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Category: Lifestyle

  • Health experts suggest excessive consumption of biryani can cause diabetes

    Health experts suggest excessive consumption of biryani can cause diabetes

    Health experts have warned that poor eating habits, especially the excessive consumption of rice in the form of biryani and carbonated drinks can be one of the leading causes of diabetes in Pakistan.

    According to experts, the excessive consumption of rice and carbonated sodas must be stopped to prevent diabetes.

    Speaking at the launching ceremony of the Diabetes Discovering Project, Internal Medicine Specialist and Endocrinologist Professor Tasnim Ahsan said that the country was facing a “diabetes epidemic”.

    Professor Tasnim said, “Everything unhealthy we eat [nowadays] should be avoided, especially rice in the form of biryani, soft drinks and so-called fast food.”

    “More than 50 per cent of people with diabetes are unaware of their health condition and only find out when their eyes, kidneys, heart or brain have been severely damaged,” the Professor said, adding that “precaution is better than cure.”

    Diabetes expert Professor Zaman Sheikh, while talking about the disease said: “The disease is threatening thousands of lives in Pakistan every year but unfortunately most people are ignorant of the causes of the disease and consider it a small problem.”

    “When people come to us with diabetes after living for many years, many of their vital organs have already suffered badly,” he said, asserting that “diabetes causes permanent damage to the eyes and kidneys and  can even lead to heart attacks  and fatal strokes.”

    Professor Javed Iqbal, a laparoscopic surgeon, said that lack of awareness about health issues is no less than a crime, as diseases like diabetes are quietly causing irreparable harm to people.

    He advised Pakistanis to change their eating habits, diet and lifestyle and get tested for diabetes as soon as possible.

    Haroon Qasim, Managing Director, Pharmevo, on the Diabetes Discovering Project, said that a helpline service has been developed under the project so that people can know the nature of diabetes on their own and consult diabetes experts in the country.

    “We believe that the healthy lifestyle should be a part of Pakistan’s school curriculum as more than 26% of the people in the country have diabetes and every child knows it,” he said.

  • ‘Govt does not plan to buy vaccines anytime soon’

    ‘Govt does not plan to buy vaccines anytime soon’

    “The government aims to handle the COVID-19 health challenge through herd immunity and donated vaccines as currently; it has no strategy to buy more vaccines,” National Health Service (NHS) Secretary Amir Ashraf Khawaja has told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

    According to reports, National Institute of Health Executive Director Maj Gen Aamir Ikram has informed that a single dose of Chinese vaccine CanSino costs $13 which is why Pakistan was depending on international donors and friendly countries, like China to fulfil its vaccine requirement.

    Read more – Govt announces free vaccine for all citizens

    The NHS secretary further told PAC that Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm had committed to give one million doses of the virus vaccine [to Pakistan], adding that 0.5m doses had already been handed over. Out of those 0.5 million doses,  around 275,000 doses had been administered to healthcare workers fighting against COVID-19 on the frontlines.

    He said the second phase would include the health officials working in hospitals and other health facilities, adding that people aged 65 and above could also register themselves for vaccination via a text message to 1166. According to him, the process of vaccination to aged people was due to start by March 5 but was delayed because the consignment was delayed.

    Khawaja also said that Pakistan plans to vaccinate 70 million people this year.

    Read more – Will Pakistan get enough COVID-19 vaccines?

    According to the NHS secretary, Pakistan will also get 16m free doses of Indian-made Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine through Gavi that would cover upto 20% of the population of Pakistan. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) is a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.

    In response to a question by the PAC chairman, the secretary said Pakistan would receive the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccine made by Serum Institute of India by the mid of March and the rest was expected to arrive in the country by June.

    He said that another Chinese company had conducted the phase-three trial of CanSino vaccine in Pakistan, adding that a total of 18,000 people were inoculated and the vaccine’s efficacy stood at 85pc.

    The PAC chairman highlighted that some people had some concerns regarding the side effects of the vaccine and suggested that the top leadership of the country should get vaccinated first to remove doubts in the general public’s mind.

    In response to a question by Hina Rabbani Khar, the NHS secretary said that despite the government’s offer to the private sector to buy the vaccine, no serious buyers had so far shown interest. The government had earlier allowed the private sector to import vaccine to cater to the needs of those people who could afford its price.

    According to him, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan has so far received applications only from three companies for the import of vaccines, but their applications were rejected because they did not give any detail and specification of the vaccines they intended to import.

  • First ‘space hotel’ expected to open in 2027

    Space construction company Orbital Assembly has announced the construction of a ‘space hotel’. The announcement was made in an event ‘First Assembly’ which streamed live on the company’s YouTube channel.

    Image by orbital assembly coorporation

    Speaking to a news publication, Chief Executive Officer of Orbital Assembly John Blincow said that the coronavirus pandemic may ultimately delay the construction start date from its initial 2025 projection. However, he believes it could take just a year or two to assemble Voyager Station, the commercial space station that will house the hotel.

    “It’s going to happen fast when it starts,” Blincow said. “And we believe it’s going to happen a lot, too, even before we finish the first one. We have buyers for other stations because they’re very, very lucrative.”

    He further added, “You’re going to have the top chefs making really, really good food. And when you pay $5 million to go someplace, it’s not going to be burgers and fries.”

    Voyager Station, it is planned to operate with artificial gravity. Orbital Assembly’s goal is “to build a ring-shaped Voyager Space Station (VSS) with a diameter of 650 ft (200 m) and capable of creating moon-levels of artificial gravity.”

    As per details, construction of this space structure will begin in 2025 and it will have the capacity to accommodate 400 people. The Voguer Space station is expected to be operational by 2027.

  • Facebook launches TikTok-like app for rappers

    Facebook has launched a TikTok-like app called BARS for creating and sharing short rap videos.

    According to reports, Facebook’s BARS is specifically designed for making content in rapping style. Rappers can create and share their raps using professionally created beats via this app.

    The app also suggests rhymes from a rhyming dictionary to keep your flow going. There is also a ‘Challenge Mode’ in which users can select ‘freestyle’ along with auto-suggested word cues.

    “Audio production tools can be complicated, expensive and difficult to use. With BARS, you can select one of our professionally-created beats, write lyrics and record yourself dropping bars,” Facebook said in a statement.

    The videos can be up to 60 seconds long and can be saved or shared out on other social media platforms.

    BARS, which was built with a team of aspiring rappers, is available for download through Apple’s US App Store and is initially accessible for a small number of iOS users only.

  • Sindh man builds ‘mini Taj Mahal’ as a tribute for the ‘love of his life’

    Sindh man builds ‘mini Taj Mahal’ as a tribute for the ‘love of his life’

    A man in Sindh, Abdul Rasool Pali made his own replica of the Taj Mahal after he fell in love with the real Mughal monument.

    Known as the monument of love, the Taj Mahal in Agra, India was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Begum. The mausoleum which houses the graves of both Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Begum has been the subject of many poems, songs and films.

    The landlord-cum-lawyer in Umerkot made an exact model of the monument 800km away.

    Speaking to BBC Urdu, Pali said that he is already famous in the village of Dhibo for building the village cemetery. He is now making waves internationally with his recreation.

    The 65-year-old has 9,000 acres of land to his name, being the largest land-owner in the area. He fell in love with the Mughal monument back in 1980 when he visited India for the first time.

    He hired a mason, Sher Muhammad for the task.

    Abdul Rasool and Sher Muhammad plotted the building in their minds to build a small Taj Mahal  with 20 feet height and 18 feet width.

    Pali shared that he got married at a very young age. His wife Maryam was 40 years old at the time while he was 18. Despite the age difference, their ‘arranged marriage’ turned into ‘love’ within a few days and the couple loved travelling together. In Hyderabad, he used to visit Rani Bagh and Jamshoro.

    After 40 years of marriage, his wife died of a stroke in 2015.

    The death of his beloved Maryam made Abdul Rasool more adamant to build the monument despite the opposition of the locals calling it a waste. It took him six months and Rs 1.3 million to tribute the love of his life.

  • Aurat March Lahore announces ‘Charter of Demands’ for 2021

    Aurat March Lahore has unveiled its charter of demands for 2021. This year’s charter of demands is based on 15 points with a special focus on women’s healthcare, which is also the theme of this year’s march.

    As per the official Twitter account of Aurat March Lahore, the charter “is centred on our theme of healthcare which intersects with the issues of gender-based violence, the dehumanisation and sexualisation of our bodies, safety, environmental justice and our fraught relationship with the state.”

    “Some of our demands are immediate, some of them are from the state — but we recognise that our long-term struggle and means of emancipation lie outside the patriarchal state and exploitative economic system we’re currently in,” read the official statement.

    Earlier, the organisers of Aurat March Lahore released the poster and theme for this year’s march.

    Speaking exclusively to The Current, Shehzil Malik who designed the poster, talked about the thought process behind designing the poster.

    “To know more about women’s health crisis, I reached out to a friend who works in public health which really gave me an insight into the subject,” shared Malik.

    Aurat March is scheduled to take place on March 8 on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

    Meanwhile, expressing her views on the Aurat March, Sarah Khan in an exclusive interview with The Current said: “I think, instead of fight for the rights, we should educate our sons. Don’t teach your daughters to go to ‘Aurat March’, educate your sons and teach them that their mother is also a woman.

    “[A] woman is the one who runs the house, does the house chores and supports the man. If your wife is not helpful, then how will you be happy? Allah has already granted status to the woman, but I think men should be given the same rights. They deserve the same, not only women,” she added.

    On the other hand, actor Mahira Khan who attends the Aurat March every year revealed her reason for going to the event, saying: “I think it is necessary for me [to go to Aurat March] because I think when I do something, no matter how small it is, it leaves an impact.”

    “So when I go to Aurat March, what I’m actually trying to say is ‘Look, if you like me and if you think what I say means something if you think I that I’m on the right side of history, or whatever you think of me, this is also what I believe in, this is why I’m here,” she added.

  • Rooster kills owner during cockfight in India

    Rooster kills owner during cockfight in India

    A rooster fitted with a knife for an illegal cockfight in southern India has killed its owner. The incident also prompted authorities to look for the organisers of the event and penalise them for their actions.

    According to reports, the bird had a knife attached to its leg and inflicted serious wounds to the owner when he tried to escape, the police said on Sunday.

    The owner, Thangulla Satish, 45, died from blood loss before he could reach a hospital in the Karimnagar district of Telangana state, said police officer B Jeevan. 

    “Satish was hit by the rooster’s knife in his groin,” an area between your hip and stomach, “and started bleeding heavily,” the officer said, adding that Satish was one of 16 people organising the cockfight in the village of Lothunur.

    “We are searching for the other 15 people involved in organising the illegal fight,” said Jeevan further.

    The organisers could face charges of manslaughter, illegal betting and hosting a cockfight. 

    Cockfights are banned yet common in rural areas of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha states, especially around the Hindu festival of Sankranti. Roosters fights attract large crowds and thousands of roosters die each year in the competitions despite the efforts of animal rights groups. 

    Organisers attach 7.5-centimetre, almost three-inch blades to especially bred rooster’s legs and bet who will win the fight. The fight continues until one rooster is either dead or fleas. 

    Last year, a man was killed when a blade attached to his bird’s leg hit him in the neck during a cockfight in Andhra Pradesh.

  • Food wars begin after Pooja Bhatt says Karachi has the best biryani

    The Biryani war does not seem to be settling down anytime soon and Pooja Bhatt has sparked a new one on social media after she commented that Karachi has the best biryani in South Asia.

    It all started when a Twitter user Sameer Chishty tweeted: “Truth. Karachi is the undisputed food champion of Pakistan. Don’t bother coming at me on this.”

    Replying to his tweet, Faisal Rafi, a Pakistani producer, added: “Of South Asia, I dare say.”

    Responding to Rafi’s tweet, Bollywood actor Pooja Bhatt said: “I second that.”

    Bhatt’s tweet sparked a food war on social media with users jumping in to list their city’s best food.

    https://twitter.com/KehRahaHai/status/1364491955565133824?s=20
    https://twitter.com/Sabbandkardo/status/1364551899773558785?s=20
    https://twitter.com/ZaryaabKhan24/status/1364580577370775560?s=20
    https://twitter.com/HaroonSidd/status/1364863990443241475?s=20

  • Ayesha Omar to launch her beauty brand on Women’s Day

    Ayesha Omar is all set to turn entrepreneur with her new organic skincare line scheduled to launch on March 8 on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

    Named ‘Ayesha O Beauty’, the brand will focus on natural and organic products, though the exact details of the products are not yet known.

    Announcing the news on social media, Omar shared a promotional video of her upcoming brand with the caption: “Been working on something very very close to my heart. Cannot wait to share it with all of you, very soon.”

    The promotional posts of the new beauty line feature Ayesha looking pristine in an all-white outfit soaking in nature.

    “If you’re on a quest to embrace nature truly, you’d want to watch out for what we have in store for you,” reads one of the posts on social media.

    Another post suggest that the products are going to be “100 percent organic”.

    As per details, Ayesha’s line is being launched in collaboration with Hemani, the same group behind Waseem Badami’s skincare line.

    Meanwhile, Ayesha is not the first celebrity to introduce her own beauty line. Last year, Aijaz Aslam launched his own brand of natural health and skincare products under the name of ‘Aijaz Aslam‘, while Shoaib Malik, earlier this year introduced a line of skincare products for men in collaboration with Komal Rizvi.

  • Man ordered to pay ex-wife $7,700 as compensation for housework

    Man ordered to pay ex-wife $7,700 as compensation for housework

    A Chinese court has ordered a man to pay his former wife 50,000 yuan ($7,700) as compensation for housework she did during their five-year marriage. Under a landmark civil code that seeks to better protect the rights of individuals, spouses can seek compensation from their partners in a divorce if they have shouldered more responsibilities – including housework.

    According to details, the woman, who did not work outside the home during the marriage, sought compensation for housework she had done after her husband filed for divorce at a district court in Beijing last year.

    The judge ruled in her favour, telling the man to pay 50,000 yuan for her labour. Additionally he must also pay 2,000 yuan a month to support their child, with other assets such as property to be divided equally.

    Read more – Groom beaten after first wife ‘crashes’ third marriage

    The award of compensation for housework sparked debate on Chinese social media, with many netizens saying the amount was too little.

    “A nanny’s annual income is already in the tens of thousands of yuan,” said a social media user. “This is too little.”