A newly married Pakistani couple are going viral for a unique reason. Azlan Shah has given his wife a baby donkey to his wife Warisha Javed Khan as a wedding gift.
“I always knew that @warisha.jk loves baby donkeys so here’s a wedding gift to her from my side,” he wrote on an Instagram post while sharing the pictures of their big day.
“P.S: we didn’t separate this baby donkey from his mother, we brought her along,” the post added.
Twitter users are appreciating the ‘cute’ wedding gift.
On Thursday, the price of gold increased by 1.4 per cent to break the Rs166,000 per tola barrier as it proceeded to set new milestones.
According to figures provided by the All Pakistan Sarafa Gems and Jewellers Association (APSGJA), the price of gold increased by Rs2,250 per tola and Rs1,929 per 10 grams to settle at record highs of Rs166,400 and Rs142,661.
A day earlier, the price of gold reached a record high of Rs164,150 per tola as investors sought safety in the safe-haven metal amid growing worries about the nation’s economic situation getting worse.
In the meantime, domestic silver prices held steady at an all-time high of Rs1,860 per tola and Rs1,594.65 per 10 grams.
As the precious metal often reflects world prices, which have been under pressure this year as a result of the US Federal Reserve’s aggressive tightening efforts, the gold surge is particularly notable.
The price of gold increased by $10 per ounce on the global market, reaching $1,784.
The country’s gold prices were reaching new highs, but gold traders regret that the lucrative nature of the industry had vanished.
Here, only investors are purchasing gold. In contrast, artificial jewellery is being used during weddings and other rituals.
Germany kicked out of the World Cup in the group stages for the second successive tournament, they’re missing a standout goalscorer and they’re very much a side in transition.
However, according to Pakistani journalist Ahmer Naqvi, we absolutely should not be feeling sorry for them.
After analysing Germany’s recent elimination from the competition in great detail, Naqvi gained widespread attention.
The German team is the “angel of death” of football, according to Naqvi, as they have crushed more nation’s World Cup hopes than any other team.
He begins by outlining all the great footballing nations that were eliminated from the World Cup after falling to Germany by saying, “I’ll take us back in history a bit, right.”
He starts off with the great Hungary side of 1954 alongside Ferenc Puskas. They were defeated by West Germany despite being “one of the finest sides of all time.”
The journalist then discussed Johan Cruyff’s legendary 1974 Netherlands team, which is renowned for introducing the idea of complete football. They were eliminated once more by West Germany.
He continued by talking about France’s “golden square” team from 1982, which was defeated by Germany in the semi-final and was famed for playing with four in midfield. Germany and Austria also made sure Algeria was eliminated from the same event, ending the first-ever opportunity for an African team to go to the next round.
He also mentioned West Germany’s victories over Diego Maradona’s Argentina in 1990, the demise of South Korea in 2002, the defeat of England’s “golden generation” in 2010, and their resounding 7-1 victory over Brazil in 2014.
“Don’t have any sympathy for this team… If football was a video game, [Germany] would be the final boss… I will bring out the world’s smallest violin,” he adds.
The clip went down a storm with social media users, with one commenting: “I couldn’t give a monkeys about football but this is absolute solid gold entertainment and storytelling.”
Here are a few more reactions:
The first female judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, (SCP) Justice Ayesha A. Malik, has been listed as one of the 100 most influential and inspiring women of 2022 by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC ).
On Wednesday, BBC revealed the names of 100 influential and inspiring women from around the world who made it to the privileged list for this year. Among the honourees is Justice Malik, the only Pakistani woman to have been featured on the list.
The BBC highlighted that Justice Ayesha has authored judgments protecting the rights of women, including her “landmark judgment which banned the so-called two-finger test of rape victims” which was performed during the examination of sexual assault cases.
“Alongside her role on the Supreme Court, Malik also conducts training for judges around the world and has inaugurated conferences for women judges in Pakistan, encouraging debate around and including the gender perspective in the justice system”.
Earlier this year, the 56-year-old judge made history after being sworn in as the top court’s first female judge. She will become the first woman Chief Justice of Pakistan after Justice Yahya’s retirement in January 2030.
Her elevation to the apex court was hailed by human rights activists and civil society across the country.
Coke Studio Pakistan’s Pasoori has become the most Googled ‘hum to search’ song of 2022. Ali Sethi and Shae Gill’s iconic track has left behind chartbusters like BTS’ Butter, Siravali and Chaand Baaliyan.
Sethi and Coke Studio’s producer, Xulfi, former EP frontman, took to social media and expressed gratitude.
The greatest developments in search on the well-known search engine over the previous 11+ months are summarized in Google’s “Year in Search 2022.” Google has compiled a list of the top 10 searches in a variety of categories, including persons, movies, current events, and much more.
“Can’t thank the universe enough. Just can’t,” Xulfi shared while posting a screenshot of a news article. “And can’t thank all of you, the people, enough too. Ap subka dilse shukriya for giving us your love, your attention and your kindness that made our, your Coke Studio‘s Pasoori the most Googled song in the world in 2022.”
Adding how the song beat BTS’ track, the Waqt Crooner penned, “Surreal knowing that BTS is second in the list. It’s a music act we researched before the season. And then Imagine Dragons, one of my favourite music acts, is on the list too. Just unbelievable. Congratulations Team.”
The 14th installment of Coke Studio has been praised globally for its fresh take on the celebrated show. As Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan (Xulfi) held the reigns this year, there was one song that truly surpassed all expectations. Sethi and Gill’s Pasoori transcended borders and managed to win the hearts of fans the world over.
Daily Mail tendered an apology to Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif while withdrawing all allegations of corruption against him and his son-in-law Imran Ali Yousaf.
In an article published on July 4, 2019 Daily Mail had accused the Premier of “stealing British foreign aid money”.
The British publication also removed the said article, written by David Rose, from all platforms of Mail publishers.
The United Kingdom-based publication has failed to prove the allegations levelled by its journalist David Rose in an article against Premier Shehbaz about the alleged misappropriation of public funds.
Since the publication of the report, Shehbaz Sharif has maintained that he was not involved in any wrongdoing and also approached a court in the United Kingdom (UK) challenging the allegation — resulting in an apology from the newspaper.
Apology from the Daily Mail
In a clarification published on its website today, the British publication said: “In an article concerning Mr Shahbaz Sharif entitled ‘Did the family of Pakistani politician who has become the poster boy for British overseas aid STEAL funds meant for earthquake victims’ published on 14 July 2019 we reported on an investigation by Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau into Mr Sharif and suggested that the money under investigation included a not insubstantial sum of British public money that had been paid to the Punjab province in DFID grant aid.”
It said that the premier “has never been accused by the National Accountability Bureau of any wrongdoing in relation to British public money or DFID grant aid”.
“We are pleased to make this clear and apologise to Mr Sharif for this error,” Daily Mail added.
What did the article say in 2019?
In July 2019, UK’s Daily Mail newspaper accused Prime Minister Shehbaz of “embezzling tens of millions of pounds of public money and laundering it in Britain’”
The report, quoting Pakistani investigators, claimed that “some of the allegedly stolen money came from DFID-funded aid projects”.
The report — titled “Did the family of Pakistani politician who has become the poster boy for British overseas aid STEAL funds meant for earthquake victims, asks DAVID ROSE” — said the newspaper was given exclusive access to “some of the results of a high-level probe ordered by [then] prime minister Imran Khan”.
Sayed Zulfi Bukhari, a close aide of Imran Khan, the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has denied the authenticity of an audio recording between him and former First Lady Bushra Bibi which surfaced online earlier in the day.
In a tweet, he said that he has neither bought or sold any watches. “Earlier, it was being said that watches were sold to a person named Umar Zahoor through Farah Gujjar. But when a legal notice was served [to Zahoor], a new story popped up that I have sold the watches”, he said.
Bukhari went on to say that “even college students can make such cut-copy-paste audio”.
He also demanded that a forensic audit of the audio should be immediately conducted and he is “ready to pay for it”.
Prior to this, the audio got leaked, in which Bushra Bibi can be heard allegedly discussing selling Toshakhana watches with Bukhari. According to the clip, Bushra asks Zulfi to sell her husband’s watches as they are of no use to him. Zulfi Bukhari can be heard agreeing with his party chairman’s wife.
It is pertinent to mention here that this is the second time that Bushra Bibi’s audio got leaked. Earlier in the year, another alleged leaked audio of the former First Lady came to light in which she could be heard saying, “Khan Sahib told you to run a hashtag of treason. I have been getting calls from people that your social media was very active but after a week, it is not. You should have been very active nowadays.”
The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) found that 62 per cent of the male population of Pakistan aged between 15 to 24 years wants to leave the country.
The survey reveals that slightly more people in urban Pakistan (40%) than in rural Pakistan (36%) desire to leave the country.
Among the four provinces, the desire to leave the country is highest in Balochistan (42%), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Sindh.
The desire is lowest in Punjab but not by much.
Better income remains the top reason for both males and females to leave the country. “Looking for more income and equal/better all-around opportunities was not surprising but moving out to gain more respect was an unexpected response. At the national level, it is the second most reported reason for the desire to leave the country,” reads the research report.
The United States (US) has warned of action if the superpower sees “international terrorists regrouping in Afghanistan” while saying that US’ broader goal was to make sure that “terrorists and others aren’t able to use Afghanistan as a launch pad for attacks on Pakistan.”
US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price, in a press briefing, stated: “We also have capabilities when it comes to counterterrorism in the region that does not leave us entirely beholden to the Taliban.”
He also mentioned the killing of the al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri by a US strike in August this year to prove the superpower’s capabilities to act against terrorists.
The spokesperson also added that the Afghan Taliban had been “either unable or unwilling to live up to the commitments that they’ve made in a number of areas.”
Answering a question, Price said, “Of course, we’ve seen other groups also active. You mentioned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), among others. We are determined to work with our partners in the region, including Pakistan, to do what we can to take on the threat of terrorism in the region, and certainly the threat of terrorism that extends well beyond the region.”
Terming Pakistan an “important partner”, Price said that the US values its bilateral relationship with the country. “We welcome opportunities to expand cooperation in areas that are of mutual interest to us and to Pakistan. That, of course, does include when it comes to counterterrorism”, he added.
Earlier this week, Pakistan’s Head of Mission to Kabul Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani escaped an assassination bid in Afghanistan. Last month, a suicide attack— for which TTP claimed responsibility— rammed a police escort for a polio vaccination team in Quetta.
The owner of a small shop at the center of the Toshakhana scandal has distanced himself from the narrative given by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership about the sale of state gifts.
PTI has argued that the Master Graff wristwatch which was gifted to its Chairman Imran Khan when he was the Prime Minister, was sold to a retail business store by the name of “Art of Time” in Islamabad.
Among the gifts alleged to have been sold by the former Premier is a bejewelled Master Graff wristwatch that was gifted to the PTI chief by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
A multi-millionaire Dubai-based businessman, Umar Farooq, has said that he bought the precious watch from Imran Khan’s trusted family friend Farah Gogi after paying a hefty amount of $2 million in cash.
The receipt of the sale of this same special edition watch to “Art of Time” was deposited by the former premier himself before the Cabinet Division.
Earlier today, an audio recording of former First Lady Bushra Bibi has surfaced online.
In the brief clip, Bushra Bibi can be heard allegedly discussing selling Toshakhana watches with Zulfi Bukhari, a close confidant of her husband.
As soon as the audio was leaked, Mohammad Shafiq, the owner of “Art of Time” in a video statement, distanced himself from the controversy.
“I neither bought any watch nor have I got anything to do with this matter,” said Shafiq in a video. He added that propaganda was going against him —tying him to purchasing the watch.
“Neither is that my shop’s bill (receipt), nor is that my signature. Even that handwriting is not mine. My business stamps and other things have been used unlawfully,” Shafiq shared.
He added that he was hoping the matter would die down by itself —which was why he did not respond to any questions being raised.
Shafique warned of legal action [against the propagandists] if he was dragged deeper into the matter.