Tag: Top News

  • Abdul Razzaq offers to make ‘faulty Hardik Pandya world’s best all-rounder in two weeks’

    Abdul Razzaq offers to make ‘faulty Hardik Pandya world’s best all-rounder in two weeks’

    Former Pakistan cricketer Abdul Razzaq has offered to coach Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya to “improve his faulty techniques”.

    “Today I saw Pandya batting against West Indies and found a few issues in his foot movement, bat swing and body balance while hitting,” the former all-rounder said in a video on his official YouTube channel.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IXIaYFasBE

    On Thursday, Pandya scored a brisk 46 and shared a crucial 70-run partnership with MS Dhoni to help India post a competitive total of 268/7 against West Indies in their ICC World Cup 2019 game at the Old Trafford.

    Pandya chipped in with the ball and also took the wicket of opener Sunil Ambris. In fact, his send-off to the Windies opener became one of the talking points of the game.

    However, Razzaq, who scored 5,080 runs in ODI, said Pandya’s game had weaknesses, which needed to be worked upon.

    “If Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) gives me just two weeks to coach Pandya, he can become world’s no 1 hitter and all-rounder,” he added.

  • Bankruptcy? ‘Ishaq Dar’s son shuts down school in Dubai over financial issues’

    Bankruptcy? ‘Ishaq Dar’s son shuts down school in Dubai over financial issues’

    Days after it was reported that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is tightening the noose around former finance minister Ishaq Dar, reports claiming his family is going through a financial crunch, have surfaced.

    According to reports, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader’s son, Hasnain Dar, has decided to shut down his Ontario International Canadian School (OICS) in Dubai citing “financial issues” as the family “starts to wind up their ventures abroad”.

    Mirdiff based OICS was opened in 2014 and follows the Canadian curriculum for kindergarten to grade 10, with fees ranging from Dh28,000-56,000 a year.

    Last week, the school administration issued to parents a circular signed by Dar, which has reportedly left over 200 parents in an awkward position while around 50 teaching and non-teaching staffers will also be affected.

    “I have continuously been engaged in discussions with KHDA regarding the future of OICS. However, it is only fair for me to share with you that —the school does not have the financial support to continue beyond June 30, 2019,” the circular read.

    “I understand that this is an incredibly difficult time for families and we at OICS are committed to ensuring a smooth transition of your children to other schools. As a part of our effort for this smooth transition, we have asked Kings’ Education to honour the OICS fee structure for the next two academic years for any students who wish to transfer to Kings’ Schools,” it said further.

  • FREAKONOMICS!

    FREAKONOMICS!

    We are all freaked out!

    No one knows what is happening… no one
    knows what will happen… but we are all freaked out!

    Dollar floats and soars as freely as Imran
    Khan’s sky-high claims of rectifying the economy in the past, buying gold is
    the gossip of old times, stock market plunges are a routine matter. Basic
    necessities are now luxuries, taxes are piling up these days more quickly than
    the fats on one’s bones, education was never free, but wasn’t even as expensive
    as of today.

    Jobs are scant. Health facilities are
    sparse. Incomes and earnings getting more and more exiguous. The economy is
    shrinking, debt is accumulating, investors are wary, traders are worried, farmers
    are distraught, businessmen depressed and youth distressed.

    Everyone is caught up in a whirlpool of
    stress and strain, yet the Khan government assures us on a daily basis: “All is
    well… all will be well”.

    Either it’s the innocence, ignorance or
    some blind inference that we still sustain some hope in the current regime.
    Probably, we are left with no other option. Probably we still want to test
    Khan’s delivery.

    Either it’s the incompetence of the
    government or it’s the incompetence of the collective social judgement. We are
    in a state of love and hate relationship with Khan — exactly like our cricket
    team. On a rare, unexpected occasion; it delivers something and we are all
    cheering up.

    Most of the times we are let down,
    crestfallen; yet we have no other option. Do we?

    Opposition, on the other hand, the prime
    task of which is to safeguard the public interests and to keep an eye on
    government functioning, is failing to perform too. Though we see a lot of brouhaha
    and hubbub by the opposition parties in the National Assembly these days as the
    budget session goes on, it fails to substantially affect the smooth passage and
    approval of the finance bill.

    Reason: united we stand, divided we “sit”.

    This division was quite obvious at the
    opposition’s All Parties Conference (APC) convened two days back in Islamabad
    when the joint communiqué lacked any solid and affirmative strategy.

    The ostensible joint opposition had a clear
    difference of opinion and strategy between Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and
    Maulana’s Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F); between within Pakistan Muslim
    League-Nawaz (PML-N) of Shehbaz Sharif versus Maryam Nawaz; between smaller
    parties and PPP plus PML-N.

    So far the synthetic joint opposition is
    granting more benefit than inflicting any harm upon Khan’s government. Under
    the cloud of thunderous claims by the opposition, it all seems to rain down
    well upon the government.

    Khan smartly managed to politically
    “epoxy-fy” disgruntled Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and
    Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), hence securing not just the sanction
    of Budget 2019-20, but acquiring a few months’ more time to stabilise his
    administration.

    Opposition can rely upon mere verbosity via
    pressers, media talks, statements and tweets till then. And we are all left at
    the mercy of tight economic clenching till then.

    October is the new November, they say.

    No one knows what is happening… no one knows
    what will happen… but we are all freaked out!

  • Afghan President in Lahore; roads to avoid today

    Afghan President in Lahore; roads to avoid today

    Afghan President Ashraf Ghani landed in Lahore on Friday morning where he was received by Governor of Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar and Chief Minister of the province Usman Khan Buzdar.

    The Afghan President is in the country on a two-day official visit on the invitation of Prime Minister Imran Khan. President Ghani is expected to participate in a business forum attended by representatives from both countries.

    He offered his Friday prayers at the Governor House before fulfilling his formal commitments.

    In order to avoid getting stuck in traffic, it is best to avoid all roads leading to and from the airport. Avoid Mall Road as well as it will be closed for VIP movement.

    Try staying within Defence or Model Town and avoid Gulberg and other areas surrounding the Mall Road. Better still, just stay at home today and chill.

  • UK events featuring Saqib Nisar, Faisal Vawda cancelled due to ‘lack of public interest’

    UK events featuring Saqib Nisar, Faisal Vawda cancelled due to ‘lack of public interest’

    At least three fundraisers in the United Kingdom (UK), planned with former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar and Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, have been cancelled owing to “lack of public interest”.

    According to The News, I am Pakistan Worldwide Movement (IAPWM) had announced the “awareness dinner galas” in Birmingham, London and Manchester to raise funds for Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams with Nisar and Vawda.

    However, the three events to be held on June 24 at Piccadilly Banquetting Suite, Birmingham; June 21 at Royal Nawab Restaurant, London; and Royal Nawab in Manchester on June 23 were cancelled due to “lack of public interest”.

    Nisar has been in London for over two weeks now and dates of the events were announced in consultations with him as well as Vawda, however, the response from the local chapter as well as the community groups led to the events being cancelled, the report said.

    “Ex-CJP Saqib Nisar made London travel plans with his family to attend the fundraising events and to watch the ICC World Cup, but upon arrival, the organisers told him that the events had been cancelled due to lack of interest from the members of the public,” The News quoted sources as saying.

    The report further said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s close aide Aneel Musarrat “didn’t show any interest in the event unlike previously when he took lead in arranging a fundraiser when Saqib Nisar was the chief justice”.

    Vawda, on the other hand, said he failed to attend the events because “he was busy with the budget session and other commitments”.

  • Making us proud: Meet Major Fozia Parveen, serving UN Peacekeeping Force

    Making us proud: Meet Major Fozia Parveen, serving UN Peacekeeping Force

    Among many other Pakistani female military and staff officers is Major Fozia Parveen, who is making the country proud by serving the United Nations’ (UN) Peacekeeping Force.

    Taking to social media, Pakistan’s Representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, lauded Major Fozia’s services as a UN peacekeeper in Cyprus.

    “We are proud of our female (and male) peacekeepers who serve in UN missions. Major Fozia Perveen is serving in the UN Mission in Cyprus (UNFICYP), seen here on a patrol in the Buffer Zone. Picture thanks to the UN, [sic]” she said in an Instagram post.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzMeC8_h_mI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Pakistan earlier crossed the target set by the UN from zero to 15 per cent deployment of female military and staff officers in the peacekeeping mission within just 18 months.

    “We believe, increased participation of female peacekeepers, and encouraging more women to take up mediation roles helps in the stabilisation and reconstruction phases of conflicts,” Lodhi had said earlier in April while participating in a debate on ‘Women in Peacekeeping.’

    Maleeh Lodhi herself is the first woman to hold the position of Pakistan’s representative to the UN. Previously, she has served as the country’s envoy to the Court of St James and twice as its ambassador to the United States (US).

  • Six episodes in, ‘Hassad’ is everything that’s wrong

    Six episodes in, ‘Hassad’ is everything that’s wrong

    To put it very simply, ARY’s latest drama, Hassad, starring Minal Khan and Shahroze Sabzwari, is everything typical.

    The story revolves around two brothers. The older one, Farhan (Noor Hassan), is married to his Khala’s jealous daughter Zari (Arij Fatima) while the younger, cute Armaan (Shahroze Sabzwari) is happily married to Naintara (Minal Khan). Zari detests Naintara and Armaan’s totally in love, happy relationship and tries her best to mess it up. But the happy-go-lucky Nain Tara keeps her mother-in-law happy and her husband happier (he calls her every hour because he misses her so much).

    In a tragic twist of fate, Armaan is killed in a robbery and Naintara becomes the oh-my-God banished widow, pregnant with her late husband’s child. Meanwhile, Zari fakes a pregnancy to score brownie points with her MIL and Farhan. What’s annoying is that even in the sadness of it all, Zari can’t let go of her jealousy (the title of the drama is Hassad, after all) and tries to kill Naintara with the help of her mother. Farhan catches on and tells her she’s nuts and needs to calm down. Zari then decides to make Naintara into a skank (pretty much the easiest way to get a woman shunned) and claims that she’s having affairs with men, including her brother, who by the way was caught trying to rape Naintara in the middle of the night.

    Six episodes of every-single-twist-you-can-think-of, keeps viewers hooked but once you start thinking or trying to understand it, you’re like “Wha?”

    Despite being a young and pretty girl, Naintara is cons-tant-ly forced to wear white after her husband’s death because she is now a bewa. She is constantly harassed by the evil Zari into being plain and is not allowed to go out and “sambhalo” her white dupatta. Soon enough, the MIL, being the MIL, joins in with Zari. So typical.

    In a nutshell, as the episodes progress, the MIL and SIL turn against sweet little bahu who is so beychari that she has nowhere else to turn to. She has to put her hand on the Quran to swear that she didn’t have an affair with Zari’s brother and destroy Armaan’s memory. So cliche. But then again so masalaydaar.

    Our drama directors know what sells and they’re literally selling it like no one’s business in this drama, with overdone twists in every episode. And they don’t appear to be stopping soon. While we personally don’t advocate the typical crap presented in this drama, it is stuff that will definitely sell.

  • VIDEO: Sikh fan cheering for Pakistan cricket team breaks the internet

    VIDEO: Sikh fan cheering for Pakistan cricket team breaks the internet

    The video of a Sikh fan cheering for the Pakistan cricket team at Edgbaston on Wednesday, has gone viral over the internet.

    The unnamed fan has won hearts of Pakistani supporters all across the globe with his gesture during the must-win match against New Zealand at the packed cricket stadium.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    In the video, he can be heard raising the slogan “Pakistan Zindabad” while thousands of other Pakistan team supporters join him.

    Green Shirts defeated New Zealand by six wickets to stay in the hunt for a place in the World Cup Wednesday. They next face Afghanistan and Bangladesh on June 29 and July 5, respectively.

  • Sarfaraz’s wife breaks down after he was called a ‘fat pig’

    Sarfaraz’s wife breaks down after he was called a ‘fat pig’

    Following Pakistan’s loss against India in the much-hyped ICC World Cup match, members of the Pakistan cricket team faced an immense backlash at the hands of the public. Captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, in particular, bore the maximum brunt of the upset Pakistani fans who fat-shamed him and called him out for yawning on the field.

    A video of a cricket-goer who called Sarfaraz “a fat pig” in a mall in England while he was with his son also went viral. But many fans stood up to support him after that and pressurised the guy making the video into apologising for his distasteful comments.

    In a recent interview with ICC Insider Zainab Abbas, Sarfaraz opened up about the experience.

    “This was playing on my mind, but I didn’t pay much heed as I thought he won’t do this as his family was also with him. I spoke to his family. One of his family members also apologized on his behalf. But when the video became viral my body language was demotivated. It was not because of me. It was because of my son Abdullah who was with me at that time. That’s why it hurt me even more,” he said while speaking to Zainab about the video.

    Sarfaraz shared that after the video went viral he returned to his hotel room to find his wife crying which really hurt him.

    “When I went back to the hotel I saw my wife was crying after watching the video. I tried to explain to her that this is just one video and that we have had people walk up to us and tell things. This is nothing serious we must be strong. All of this is a part of life, when we don’t perform well we will have to go through all this,” the skipper said.

    The skipper also revealed why he did not react there.

    “I was very angry at that moment, but if I had gotten into an argument people would not have seen the truth and I would’ve been seen in a negative light instead. That’s why I felt not reacting to the incident was the best response as I left it to God,” he said, adding that he was very grateful to everyone who stood up for him. He even said that the fans had a right to be angry “because they have expectations from us.”

    Following their humiliating defeat, Pakistan went to win their next two match against South Africa and New Zealand.

    Watch the entire interview here:

  • 5 drugs you probably didn’t know about

    5 drugs you probably didn’t know about

    On International Day against Drug Abuse, The Current decided to spread awareness on the subject considering what a grave matter of concern it is in our country. We’ve already posted a list of drugs which are very popular among the youth. Here’s a list of drugs you probably had no idea existed.

    Bichoo

    Bichoo is a local term for scorpion. In order to make a drug out of a scorpion, the bichoo is first killed and then dried in sunlight or burnt on coal. The burnt body is then crushed and mixed with tobacco or hashish and smoked. A bichoo’s tail is what is most important as it contains the venom which gives a high. Bichoo as a drug is most common in KPK.

    Shrooms

    Though shrooms are not available easily in Pakistan, they are apparently the most organic form of drug available as they don’t leave you with a hangover. You can eat them raw, dried, cooked or stewed.

    Samad Bond

    As strange as it sounds, Samad Bond is also used as a drug. The glue is poured on a piece of cloth and then inhaled to get a high.

    Withdrawal pills for heroin addicts

    Medicines which are used to help heroin addicts deal with their addiction is also used as a drug.

    ADHD cure pills

    Pills used to counteract attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are also surprisingly used as a drug. According to our source, the pill when taken with alcohol gives a high like cocaine.