Tag: lifetop

  • All billboards in Karachi to be removed in 24 hours

    All billboards in Karachi to be removed in 24 hours

    Billboards in the city are illegal and have been installed without permission, said Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shalwani, vowing to remove all of them across the city in 24 hours.

    He said this in a meeting with the local government and local administrators.

    RELATED: Karachi among ‘worst cities for drivers’

    The Supreme Court had passed an order to remove the billboards from all public properties last month. Despite the order the billboards have resurfaced in the city and the commissioner has ordered that they be removed as soon as possible.

  • Celebrities, including Mahira Khan, will be at the Faiz Festival this weekend

    Celebrities, including Mahira Khan, will be at the Faiz Festival this weekend

    The Faiz International Festival is in its 5th year and like previous years, celebrities are flocking to the event. The three-day festival will take place at Alhamra in Lahore.

    Mahira Khan at the Faiz International Festival in 2016

    The event will kick off on Friday with a performance by Ali Sethi and a play dedicated to Asma Jehangir by Ajoka Theatre. There will also be an exhibition of History and Contemporary Sikh Art as part of Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary celebrations.

    Celebrities like Mahira Khan, Ahsan Khan, Eman Suleman and Nimra Bucha will be part of sessions as will be journalists Hamid Mir, Nasim Zehra and Wusutullah Khan. Politicians like PTI’s Asad Umar and Yasmin Rashid and PPP’s Shazia Marri and Raza Rabbani will also be attending.

    The sessions The Current is looking forward to are:

    Stardom with Responsibility with Mahira Khan, Sarmat Khoosat and Mira Hashmi on Sunday at 3PM

    Siyasi Pabandion Kay Door Mai Azad Sahafat with Hamid Mir, Nasim Zehra, Wusutullah Khan and Wajahat Masood on Saturday at 3 PM

    Using Media to address Social Issues with Ahsan Khan, Roshanah Zafar and Seemi Raheel on Saturday at 1 PM

    Pakistan: The Way Forward with Dr Yasmin Rashid, Raza Rabbani, Nafisa Shah, Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, Afrasiab Khattak and Dr Malik Baloch on Sunday at 2 PM

    The sessions are all free except for Zia Mohyeddin, Ali Sethi, Adeel Hashmi and Farah Yasmeen’s performances.

    Download the full schedule here Download
  • Punjab bans mobile phones in schools, colleges to curb drugs menace

    Punjab bans mobile phones in schools, colleges to curb drugs menace

    Punjab Education Department has reportedly banned the use of mobile phones in all public and private educational institutions across the province in an attempt to curb the growing trend of drugs among students.

    “Under the prevailing dangers of menace of drugs in educational institutions (public and private sector) and to safeguard the young generation from this curse, it is mandatory to impose [a] complete ban on the use of mobile and other sources to use social media in the premises of educational institutions across the province,” read an Education Department notification doing rounds over the internet.

    While it also called for a ban on the use of social media for children under the age of 16, people are questioning if the move even makes any sense.

    Drug addiction in Pakistan has reached an alarming high within the past few decades, as according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
    (UNODC), the total number of addicts has reached 67 million.

    More than 800,000 Pakistani aged between 15 and 64 use drugs on a daily basis and an estimated 44 tons of processed heroin is consumed annually in Pakistan. According to another report, 57% of school, college and university students in Lahore are using at least one drug.

  • BBC’s list of 100 novels that shaped our world include books by Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie

    BBC’s list of 100 novels that shaped our world include books by Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie

    Pakistani authors Mohsin Hamid and Kamila Shamsie have made it to BBC’s 100 novels that shaped our world list. The list features renowned authors from across the world making it a great honour for both the authors to be featured on the list.

    BBC, as part of their year-long celebration of literature, shared a list of ‘100 novels that shaped our world,’ which have been written over the last 300 years.

    An expert panel consisting of six leading British writers, curators and critics were part of the compilation that featured books that have made a large cultural and personal impact on a global scale.

    The list features work ranging from classics to contemporary writers from around the world and has been organised into themes which are: Identity, Love, Sex and Romance, Adventure, Life, Death and Other Worlds, Politics, Power and Protest, Class and Society, Coming of Age, Family and Friendship, Crime and Conflict and Rule Breakers.

    While Kamila’s Home Fire was listed in the ‘Politics, Power & Protest’ category, Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist was part of the ‘Crime & Conflict’ category.

    BBC’s list ranges from classics to contemporary, with works like Jane Austin’s Pride & Prejudice and JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series making it in their own genres.

  • Realme XT #64MPQuadCameraXpert stands out at star-studded launch

    Realme XT #64MPQuadCameraXpert stands out at star-studded launch

    The megapixel camera race has truly made a comeback for smartphones. But this time, it’s nice to see mid-range phones leading the pack rather than the high-end ones while putting better cameras in the hands of the masses.

    On October 26, 2019, Realme fans and media gathered at the
    Royal Palm Golf and Country Club in Lahore for the launch party of Realme XT
    #64MPQuadCameraXpert. Celebrities in attendance included Rawalpindi Express Shoaib
    Akhtar, superstars Ahsan Khan and Nimra Khan among others.

    Realme has decided to be first-past-the-post this time
    around, bringing a whopping 64 MP lens to its quad-camera set on the new Realme
    XT. The quad-camera set was just seen on the Realme 5 and 5 Pro. That’s quite a
    slew of devices and lenses from the Chinese brand that has stepped out from
    under the Oppo umbrella.

    While XT’s nomenclature is like Realme’s ‘flagship’ X, it is much closer in look, feel, specs and operation to the Realme 5 Pro, with the big difference being a 64 MP lens instead of a 48 MP. The drop notch, quad-camera strip on the back, lovely patterns and gradients, are very similar to the 5 Pro.

    The Pearl White review unit was a thing of beauty, with
    light bouncing off and also giving shape to gorgeous patterns on the phone’s
    back. The way it looks belies its price point and to the uninitiated, this
    could well look like a phone that is at flagship-level prices. The camera
    assembly juts out, but there’s a case in the box to do away with that
    awkwardness. However, the case robs the back of some of its sheen, which is a
    pity. If you are not butter-fingers, try doing without one if you want to
    flaunt it.

    A remarkable feat in a place where new smartphones are launched nearly every other day and every player wants a slice of the pie, the Realme XT is yet another smartphone from the brand and it comes with a whole new shtick.

    A whopping 64MP camera makes it a great buy. The Realme XT
    is an easy recommendation. Between competent internals, fetching design and the
    all-new camera, it is one of the best high-end mid-rangers in the market right
    now. Realme has been pretty good with pushing out quality-of-life updates to
    hardware, and if the company sticks to it, you can expect image quality and
    design to improve further.

    The smartphone has a quad-camera setup featuring an 8MP
    ultra-wide-angle lens, 2MP depth sensor and 2MP macro lens. For selfies, it
    offers a 16MP Sony IMX 471 sensor up front.

    Under the hood runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 712 processor. The phone is powered by a 4,000mAh battery with support for 20W VOOC 3.0 flash charge. Its storage stands at 128GB with an 8GB RAM.

    On the software front, it will ship with ColorOS 6 based on Android Pie. Realme has added system-wide dark mode, new fonts, and Android Pie’s ‘Digital Wellbeing’ on the XT.

    As it stands, the Realme XT is definitely one to consider if
    you’re in the market for one of the best high-end smartphones under Rs55,000.

  • Pakistan is one of the best performing nations for social entrepreneurship: Reuters

    Pakistan is one of the best performing nations for social entrepreneurship: Reuters

    Innovative Pakistanis are pushing boundaries by starting and leading start-ups that focus on social entrepreneurship. Along with Australia and the Netherlands, Pakistan is one of the top three countries whose overall ranking has improved the most since the first experts’ poll on the best countries for social entrepreneurs was conducted by the Thomas Reuters Foundation in 2016.

    Maheen Bashir, co-founder of Dot and Line a start-up which trains women to become tutors , was recently at the World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington DC to speak about their work

    In just three years, Pakistan has jumped 18 spots to place 14th among the world’s 45 biggest economies and the foundation credits a lot of this to start-ups which are focusing on pressing social issues – such as turning organic waste in fertilizers, plans for solar powered mobile carts for street vendors and helping farmers share farming equipment.

    Aerosync, founded by Neelum Hassan, in 2016 was created to design and manufacture products with a social or environmental impact.
    Photo Courtesy: Faceebook

    Young Pakistanis, are interested in creating growth and since two-thirds of Pakistans 210 million people are younger than 30, a lot more is expected from this ‘youth boom’.

  • Pakistani social media is seriously debating why we celebrate Halloween

    Pakistani social media is seriously debating why we celebrate Halloween

    On Halloween Day, while the world is breaking the internet by posting their pictures of themselves in their Halloween costumes, Pakistan is debating why a ‘foreign holiday’ being celebrated in our country?

    Wasim & Shaniera Akram with Sharmila Faruqi and Hisham Riaz at a Halloween party last year

    The debate ranges from people discussing how it’s against Islam to celebrate a ‘pagan’ holiday and others saying that ‘The West’ does not celebrate Eid, so why is Pakistan celebrating their holidays? The counter-argument to this is that if that’s the case, then we should also not celebrate birthdays.

    Sheheryar Munawar at a previous Halloween party

    Others are pressing the fact that Pakistanis need to live and let live and if people want to celebrate Halloween they should be allowed to do so; the counter to which is that celebration of the event is ruining our culture and should not be promoted.

    Ahmed Ali Butt at a Halloween celebration

    Despite people passing judgement against the celebration of Halloween, there are many events happening in major cities for children to dress up and enjoy the holidays. Some people are planning small trick or treating events in their areas, hoping it also promotes their children to get to know their neighbours.

  • Senior State Life official ‘jumps off’ Karachi building

    Senior State Life official ‘jumps off’ Karachi building

    A senior official of State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan (SLIC), allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the 11th floor of a multi-storey building on Karachi’s I.I. Chundrigar Road on Wednesday, Dawn has reported.

    According to the details, Zafar Iqbal, age 55, was serving as the deputy manager administration at SLIC and was reportedly facing an inquiry over some “personal activities”.

    However, the family of the deceased has disputed the claim that Iqbal had committed suicide and suggested that his death was a murder.

    But City Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Muquddus Haider has said that initial investigation and eye-witness accounts showed that Iqbal, the father of four children, did commit suicide.

    SSP Haider also said that a guard deployed at the SLIC office tried to persuade Iqbal not to jump from the building, but the latter proceeded to do so anyway.

    “Further investigation into the incident is underway because the family had disputed the police version”, the police official added.

    The deceased official’s body was shifted to the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi for autopsy and Mithadar Station House Officer Rizwan Patel has said that they were waiting for a doctors’ report to know more about the death.

  • [GRAPHIC VIDEO] Sindh youngster live streams suicide on Facebook

    [GRAPHIC VIDEO] Sindh youngster live streams suicide on Facebook

    A young man from northern Sindh’s Ghotki town has committed suicide while streaming it live on Facebook, a video doing rounds over the internet, revealed on Tuesday.

    In the six-minute stream, the youngster repeatedly announces that he was going to kill himself after his relationship did not work out. He then gives a message to his family and friends in Sindhi.

    “I can’t bring myself to do this,” he can be heard as saying while weeping and adding that he could not see a way out of his pain.

    “Friends, if I have made any mistakes, please forgive me” are his last words.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    The deceased’s body was shifted to Mirpur Mathelo District Headquarters Hospital by the police.

    While Facebook is yet to take the video down, the case is the first of its kind in the country.

    FACEBOOK LIVE & VIOLENCE:

    The live video streaming feature on Facebook became publicly available in January 2016 and anyone with a Facebook account can access it at the top of their news feed, simply by selecting “Live Video” from the dropdown menu.

    A three-second countdown begins before the user can begin filming live, and anyone can watch if they have selected the audience as public and not just for connected friends. Facebook Live broadcasts can last up to four hours.

    To report a Facebook Live video as inappropriate, you can click the scroll down menu in the top right of the post and then click “Report Post” or “Report Photo” and follow the instructions.

    Earlier this year, the company was forced to scrub more than 1.5 million videos of the New Zealand mosque massacre, which was live-streamed by the shooter.

    Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had vowed in April 2018 that the company would work toward thwarting the spread of violent content; however, it has continued to struggle to monitor instances of bloodshed and self-harm.

  • Lahore traffic cops form special squads for crackdown against e-challan defaulters

    Lahore traffic cops form special squads for crackdown against e-challan defaulters

    The City Traffic Police (CTP) Lahore has constituted seventeen special squads to go after the e-challans defaulters, a private news outlet has reported.

    According to the details, under the recent crackdown, 34 traffic wardens will be appointed across the city to recover challan payments. These special teams will strictly monitor such vehicles across Lahore.

    Since the e-challan system delivers the ticket to the address of the vehicle owner, the CTP teams can also raid their houses to confiscate the vehicles.

    Such vehicles will only be released after payment of the e-challan. However, no further penalty will be added to the delayed submission.

    The traffic police in the initial phase will go after the defaulter with hefty unpaid challans and the crackdown will continue until the clearance of the backlog.

    CTP last year in September had launched the electronic challan system in Lahore, in collaboration with Punjab Safe City Authority (PSCA). Since then, it has been an effective tool to control traffic violations in the provincial capital.

    If you want to check that your vehicle has been charged with a violation or not, follow the instruction given in this article.