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Author: News Desk

  • Khashoggi: Pakistan in solidarity with KSA while world demands holding MBS accountable

    Khashoggi: Pakistan in solidarity with KSA while world demands holding MBS accountable

    While rest of the world demands that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman be held accountable for journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, Pakistan has said it stands in solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

    “We have noted that the Saudi government termed Jamal Khashoggi’s murder as an ‘abhorrent crime’ and a ‘flagrant violation of the Kingdom’s laws and values’,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement after public release of the US Administration’s declassified intelligence report, containing its “assessment” on the killing of Khashoggi.

    The Saudi government has further underlined that it took all possible measures within its legal system to ensure that the individuals responsible were properly investigated, convicted and sentenced and that justice was served, the Pakistani statement maintained.

    “Pakistan recognises Saudi efforts in this regard and expresses solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said the press release.

    It added that Pakistan underscores adherence to the rule of law, respect for national sovereignty, and protection and promotion of human rights by all states, in accordance with their respective constitutional frameworks and international obligations.

  • Secret ballot for Senate to continue, rules Supreme Court

    Secret ballot for Senate to continue, rules Supreme Court

    Announcing its verdict on a presidential reference seeking legal opinion on the holding of Senate election through an open vote, the Supreme Court on Monday said polls for the Upper House will be held through a secret ballot.

    The 4-1 majority opinion was announced by a five-judge larger bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed.

    The reference was forwarded to the apex court in January after Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his desire to curtail the practice of horsetrading in Senate elections by introducing an open-ballot system.

    READ: Open ballot in Senate polls: What do legal experts have to say?

    Following almost two months of proceedings, the court had on Thursday reserved its verdict, announcing to issue it on Monday (today).

    In a short order issued today, the court observed elections to the House are held in accordance with the law and the Constitution, saying it “is the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to protect the polls from the menace of corruption”.

    While the order cited Article 226 of the Constitution to support its argument, the judges said the Parliament can decide if it feels the need to end the secrecy of the voting process.

    A detailed verdict is expected to be issued shortly.

  • Lahore beat Karachi at home ground

    Lahore beat Karachi at home ground

    Lahore Qalandars beat Karachi Kings at the 11th match of Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) sixth edition on Sunday in National Stadium Karachi.

    Kings’ Sharjeel Khan (64 off 39 balls) and Mohammad Nabi (57 off 35 balls) were able to steer the side to the handsome total, after an early fall of wickets in powerplay.

    However, the Qalandars lost two early wickets but Fakhar Zaman took the charge to sail the boat of the side to victory with his unbeaten 83 runs off 54 balls. Ben Dunk also scored a much need half century, scoring 57 off 43 balls.

    Fakhar got dismissed by Daniel Christian which ended in a blessing in disguise and David Wiese blasted 31 runs off just 9 balls to guide his team to victory.

    Kings were pretty confident as a day before they achieved a remarkable win over Multan Sultans when they convincingly chased 198 with seven balls to spare and ended up with high confidence.

    The Qalandars’ performance, today, however, showed that in the battle of the nerves, they can easily whip any opponent, beating Kings by six wickets.

    In total, the two arch-rivals have played 12 matches, of which Karachi Kings bagged seven and Lahore Qalandars secured five, including this match.

    Meanwhile, Shaheen Shah Afridi secured man of the match award, taking three wickets by giving only 27 runs in four overs.

  • Rs1,000 surcharges for late tax filers

    Rs1,000 surcharges for late tax filers

    The spokesperson of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has clarified that a fine of Rs 1,000 will be charged for late tax filers, not Rs 10,000. The clarification came due to the rumours about high fine charges imposed by FBR on filing late income tax returns.

    This mistake occurred because of an error in a press release issued on February 24th. According to the clarification, Rs 1,000 will be charged from individuals (salaried and non-salaried) on late filing of income tax returns for the tax year 2020 for inclusion in the Active Taxpayers List (ATL).

    Companies will pay a surcharge of Rs 20,000 and an association of person Rs 10,000 for inclusion in ATL. Association of persons is the relation between persons, who have agreed to share the profits of a business carried amongst all stakeholders.

    It is noteworthy that the FBR surpassed its collection target by Rs 13 billion to Rs 2.911 trillion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, as shown in the provisional data released by the tax authorities on Friday.

    It was the second consecutive month that the tax collection surpassed its projection. The revenue collection increased by nine per cent during July-February when compared with Rs 2.681 trillion collected in the same period last year.

    An official of FBR said that the revenue collection was achieved two days ahead of the end of the current month.

  • Irrfan Khan’s son Babil is a fan of Pakistani television

    Irrfan Khan’s son Babil is a fan of Pakistani television

    Nothing like some cross-border love to lighten up things in these tense times.

    Read more – ‘Kitna khoobsurat lagta hai’: Irrfan Khan about PM Imran Khan

    Irrfan Khan’s son Babil Khan has revealed that he is a fan of Pakistani television. Responding to a comment by journalist Maria Memon, Khan said: “Pakistani television is one of my loved indulgences.”

    Maria had commented on Babil’s post in which he had shared a screenshot of a Whatsapp conversation with his late father.

    The legendary Bollywood actor, who had visited Pakistan on several occasions passed away on April 29, 2020, at the age of 53. The actor was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumour in March 2018. He sought treatment for it in the UK for a year and returned to India in February 2019. In April 2020, he was admitted to the hospital for a medical complication arising from a colon infection, following which he passed away.

    Meanwhile, Khan had also worked with Adnan Siddiqui in the Hollywood production A Mighty Heart.

  • IN PICTURES: Hira Mani celebrates birthday with cancer patients

    Hira Mani celebrated her birthday in the sweetest way possible. The actor visited Shaukat Khanum on her birthday and celebrated it with young cancer patients.

    Taking to her Instagram account Hira shared pictures of the birthday celebrations with young cancer patients and expressed her joy over celebrating a ‘tension less’ birthday.

    She also thanked Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital, for making her feel ‘special’ on her birthday.

    The birthday celebrations took place outdoor, with corona SOPs in place.

    She also sang her new song Sawaari with the children.

    Hira also celebrated her birthday with her close friends and family in an intimate bash.

    Mani also penned a sweet wish for his wife, calling her, “Cinderella”.

    Meanwhile, Hira, who has a string of successful releases under her belt recently turned singer with her first song Saawari.

  • Parineeti Chopra appreciates makeup artist Natasha’s recreation of her look

    Parineeti Chopra has appreciated Pakistani makeup artist Natasha Ali Lakhani’s recreation of her look from her latest film The Girl on the Train. The Bollywood actor shared the tutorial of Natasha’s look on her Instagram story.

    Read more – Natasha of Natasha’s Salon shares a body-positive message for new mommies

    Sharing screenshots of Parineeti’s story, Natasha wrote: “When Parineeti Chopra reposts the recreation that I did of her look in her latest movie The Girl on the Train.”

    “I know it’s shameless self promotion but so fun,” she added.

    Earlier, Natasha also shared pictures of the recreation on social media along with the reason why she decide to recreate this look.

    Natasha said that she was inspired by a fellow makeup artist to recreate the look and also wanted to do it for fun.

    “I went back to my roots as an editorial makeup artist and other than the makeup created fake wounds/blood/bruising and I loved the end result,” wrote Natasha.

    The Girl on the Train is the Hindi remake of a 2016 Hollywood film featuring Emily Blunt, which was an adaption of Paula Hawkins’ bestselling novel. The movie released on February 26 on Netflix. The cast of the movie includes Aditi Rao Hydari and Kirti Kulhari, besides Parineeti.

  • Abhinandan sees no reason for Pak-India hostilities to continue in unseen video

    Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Abhinandan — who was briefly captured after his aircraft was shot down by a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) pilot — has said he saw “no reason for us to continue with any kind of hostilities”.

    “I see no reason for us to continue with any kind of hostilities,” Abhinandan said in a video message. “I do not know what we should do to achieve peace but I only know that there should be peace,” he added.

    During the video, Abhinandan said that neither he nor the Pakistanis know “what is happening to a Kashmiri”. “We must think with calm heads,” said the pilot.

    “I saw both countries when I was coming down on a parachute, and I could not differentiate between the two countries from above,” the pilot said, adding that he sees no differences between the two countries.

    “When I fell down I did not know whether I was in Pakistan or my own country India. To me, both countries looked the same, the people looked the same as well,” the pilot said in the video.

    Speaking about his crash, he said he was badly injured when he was ejected from the plane. The pilot said that he was badly injured when he ejected from his aircraft and once he landed he was not able to move. He added that after landing, he tried finding out which country he was in.

    “When it looked to me that I was not in my country, I tried running,” says the Indian pilot, adding that a “charged” crowd tried capturing him as well but he was saved by the Pakistan Army.

  • Prince Harry says ‘The Crown’ is ‘loosely’ based on the truth

    Prince Harry, in his first interview after moving to North America, has revealed that he stepped down from royal duties and away from the spotlight because of the “toxic” British press adding that it was negatively affecting his mental health.

    “I did what any husband and what any father would do,” said Harry. “It was like, I need to get my family out of here.”

    The royal further went on to clarify that “it was never [about] walking away. It was stepping back rather than stepping down.”

    “There was a really difficult environment as I think a lot of people saw,” he added.

    When asked about his thoughts on Netflix’s The Crown, Harry said: “[The Crown doesn’t] pretend to be news.”

    “It’s fictional, but it is loosely based on the truth. It gives you a rough idea of what that lifestyle and the pressures of duty and service over family and what can come from that. I am way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family and my wife or myself because it’s the difference between [The Crown] is obviously fiction.”

    “Take it as you will, but [the tabloids] have been reported on as facts because you’re supposedly news. I have a real issue with that,” said Harry further.

    Read more – UK Government wants Netflix to classify ‘The Crown’ as fiction

    Harry also revealed that his and Meghan’s relationship went from “zero to 60” in the first two months because they were forced to spending so much time alone together.

    “It’s kind of flipped upside down. All the dates become dinners or watching the TV and chatting at home, then eventually once you become a couple, then you venture out for dinners, the cinema, and everything else,” said Harry.

    “Everything was done back to front with us. So we got to spend an enormous amount of time just the two of us … And that was great, an amazing thing.”

    Earlier this month, Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle made a final split with the British royal family, telling Queen Elizabeth that they will not be returning as working members of the monarchy.

    In January 2020, Harry and Meghan sent shockwaves across the world by suddenly announcing they were splitting from the family and embarking on a new future across the Atlantic – one of the most extraordinary royal exits in decades.

    It is pertinent to mention here that Harry and Meghan are expecting their second child. The couple announced the news on Valentine’s Day.

  • Dananeerr ‘pawri’s’ it up in Pashto with Mahira Khan

    Dananeerr ‘pawri’s’ it up in Pashto with Mahira Khan

    Dananeer Mobeen, who rose to fame with her ‘Pawri Hori Hai‘ video, has made another funny video with Mahira Khan and Ali Rehman after joining the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Peshawar Zalmi.

    In the new video, the social media sensation can be seen partying with popular stars including Mahira, Ali, Danyal Zafar, vlogger Shahveer Jafry and others after the victory of their team against Quetta Gladiators in the PSL match.

    The girl, who is behind the viral video #pawrihorihai, delivered the famous dialogue in Pushto to entertain fans in a different way, saying: “Da za yam, Da zama Malgari dee. Aau da zamoonga pawri’ rawana da.” (Yeh Main Houn, Yeh Mere Friends or Ye Hamari Pawri Hori Hai)

    The official account of Peshawar Zalmi shared the video with the caption: “Give it up for the kingdom!”

    The original Pawri video, despite the memes, is winning hearts across the world and is bringing smiles to people’s faces.