a Muslim family in Ontario, Canada,” the UN chief wrote on Twitter.

    Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, too, offered his condolences to the victims of Sunday’s attack and called it an “act of evil.”

    “You are not alone. All Canadians mourn with you and stand with you, tonight and always,” Trudeau tweeted.

    On Sunday, a man ran a black pickup truck over the family of five at a London intersection, killing four of them and wounding a boy.

  • Canada bans flights from Pakistan, India for 30 days

    Canada bans flights from Pakistan, India for 30 days

    Due to an increasing number of COVID-19 cases, Canadian authorities have banned all passenger flights from Pakistan and India for 30 days.

    Canadian transportation Minister Omar Alghabra announced that “given the higher number of cases of Covid-19 detected in air passengers arriving in Canada from India and Pakistan, I am suspending all commercial and private passenger flights arriving in Canada from India and Pakistan for 30 days.”

    “This is a temporary measure, while we assess the evolving situation and determine appropriate measures going forward,” he added.

    The ban will not be imposed on the cargo flights to ensure the supply of vaccinations, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other essential goods in the time of crises.

    Almost 20 per cent of the travellers coming to Canada are Indians with half of them testing positive, said the report.

    The transportation minister further added that epidemiologists and researchers are trying to make sense of the new variants. Meanwhile, halting travel activities is imperative to curb the trajectory of the cases.

    According to data available with the Canadian health authorities, almost 18 flights from Dehli and two from Lahore that arrived in Toronto and Vancouver in the past month have had at least one passenger on board who tested positive for COVID-19.

    Besides, Canada last December briefly suspended flights from Britain over concerns about outbreaks of a Covid variant.

    Moreover, on Thursday, parliament voted unanimously to urge the government to ban non-essential flights from Covid hotspots where variants have surged, including India and Brazil.

    Several dozen cases of Indian variant have already been identified in Canada, say health authorities in Canada.

    Some countries have taken similar steps to prevent worsening the outbreaks due to this variant: the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that they will suspend all flights from India.

    All travellers to Canada are already subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine. They must also present a negative COVID test before boarding an international flight, and another upon arrival in Canada.

  • ‘Pakistan, My Home’: Canadian vlogger Rosie Gabrielle expresses love for Pakistan

    ‘Pakistan, My Home’: Canadian vlogger Rosie Gabrielle expresses love for Pakistan

    Canadian vlogger Rosie Gabrielle has shared a special note on the occasion of Pakistan Resolution Day to express her love for her new “home”.

    In a detailed note posted on Instagram, Gabrielle, who earlier converted to Islam said: “Two and a half years ago, I left my home in Canada to embark on a journey of a lifetime. Little did I know then, my trip across Pakistan would forever change me in so many ways.”

    “I didn’t choose to come here, Pakistan chose me,” said Gabrielle, adding: “In 2018, I surrendered to the universe and said ‘Okay God, it’s up to you, where am I going next?’”

    The vlogger then shared that a few days later she got an invitation to visit Pakistan for a short media tour.

    “I’m not much of a ‘Group Traveller’ but took this as a divine invitation for something bigger and made my own trip after,” said Gabrielle. “I had always wanted to explore Pakistan so I gladly accepted. I didn’t know then that this trip would change my life.”

    “All I knew is, I wanted to travel the entire country by bike and document my experiences. I didn’t know at that time if it was even logistically possible, or know much about the country,” said Rosie.

    The vlogger further said that she knew she could “forever make a positive impact for Pakistan by showing the true hearts of the people and land here.”

    “It was my destiny and my calling. I didn’t know how I would, I just knew I would and the will of my heart lead the way,” she shared. “For over two years now I have dedicated my heart, soul and all my energy to promoting peace and a positive change for this nation.”

    Rosie, in her note, also talked about Adeel Amer, a Pakistani travel vlogger, who she recently got married to. The couple tied the knot earlier this month.

    “I not only fell in love with the land [but also] the people. I’m humbly grateful every day for meeting the love of my life Adeel Amer, the most inspiring (this word does not do justice) human I know and finally able to call this beautiful country my HOME,” said Gabrielle.

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

  • Canadian man celebrates COVID-19 vaccination with bhangra

    Canadian man celebrates COVID-19 vaccination with bhangra

    Canadian dancer Gurdeep Pandher celebrated his COVID-19 vaccine jab by dancing on a frozen lake.

    Sharing a video of himself dancing, Gurdeep told his followers that he received his COVID vaccine on March 2 and headed straight to the frozen lake in Yukon, Canada and did the bhangra to spread positivity and joy.

    A 55-second video clip shows Pandher performing upbeat bhangra steps on the frozen lake as he celebrated his vaccination.

    “Yesterday evening I received my Covid-19 vaccine. After that, I went to a frozen lake to dance bhangra on it for joy, hope and positivity, which I’m forwarding across Canada and beyond for everyone’s health and wellbeing,” wrote Gurdeep in the caption.

    Pandher’s video has gone viral on social media with over one million views on Twitter with users lauding the dancer for spreading smiles amid the pandemic.

    https://twitter.com/Christo75118472/status/1366782645879910406?s=20

  • Woman fined for walking husband on leash to escape curfew rules

    Woman fined for walking husband on leash to escape curfew rules

    A Canadian woman took her husband out on a leash in Sherbrooke city, Quebec to evade curfew rules amid COVID-19 lockdown.

    Authorities in Quebec have imposed a curfew between 8:00 pm and 5:00 am in the province with certain exemptions. Essential workers are allowed to travel and people who need to walk their pets are also allowed to go out.

    A woman went out on a walk with her husband on a leash to escape the curfew rules. When the police spotted the couple, they reportedly said: “We are following the rules for pets.”

    The woman claimed that she was walking her “dog”.

    Speaking to a local newspaper, police official Isabelle Gendron said: “The couple did not collaborate with the police at all. Statements of violation of the municipal by-law were given to them. The lady affirmed that she would not pay the ticket and even that she would accumulate them. The number of findings for recidivism can go up to $6,000.”

    They were each fined over Rs 0.194 million, said the police.

  • Canadian-Muslim’s ‘anthropological observations’ on Christmas go viral

    Canadian-Muslim’s ‘anthropological observations’ on Christmas go viral

    A Muslim man in Canada, who could not go to his family over the holidays due to the lockdown celebrated Christmas, for the first time and his heart-warming Twitter thread of ‘observations’ has gone viral on social media.

    Mohammad Hussain, who works as a special assistant for parliamentary affairs at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry, expressing his views on the holidays said: “Growing up, my Muslim family never celebrated Christmas.”

    “This year I am not going home, because pandemic, so my roommates are teaching me how to have my first proper Christmas,” he continued. “I am approaching this with anthropological precision.”

    Hussain then listed a few things he had observed about the way his roommates celebrated the event.

    Hussain remarked that people spent more than their budget and that people had Christmas tree ornaments that were either ‘fillers’ or ‘keepers’.

    “The fillers are the generic ones. The keepers are meant to be more special and unique. This second stream is stored in your family’s reliquary to be one day passed on to the children,” he shared.

    Encouraged by his roommates to buy his own ‘keeper’ ornament, he bought a bagel decoration and was clearly not happy with the cost of it.

    “That cost me $15.99. That’s more than three everything bagels. I am furious,” he wrote. “For what it cost, you best believe that I am insisting that it be passed on to my great grandchildren. If they break it I will haunt them.”

    Hussain concluded his post by applauding Christmas celebrators. “This is a lot of work and very tiring.”

    “I will say I am having a very pleasant time. I am learning that I enjoy Christmas music and gift purchasing. I am also learning that I do not enjoy peppermint.”

    Hussain’s Twitter thread was liked by 170,000 people in less than 24 hours and widely shared on social media.

  • Netflix is raising streaming prices…do Pakistanis have to worry?

    Netflix is raising streaming prices…do Pakistanis have to worry?

    Netflix Inc has raised monthly charges in the United States for its standard and premium subscription plans.

    As per details, Netflix increased the cost of its standard subscription by $1 a month to $14, and the price for the premium tier rose by $2 per month to $18. The standard plan, the company’s most popular, enables two streams at the same time, while the premium plan allows for four simultaneous streams. Its basic plan, which allows only one stream at a time, remains unchanged at $9 a month.

    The price increase was the first for US customers since January 2019.

    The move had been widely expected after Netflix raised its prices in Canada earlier this month and then ended free 30-day trials in the US.

    The new prices will take effect starting immediately for new members while current members will be notified that their subscription is going up as it rolls out over the next few months.

    Read more – Every Pakistani girl wants to be ‘Emily in Paris’

    “We understand people have more entertainment choices than ever and we’re committed to delivering an even better experience for our members,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement. “We’re updating our prices so that we can continue to offer more variety of TV shows and films.”

    The spokesperson added that Netflix offers “a range of plans so that people can pick a price that works best for their budget.”

    Netflix, the world’s dominant streaming service, enjoyed a boom in subscriptions at the beginning of the year as viewers around the world were told to stay at home to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. The company expects to end 2020 with more than 200 million streaming subscribers around the world, with 73 million of those from the United States and Canada. It is pertinent to add here that after Netflix raised its US prices last year, the streaming service suffered a decline of 130,000 subscribers in the US and Canada from the end of March to the end of June.

    At the same time, it also is facing a growing list of competitors including Walt Disney Co’s Disney+, HBO Max from AT&T Inc and Apple Inc’s Apple TV+.

    Read more – Pakistan to get its own version of Netflix

    What does this mean for Pakistan?

    The question which comes to mind with this news is whether Pakistani audiences will be affected by this price rise. However, for now, prices for South Asian and Pakistani viewers remain unchanged and they will be unaffected by this price hike.

    You can subscribe to Netflix for Rs 950 – Rs 1,500 a month in Pakistan, depending on your plan.

  • Armeena Khan says the scripts and projects coming her way ‘killed her passion’ for acting

    Armeena Khan says the scripts and projects coming her way ‘killed her passion’ for acting

    Armeena Khan has often been in the headlines but it has been a while since we saw her on the screen. Her last drama outing was Daldal, which aired in 2017.

    Recently, one of her fans asked her why she hasn’t done any project lately.

    In response to that, Khan gave a detailed reply in which explained her reasons.

    “This is an interesting question, so I will try to give a detailed answer. People work for two reasons: Because they need financial stability (thankfully, that wasn’t the case for me) or because they have a passion or an incentive.”

    She further said that in the past she worked in the industry because she was passionate about the work she did. But now, she has no passion to work because of the scripts coming her way.

    “I used to get angry at the kind of projects that were coming my way. Why would you work for something that is killing your passion?”

    Khan believes that it’s not the actors’ or audience’s fault. It is the system that has some flaws. However, she plans to come to Pakistan whenever she is offered a decent project.

    Meanwhile, Armeena while responding to a follower on Twitter said that she would love to play a “strong, self-determined female character”.

    https://twitter.com/ArmeenaRK/status/1283050805172502528?s=20

    She also revealed that she has signed her next project.

    https://twitter.com/ArmeenaRK/status/1283045008501886978?s=20
    https://twitter.com/ArmeenaRK/status/1283043141675778055?s=20
  • Pakistan receives export orders of face masks from US, Canada and Europe

    Pakistan receives export orders of face masks from US, Canada and Europe

    Adviser to Prime Minister (PM) on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood has said that Pakistani exporters have received large orders of face masks from the United States (US), Canada and Europe.

    In a series of tweets on Thursday, he congratulated the exporters and termed their achievement a major breakthrough in the country’s export sector.

    “I have received information that some exporters have obtained large orders for face masks from US, Canada and Europe. This is a major breakthrough and I congratulate them for this achievement,” he tweeted.

    He further emphasised the need for Pakistani exporters to diversify into new segments in order to meet the changing global needs.

    “It is part of our strategy to diversify into new segments and this has been achieved by the exporters through their own efforts. I’m sharing this information with others to encourage them to seek more orders from different parts of the world,” he stated.

    Separately, the adviser stated that in order to achieve the target of agricultural exports, the government was striving hard to make space in the rice markets of the Middle East, North America and Africa.

    Talking to APP, he said the government intends to take the exports to the highest-ever level and in this regard, it was taking different measures to reclaim traditional markets besides getting access to new ones.

    “All members of the Rice Exports Association Pakistan (REAP) should prepare themselves for this opportunity so that they could get their orders approved in the Mexican market.”

    He further informed that rice export to Mexico was stagnant for the past few years but after the delegation’s visit, “we are hoping that our rice will be able to enter the Mexican market”.

    Dawood said that rice was the largest agro-export commodity in the country’s export basket, having a total volume of over $2 billion, which would be increased to $5 billion in the next five years.