Current Final

Author: News Desk

  • Exclusive: Police officer suspended after woman files harassment complaint

    Exclusive: Police officer suspended after woman files harassment complaint

    A Lahore resident, Maryam Khan, shared pictures on her Twitter account in which a Lahore traffic police officer on a motorbike can be seen harassing her in broad daylight on Mall Road, one of the busiest roads in Lahore. He parked his bike next to her car at a signal and made ‘kissing’ gestures at her and her daughter.

    “Here are photos of a traffic police officer named Sami Ullah on Mall Road, Lahore at 12.30 pm today, harassing me and my daughter while we were at a traffic light stop before G.O.R 1,” tweeted Maryam Khan.

    She tagged City Traffic Police (CTP) Lahore to take action against the harasser.

    While talking to The Current, Public Relations Officer (PRO) Rana Arif said that the police officer, Sami Ullah, has been suspended and an inquiry is underway. He added that the next action will be taken as per the inquiry report. He said that CCTV cameras are placed all over Mall Road and it will be very easy to find out what actually happened.

    Earlier, responding to Khan’s tweet, CTP Lahore said, “Ma’am, if you have any complaints regarding any traffic police official. You can register the complaint on Rasta app which is the right forum.”

    Following the incident, Twitterati expressed their disappointment and anger over it.

    https://twitter.com/Mianbaksh/status/1526461149570531329?s=20&t=wMtPjunef7zBXk1wHTxZtw
    https://twitter.com/seditiousmusing/status/1526270762272935936?s=20&t=wMtPjunef7zBXk1wHTxZtw
  • Crisis-hit Sri Lanka has enough petrol left for one day, PM warns

    Crisis-hit Sri Lanka has enough petrol left for one day, PM warns

    As the country suffers its greatest economic crisis in more than 70 years, Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister (PM) declared that the country is headed to its last day of petrol stock.

    PM Ranil Wickremesinghe said the country urgently needed $75 million in foreign currency to pay for crucial imports in a televised address. In order to pay government salaries, he claims the central bank will have to print money.

    Sri Lankan Airlines, which is owned by the government, may be privatised, according to PM Wickremesinghe.

    The pandemic, soaring energy prices, and populist tax cuts have all wreaked havoc on the island nation’s economy. Medicines, fuel, and other essentials were in low supply due to a chronic shortage of foreign cash and rising inflation.

    Auto rickshaws, the city’s most popular mode of transportation, and other vehicles have been queuing at gas stations in Colombo.

    The country has enough petrol for one day at the time. Mr Wickremesinghe, who was appointed Prime Minister last week, cautioned that the next few months will be the hardest of our lives.

    He noted that shipments of petrol and diesel using an Indian credit line could provide fuel supplies in the coming days.

    Mr Wickremesinghe stated that the nation’s central bank will have to print money to assist the government in meeting its salary bill and other obligations.

    The PM stated that he is forced to allow the printing of money against his will in order to pay state employees and purchase vital products and services. However, the nation must keep in mind that printing money causes the local currency to depreciate.

    Read more: CNG prices pushed to Rs140 per kg for sales tax collection

    As part of his efforts to stabilise the country’s finances, he advocated selling out Sri Lankan Airlines. In the fiscal year ended March 2021, the airline lost 45 billion rupees ($129.5 million; £105 million).

  • Blast in Karachi: One dead, 11 injured

    Blast in Karachi: One dead, 11 injured

    A blast has been reported near the New Memon Mosque in Karachi’s Kharadar district, and casualties are expected. As per Geo, at least a young woman has been killed and 11 people have been injured as the result of the blast.

    According to television footage, motorcycles, rickshaws, and a police car were damaged, with people attempting to put out the flames. While the actual origin of the explosion has yet to be determined, residents believe it was triggered by an explosive device mounted to a two-wheeler.

    The development comes four days after the Saddar blast, that left one person dead and 13 injured. The terror attack is still being investigated.

    This is a developing story.

  • Court allows divorce on grounds of mental cruelty to husband

    Court allows divorce on grounds of mental cruelty to husband

    An Indian state Chhattisgarh High Court bench granted a decree of divorce on grounds of mental cruelty to the husband.

    The court declared that if a wife insists that her husband to get separated from his parents and threatens to implicate him in a false dowry demand case, it would be counted as mental cruelty.

    Justices Goutam Bhaduri and NK Chandravanshi heard a petition filed by a husband challenging the order passed by a Family Court in 2017 by which his plea seeking divorce on the ground of cruelty was rejected.

    The judges noted that the marriage of the couple hardly worked for two months. The wife often left her matrimonial house as she wanted to live alone with her husband who made several attempts to reconcile but in vain.

    “In such a lower middle-class family, it is the responsibility of the eldest son to take care of his elderly parents, as he has deposed also in his statement. In such a situation, if the wife persistently creates constraints upon the husband to get separated from his family and to live with her at her parental house and also threatened him that, otherwise she will implicate him in the dowry case, it, itself amounts to mental cruelty on the husband,” the high court remarked.

    The Family Court was unjustified in making such an observation, the court said.

  • ‘Zabardast meeting rahi’: Adnan Siddiqui hangouts with Nawaz Sharif in London

    ‘Zabardast meeting rahi’: Adnan Siddiqui hangouts with Nawaz Sharif in London

    Actor Adnan Siddiqui, is currently in London to promote his Imran Ashraf-Amar Khan starrer film Dum Mastam.

    The senior actor met the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who is currently resising in the European city.

    The two spent quality time together, pictures of their meeting were posted by the official twitter handle of PML-N.

    The Mom star shared his great experience of meeting the veteran politician.

    He revealed that Nawaz promsied a better film policy in the country and expressed his progressive vision for the film fraternity of Pakistan.

    Screenshot of a tweet is going viral on social media, that features Adnan praising Nawaz and claiming that if he becomes the PM again, he will vainish inflation and improve the economic situatio of the nation.

    However the tweet has been posted from a fake handle and is not authentic.

    Former focal person on digital media to former PM Khan, Dr Arsalan Khalid exclusively stated to The Current, “Artists make an important part of society and its good to see pml-n promoting this meeting realizing how wrong they were when they attacked all the artists and celebrities who are supporting Imran Khan.”

    Earlier the Ahista Ahista star shared pictures when he met the legendary Indian musician, AR Rahman at Dubai Expo 2020 after cancelling his booked flight on December 21

    Mom star uploaded a selfie on December 24 with the Oscar-winning musician, AR Rahman on his Instagram. He shared his experience as the evening not to be forgotten ever after listening live singing from AR Rahman.

    Adnan said, “I was supposed to fly back on December 21, stayed put another day only to see A R Rahman sahib perform live.”

    The live performance lasted for around three hours where people were standing for listening to his soulful music. He considered it a privilege that he immersed in his ethereal music.

    He also revealed the humility of a legendary musician and international icon, who took him backstage to introduce his crew.

    He added, “Not everyone can be Mr AR Rahman.”

    Last month, Popular Indian singer Arijit Singh performed at a concert in Dubai Abu Dhabi. During the concert, the Channa Mereya singer took out the time to praise Pakistani singers, Atif Aslam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. 

    Later, he went on to sing the popular song of Atif Aslam’s Pehli Nazar Mein from the Bollywood film, Race.

  • ‘Target political opponents instead of fighting with the establishment’: Pervaiz Elahi

    ‘Target political opponents instead of fighting with the establishment’: Pervaiz Elahi

    Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi while giving an interview to Voice of America (VOA) said that the no-confidence motion succeeded against a sitting government and the establishment did nothing about it.

    Commenting on the neutrality of the establishment, Elahi said, “Can there be more neutrality than this? So it is not correct to say that they are not neutral. They [establishment] are neutral so target political opponents instead of fighting with the establishment.”

    Talking about the relations between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and the establishment, Elahi said, “We are also trying to improve the relations between Imran Khan and the establishment. Whenever we went to Khan Sahib, we said that we don’t need to fight.”

    Chaudhry said that during the three-and-a-half-year rule, Khan’s relations with the establishment kept fluctuating on the foreign policy front but issues were resolved, adding that he is ready to play his part in improving relations with the establishment. “While some misunderstandings were created regarding Saudi Arabia and other countries.”

    The Speaker Punjab Assembly questioned the present governemnt and said why the government is looking for anonymity, and why it wants someone else’s intervention? “The government must deliver and lower the prices of goods, let Shehbaz Sharif show his mechanics and solve the problem of electricity.”

    “I have been with Sharifs for 22 years, and the track record of Sharif’s relationship with us was not good, Sharifs have always cheated us and we have always been with them, so we don’t want to repeat the same mistake,” said Elahi.

    When asked if Elahi will take charge as governor after the former governor of Punjab was sacked, he replied that he is still consulting his lawyers and has been advised to wait for the conclusion of the cases pending in courts.

    On early polls, Elahi said that Imran Khan wanted an early election for the national assembly constituencies only.

    “He wants the provincial assemblies to complete their terms,” Elahi told VOA Urdu, “there is no harm in holding polls for the national assembly now and provincial assemblies later.”

    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    Fact Check: Sri Lankan ministers were not stripped and interrogated
    
			
    Fact Check: Sri Lankan ministers were not stripped and interrogated
    
			
    

    Claim: Sri Lankan ministers were stripped down, beaten and harassed by the public.
    




    Fact: This video shows Sri Lankan inmates of an open prison who are being interrogated for allegedly attacking protesters 
    




    On May 13, 2022 several social media users in Pakistan tweeted a video showing a group of half-naked men pleading a larger crowd as the people making the video seemed to be humiliating them. This video was shared extensively on WhatsApp. Some of these posts and tweets on social media can be seen here, here, here, here and here.
    




    However, The Current Check observed that this video was being used out of context, with the caption that it depicts Sri Lankan ministers being humiliated by the public for participating in widespread corruption. 
    




    Through a reverse image search of six different keyframes of the video, we discovered that it was first tweeted on May 10, 2022 by Sri Lankan Twitter users claiming that this was a video of prisoners who attacked the protesters at Gota Go Gama. Soon after the video was first posted on Twitter, several Sri Lankan news channels including Daily Mirror, News First and others such as NDTV also started covering it and reporting it to belong to an instance of interrogating prisoners who attacked protesters. According to a translation of the video shared by India Today it becomes clear that these prisoners were from Watareka Open Prison Camp and a jailer had taken them to the protest site. This was a protest against former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who along with his family is on the run as Sri Lanka slips deeper into economic downfall and political turmoil. 
    




    VERDICT: FALSE [OUT OF CONTEXT]
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    Bitcoin surrenders weekend gains, slides 5 per cent
    
			
    Bitcoin surrenders weekend gains, slides 5 per cent
    
			
    

    Cryptocurrencies continued their steady decline on May 16, surrendering the gains made over the weekend as regulators loomed.
    




    European authorities have reinforced their warnings about the vulnerabilities of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin slumped 5 per cent to roughly $29,700 in Asian trade on Monday, falling alongside markets amid concerns about burgeoning inflation and borrowing costs.
    




    As the catastrophic collapse of TerraUSD, a so-called stablecoin, has roiled crypto markets already plunging amid widespread selling of risky assets, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has lost almost a fifth of its value so far this month.
    




    Read more: Pakistani rupee crashes to historic low of Rs194 against US dollar
    




    Stablecoins are vulnerable to investor runs, according to the US Federal Reserve, because they are underpinned by commodities that could depreciate or become worthless in adverse economic conditions.
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    UN lists Pakistan among 23 drought-hit countries
    
			
    UN lists Pakistan among 23 drought-hit countries
    
			
    

    According to the United Nations ‘Global Land Outlook’ report, Pakistan is one of 23 nations that have experienced drought in the last two years (2020-2022).
    




    The report, released by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) ahead of World Drought Day (June 17), lists the highest total number of people affected by drought over the last century.
    




    The 23 countries listed by the report include Afghanis­tan, Angola, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Madagascar, Malawi, Moza­m­bique, Niger, Somalia, Sou­th Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, the United States and Zambia.
    




    The report warns that humanity has never confronted such a diverse range of known and unknown risks and hazards while interacting in a hyper-connected and fast-changing environment.
    




    By 2050, an additional 4 million square kilometres of natural areas, equivalent to the size of India and Pakistan, would require drought restoration measures, the report said.
    




    The report warned that up to 40 per cent of the planet’s land is degraded, which affects half of humanity and threatens roughly 50 per cent of the global GDP worth USD 44 trillion.
    




    


    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    Labourers demand increase in monthly wages, pensions
    
			
    Labourers demand increase in monthly wages, pensions
    
			
    

    On May 15, the provincial president of the Muttahida Labour Federation (MLF) in Peshawar, Muhammad Iqbal stated that the current price hikes had made life difficult for poor workers but the government had remained silent.
    




    He remarked that the provincial and federal governments should enhance monthly wages and the Employees’ Old-Age Benefit Institution pension in relation to the country’s current price hikes and inflation, speaking during a protest gathering staged in honour of May Day here at Shobra Chowk.
    




    The leader was of the view that workers had played a critical part in the country’s progress, but that each subsequent government had crushed them under one excuse or another. He claimed that the government and investors had teamed up to close down industrial units in the province as part of a well-planned plot.
    




    Read more: Pakistan’s textile exports surge by 30 per cent
    




    Iqbal said that the authorities should take measures to protect the rights of lower-paid strata and labourers in order to ease their lives.