Norway’s Muslim associations have announced they would distribute 10,000 copies of the Holy Quran with Norwegian translations in an effort to fight racism, hate and extremism.
According to the the Norwegian Muslim Arts and Culture Association reported, it will be a collaboration with the Islam Literature Association and the Minhajul Quran mosque.
“We want to respond to negative actions by spreading love and knowledge as taught by the Holy Quran,” said Muslim Arts and Culture Association in a statement, indicating that the copies would be handed out via the internet.
The decision comes after an extreme right-wing group tried to burn a copy of the holy book during a protest in Kristiansand, a city populated with migrants.
‘Stop the Islamisation of Norway (SION)’ members were prevented from the desecrating by police, however, the group’s leader threw the holy book in the garbage.
Turkey, Pakistan, Iran reacted strongly to the November 16 incident by issuing their formal condemnations.
After receiving reactions from the Muslim community, Norwegian Politician Jøran Kallmyr held a meeting with the Islam Council of Norway and assured them that “Norway has distanced itself from the anti-Islamic organisation and said it does not provide any support to this organisation.”
Kallmyr said that the Norwegian Muslim community’s safety was as important as the Norwegian citizens.
Sikhs visiting the Data Sahib at the recently opened Kartarpur Corridor are bringing tomatoes from India as a gift for the langar khana which provides a free vegetarian meal to all visitors.
According to reports, Sikh pilgrims coming to the Gurdwara from India brought bags of tomatoes as a present for the langar khana. Not only tomatoes, they also brought other vegetables for the community kitchen.
A yatree Sardar Hari Chand said they brought tomatoes to the Gurdwara from India because they heard that the fruit was being sold at a very high price in Pakistan – tomatoes were being sold for Rs300 to Rs400 per kg in Narowal while in India tomatoes are available for only Rs20.
Another pilgrim said: “We’ve heard the rates of vegetables are very high in Pakistan; while coming from Amritsar, we also brought ginger, green chilli, garlic and onion.”
Pilgrims said that they feel happy bringing food for the Gurdwara and that langar dishes are incomplete without tomatoes.
Pilgrims shared that they feel happy when they contribute their share in the form of cash or anything, adding that no Sikh would like to visit anyone’s home without a gift, so how could they forget to bring something to their guru’s house.
Indian police on Friday shot dead four detained gang-rape and murder suspects as they were re-enacting their alleged crime, prompting celebrations but also accusations of extrajudicial killings.
The men, who had been in custody for a week over the latest gruesome case of violence against women to shock India, were shot in the early morning as they tried to escape during the staged re-enactment in Hyderabad.
Deputy police commissioner in the southern city Prakash Reddy revealed that “They were killed in crossfire. They tried to snatch weapons from the guards but were shot dead.”
The four were accused of gang-raping and murdering a 27-year-old veterinary doctor Dr Priyanka Reddy before setting fire to her body with petrol underneath an isolated bridge late on November 27.
The woman had phoned her sister saying she was scared of the men before her phone went dead. She said police did not take her seriously when she said her sister was missing.
The victim
Like in the infamous 2012 rape and murder of a woman on a Delhi bus, the case sparked demonstrations and calls for swift and tough justice, with social media swamped with demands for them to be put to death.
Shortly after their arrest hundreds of protesters also tried to storm the Hyderabad police station where the four accused were held. One lawmaker in the parliament called for the men to be “lynched” and another for rapists to be castrated.
Several hundred people flocked to the scene of the men’s deaths on Friday, setting off firecrackers to celebrate and showering police with flower petals.
The victim’s sister also welcomed the killings.
“I am happy the four accused have been killed in an encounter. This incident will set an example. I thank the police and media for their support,” the sister told a local television station.
Women in technology hub Hyderabad, home to Google, Apple and Microsoft, distributed sweets and tied Hindu ritual threads on the wrists of policemen to thank them.
On the other hand rights activists were aghast with the killing – police in India are often accused of using extrajudicial killings to bypass the legal process, often as a cover-up in botched investigations or to pacify public anger.
India’s former federal minister for women and child developement, Maneka Gandhi termed the incident as dangerous, saying killings cannot be an alternative to the process of law.
“They would have anyway got hanging for their heinous crime, but you can’t just pick up guns and kill people because you want to. Because law is tardy, you can’t kill people. What has happened is dangerous,” Gandhi told reporters.
A Supreme Court lawyer is reported to have said, “This is murder in cold blood. Fake encounter is not the solution, reforming criminal justice system is.”
“Now no one will ever know who really raped and murdered the Hyderabad woman.”
Sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Randi Zuckerburg described Pakistan as one of the friendliest countries she has visited.
Addressing a session during the AdAsia event in Lahore, Randi praised the country for the women it had produced.
“Pakistan has given us women such as Malala Yousafzai and Benazir Bhutto. This shows that Pakistan is a country that really honours its women,” she said.
She also revealed she was a fan of cricket and said she was surprised to find out Pakistan was the ideal country when it came to sports because it also produces top-quality soccer balls.
Zuckerberg, who serves as the CEO of ‘Zuckerberg Media’ said that it is not necessary that every new idea will be accepted – it could flop as well.
“Today everything is media and it is now time to invest in video. We need to control its use. None of us would change the world if we stick to our phones all the time,” she added.
One of the most misunderstood concepts of modernity is ‘Multitasking.’ Multitasking at our jobs and social media interactions have reduced our ability to retain focus on one thing at a time.
However, if we introduce the practice of mindfulness in our lives – one can not only rejuvenate the complex networking of neurons of our brain but the abilities like concentration, time-management, and stress management can also be improved to phenomenal extend.
Here are some easy mindfulness exercises which you should consider to add in your daily life:
STOP
When you’re in a stressful moment, a popular mindfulness exercise called S.T.O.P. can be helpful.
Stop. Just take a momentary pause, no matter what you’re doing.
Take a breath. Feel the sensation of your breathing, which brings you back to the present moment.
Observe. Acknowledge what is happening, for good or bad, inside you or out. Just note it.
Proceed. Having briefly checked in with the present moment, continue with whatever it was you were doing.
PRACTICE MINDFULNESS DURING MEETINGS
Another very useful technique that can be practiced in group forms is by practicing it in the office with your colleagues. Meetings can be wastage of time when people aren’t listening. Here is how you can introduce mindfulness in your office meetings:
No phones or computers allowed at meetings, whenever possible.
If you need a note taker, have one person act as secretary and circulate the notes afterward.
Give uninterrupted opportunities to speak to people in the meeting.
Mindfulness works; that is why from Google to General Mills, they have started teaching mindfulness in their offices. You should do it as well.
A senior Pakistani executive of Google, Tania Aidrus quit her position at the tech giant to lead Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘Digital Pakistan’ initiative. Her decision to serve the country has won the hearts of Pakistanis who took to Twitter to thank her for her efforts.
#Pakistan welcome Tania Aidrus who quit job at tech giant @Google and came back to her homeland to lead Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Digital Pakistan initiative.
It is glad to know that Pakistan is now going to be digitise itself a big respect specially for Tania Aidrus who resigened to her post of Google Executive and now joining Digital Pakistan's initiative hope this step would lead Pakistan towards hikes of success.#DigitalPakistan
According to reports, Tania arrived in Pakistan from Singapore to offer her services to the country’s digitalisation programme.
Tania was the Chief of Staff and Head of Strategic Initiatives on the Next Billion Users (NBU) team at Google which is focused on building new products and services that are aimed at addressing the emerging trends and needs of users in growth markets.
Prior to this, Tania was a leader in the Global Business Organisation at Google in the US and then in Singapore where she was the Country Manager for South Asia Frontier Markets at Google focused on expanding the Internet ecosystem, increasing product adoption amongst consumers and businesses and accelerating innovation.
Before being part of Google, Tania co-founded a mobile health diagnosis company called ClickDiagnostics which was focused on connecting rural patients in emerging markets to doctors globally. She also spent a portion of her career consulting for Fortune 500 companies and the US Government at Booz Allen Hamilton.
Tania holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BSc from Brandeis University.
PM Imran Khan inaugurated the ‘Digital Pakistan’ campaign on Thursday. The campaign was executed by the Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT), who were tasked with digitising all correspondence between the government offices. They were given only three months to complete the task.
According to a statement, Digital Pakistan is a comprehensive plan which will help the country in competing in the digital market globally and will also create jobs and ease for the people of Pakistan.
Earlier in September, senior PTI leader Jahangir Tareen had announced the government had engaged a senior former Google executive to help revamp its payment system and set into motion the digitisation initiative.
He said the government had persuaded the Google executive, who was in Singapore, to lead the project from Pakistan, after a lot of effort and headhunting.
“She is leaving Google. In fact, she has left it and she is moving to Pakistan and will lead the digitisation initiative,” Tareen had said.
If you’re in a relationship or planning to get married – be careful about these things:
1. Pressure from friends and family
First things first. You should not marry because your amma (mother) forced you to tie the knot with your khala ka larka ya larki (daughter or son of your mother’s sister). It’s your life and only you will be dealing with your matters. Your parents will not come to rescue if you lack compatibility with your partner. So, think logically before getting into any sort of a relationship.
2. If you’re lonely or depressed
If you think that marriage is a cure for your loneliness or depression – you’re mistaken. Yes, having a great life partner does contribute positivity in life, but getting married solely to solve the above-stated issues will be a disaster. There can be multiple reasons for depression – it can be because of medical or hormonal changes in your body. In that case, it is best to consult a mental health specialist instead of getting married.
3. Love will solve everything
This only happens in Pakistani dramas and Bollywood films. Because, in reality, love will not solve everything. In fact, it will add problems in your life if you’re not good at solving your problems. A good relationship demands great problem-solving skills, right decision making, and above all, lots of commitment.
4. Unrealistic expectations
“Tumnay toh kaha tha ke shaadi ke baad (you promised that after marriage).”
Yes, It is a trap, nothing more than that. A person who cannot fulfill commitments before marriage will certainly be unable to keep promises after marriage.
5. Being unforgiving
“Mein tumhein sari zindagi maaf nae kar sakta/sakti (I cannot forgive you for the rest of my life).”
This attitude will only affect your life. There are chances that your contemporary partner will move on and may find someone more understanding. It is imperative to let things go and be more optimistic – only if your partner is putting effort.
There are innumerable relationship advices on the internet. However, the ability to learn and adjust to the situation is invaluable.
Who says true love does not exist? This love story of a Danish woman and a Pakistani man will be the sweetest thing you will see today on the internet.
A woman from Denmark, traveled all the way to Pakistan to marry her love who was denied a Danish visa.
Greta and her parents came to Pakistan where she married Shahzeb. “I saw him for the first time at a coffee shop in Malaysia,” she said and thought that he was very handsome”.
“Pakistan gave us such a warm welcome. Shahzeb’s family members welcomed us with rose petals when we arrived and it was so beautiful. Nothing like that ever happens in Denmark. Pakistan’s culture is very beautiful, but people don’t really know anything about Pakistan and only read negative things about it. People must visit this beautiful country,” she urged.
Later, her parents shared the couple’s struggle with a radio station, who then released a song, titled Blacklisted Love, to tell the people their love story.
Good news for all those applying for their US visa.
The United States Embassy in Pakistan has announced the introduction of a new optional visa delivery service.
According to a tweet from the official account of the US Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistanis can avail the facility of having their US visa delivered to them on their doorstep. The service is optional and comes with a delivery charge of Rs 700.
To avail this service, select the “premium delivery” option during the application process and you’re good to go.
