Tag: topnews

  • 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.

  • ‘Am I the doctor?’ asks Imran Khan after hearing about Nawaz Sharif’s failing health

    Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s conditioned worsened as his platelet count fluctuated and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, who was earlier denied permission to meet him, was allowed to do so. After her meeting with her father, she was admitted in the same hospital but family sources are now saying that the government wants to take Maryam back to the hospital “at any cost”.

    Earlier, on Wednesday, a judge had denied Maryam’s request to meet her father but the government gave her permission last night.

    VIDEO: Maryam Nawaz reaches the hospital last night

    Senior leadership, including Nawaz’s brother, Shehbaz Sharif, also went to visit Nawaz at Services Hospital in Lahore.

    Sources say that Nawaz says that he wants to die in jail and that people have died in jail before. According to journalist Zahid Gishkori, doctors have said that Nawaz should get treatment abroad but the former PM is refusing to go out of the country. Reporters are also stating that a doctor has been flown in from Karachi to conduct further tests.

    Journalist and senior anchor, Meher Bokhari tweeted about PM Khan’s reaction to the news, saying that the Prime Minister asked how he could be blamed for Nawaz’s health. She said that when she asked him about it, he “threw his arms up with a bewildered look on his face,” and said, “Am I the doctor? Am I the court? How am I being blamed for this?” and then called “Buzdar to arrange for Maryam to see NS”.

    As #NawazneedsUNhelp starts trending on Twitter last night, people have also started Whatsapp groups to pray for Nawaz’s health and others are asking for international help, claiming that Nawaz has been poisoned.

  • Facebook rolls out dark mode for desktop

    Facebook has begun rolling out a new interface for desktop users, with an optional dark mode in addition to the traditional white design, Tech Radar reported.

    According to the details, after logging into the desktop site, some users have reported seeing a pop-up asking whether they would like to try the new design, which is referred to as ‘Facebook Beta’.

    Since the new update is on trial bases, therefore it is only available for a few people. The users who were invited to use the new interface have shared screenshots of the dark mode and they reveal that there are few problems with the new update.

    Users are facing problems in reading the text in the new dark mode on the desktop, so people who accepted the invitation and currently using the new interface.

    But they can also revert their decision by simply going to the quick settings option through your picture in the top right corner.

    Earlier in the Developer conference, the social media giant had announced to bring a new interface for Android and Desktop users just like Twitter. The dark mode, however, is not yet available to the Facebook mobile app users.

  • After Sindh, Buzdar’s Punjab ‘starts running out of rabies vaccine’

    After Sindh, Buzdar’s Punjab ‘starts running out of rabies vaccine’

    Following the shortfall of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) at public hospitals across Sindh, Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar-led administration in Punjab has reportedly started running out of the same.

    According to a private media outlet, a minor girl in Sialkot was bitten by a dog earlier this week. Hadiya later passed away because there was no vaccine available at the Civil Hospital she was rushed to in the Kotli Loharan town of the district.

    Last month, a ten-year-old, who was bitten by a stray dog, died of rabies in Larkana.

    According to details, the minor, who was identified as Mir Hasan was first taken to a hospital in Shikarpur, however, he was not given the treatment because there was no vaccine available at the hospital.

    Hasan’s parents later rushed him to Larkana’s Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Hospital, but it had also run out of the required vaccine, resulting in the boy succumbing to the disease.

    The tragic development in Punjab comes amid the government’s inaction despite a rise in the number of dog-bite in Sialkot. Earlier this year, over 200 people were attacked by stray dogs in the district within a short span of two months.

    RABIES & VACCINE SHORTAGE:

    Rabies encephalitis is a dog-borne viral illness caused mostly by the biting of stray dogs, and if ARV is not administered to the affected person along with immunoglobulin, the patient suffers a miserable death due to hydrophobia and other complications of the disease.

    According to SAMAA, most anti-rabies vaccinations in Pakistan were imported from India, but they don’t want to export the vaccine to Pakistan anymore.

    The vaccine imported from India cost Rs1,000 whereas the one imported from Europe costs Rs70,000. At public hospitals, cases of dog bites are treated for free. Public hospitals use the Indian vaccine because it’s cheaper. Some private hospitals in the city use the expensive European vaccines.

    “The time has come to start producing this vaccine in Pakistan. If the government can’t find a cheap alternative to the European vaccine, the number of deaths due to rabies will increase,” SAMAA quoted Pakistan Medical Association member Dr Qaiser Sajjad as saying.

  • PM Imran prays for Nawaz’s health, seeks update, orders best medical facilities

    PM Imran prays for Nawaz’s health, seeks update, orders best medical facilities

    Expressing good wishes for his recovery, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has sought from the Punjab government a report on the health of jailed ex-PM Nawaz Sharif, who was admitted to Lahore’s Services Hospital on Monday night.

    In a tweet, Special Assistant to PM on Broadcasting and Information Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the premier has directed the officials concerned to provide treatment to Nawaz as per his family’s wishes.

    The health of convicted former PM started improving after initial medical treatment at the Services Hospital.

    He was admitted to the hospital on Monday night after his platelet count dropped to a precariously low level, requiring an emergency response.

    “The physicians have injected three mega units of platelets to Nawaz Sharif, which gradually hiked the cell count to 18,000,” reports quoted a member of the special medical board — constituted for the ex-PM’s treatment — as saying.

  • PM takes notice of Hareem Shah’s viral TikTok video

    The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has taken notice of the video by famous TikTok girl Hareem Shah, who was spotted allegedly at a PM Secretariat conference room earlier in the day.

    Hareem became an internet sensation after her viral videos with influential political leaders started taking the country by storm.

    Earlier in the day, a video doing rounds over the internet showed the girl walking around a conference room as a song plays in the background. She then pulls out a chair and gets seated.

    The controversy began after journalist Adeel Raja claimed that the video was recorded shot at the PM’s Office.

    However, The Current learnt that it was actually recorded at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) — a claim that was later verified by PM’s focal person on digital media, Dr Arslan Khalid, as well.

    With eyebrows being raised over the access provided to Hareem and the internet celebrity’s subsequent actions, the PM office has now taken notice of the episode.

    According to reports, a probe has been launched to figure out how exactly did the girl manage to enter the MoFA building.

  • [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.

  • VIDEO: Ranbir forces actresses to eat food to make them fat: Deepika Padukone

    VIDEO: Ranbir forces actresses to eat food to make them fat: Deepika Padukone

    An old interview of Ranbir Kapoor has resurfaced and created quite a stir. The interview is from when Ranbir was promoting his movie “Wake up Sid”, and in a segment, Deepika Padukone and Sonam Kapoor were asked about Ranbir’s “qualities”.

    Ranbir in ‘Wake up Sid’ ten years ago

    Deepika said that Ranbir is a pathetic boyfriend and if there was a minus scale, he would top that too. She said that his sex appeal is minus one.

    Sonam was all praises for Ranbir, but Deepika was on a roll. According to Deepika, Ranbir as a co-star is ‘extremely unprofessional’ and “very distracted”. She also added that he force feeds his female co-stars so that they get fat and look bad on screen.

    Deepika and Ranbir’s old picture

    Deepika and Ranbir had dated for a while and had a bad breakup.

    Deepika is now married to Ranveer Singh

    They now, seem to be cordial with each other, and Deepika is happily married to Ranveer Singh, while marriage seems to be on the cards for Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.

    Ranbir and Alia have been dating for a while

    Watch the interview here:

  • Azadi March: Govt to dig ditches around Islamabad to keep protesters out

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has decided to dig trenches around the federal capital to block the forthcoming Azadi March of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), GNN reported.

    According to the details, six feet wide and five feet deep ditches will be dug on 270 streets and small entrances around Islamabad to keep opposition protesters from entering the city.

    The JUI-F, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday finalised their public mobilisation plan to join the long march to Islamabad via Rawalpindi.

    The government is making efforts to compel the opposition parties to negotiate a political solution, and for the purpose, they had formed a four-member committee under Defence Minister Pervez Khan Khattak.

    However, the opposition has refused to hold any talks with the government until Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan resigns.