Author: News Desk

  • Elon Musk disables Twitter Spaces after clash with journalists

    Elon Musk disables Twitter Spaces after clash with journalists

    Twitter Inc.’s live audio platform, Twitter Spaces, is down after many journalists who had just had their accounts suspended learned they could still participate in it.

    Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, announced late on Thursday that the company was resolving an old fault and that the audio service “should be working tomorrow.”

    Earlier, Musk’s network suspended journalists for seven days, including those from CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, for allegedly leaking the whereabouts of his private jet.

    Drew Harwell of the Washington Post and Matt Binder of Mashable, two of the suspended reporters, joined BuzzFeed News reporter Katie Notopoulos on Twitter Spaces to discuss the sudden wave of suspensions.

    They could no longer post new tweets and their old ones were no longer viewable, but they could still interact with other users on the Spaces site.

    Musk also joined the session after it attracted thousands of listeners to bluntly state that anyone who doxxes—gives another person’s personal location information—will be suspended. The journalists said that they had not posted any real-time flight data, as Musk alleged, but by then the billionaire had quit the call.

    The live session drew more than 40,000 listeners at its peak.

  • ‘So Sick’ Shaniera Akram calls out Feroze Khan for driving with his child in lap

    ‘So Sick’ Shaniera Akram calls out Feroze Khan for driving with his child in lap

    Social Activist, Shaniera Akram took to Instagram stories to call actor Feroze Khan for driving with his minor in his lap.

    Akram, in a series of Instagram stories talked about the dangers involved while driving with a minor.

    “If your child survives, chances are they will have hit their head so hard they will have a brain injury for life. Why, WHY would anyone ever even risk that? Your child doesn’t know what’s right, but you do! Don’t be an idiot, children are not TOYS!” she said.

    She also clarified that she has nothing against celebrities. “But if and when they blatantly do dangerous things that puts children’s lives at risk and post them doing it its not ok and I can not ignore it. If you are in the public eye, you have a responsibility to the public. You actions influences fans to think what you are doing is ok. Putting your life and children’s lives at risk is not ok EVER!” 

  • ‘Will not join politics after [the] two-year bar nor afterwards’: Gen Faiz Hameed

    ‘Will not join politics after [the] two-year bar nor afterwards’: Gen Faiz Hameed

    Former Director-General (DG) of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), General (retd) Faiz Hameed clarified that all speculations about his joining politics or leading the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were false. “I will not join politics after two-year bar nor afterward,” he categorically said, reports The News.

    On Thursday, a video of the former spy chief went viral on social media, showing the General attending a gathering in his native village Latifal in Chakwal. An unidentied person, addressing the gathering, praised the retired general for his services in the military and for all he did for the development of the area. The speaker requested the retired Faiz Hameed to join politics and play a role in the development of the country.

    “We will be with you throughout, and we practically want you to join politics and serve the people like you did when you were in service. We want that once you join politics, people should know that you are back and are helping the people way more than they can imagine,” said the unknown man in the video. The retired General, who is seated on a sofa, smiles back.

    Lt Gen (retd) Faiz had retired from service after General Asim Munir took command of the Pakistan Army as the chief of army staff.

    The former DG ISI had requested early retirement after the prime minister had approved Gen Asim Munir and Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza’s elevation to the four-star rank.

    His application for early retirement was approved on December 2 after the Defence Ministry forwarded his request to the premier.

  • Punjab Food Authority slaps school canteens with hefty fines for selling low-quality food items

    Punjab Food Authority slaps school canteens with hefty fines for selling low-quality food items

    Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has sealed a school canteen for using reused oil, slapped 97 canteens with hefty fines, and issued warning notices for improvement to more than 400 others during a province-wide inspection drive against the school canteens.

    Food safety teams inspected 632 school canteens, including 220 in Lahore, 176 in Rawalpindi, and 236 in Multan, on the directives of PFA DG Mudassar Riaz Malik.

    According to The News, PFA teams also visited numerous cafeterias and canteens in Lahore Gulberg for inspection under the supervision of its director general. The authority imposed an emergency prohibition order on a school canteen since it was using reused oil and violating the Punjab Pure Food Regulations.

    According to Mudassar, PFA has classified the food items being sold in schools into three categories: red, yellow, and green.

    In order to protect children’s bones and prevent them from contracting fatal diseases, he said, PFA prohibited coloured snacks, unhealthy cola/carbonated and energy drinks, gutka, betel nuts, and ice-lollies from being sold in school canteens.

  • ‘Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the PM of India’: Bilawal Bhutto tells Indian Minister

    ‘Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the PM of India’: Bilawal Bhutto tells Indian Minister

    Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari slammed Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi in response to his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s accusations about Pakistan perpetuating terrorism and sheltering Osama bin Laden.

    “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),” said Bilawal at a press conference in New York on Thursday.

    “He (Narendra Modi) was banned from entering this country (the United States). These are the prime minister and foreign minister of RSS, which draws inspiration from Hitler’s SS,” he added.

    “In India, who perpetuates terrorism? Is it Pakistan? Ask the people of Gujrat; they will say it is their prime minister. Ask the people of Kashmir; they will say the butcher of Gujrat is now the butcher of Kashmir. I am not talking about some imaginary past; I am talking about today. They are not even attempting to wash the blood of the people of Gujrat from their hands for their own election campaign. Prime Minister Modi and his government have used their power to pardon the men who raped Muslims in Gujrat. The prime minister of India freed those rapists and terrorists.”

    “The Indian government does not believe in Gandhi’s ideology, but rather in the doctrines of his assassin,” said Bilawal.

    https://twitter.com/IbrarAMir3/status/1603491220566728727?s=20&t=RDyV6PKM20nB5RI-D5977w

    Jaishankar remarks on Pakistan came after State Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said that India is a “rogue state” that projects itself as greatest victim of terrorism but is the perpetrator of it. Jaishankr said that Khar’s remarks reminded him of the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Islamabad more than a decade ago when she reminded Pakistan that “if you have snakes in your backyard, you cannot expect them to bite only your neighbours”.

    He claimed that Pakistan was “not great at listening to good advice … and now look what’s happening there. Today, it’s the epicentre of terrorism … and has its fingerprints over a lot of activities in the region and beyond”.

    Urging Pakistan not to blame others, the Indian minister asked: “How long Pakistan intends to practice [terrorism] and hide it by taking that debate elsewhere? Please clean up your act. Please try to be a good neighbour.”

    “We have lost far more lives to terrorism than India did,” said Bhutto-Zardari while pointing out that “India has been playing in the space” that has made it “very easy” to bracket Muslims with terrorism. “India has very skilfully blurred this line, making like us all are terrorists who are actually victims.”

    The Pakistani foreign minister noted that India has continuously perpetuated this philosophy, not just for Pakistan but Muslims in India too.

    The foreign minister said that Pakistan is proud of its achievements in the war against terrorism, as the country has taken concrete steps in connection with the National Action Plan for counterterrorism.

    He said that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) endorsed Pakistan’s measures taken to stem terror financing. Bilawal also said that it is wrong to blame the Muslim world for terrorism as terrorism doesn’t belong to any religion or region.

    He pointed out that terrorism has mainly targeted Muslims since 2001. Also, there were incidents where Chinese citizens were targeted in Karachi, he said.

    Highlighting the post-flood situation in Pakistan, the foreign minister said some areas of Balochistan and Sindh are still waterlogged. The massive flooding adversely impacted health, education and basic infrastructure.

    Assistance from the international community is crucial for Pakistan in coping with the challenge of rehabilitation and reconstruction of the victims, he asserted.

  • Soch Hai Apki: Which players are included in the PSL Season 8?

    Soch Hai Apki: Which players are included in the PSL Season 8?

    The draft of the season 8 of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) took place in Karachi on Thursday. All six franchises selected their picks.
    Have a look at the complete squads of all the teams:

    Lahore Qalandars:

    Shaheeen Shah Afridi (c), Haris Rauf, Rashid Khan, David Wiese, Kamran Ghulam,  Zaman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Hussain Talat, Sikandar Raza, Liam Dawson, Dilbar Hussain, Mirza Tahir Baig, Ahmed Daniyal, Shawaiz Irfan, Jordan Cox, Jalat Khan

    Peshawar Zalmi:

    Babar Azam (c), Sherfane Rutherford, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Haris, Aamir Jamal, Salman Irshad, Tom-Kohler Cadmore, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Rovman Powell, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Danish Aziz, Arshad Iqbal, Saim Ayub, Usman Qadir, Suifyan Muqeem, Haseeb Ullah, Jimmy Neesham

    Multan Sultans: 

    Mohammad Rizwan, Khushdil Shah, Rilee Rossouw, Shan Masood, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tim David, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah, David Miller, Joshua Little, Akeal Hosein, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Sameen Gul, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Sarwar, Adil Rashid, Arafat Minhas

    Islamabad United:

    Shadab Khan (C), Asif Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Colin Munro, Paul Stirling, Alex Hales, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abrar Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood, Rumman Raees, Zeeshan Zamir, Hassan Nawaz, Moeen Ali, Mubasir Khan

    Quetta Gladiators:

    Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, Jason Roy, Mohammad Hasnain, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Naveen ul Haq, Umar Akmal, Will Smeed, Wanindu Hasaranga, Naseem Shah, Odean Smith, Ahsan Ali, Umaid Asif, Muhammad Zahid, Abdul Bangalzai, Aimal Khan, Martin Guptill, Omair Bin Yousuf

    Karachi Kings

    Imad Wasim (c), Haider Ali, Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik, Aamir Yamin, Mir Hamza, Sharjeel Khan, Qasim Akram, Matthew Wade, Imran Tahir, James Vince, James Fuller, Andrew Tye, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Akhlaq, Irfan Khan Niazi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Mohammad Umar

  • Pakistan is not ‘pursuing or receiving’ any discounted energy from Russia: FM Bilawal Bhutto

    Pakistan is not ‘pursuing or receiving’ any discounted energy from Russia: FM Bilawal Bhutto

    Pakistan is not “pursuing or receiving” any discounted energy from Russia, according to Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is in the US for a seven-day visit.

    Earlier, State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik had announced that Russia had decided to provide crude oil, petrol, and diesel to Pakistan at lesser rates.

    He had stated that specific terms and conditions of the discounted oil commodities will be decided upon during the upcoming visit of the Russian energy minister to Islamabad by mid-January, but that prices would be on par with or even lower than those being offered to other nations, according to Geo.

    Before that meeting, Malik had stated, the two parties would refine their ideas to the point at which an executive summary or an agreement could be signed and supplies would begin to flow.

    As winter approaches, Pakistan struggles to meet domestic gas supply needs while also trying to control a current account deficit that has been swollen by energy purchases, largely for oil.

    Because spot prices are still out of reach for the nation and shipments under long-term contracts are still insufficient to meet the expanding demand, the nation has been unable to purchase liquefied natural gas from the international market.

    In an interview, the PPP chairman said: “As far as Russia is concerned, we aren’t pursuing or receiving any discounted energy, but we are facing an extremely difficult economic situation, inflation, pump prices.”

    However, he acknowledged Pakistan’s energy insecurity. “We are exploring various avenues to expand our areas where we can get our energy from,” FM Bilawal said, adding that “any energy from Russia will take a long time for us to develop.”

  • Fire breaks out on stage during wedding ceremony in Gujranwala

    Fire breaks out on stage during wedding ceremony in Gujranwala

    A short circuit in electric wiring caused a fire to break out on stage during a wedding ceremony in Gujranwala.

    According to media reports, plastic flowers used for decorating the stage added fuel to the fire.

    A video of the blaze, in which people are putting out the fire themselves, went viral on social media.

    Fortunately, all the guests remained safe and the fire was finally put out.

  • ‘Haq mehr me 15 lakh’: Indian actor Faizan Ansari wants to marry Pakistani Tiktoker Ayesha

    ‘Haq mehr me 15 lakh’: Indian actor Faizan Ansari wants to marry Pakistani Tiktoker Ayesha

    Indian actor Faizan Ansari has expressed his desperate wish to marry Pakistani TikTok sensation, Ayesha Mano.

    In a video shared by an Indian media outlet on social media, Ansari said he was making arrangements to visit Pakistan to propose Ayesha. Ansari said he would give INR Rs1.5 million to Ayesha as Haq Mehar if she agrees to marry him.

    For the unversed, Ayesha’s dance video at her friend’s wedding ceremony went viral on the internet, garnering millions of views. Her groovy dance steps have forced Indians and Pakistanis to dance to Lata Mangeshkar’s classic hit song.

    She was recently invited by Nida Yasir on her morning show, Good Morning Pakistan.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=votNCjjDXxI&t=14s
  • Govt slashes petrol price by Rs10 to Rs214.80 per litre

    Govt slashes petrol price by Rs10 to Rs214.80 per litre

    The federal government on Thursday announced a reduction in the price of petroleum products by up to Rs10.

    Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that the price of high-speed diesel (HSD) will be decreased by Rs7.5, petrol by Rs10, kerosene oil by Rs10, and light diesel oil (LDO) by Rs10.

    After the reduction, the new price of HSD would be Rs227.80 per litre, petrol Rs214.80 per litre, kerosene oil Rs171.83 per liter, and LDO Rs169 per litre.

    According to the details, new prices would be implemented at midnight tonight.

    The reduction follows a decline in global oil prices. Brent crude prices were down 33 cents or 0.4 per cent at $82.37 a barrel as of December 15 at 1453 GMT, while US crude futures were down 43 cents or 0.6 per cent at $76.85.

    After a Pakistani delegation visited Moscow earlier this week, sources indicated that Russia had confirmed the availability of 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day to Pakistan.

    They also stated that a delegation from Moscow would travel to Islamabad in January to negotiate the terms of a deal, including prices and the method of payment.