Tag: Top News

  • Lahore: Man kills ex-wife and in-laws two years after divorce

    Lahore: Man kills ex-wife and in-laws two years after divorce

    A man in Baghbanpura, Lahore, gunned down his ex-wife and in-laws including her father, brother, and sister as they were returning from a wedding ceremony on Saturday night.

    As per police reports, Kiran got divorced two years ago and was residing with her parents in Faisalabad. She had come to Lahore for a family wedding. She had divorced her husband for his involvement in criminal activities, reported Dunya News.

    Witnesses have reported about him dragging one of the women out and kicking her repeatedly.

    Two other ladies and the accused daughter have been injured in the firing.

    IG Punjab Usman Anwar has ordered an immediate investigation into the matter.

    The suspect, however, has not been arrested till now.

  • Meesha Shafi wins initial defamation case against ARY UK

    Meesha Shafi wins initial defamation case against ARY UK

    A High Court in the United Kingdom has found that New Vision TV, the broadcaster of ARY UK, has defamed singer Meesha Shafi in a December 2020 broadcast.

    The broadcast was aired by ARY UK on December 5, 2020, in which reports were presented by newsreaders and on tickers as evidence.

    In a preliminary hearing, the court found out that the channel had deliberately made defamatory remarks by implying that Meesha was failing to comply with court orders over two years and that the channel depicted Shafi as “someone who does not comply with legal requirements laid down by a court and engages in such behaviour repeatedly”.

    The channel is now required to submit its defence to the court by January 26, 2024.

    “Such an assertion would have the tendency of lowering the claimant [Ms Shafi] in the estimation of right-thinking people generally; it is contrary to the common shared values of our society for people to deliberately ignore court orders requiring them to attend court, and to do so repeatedly over an extended period…The claimant is a very high-profile Pakistani celebrity who has taken a leading role in the advancement of women’s rights, holding herself out as an example to society. Given the claimant’s standing, the words complained of are likely to have a seriously adverse impact on the way the claimant is treated, thus satisfying the seriousness threshold,” the court asserted.

    The court examined the evidence in the broadcast, which said: “She [Ms Shafi] came to Pakistan, did her work and left. Singer Meesha Shafi threw the court orders to the winds. She came to Pakistan, recorded a song, and then returned to Canada. She did not present herself in court. Ali Zafar has filed a defamation lawsuit against Meesha.”

    In 2018, Ms Shafi accused singer and actor Ali Zafar of sexual harassment, in what was thought to be the first #MeToo moment in Pakistan.

  • PPP’s Sardar Latif Khosa joins PTI

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) aggrieved leader Sardar Latif Khosa has officially joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday “on the wish” of former prime minister and founder PTI Imran Khan.

    “I have made the decision not only in the interest of the country and democracy, but also to raise my voice vigorously for the truth,” he said.

    Sardar Khosa announced during a press conference in Lahore that he is joining PTI, expressing hope that the politics of hatred would end.

    Khosa also said that a country’s constitution is supreme, adding that it has all the characteristics of a welfare state.

    “The motherland can become prosperous if we follow the Constitution. The Constitution has a solution for everything if it is implemented in its true spirit,” he said.

    He also mentioned that a barrister (Allama Muhammad Iqbal) came up with the idea of Pakistan, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah completed it.

    “I have dedicated my services to PTI. I am free to join a party of my choosing,” Khosa said, adding that he would not talk about what he lost or gained in the PPP.

  • Pakistan’s volunteer network ‘MilKar’ wins Commonwealth Innovation Award

    Pakistan’s volunteer network ‘MilKar’ wins Commonwealth Innovation Award

    Pakistan’s largest volunteer network Milkar has won the esteemed Commonwealth Innovation Award for Sustainable Development 2023.

    The selection process spanned several months and involved over 70 jury members.

    Commonwealth’s Secretary General Patricia Scotland presented the prestigious award to team MilKar. It was a recognition of the 15 exceptional innovations from over 3,000 nominations across 56 Commonwealth countries.

    The design of Milkar is just like that of a platform like ‘Uber’ that connects volunteers with social projects and reimagines development challenges into volunteering opportunities. It aims at achieving sustainability by mobilising, connecting, and enabling the community to take ownership of projects, it rewrites the fundamental challenge of development initiatives.

    In the past three years, Milkar has become Pakistan’s largest independent youth volunteer platform. The network has grown to over 12,317 volunteers and 261 NGOs, which have worked on 566 community service projects impacting 2.9 million people.

    Moreover, MilKar took an initiative with the government to convert student volunteering hours into academic credits across several universities in Pakistan.
    Muhammad Hadi Saif, Head of Volunteers at MilKar, declared the award a significant accolade for Pakistan.

    Syed Kashf Ahmed, the Project Director, received this award as part of the Commonwealth Innovation Week organised in Nairobi, Kenya.

    The Commonwealth Innovation Awards acknowledge and celebrate the efforts of innovators in the public, private, and NGO sectors working on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    Each award category aligns with the five pillars of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership.

  • Bollywood star kids steal the show at school’s annual day

    A video of Shah Rukh Khan’s younger son AbRam showing his acting skills in a school play has gone viral on social media.

    Students at Dhirubhai Ambani International School organized a show for their annual day, featuring dance, drama, and music. Many Bollywood celebrity kids attend the school, and their talents were on full display.

    Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan’s son, AbRam, showcased his talent, at one point, striking his father’s famous pose, spreading out his arms just like his father does in his movies, hugging the characters in the play one by one.

    Social media users couldn’t get enough of this cuteness.

    AbRam acting

    SRK getting emotional watching his youngest son AbRam’s performance

    Kareena Kapoor and Saif Khan’s son, Taimur Ali Khan, was also performing.

  • Artificial rain in Lahore; Just looking like a wow

    Artificial rain in Lahore; Just looking like a wow

    In a historic stride, Lahore on Saturday witnessed its maiden experiment with artificial rain, revealed caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab, Mohsin Naqvi.

    Addressing the media in Lahore, the caretaker CM Punjab said that the occasion marks the first successful venture into artificial rain in the country’s history. He revealed that this morning, Lahore, previously the most polluted city, experienced artificial rain for the first time.

    Naqvi clarified that no additional funds were allocated for this initiative, however, he expressed willingness to spend money if needed to combat smog. Rainfall occurred in approximately 10 areas of Lahore, covering a planned region of 10 to 15 km.

    He expressed gratitude to the Environment Department and the UAE team for their exhaustive scrutiny of the process, culminating in the eagerly awaited results.

    Detailing the procedure, Naqvi disclosed that 48 flares were deployed for cloud seeding, specifically targeting the Shahdara area.

    Looking ahead, Naqvi mentioned the upcoming installation of smog towers. He emphasized that the artificial rain experiment, being both novel and impactful, is currently under observation for short-term and long-term effects. Results from the artificial rain are expected tonight.

    Naqvi shared insights into the cloud seeding mission, noting that it was executed some time ago, directing clouds towards Shahdara and Muridke.

  • Multan’s Beenish Saeed awarded ‘Principal of the Year’ at Asia Education Conclave

    Multan’s Beenish Saeed awarded ‘Principal of the Year’ at Asia Education Conclave

    Beenish Saeed, a Pakistani educationist from Multan, serving as a principal of the Multan Cantonment Public School, stood out among the 2,085 male and female contenders at the Asia Education Conclave from across 15 countries of Asia.

    The ceremony was held in Bangkok where she received the prestigious award amidst applause from the audience

    “A resounding applause to Beenish, the stellar recipient of the “Principal of the Year” award,” read a post by the Asia Education Conclave on its official Facebook and Instagram pages.

    Beenish dedicated her award to martyrs, war heroes, and teachers performing duties in terrorism-affected areas in the country.
    Social media posts by the educational platform detailed her qualification as an M.Phil in education and M.Sc in Zoology, besides a two-decade-long experience in the field of education.

    It also stated that Beenish is currently pursuing a PhD in Education.

    “Since becoming principal, she has demonstrated strong leadership and organisational skills and her role as Master Trainer and Book Editor at Kangaroo Publications highlights her commitment to professional development,” the post read.

    Her achievements span certifications in IT Branch Automation, Book Review, and Montessori Teachers Training while her skill set encompasses problem-solving, effective communication, organisational acumen, technical proficiency, and interpersonal skills, making her a valuable asset in the field of education.
    Beenish said that the award is an honour not only for her and her family but for the whole country, and declared it as an expression of trust in the Pakistani education system at the international level.

    Pakistani teachers are making it big internationally. Sister Zeph, the founder of Zephaniah Education and Empowerment Foundation, also received the Global Teacher Prize 2023 worth a million dollars, on November 8.

  • Haye mehngai; Turkey’s Central Bank Chief moves in with parents

    Haye mehngai; Turkey’s Central Bank Chief moves in with parents

    The new head of Turkey’s central bank has said she has been priced out of Istanbul’s property market by rampant inflation, leaving no choice for the former finance executive but to move back in with her parents.

    “We haven’t found a home in Istanbul. It’s terribly expensive. We’ve moved in with my parents,” 44-year-old Hafize Gaye Erkan, who took up her post in June after two decades in the United States, told the Hurriyet newspaper.

    Erkan previously worked at renowned firms including Goldman Sachs and First Republic Bank — and is now getting a crash course in the soaring prices that have seen many young people struggling to find lodgings.

    “Is it possible that Istanbul has gotten more expensive than Manhattan?” she said.

    Year-on-year inflation stood at 61 per cent in November as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has allowed the lira currency to weaken while promising that a new team of economists with Wall Street experience would tackle years of economic crisis.

    To quell growing anger, officials also capped rent increases at 25 percent — though experts say that has only amplified the housing tensions, as owners try to push out occupants, sometimes fraudulently, in order to set new and higher rents.

    The central bank last month pushed up benchmark lending rates to 40 per cent in a bid to get inflation under control.

    “We’re nearing the end of our monetary tightening measures,” Erkan told the paper.

  • Who is contesting elections from where?

    Who is contesting elections from where?

    A day after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced the schedule for general elections, political parties are yet to announce lists of candidates.

    Former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif, from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz PML-N, will reportedly contest polls from Lahore.

    Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, another former Prime Minister, who hails from Murree but was elected from Lahore, has opted to not contest the upcoming elections.

    Two ex-PMs from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf will be contesting from Multan and Gujar Khan respectively.

    PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz will be contesting from Lahore and Karachi, while PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be a candidate from Karachi and Larkana.

    Former President and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari will try his luck from Nawabshah.

    Maulana Fazlur Rehman will be contesting from Dera Ismail Khan.

    Jamat e Islami Ameer Siraj-ul-Haq will contest polls from Peshawar.

    PML-N is expected to finalise the list of all its candidates next week, The News has reported.

    As per sources, PML-N has concluded work on more than 70% of constituencies for choosing candidates and the list of the first batch of ticketholders might be made public tomorrow (Sunday).

    The party’s parliamentary board conducted 10 meetings to finalise candidate names from various areas and is expected to complete the task on Monday (December 18).

    The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Awami National Party (ANP), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and regional parties will issue the list of their candidates by the mid of next week.

    They are engaged in seat adjustment with other parties while the fate of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is still hanging in the balance as the ECP gives its verdict on its intra-party elections on Monday.

  • Temperatures to fall further across Pakistan

    Temperatures to fall further across Pakistan

    Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted cold and dry weather for most parts of the country.

    Sindh is to experience a wave of cold especially in Karachi. Weather analyst Jawad Memon has said, “Mercury may drop to single digit in the suburban areas of Karachi.”

    A shallow westerly wave was affecting western Balochistan which is likely to have moved northeast. It will affect the upper parts, causing cold waves in Sindh as soon as the system moves out in the next 24 hours.

    The Met Department said that mainly cold and dry weather is expected in most plain areas of the country, while very cold and partly cloudy weather is expected in the upper parts during the next week.

    Fog is likely in upper Sindh, plain areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during morning and night, it added.