Current Final

Author: News Desk

  • Pakistan ‘played good cricket’ despite England’s 3-0 win: Brendon McCullum

    Pakistan ‘played good cricket’ despite England’s 3-0 win: Brendon McCullum

    The last Test match of the historic series between Pakistan and England was won by the visiting team by eight wickets at the National Bank Cricket Arena in Karachi. This gave the visiting team a 3-0 series victory.

    For the first time ever, Pakistan was thoroughly defeated at home in a Test series. In addition, it is the first time in the previous 22 years that England has triumphed in a Test series against Pakistan.

    The Babar Azam-led team’s campaign for the 2021–23 ICC World Test Championship final, which is set to take place at Lord’s in the year 2023, has also come to an end as a result of the series loss.

    Pakistan has had trouble winning Test series this year because to its struggles in red-ball cricket. Earlier this year, they suffered a 0-1 home loss to Australia, while the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka ended in a draw.

    Regarding the third game, only the captain managed to get a half-century as Pakistan was bowled out for 304 runs in the first innings. In response, England lost early wickets but gained a 50-run lead thanks to their tailenders.

    Rehan Ahmad, a debutant leg-spinner, grabbed five wickets for 48 runs to help the home team collapse in the second innings and be dismissed for 215 runs.

    The team captained by Ben Stokes had a 170 run target to reach in two days, which they did with the loss of two wickets. Zak Crawley scored 41 runs off of 41 while Ben Duckett quickly scored 75 runs at a strike rate of over 100.

    England’s head coach Brendon McCullum said that Pakistan played well despite England’s 3-0 win against the home team, according to Geo Super.

    “I think Pakistan has actually played some really good cricket throughout the series. If we look at all three Test matches, I think there was some defining moments in each of those Tests. And, whilst we might have maybe dominated a little bit more throughout the series, I think, Pakistan certainly had their opportunities and played their part,” he said.

    “I look at it from a holistic point of view, I think the series has been a really watchable one for people around the around the world and Test cricket has always been like that. I take my hat off to Pakistan for the part that I’ve played in it and obviously to our boys for how we’ve played also,” McCullum added.

  • Bannu hostage situation: Forces kill the terrorists

    Security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have managed to free the hostages being held by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) inside the Counter-Terrorism Department’s (CTD) compound in Bannu.

    Defence Minister Khawaja Asif confirmed that “all the terrorists” have been killed.

    During the operation, an exchange of fire left several security men injured.

    The defence minister said that a unit of the army’s Special Service Group (SSG) carried out the operation, in which 10-15 of its commandos were injured while two were martyred.

    Earlier in the day, an operation had been launched to free the hostages held by the militants.

    Hospitals in the vicinity have been put on high alert and mobile services have also been blocked in the area.

    What happened in Bannu?

    On Sunday, militants detained at a facility run by KP police’s CTD in on Sunday took over the department, held interrogators hostage and demanded safe evacuation to Afghanistan.

    After taking over, the militants shot at security personnel inside the facility, injuring a policeman and a soldier. The outlawed TTP claimed responsibility for the incident.

    According to news reports, the militants managed to break out of lockup and held security personnel hostage. After the incident, police and security forces rushed to the spot but failed to free the hostages.

    Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Special Assistant to KP Chief Minister, said that talks between Pakistani officials and the leadership of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are underway in Afghanistan, however, there is no breakthrough as yet.

    He also confirmed that a security official was killed in the Bannu compound by the militants and said that the government had engaged the militants to avoid casualties.

    The area where CTD is located has been sealed and residents have been asked to stay indoors. Internet services have been suspended in the city.

    Moreover, roads leading to and from Bannu Cantonment have been blocked.

  • ‘Youth ko sabaq seekhna chaahiye’: Twitterati reacts to Imran Khan’s alleged sex audio leak

    ‘Youth ko sabaq seekhna chaahiye’: Twitterati reacts to Imran Khan’s alleged sex audio leak

    The season of audio leaks never really ends in Pakistan. On Monday, December 19, a recording of former Prime Minister Imran Khan allegedly indulging in a graphic conversation of a sexual nature surfaced on social media.

    Khan can be allegedly heard talking to an unidentified woman on the phone call. The brief recording sent Twitterati into a frenzy, spurring a flurry of responses. While many questioned if the audio was fake, others were of the opinion that no one’s privacy could be breached in this manner.

    Here are some of the reactions:

    Maheen Ghani tweeted, “Political differences aside. I stand by IK on this. It’s a despicable invasion of privacy, unwarranted and highly condemnable.”

    A female Twitter user was of the view that audio leaks were a grand corruption of the society and our political system.

    https://twitter.com/AasmaaHaq/status/1605074317024366592?s=20&t=kuRxzIsxvhZO33dbBrz61Q

    Another twitter user said that she always hated Imran Khan but she condemns the violation of his privacy.

    One Tweet said that he prays that the audio is fake and that if in any way it is true then the youth of the country should learn from such incidents.

  • ‘Elahi has lost confidence’: No trust-motion submitted against Punjab CM

    ‘Elahi has lost confidence’: No trust-motion submitted against Punjab CM

    The Opposition in Punjab Assembly (PA) submitted a no-confidence motion against Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi in the late hours of Monday.

    The magic number required to show majority in the assembly is 186 with Elahi seemingly ahead in numbers. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has the support of 180 members while Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has the backing of its 10 members, taking the government alliance in Punjab to a total of 190 Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs).

    Apart from Elahi, a separate no-trust motion was also submitted against PA Speaker Sibtain Khan and Deputy Speaker Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi.

    Legally, a submitted resolution would bar the chief minister from dissolving the assembly until the motion is voted upon.

    Immediately, after the submission of the no-trust motion, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman directed the chief minister to seek a vote of confidence from the assembly on December 21 (tomorrow).

    In an order, shared by the PML-N on its Twitter handle, the governor said that the chief minister has “lost the confidence of his party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and members of his own party belonging to the PML-Q.”

    “It is widely known that over the last few weeks serious differences of opinion erupted between two coalition parties of the ruling alliance in the Punjab Assembly i.e. PTI and PML-Q regarding political strategies, dissolution of the assembly, development schemes, and transfers of public officials,” it stated.

    The order also highlighted that the CM had said earlier that he is not going to dissolve the provincial assembly until March 2023 “a position which is completely at odds with the PTI’s public opinion on the issue.”

    The order also referred to CM Elahi’s recent criticism of Imran Khan regarding Khan’s negative comments on ex-Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

    On Saturday, Khan announced December 23 as the date for the dissolution of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) assemblies. However, with this new development, a delay may be expected now.

  • BJP leader places Rs2 crore bounty on Bilawal Bhutto’s head for calling Modi ‘butcher of Gujarat’

    BJP leader places Rs2 crore bounty on Bilawal Bhutto’s head for calling Modi ‘butcher of Gujarat’

    Manupal Hansal, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Uttar Pradesh, has placed a Rs 2 crore bounty on the head of Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, stating that Indian people are angry at the minister’s remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    “Mai ailaan karta hoon ke jo uss mantri Bilawal Bhutto ka dhar se sar alag karega, 2 crore ka inaam mai doonga” [I declare that I will give a reward of ₹2 crore to anyone who will behead Minister Bilawal Bhutto], Hansal had said.

    The BJP also held protests across India and in front of the Pakistan Embassy in New Delhi, burning effigies of the Pakistani foreign minister.

    Minister of Climate Change Sherry Rehman has condemned Hansal’s remarks in a tweet, saying that this was a testament of “the shocking impunity that extremism enjoys for doing only what terrorists do in Modi’s RSS-defined India”.

    In an interview with “Bloomberg“, Bilawal Bhutto stood by his statement about Modi by pointing out that what he had said was “a historical fact”. He also pointed out that the term “butcher of Gujarat” had not been coined by him, but by the people of Gujarat after the 2002 Godhra incident. He further added that he was aware of the bounty a BJP leader had placed on his head.

    “I was referring to a historical reality. The remarks I used weren’t my own. I did not invent the term ‘butcher of Gujarat’ for Mr Modi. The Muslims of India following the Gujarat riots used that term for Mr Modi. I believe I was referring to a historical fact and they believe that repeating history is a personal insult. If I was incorrect then … So what has happened today… it’s been two days since my remark, a member of Mr Modi’s party has announced 20 million rupee bounty on my head. So I don’t think the best way to disapprove the fact that Mr Modi is the butcher of Gujarat is to adopt such extreme steps,” he said in the interview.

    When the interviewer had further questioned Bilawal on whether these comments might further sour relations with India and even the possibility of nuclear war, the FM pointed out that Indian citizens had the right to protest, but the threat to his life was very problematic:

    “As far as my remarks concerned they resulted in protests all over India and that’s their right. I think you cross the line when you officially announce head money for your neighboring country’s foreign minister’s assassination. I think that’s a line we’re normalizing in crossing and the fact that we get to move on from that question is troubling for me when I’m engaging with Bloomberg which is an important international forum. As far as nuclear war no one has threatened nuclear war. A minister did say that Pakistan is a responsible nuclear country and should be treated as such.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZKjz4SUs7s&t=436s

    At a press conference in New York on December 16, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had responded to accusations that Pakistan had sheltered Osama bin Laden by pointing out that Modi, who is regarded as ‘butcher of Gujarat’ is still the Prime Minister of India:

    “I would like to remind Mr Jaishankar that Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the prime minister (of India).”

  • Govt announces shut down of markets, restaurants at 8pm to save energy

    Govt announces shut down of markets, restaurants at 8pm to save energy

    The federal government on Tuesday announced a plan to save energy. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that all the markets and restaurants across the country will be shut down at 8pm. 

    Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and Advisor to the Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira were also present at the media briefing.

    “If 20% of the workers are sent for work from home on a rotational basis, this will save Rs56 billion,” said the minister.

    Pharmacies have been exempted from these restrictions.

    “The government is also introducing e-bikes, which will phase out the bikes that use petrol. The government is negotiating with companies to phase out the bikes that use petrol and modify the existing bikes,” said Asif.

    A definitive strategy on that, however, is anticipated to be announced on Thursday when the federal government finalises its consultations with all provincial governments.

    “Pakistan’s cabinet decides to take energy conservation measures that will save billions of rupees and burn less fossil fuels. Energy is a huge carbon emitter. Committee will take pathways to the provinces and report back in two days,” tweeted Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman.

  • Pakistan stocks lose more than 1,400 points due to political uncertainty

    Pakistan stocks lose more than 1,400 points due to political uncertainty

    Political unrest caused significant selling pressure on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), which saw the benchmark KSE-100 Index lose more than 1,400 points on Tuesday during trading.

    The KSE-100 Index was down 1,432.25 points, or 3.5 per cent, at 39,538.57 around 3 o’clock, below the 40,000-mark, according to the PSX website.

    Investors were under pressure to sell their shares across the board due to Pakistan’s escalating political unpredictability and economic uncertainties.

    For a while now, there has been pressure on the market. Just last week, the benchmark KSE-100 Index dropped nearly 550 points due to domestic and global events, and the PSX experienced intense selling pressure. On Friday, it increased to close higher, but this week started off negatively once more.

    Experts claim that market pressure is resulting from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-(PTI) Insaf’s announcement that it will dissolve the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, according to Brecorder.

    In particular, the pressure has intensified since Monday’s event.

    A worsening economic crisis is accompanied by louder political clamour as foreign exchange reserves drop to dangerously low levels and negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) keep getting postponed.

    Analysts have also stated that although the World Bank’s approval of $1.692 billion for flood relief efforts in Sindh should have had a positive effect, political commotion is also obscuring this good news.

    Pakistan’s stock market is expected to remain under pressure till Friday until clarity is achieved on the political front.

  • Malaysian state to punish women for ‘dressing like men’, getting pregnant outside of marriage

    A state in Malaysia has passed new laws that will punish Muslim women for having a child outside marriage and for dressing like men. The laws have been passed in Malaysia’s Terengganu state.


    According to Satiful Bahari Mamat, a state religious official, the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) government has mandated that women who wear men’s clothing or have children while not married to their partners will be subject to fines upto roughly $1,130, three years in prison, six lashes, or any combination of the three.


    He further added that the new laws are meant to better protect “the well-being of Muslims,” adding that they were enacted because previous laws only pertained to men acting like women.


    “Because in the past, there might not have been much of this issue (women acting like men),” he added. “But we see now that ‘pengkid’ (tomboy or lesbian) cases and the like are becoming more widespread, so the state government intends to curb this issue.”

  • Twitter reacts to the New York “Nepo Baby” cover story with some hilarious memes

    Twitter reacts to the New York “Nepo Baby” cover story with some hilarious memes

    The New York magazine published a cover story today titled “The Year of the Nepo Baby” which shed light on the various ways nepo babies had utilized connections to make their name in the Hollywood entertainment industry.

    A nepo baby is someone who is born to famous parents, and later these connections benefit them in establishing their own career in Hollywood, or to create a large following on their social media accounts.

    The article broke down how different popular actors benefited from their parents connections in cementing their own mark in Hollywood. For instance singer/actor Miley Cyrus is the daughter of famous country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and actor Dakota Johnson the daughter of established actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith.

    The article shed light on how children of celebrities are able to get roles in movies of their choice without auditioning since they name drop their parents, which grants them access that many people are unable to achieve.

    Twitter users had a lot of hilarious reactions to some hilarious revelations of the article, and we are sharing some hard-to-miss ones with you!

    https://twitter.com/AppleTVPlus/status/1605000053822984192?s=20&t=OjUCr2D8v1sefpNhB0HEHA
    https://twitter.com/gaoladipo/status/1604915574248800283?s=20&t=OjUCr2D8v1sefpNhB0HEHA
    https://twitter.com/digitaIwings/status/1604880489436876800?s=20&t=OjUCr2D8v1sefpNhB0HEHA
    https://twitter.com/wtffaria/status/1605023663652470784?s=20&t=OjUCr2D8v1sefpNhB0HEHA

  • ‘Ready to assist Pakistan with TTP threats’: US urges militants to release hostages

    ‘Ready to assist Pakistan with TTP threats’: US urges militants to release hostages

    The United States (US) has offered to help Pakistan in dealing with the threats posed by militant outfits.

    “Well, first, we are aware of the ongoing situation in Pakistan. We’ve been closely following reports that militants have seized control of the counterterrorism centre in Bannu. We offer our deepest sympathies to those injured,” said State Department Spokesperson Ned Price.

    Last week at least four police personnel were martyred and as many others wounded in an overnight terrorist attack on the Bargai police station of Lakki Marwat. Terrorists launched an armed assault on the police station from two sides. A fierce exchange of fire took place between the police and the outlaws, leaving four police officers dead and as many injured.

    On Sunday, militants detained at a facility run by Khyber Pakhtun­khwa police’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Bannu took over the department, held interrogators hostage, demanding a safe evacuation to Afghanistan. The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have claimed responsibility for the incident.

    “The government of Pakistan is a partner when it comes to these shared concerns, including the challenge of terrorist groups inside Afghanistan… terrorist groups along the Afghan-Pakistan border… we stand ready to assist, whether with this unfolding situation or other situations,” said Price.

    “We offer our deepest sympathies to those injured. We urge those responsible to cease all acts of violence, release the hostages and end the seizure of the counterterrorism centre,” he said.

    US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price made these remarks at a news briefing, hours after Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari reached Washington for talks with US officials.