Babar Azam, the all-format skipper of Pakistan, has proved himself as one of the best batters in contemporary cricket with his consistency, spectacular flair, and shot selection.
Former players now think that Babar is on par with contemporary batting greats because of his comparisons to Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Steven Smith, and Joe Root, which have become the talk of the town.
Ian Chappell, a former Australian cricketer, commended Babar Azam’s finely honed technique, drives, and stroke selection, writing, “Babar is a complete player with his flowing drives and all-around shot range.”
“To round out the picture, he has a game that fits all three formats, but his Test batting, with an ability to compile centuries, stands out,” he continued.
It is important to note that the 27-year-old has been in form since assuming the captaincy of the national team, and he has already recently broken multiple batting records of all-time greats across formats.
The right-hander finished the T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE last year having scored 303 runs in six innings, including four half-centuries, and leading the Men in Green to the semi-finals.
Gunmen opened fire on a school van on Monday in Swat, killing the driver of the vehicle and injuring two students, reports ARY.
According to details, the incident took place in Swat’s Char Bagh area.
The school vehicle’s driver, who was slain, was the target, according to the police who confirmed that there were almost 10 to 11 students in the van when the shooting occurred.
Police are investigating the case.
All private school management in Swat has announced the closure of all educational institutions tomorrow.
It is pertinent to mention here that the attack came just a day after the ten year anniversary of the attack on Malala Yousafzai. The education activist was attacked on her way home from school in Mingora, the region’s main town on October 09, 2012.
A team from Punjab’s Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) was unable to arrest Federal Interior Minister, Rana Sanaullah, on Monday due to the non-cooperation of the Islamabad police.
The establishment’s director Syed Anwar Ali Shah alleged that the capital’s police officers misbehaved with them.
Earlier today, a local court in Rawalpindi directed the ACE team to arrest the minister and present him before the court in a case relating to corruption.
“The police officials neither recorded entry nor departure of the ACE team and nor did they comply with the court’s order,” Shah said.
He stated that his department will inform the court about the day’s events and will devise a strategy as per the court’s orders.
Prior to this, a local court in Rawalpindi, dismissed ACE’s plea seeking contempt of court proceedings against Sanaullah for not appearing in a corruption inquiry.
On Saturday, a judicial magistrate issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for the federal minister over his non-appearance in an anti-corruption inquiry.
Aqtia Odho has spoken about toxic marriages and abusive relationships post the horrific murder of Sara Inam by her husband Shahnawaz Amir.
Odho again wrote about her own bad relationship on her Instagram account and told other women to get out of them.
“I write this in the hope that it may help someone reading it realise that your life is in your own hands. Having survived both physical and emotional abuse as a young woman, I feel it is my duty to help others get out of toxic relationships. Abuse of any kind is unacceptable regardless of who it’s coming from. Walk away and never look back.”
“If you allow anyone to mistreat you they will form a habit to do so and it only gets worse with time. The abuser gets addicted to such behaviour and never stops. Your life, your self worth and your dignity are precious so take control of them and be strong. Many will tell you things that weaken your own resolve but never listen to them.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi_r8C-3O44&t=12s
“Only listen to your gut and mind, not even your heart for it falters a lot. Trust me when I say this, you can do much much better so do not compromise and put your life at risk for anyone. Get out while you still can.” she concluded.
Earlier this year, Odho opened up about her personal and professional struggles in an interview. The Humsafar diva shared her experience of being raised in a broken family and later having difficulty in finding the right spouse.
Atiqa while opening up about her early career struggles said, “I started my career as a stylist, so I worked mostly behind the scenes at first doing makeovers for actors. I studied for it in the UK.”
“When I’d go to ad shoots to prepare models behind the scenes, I would get a lot of offers with people asking me if I would like to be in front of the camera. So, after a while, I thought, “Why not?” I always loved film, fashion and the arts, so I made the decision to take the plunge,” added Atiqa while talking her career as a stylist.
“By that time, I already had two children and I was going through a divorce, so I needed the money as well. People often hide the difficult parts of their life behind a facade, but I very openly talk about them. Styling wasn’t getting me the money I needed to raise two children, so I started going in front of the camera. The first ad I did was for a tea company. That’s where Anwar sahab spotted me and offered me Sitara Aur Mehrunnisa.”
“To the young women, according to my experience, so many people have told that such and such thing cannot be done. You hear such things a lot when you’re a young woman. Always follow your instinct, because your instinct will always make the right choice. That’s what I always did,” Atiqa said while giving the advice to the young women of the entertainment industry.
The Pyar Ke Sadqay star elaborated further, “I made decisions that were okay at the time but didn’t work out in the long run. I was married at a very young age out of choice. I came from a broken home. An upper class, elite, but broken home, and I was always very starved for a father figure. I understood this later on.”
“I married young and had children young, I went to school after kids. I did a lot of catching up in my life. I realised that I did all of these things because of childhood trauma or emotional needs, I understood it, so I needed to fix it. You can fix anything at any time. This timeframe is your own construct. No one is putting a timeline on your life.
On the work front, Atiqa is basking in the glory of her blockbuster drama Kesi Teri Khudgarzi, co-starring Dur e Fishan Saleem and Danish Taimoor.
The United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP27) announced on Monday that Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif will be the vice-chairperson for its 27th session.
Pakistan received the honour from among 195 member countries of the UN as a result of the Prime Minister’s advocacy on climate change and the necessity for action at global and regional forums .
Egyptian President and COP27 Chairperson Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi invited the Pakistani premier to co-chair the COP27 roundtable conference along with the prime minister of Norway. The conference will be held in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6-18.
Last week, the Premier warned the world that other countries could be facing climate-induced catastrophes next after one-third of Pakistan was left inundated by flash floods, killing thousands and displacing millions.
“What happened in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan,” he said in a tweet reiterating his call for urgent action a day after the United Nations issued a revised flash appeal of $816 million as relief assistance for the flood-stricken people of Pakistan.
What happened in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan.
More than 1600 Pakistanis–including 400 children–have lost their lives. 1000s of KMs of road infrastructure & bridges are washed away. Entire villages have been swallowed up by raging waters. Nature has been truly unforgiving. https://t.co/btzmtIRhYs
A video compilation shared by the government’s official Twitter handle gave an overview of different occasions wherein the premier made passionate calls at a global level, stressing an urgent response by the world for his disaster-hit country.
Phone Bhoot starring Katrina Kaif, Siddhant Chaturvedi, and Ishaan Khatter is one of the most-anticipated Hindi films of this year. It is directed by Gurmmeet Singh of Mirzapur fame and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s banner Excel Entertainment.
Written by Ravi Shankaran and Jasvinder Singh Bath. The film also stars Jackie Shroff, Sheeba Chaddha, Nidhi Bisht, and Surender Thakur in supporting roles. Ever since the film was announced, fans of the actors have been excited to see the trio on the big screen. Now, the makers of Phone Bhoot have finally unveiled the trailer of the movie.
Exploring such an ensemble cast for the first time, the horror comedy explores the fun side of Katrina Kaif, Siddhant Chaturvedi, and Ishaan Khatter.
Having Kaif play the ghost is definitely fun. Fascinated by ghosts, Siddhanth Chaturvedi and Ishaan Khatter set out on a journey of becoming ghostbusters and they come across the fun and pretty Katrina Kaif – a ghost who is out to there to set the ghosts ‘free’ so that they can attain ‘moksh’ (salvation). As the trio set out to clear the world of bhoots (ghosts) and let them attain salvation, their ride gets twisty with the entry of Aatmaram aka Jackie Shroff.
Here, have a look at the trailer:
Within just an hour of the trailer release, netizens showered leading lady Katrina Kaif with praises for her experimental look and stellar comic timing in the film.
Addicted to the trailer….THANK GOD I am addicted to the trailer
Veteran actor and singer Bushra Ansari recently appeared as a guest on Tabish Hashmi’s show, Hasna Mana Hai. The Udaari star opened up on the show whether her singing reality show, Pakistan Idol was scripted or not.
The legendary artist stated that although the show undoubtedly highlighted singing talent, some of it was staged. She claimed that while Ali Azmat could play the part, she had a very compassionate personality and couldn’t be harsh to people or exterminate them, whereas Hadiqa had a balanced attitude to strictness.
She continued by saying that she even asked management to fire her because she was unable to treat people harshly. They then played her videos of Indian Idol judges, especially Sunidhi Chauhan’s videos of interacting with contestants.
In the videos, Sunidhi was shown thrashing the contestants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi_r8C-3O44&t=12s
Ansari also added that several contestants on the show were merely included for comedy effect and were not meant to be taken seriously, as per the international format of the show.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday released the match schedule of New Zealand men’s cricket team’s upcoming dual tours of Pakistan. NZ will play two Tests as part of their ICC World Test Championship title defence and three ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League fixtures from 27 December to 15 January, before returning for five T20Is and five ODIs from 13 April to 7 May. The Karachi Test will be New Zealand’s first in the city since October 1990.
“We had promised our passionate fans that we will deliver high-quality home international cricket in 2022. Today’s announcement of New Zealand’s double visit to Pakistan is part of that commitment,” said PCB Director, Zakir Khan.
He also stated that, “New Zealand is one of the high-performing sides and the more we will play against the top teams in our backyard, the better we will get as a unit, which is crucial to our objective of featuring inside the top-three across all formats. The New Zealand matches will also provide opportunities to our youngsters to continue to watch and follow their favourite players in action, something they have missed when we were forced to play our international cricket offshore.”
Here is the schedule:
Pakistan vs New Zealand: 27-31 Dec – 1st Test, Karachi (ICC World Test Championship) 4-8 Jan – 2nd Test, Multan (ICC World Test Championship) 11 Jan – 1st ODI, Karachi (ICC Super League) 13 Jan – 2nd ODI, Karachi (ICC Super League) 15 Jan – 3rd ODI, Karachi (ICC Super League) 13 Apr – 1st T20I, Karachi
Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that $50,000 in letters of credit (LC) payments that are overdue will be settled this week.
According to Geo, the decision was made following a discussion with the Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Jameel Ahmed Dar said that the SBP chief will convey these instructions to clear LCs as a “first step” towards growth next month before departing for Washington DC to meet with International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Almost 4,400 requests for opening LCs, a payment mechanism used in international trade to provide an economic guarantee from a creditworthy bank to an exporter of goods, will be deducted after these decisions, according to the speaker, who revealed that there were a total of 7,952 cases still pending.
For certain imports, including completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles, telephones, and various types of machinery, the SBP previously required prior approval before opening LCs or registering contracts. However, these directives were given on May 20.
The Finance Minister also made it clear that Pakistan will not be refinancing its loans through the Paris Club. According to him, Pakistan will make sure to make timely payments to multilateral organisations for its national sovereign debt obligations. He claimed that in this regard, a strategy had been developed.
Celebrity duo Aiman Khan and Muneeb Butt celebrated the 12th Rabi ul Awal in Madinah with daughter Amal and Muneeb’s siblings. The Baandi duo shared some special pictures from the Holy City on Instagram.
Other celebrities like Feroze Khan, Dua Malik and Noor Bukhari also t posted pictures from their trip to Makkah and Madina. They all were spotted there with families. The celebrities thanked Allah Almighty for giving them an opportunity to perform Umrah in Makkah.
The celebrities performed mandatory rituals along with their families and celebrated the birth of Hazrat Muhammad (SAWW) in the holy cities.
