Current Final

Author: News Desk

  • AR Rahman apologises after Chennai concert stampede

    AR Rahman apologises after Chennai concert stampede

    Oscar winning music composer AR Rahman has addressed the controversial Marakuma Nenjam concert held in Chennai on September 10 where numerous fans reported cases of harassment, molestation and suffocation due to poor management, leading to a stampede. Speaking with The Hindu, the ‘Dil Se’ composer apologised and said he was “deeply disturbed” by the reports. The maestro said he would refund all the tickets, asking people to reach out to him through email to elaborate on other problems at the concert.

    “It was a tsunami of people and love that we were unable to handle. As a composer, my job was to give a terrific show, and I thought everything else would be taken care of. I was just thinking that it shouldn’t rain, and was happily performing inside, without any idea of what was happening outside. Our intentions were good, but I think the response was beyond our expectations. We are collecting the data now, and we will surprise fans with something soon.”

    The singer elaborated on the events of the evening and what had gone wrong:

     “The organisers (ACTC events) had put together about 46,000 chairs in the venue. In some sections, everybody sat on one side and didn’t move to the other side. Seeing this, the policemen on duty assumed that the venue was full and closed it. By this time, the show had already started inside.”

    Indian publication The Quint spoke with several women about the harassment and poor management they had witnessed at AR Rahman’s concert, describing how several children were crying after being separated from their parents and ambulances that couldn’t reach those who had fainted.

    A 22-year-old lawyer said she was groped multiple times for half an hour while trying to find the exit along with her mother.

    “I lost count of the number of times I got groped yesterday. After a while, I gave up and didn’t try to defend myself. I tried pushing them, punching them, but they kept touching me. So I had no choice but to stand still.”

    A 45-year-old corporate professional brought along her 10-year-old to the concert, said, “At one point I started crying in panic because of the stampede while collecting tags.”

  • Babar Azam named ICC Men’s Player of the Month

    Babar Azam named ICC Men’s Player of the Month

    Pakistan captain Babar Azam was crowned ICC (International Cricket Council) player of the month of August on Tuesday. Babar Azam was shortlisted for Player of the Month along with Pakistani all-rounder Shadab Khan and West Indian Wicketkeeper batsman Nicholas Pooran.

    Pakistan cricket captain Babar Azam and all-rounder Shadab Khan have been shortlisted for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Player of the Month award. The award is based on recent performances in the last month from day 1 to the last day of the month.

    Pakistani skipper Babar Azam is aiming to become the first men’s category cricketer to win three ICC Player of the Month awards. West-Indies Wicket keeper Nicholas Pooran is also nominated for the ICC Player of the Month Award along with Babar and Shadab.

    Babar Azam recently scored 53 and 60 runs against Afghanistan and 151 runs against Nepal in the first match of Asia Cup 2023.

    Shadab Khan is shortlisted for the first time as the ICC Player of the Month award after his recent performances with bat and ball. Shadab Khan took three wickets against Afghanistan in the last ODI match and four wickets against Nepal in the opening match of Asia Cup 2023.

    Nicholas Pooran is also nominated for the first time as the ICC Player of the Month award. He scored 176 runs against India in five T20 matches series and led the team to win the series by 3-2.

    Read More: Which teams will play the final if rain interrupts matches

    These shortlisted players are then voted for by fans around the world and by an independent ICC voting academy.

    The ICC Voting Academy comprises former players, well-known journalists, broadcasters, and members of the ICC Hall of Fame.

    ICC Voting Academy has 90% of the voting shares while the remaining 10% shares of the fans. Fans can register their vote on the official website of ICC. The winners of the month are announced every second Monday of each month.

  • Khan wants desi chicken in jail, Rs79,000 deposited in his account

    Khan wants desi chicken in jail, Rs79,000 deposited in his account

    Former Prime Minister and Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who is in Attock jail in the cipher case, refused to eat broiler chicken and asked for desi chicken (organic chicken) to be added in his diet.

    According to sources, Rs79,000 rupees have been added to Imran Khan’s bank account by his legal team to fulfill his desire to eat desi chicken in jail.

    Jail authorities outlined Khan’s daily food requirements and made a meal plan after consulting with the former prime minister. In breakfast, Imran Khan can have two eggs, bread, and yogurt. The PTI chairman can eat bread for lunch and dinner as well.

    Different pulses and vegetables are also part of the meal plan.

    Usually, broiler chicken is served four days a week in jail. However, Imran Khan doesn’t like broiler chicken, so jail authorities gave him desi chicken twice in the past 15 days, which cost Rs8,000 rupees. This amount has been deducted from Imran Khan’s account.

  • Asia Cup 2023: Here is how Pakistan can qualify for the final

    In the previous match of the Super Four stage, India defeated Pakistan by a huge margin of 228 runs. India batted first and scored 356 runs while losing just two wickets. While chasing this mammoth target, Pakistan scored only 128 runs in 32 overs.

    Before this match, the Pakistan team was on top of the table, however, they are now at number three, with Sri Lanka at number two and India is on top.


    Here are some possible ways for the Pakistan team to qualify for the final:

    On Tuesday, India and Sri Lanka face each other. If India beats Sri Lanka in today’s match, Pakistan will have to beat only Sri Lanka without any run rate issue.
    If the match between India and Sri Lanka is washed out by rain, Pakistan has to beat Sri Lanka without any runrate issue. If Sri Lanka beats India, Pakistan has to beat Sri Lanka by a huge margin to qualify.

    Pakistan and Sri Lanka will play their next match on September 14. If this match is washed out by rain, then Pakistan will be eliminated from the competition.

    If Sri Lanka beat India and Pakistan beat Sri Lanka then the finalist will be decided on net run rate.

    Read More: Shadab-Kohli kay pyaar ki memes break the internet

  • Growing Saudi-India partnership: MBS and Modi discuss expanding trade goals

    Growing Saudi-India partnership: MBS and Modi discuss expanding trade goals

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held discussions on trade ties in New Delhi after the G20 Summit. The leaders met at the Hyderabad House, New Delhi, for the Saudi-Indian Strategic Partnership Council meeting. During the talks, they covered various areas of cooperation and regional and international topics of mutual interest.

    Modi expressed satisfaction with the discussions, highlighting synergy with Saudi Arabia. He emphasized the potential for collaboration in grid connectivity, renewable energy, food security, semiconductors, and supply chains.

    The meeting involved senior officials from Saudi Arabia, including Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and Minister of Investment Khalid al-Falih. Falih mentioned the possibility of establishing an office for Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, in India’s tax-neutral financial services center, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City.

    Furthermore, the Saudi Export-Import Bank (Saudi EXIM) and the India Export-Import Bank (India EXIM) signed an agreement to boost exports and mutual market presence.

    This gathering followed the announcement of a multinational rail and ports deal involving India, Saudi Arabia, the United States, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and other global leaders. The deal aims to connect the Middle East and South Asia through the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, enhancing connectivity and reducing shipping costs.

    US President Joe Biden viewed this agreement as a significant step and a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

  • ‘It’s disturbing that a film like The Kashmir Files is so popular’: Naseeruddin Shah

    ‘It’s disturbing that a film like The Kashmir Files is so popular’: Naseeruddin Shah

    Bollywood’s venerated thespian Naseeruddin Shah has spoken out against the rising popularity of propaganda films like ‘The Kerala Story’ and ‘The Kashmir Files’, both of which revolve around Islamophobic content. The former centers around the debunked claim that thousands of women in the state of Kerala were forced to convert to Islam and then recruited into ISIS. ‘The Kashmir Files’, a film about the mass evacuation of Hindus from Indian-occupied Kashmir, was slammed by critics for distorting facts.

    “Now the more jingoist you are, the more popular you become, because this is what has been ruling this country. It’s not enough to love your country but beat drums about it and you have to create imaginary enemies,” the veteran actor said while speaking to Free Press Journal.

    Shah said that filmmakers behind ‘The Kerala Story’ or ‘The Kashmir Files’ don’t realise that what they’re doing is harmful.

    “In fact, films like Kerala Story and Gadar 2, I haven’t seen them, but I know what they are about. It’s disturbing that films like Kashmir Files are so massively popular whereas movies made by Sudhir Mishra, Anubhav Sinha and Hansal Mehta, who are trying to portray the truth of their times, don’t get seen.”

    The ‘Masoom’ actor described the current environment “frightening” considering how filmmakers today are resorting to making movies on baseless accusations that trample down other communities:

    “It’s hard to resort to abstraction and capture life as it is. So regressive is a pretty mild word for what’s going on. It’s frightening when filmmakers are being coopted into making films which praise all the wrong things and run down other communities for no reason at all. It’s a dangerous trend.”

    The actor had previously written an open letter about the accusations of love-jihad on his 41-year-long marriage to Hindu wife Ratna Pathak, saying that he and his family were supportive of his wife’s decision to remain a Hindu.

    “As it happened, the subject of my wife Ratna converting to Islam was brought up just once by my mother and that as enquiry, to which, on receiving a reply in the negative, she concurred with a ‘Haan, mazhab kaise badla jaa sakta hai.’ Whether this statement of a woman weaned exclusively on a diet of the Quran makes more sense than the hate-filled rhetoric of ‘Hindus and Muslims cannot live together’, I will leave to the judgement of the reader.”

    READ MORE: Naseeruddin Shah opens up about ‘love jihad’ accusations on marriage to Ratna Pathak

  • Working women, pay heed to this excellent advice from Bushra Ansari

    Working women, pay heed to this excellent advice from Bushra Ansari

    Bushra Ansari keeps aging with grace and confidence, giving us more reasons to love her. Her stellar comedy skills, her decades long career, and her blunt advice to empower women keeps proving she’s the GOAT. Recently, during an appearance at ‘The Talk Talk Show’, the actress spoke in depth about two prevailing topics that more working women should take her advise on: remembering that its okay to want to work after marriage, and that the right to divorce was granted to them by Islam.

    On the show she discussed the basics of establishing a flourishing career while also remaining a full-time mom. The ‘Tere Bin’ actress said that aside from performing on screen, she kept working as a full time mother and a housewife who cooked food and dropped her kids to school. Her advice to stay-at-home mothers, especially women working in the showbiz industry, was to keep multi-tasking in different roles.

    “Allah has given us a lot of abilities so we should keep searching for them. This is the advice I also give to girls working in showbiz to keep working after marriage, whether or not they start a family.”

    Bushra elaborated that women shouldn’t stop after getting married or after having a child, giving examples of several actors who have done the same. “I worked on my career and raised my children along with this. Along side with Rubina Ashraf, Samina Ahmed, Saba Hamid. We continued to work, while also taking care of our children.”

    The ‘Dolly Ki Aegi Barat’ spoke about her divorce from her husband of 36 years, reflecting on her Nikah, when her father made sure to include the ‘right to divorce’ clause. The actress elaborated that in contradiction to what society thinks, the Quran has given women a lot of rights in Islam.

    “The right to divorce is written in the Nikkah, which is cut out. When someone is getting married, they can chose to have the right to divorce. This is initiated when a discussion is held with the boy’s family, because they can give you this right. It’s not that a woman can just hand over a divorce, but its a granted right given by her husband and in-laws. So this is something I feel even the boy’s side of the family should understand.”

    Ansari said using the right to divorce was not an easy task because ending a marriage can be painful “I had the right to divorce from the first day, but I spent 36 years in my marriage. I would have used it in a snap but no one wants to separate this way. But when the time came, I used this right.”

  • Journalist questions US ‘internal matter’ response to Imran’s arrest, compares to other countries

    Journalist questions US ‘internal matter’ response to Imran’s arrest, compares to other countries

    Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US State Department, was recently questioned about his country’s “subdued and muted” response to former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest.

    In a recent press briefing, a journalist asked Miller about whether he thought Khan got a fair trial. To this, Miller responded by saying, “We think it’s an internal matter for Pakistan. And we continue to call for the respect of democratic principles, human rights and rule of law in Pakistan, as we do around the world.”

    The journalist then said, “Some people describe that response as subdued and muted,” asking if that was because of Imran Khan’s criticism of the USA when he was Prime Minister.

    “I think our response to this arrest and his previous arrest have been consistent,” Miller replied, repeating again that it was an internal matter for Pakistan.

    Another journalist then asks, “How is that different from the Navalny case,” referring to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for allegedly funding an extremist organisation. The US had strongly condemned Navalny’s detention.

    Miller replied, “There are times when the case is so obviously unfounded that the United States believes it should say something about the matter. We have not made that determination here.”

  • Arif Alvi, establishment strike deal?

    Arif Alvi, establishment strike deal?

    Senior analyst Muzamil Suharwardy has alleged that President Arif Alvi will announce the election date very soon as part of a deal he has striken with the establishment.

    During a programme on Naya Daur TV, the analyst said that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum met with President Alvi to finalize a deal between both parties. President Alvi will not voice any objections regarding the Official Secret Act and Army Act, Suharwardy narrated.

    The analyst also said that the President asked the establishment to provide a smooth path so that he could face the public with dignity. Not objecting to the Official Secret Act and Army Act will be part of the agreement.

    According to Suharwardy, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will file a plea stating that the president has no right to announce the election date. The matter will then shift to the Supreme Court (SC), where the upcoming chief justice, Qazi Faez Esa has already said that no such case can be heard until the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Bill case is finalized.

    Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial will consequently face criticism from both the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

    “A fixed match will be played between President Alvi and the establishment,” Suharwardy said.

  • Punishments of military officers behind overthrowing Benazir Bhutto’s government upheld

    Punishments of military officers behind overthrowing Benazir Bhutto’s government upheld

    The Supreme Court of Pakistan has upheld the sentences of military officers involved in the conspiracy to overthrow the government of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

    A hearing was held in the Supreme Court against the punishment of the officers involved in the conspiracy to overthrow Benazir Bhutto’s government.

    Supreme Court judge Muneeb Akhtar read out the reserved judgment on February 15.

    The court dismissed the appeals against the sentences of Colonel (retd) Azad Minhas and Colonel (retd) Inayatullah.

    It should be noted that after the petitions were rejected by the Lahore High Court, the petitioners approached the Supreme Court in 2016.

    A Field Court Martial had sentenced Azad Minhas to two years, Inayatullah to four years imprisonment with hard labor and dismissal from service. 

    Both former army officers were prosecuted in 1995 for plotting to overthrow Benazir Bhutto’s government.

    The two officers, alongside retired Maj Gen Zaheerul Islam Abbasi, now deceased, and Brig Mustansir Billah, were arrested on September 26, 1995 on charges of “plotting to storm a meeting of corps commanders scheduled to be held on September 30 that year at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi”.