Current Final

Category: Lifestyle

  • Iran launches state-approved ‘halal’ dating app to encourage marriage

    Iran on Monday introduced a Muslim dating application to boost marriages in the country and help young people find a partner for themselves.

    As per details, the app, Hamdam which means  “companion” in the Persian language allows users to “search for and choose their spouse.”

    It is the only state-sanctioned platform of its kind in the Islamic republic, according to Iran’s cyberspace police chief, Colonel Ali Mohammad Rajabi.

    While dating apps are popular in Iran, Rajabi said that all other platforms except Hamdam are illegal.

    Developed by the government’s Tebyan Cultural Institute, Hamdam´s website claims it uses “artificial intelligence” to find matches “only for bachelors looking for permanent marriage and a single spouse.”

    Tebyan head, Komeil Khojasteh said family values were endangered by outside forces.

    “Family is the devil’s target, and (Iran’s enemies) seek to impose their own ideas” on it, he said, adding that the app helps create “healthy” families.

    According to Hamdam’s website, users have to verify their identity and go through a “psychology test” before browsing.

    When a match is found for the user, the app “introduces the families together with the presence of service consultants”, who will “accompany” the couple for four years after marriage. The registration is free for the users.

    Iran’s authorities, including the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have cautioned many times against the country’s rising rate of marriage and declining birth rates.

    In March, Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament passed a bill titled “population growth and supporting families.”

    It mandates the government to offer significant financial incentives for marriage and to encourage people to have more than two children while limiting access to abortion.

    The law awaits approval by the Guardian Council, which is tasked with checking that bills are in accordance with Islamic law and the constitution.

  • Father reunited with kidnapped son after 24-year search

    Father reunited with kidnapped son after 24-year search

    A man reunited with his kidnapped son after a 24-year hunt across China. After travelling half a million kilometres across China on a motorbike, handing out missing-person flyers, which cost him his savings and left him with huge debts, Guo Gangtang was finally reunited with his son.

    As per reports, Guo Gangtang, 51, began searching for his then 2-year-old son after he was kidnapped in 1997 from their home in a village in the eastern province of Shandong.

    When he tried to find his son, he found no trace but Guo did not give up and began a decades-long search.

    Guo travelled China on a motorcycle with a flag that had his lost son’s picture and carrying a bag full of flyers.

    Read More: Woman discovers son’s bride is her long-lost daughter

    Police in June tracked down a man matching his son’s description in central Henan province, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

    After a DNA test confirming the relationship, a family reunion with his son Guo Xinzhen was arranged on Sunday.

    The 26-year-old, Guo Xinzhen, is now a teacher.

    Guo’s son was found after the Ministry of Public Security launched a nationwide campaign this January to solve cold cases involving child abduction.

    Police have located and rescued 2,609 missing or abducted children this year, including adults who had gone missing or were kidnapped as kids. One victim was traced after 61 years.

    Guo’s motorcycle journey of around 500,000 km (311,000 miles) took him to most of China’s provinces. He also went through 10 motorcycles.

    In 2012, Guo set up a website “Tianya Xunqin”, which translates as “Find your family on the edge of the world”. It has since helped dozens of people locate family members, he told local media.

    Guo Gangtang’s story has been covered extensively by local media over the years and inspired the 2015 hit film “Lost and Love” starring Chinese megastar Andy Lau in the role of a character based on Guo.

    “I’ve found my son, and I want to get back to normal life as soon as possible,” Guo said in a video on his Tiktok social media page on Tuesday.

  • Women traffic police officers deployed in Karachi

    Karachi Traffic Police has deployed female police officers for the first time in the city. Geo news has reported that four female traffic wardens have been deployed at Sharah-e-Faisal and Clifton areas.

    The deployed female police officers are also trained motorcyclists. The duty of these officers include “monitoring the traffic and spreading awareness among motorcyclists”. They are also expected to assist people with broken cars and call for further assistance if required.

    As per traffic police officials, the female traffic police officers do not have the authority to issue challans or charge people for disobeying traffic regulations.

    A video of the newly deployed female traffic police officers was shared by the Karachi Traffic Police on social media.

  • ‘Why do we want the models to be white and sultry,’ Zara Shahjahan on fake beauty standards

    ‘Why do we want the models to be white and sultry,’ Zara Shahjahan on fake beauty standards

    Pakistani fashion designer, Zara Shahjahan, called out social media users over demeaning comments related to beauty standards.

    The designer explained how she and her team were left with no choice but to hire models from Turkey. “Let’s talk about these pictures. So I had a shoot in Turkey. My team left a day earlier and the day me and the model had to leave, Turkey announced 15 days of quarantine. We were left with no choice but to hire models from there,” she wrote in a social media post.

    Sharing a picture of a model from her recent campaign, she wrote, “I tried to find girls who look South Asian and finally found these two very stunning Mexican models who flew from LA for the campaign. We were very happy, the campaign look really beautiful and we launched, but what happened after is quite disturbing.”

    Read More: Generation joins Ali Xeeshan’s campaign to raise breast cancer awareness

    “These pictures started getting a lot of hate. ‘They look like maids’ is one comment which disturbed me the most,” the designer added.

    “Are we these people? Why do we want the models to be white and sultry?” Zara questioned.

     She concluded her post by thanking God for her loyal customers, “Thankgod for my loyal customers who know my brand and the collection was sold out but I don’t seem to get the irritation of a lot of women to these two pictures.”

  • Bear cub rescued by Pakistan at LOC goes back in Kashmir wild

    Bear cub rescued by Pakistan at LOC goes back in Kashmir wild

    When poachers shot and killed a black bear mother, her baby, Daboo was too young to open his eyes. The poachers put it in a sack and were about to sell it to baiters when the baby bear was rescued and taken to an animal sanctuary in Islamabad.

    “He was a little baby bear that was stolen from his mother; in fact, his mother was murdered,” said Rina Satti, chairperson at Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB), where he is being nursed back to health.

    Though banned, bear-baiting persists in some parts of Pakistan and, at the time of his rescue, two-month-old Daboo was half-starving and suffering from scabies and a serious ear infection.

    Picture via Reuters

    Now, two months on filled out and with a glossy black coat, he plays in his wooded sanctuary, taking baths and nibbling at the fruit and vegetables scattered among shrubs as his carers try to teach him how to fend for himself.

    Read More: Heartwarming video shows Punjab cop buying food for stray dogs, feeding them

    According to details, the authorities hope to release him, microchipped, back into the wild when he turns one, near the Line of Control in Kashmir that separates Pakistan and India, where he was caught.

    “We will take him to his habitat, but we will not just leave him there,” said IWMB caretaker Anees Hussain. “We will have to keep monitoring him for some time to ensure that he can survive there.”

  • Burger King workers write ‘we all quit’ on signboard, quit jobs

    Burger King workers write ‘we all quit’ on signboard, quit jobs

    Employees and a general manager at a Burger King outlet in Nebraska, United States, quit their jobs amid worsening work conditions and used the restaurant’s sign to let customers know.

    “We all quit,” the sign at the Lincoln Burger King read. “Sorry for the inconvenience.”

    Rachael Flores, who had worked as a general manager there since January, had put in her two weeks notice and eight other employees also resigned before deciding to post the message on the sign, KLKN reported.

    “They have gone through so many district managers since I’ve been GM,” Flores said. “No one has come to the store to help me out. They’re so in and out.”

    Flores said the restaurant is short-staffed and she would end up working 50 to 60 hours a week. She said at one point they did not have working air-conditioning in the kitchen, where temperatures reached 90 degrees. Flores had to go to the hospital as she was dehydrated.

    Employees had joked on Friday about putting up the message. On Saturday, they put it up on one side of the sign.

    Read More: Restaurant makes ‘world’s most expensive burger’ for $6,000

    “They wanted to put up a sign to say, you know sorry there’s really not going to be anyone here,” Flores said.

     “Just kind of a laugh to upper management. That was put up (Saturday) before we opened, and I didn’t think anybody was going to notice it, because we did just one sign, and then it went pretty crazy on Facebook. I got a call from my upper management and they told me I needed to take it down.”

    Flores’ boss fired her later that day and the location is still open. Burger King did not responed to the incident.

  • WHO warns against mixing, matching Covid-19 vaccines, calls it ‘dangerous trend’

    WHO warns against mixing, matching Covid-19 vaccines, calls it ‘dangerous trend’

     The World Health Organization’s chief scientist on Monday advised people not to mix and match Covid-19 vaccines from different manufacturers, calling it a “dangerous trend” since there was little data available about the health impact.

    “It’s a little bit of a dangerous trend here. We are in a data-free, evidence-free zone as far as mix and match,” Soumya Swaminathan told an online briefing.

    “It will be a chaotic situation in countries if citizens start deciding when and who will be taking a second, a third and a fourth dose.”

    Read More: Study shows AstraZeneca, Pfizer vaccines effective against Delta Covid-19 variants

    The advice came after a study conducted in the United Kingdom earlier found that adopting a mix-and-match approach to Covid-19 vaccines gives a more robust immune response. 

  • Pet dogs that attacked Karachi lawyer euthanised

    Pet dogs that attacked Karachi lawyer euthanised

    The two pet dogs that attacked a Karachi lawyer have been euthanised as per the conditions of the compromise agreement reached between the dogs’ owner and the victim, confirmed the police.

    As per reports, the dogs were euthanised at a veterinary clinic. The owner of the dogs informed the police about it.

    Last month, two pet dogs attacked and injured a resident of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) in Karachi.

    The video that did rounds on social media showed the two dogs rushed towards the resident and injured him. The pet-sitter at first tried to pull off the dogs from the man but upon seeing the dogs out of control, he ran away from the scene leaving the victim to defend himself.

    The victim, Mirza Akhtar Ali, later registered a complaint with Darakshan Police Station. However, an agreement was reached between the Mirza Akhtar Ali, and the dogs’ owner, Humayun Ali Khan, on July 6.

    “The two dogs involved in the incident will be euthanised/put down by a veterinarian immediately. Any other such dogs that Humayun Khan has, he shall give them away,” stated one of the conditions of the agreement.

    The other conditions of the agreement are:

    • Humayun Khan tenders unconditional apology to Mirza Akhtar Ali for the hurt and injury caused to him.

    • Humayun Khan and family shall not keep at their home any dangerous or ferocious dogs as pets. Any other dogs kept as pets shall be registered with the Clifton Cantonment Board and shall not venture out on the streets without a properly trained handler and shall be muzzled and leashed at all times they are outside.

    • Humayun Khan shall make a donation of Rs1,000,000 to the Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation — ACF Animal Rescue.

    While Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation (ACF) has refused to take the donations

  • Gujranwala bride goes to hospital to marry ‘wounded groom’

    Gujranwala bride goes to hospital to marry ‘wounded groom’

    A bride in Gujranwala went to a hospital to marry the man who got injured in a traffic accident one day before the wedding ceremony.

    As per reports, Rizwan, a resident of Dhaunkal town of Punjab’s Gujranwala district, and Maria planned to tie the knot on July 9 but unfortunately, the groom met with a road accident and got his leg fractured on July 8.

    The couple did not postpone the wedding as the bride went to the private hospital in a traditional dress along with her family where the nikah was held after getting permission from the hospital’s administration.

    Read More: Groom carries bride on shoulders across a flooded river

    The video of the ceremony went viral on social media that showed the bride sitting near a table while the groom was sitting at the hospital’s bed with his mother. After the nikkah, the newly-wed couple posed for the photoshoot inside the hospital.

    Rizwan and Maria became friends via Facebook five years ago and he came to Pakistan from Italy to marry her.

  • Eid ul Azha: Only vaccinated individuals to be allowed to visit tourist resorts

    Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Services, Dr Faisal Sultan, on Monday said that only vaccinated people will be allowed to visit tourist resorts during the Eid holidays from July 20 till July 22.

    People can travel once they are fully vaccinated. Dr Sultan stressed that it is necessary to have a vaccination certificate to travel during the Eid holidays.

    While talking to the media, he appealed to all citizens to follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and to get vaccinated.

    Dr Sultan said that in the last few days, the positivity rate of Pakistan’s Covid-19 cases has jumped from two percent to four percent. The main cause of this surge is violation of SOPs, and the Delta Variant.

    Dr Sultan also said that the government may seek help from the army to implement SOPs, as per sources.

    According to the latest statistics by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 47,015 tests for coronavirus were conducted across the country in the last 24 hours, of which 1,808 people tested positive.