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Category: Lifestyle

  • New Year par kya gift dein?

    Hello, my beautiful people, New Year celebrations are around the corner and you’ve probably forgotten to buy a gift for your loved ones just like me. Yeah, yeah, I know you are thinking, who even expects a gift on New Year’s? Well, a lot of people do, your loved one might be expecting a surprise too. So, stop procrastinating and start thinking. I have a bunch of ideas for you.

    Silver Jewelry

    Cute jewelry items are always a good gift. You can gift them anklets, get a couple’s band i.e. matching rings, or you can give your male loved one a challa, if he is into it. I would recommend Ghazi Silver House for good and affordable jewelry. If you are in Lahore, you can visit their store located at MM Alam Road.

    Dari Mooch

    If your significant other proudly dons a beard but seems to be overlooking its proper care, you might want to consider gifting them an all-encompassing solution to address both their beard and skincare needs. Look no further than Dari Mooch, a brand known for its premium grooming products designed specifically for the modern man who takes pride in his facial hair.

    Books

    If your loved one is an avid reader or has a keen interest in a particular genre, now is the perfect time to surprise them with a thoughtful and enriching gift — a collection of books. Explore the ongoing book sale at Readings or Liberty Books, where you can discover a diverse selection of literary treasures at discounted prices.

    Intimate Dinner

    Consider gifting your loved one an intimate dinner experience that transcends the ordinary. Instead of venturing out to a crowded restaurant, create a haven of warmth and romance right at home or in a private, secluded setting. Elevate the celebration by crafting an evening that revolves around shared moments, exquisite cuisine, and the comfort of being in each other’s company.

    You can watch Your Place or Mine on Netflix together.

    Aromatic candles

    Spice up your intimate dinner a bit with Aromatic candles. The aroma can add to the romance, and you can always add some red roses to create a vibe. Polly and other stories have a decent collection of affordable candles.

    Teddy Bear/ Cute stuff

    Aren’t we girls in love with Teddy Bears, Plush toys, and cute stuff? Well, Miniso is your best friend for all the cute stuff. Go gift them a bunch of things and yes, there is a sale going on too.

    Skin Care Products

    Well, winters always demand more skincare, and, doing skin care as a couple or as a friends group is always fun. Well, in my case, I have cool cousins and we do face mask skin care together.


    You can try gifting a Face Mask or Scrubs from Conatural or Saeed Ghani.

    While you are at it, if your loved one is tensed due to extreme hair fall, gift them an organic water-based solution from Silk Locks by Zahraa.

    Rice Water Hair Growth Spray by Barn and Island also has amazing results.

    Sari

    Selecting a saree as a gift for a special girl can indeed be a wonderful choice, as the timeless elegance and versatility of a saree make it a cherished wardrobe piece. Remember, the beauty of gifting a saree lies not only in the garment itself but also in the consideration and effort put into choosing one that aligns with her taste and preferences. The gesture of presenting her with a saree is a celebration of her individuality and the special bond you share.

    You can avail yourself 50 to 70 percent off in the ongoing Winter Sale at The Saari Girl.

    Leather Products

    If your loved ones have an affinity with leather goods, be it jackets, wallets, handbags, belts, or keychains, consider exploring the offerings at Jild for your next purchase. Jild is currently running a remarkable sale with a substantial 60 percent discount, making it an opportune time to indulge in high-quality leather products.

  • Third gender not recognized by Election Commission of Pakistan

    Third gender not recognized by Election Commission of Pakistan

    Nayyab Ali, a transgender candidate for the National Assembly, has recently shared on X (formerly Twitter) that as per the data released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) only two genders applied for the election: males and females, whereas she has applied as a third gender ‘X’.


    Nayyab, a resident of the federal capital city of Islamabad, has applied to contest the upcoming general elections from National Assembly Constituency 47. “Confused about why our papers might be rejected based on our gender identity. The law acknowledges transgender persons–clarity needed,” she added to the previous statement.

  • Case registered for deportation of step-siblings in Sara Sharif murder case

    Case registered for deportation of step-siblings in Sara Sharif murder case

    In the case of Sara, a 10-year-old Pakistani girl who was allegedly killed in England by her father and stepmother, a case was registered in the Lahore High Court for the handover of the step-siblings of the murdered girl, reports Geo.

    On the order of the London High Court, Surrey County Council filed a case in Lahore High Court, stating in the petition that Sarah’s half-siblings in Pakistan should be handed over to the British government. Five of her half-siblings are currently in Pakistan.

    Pakistani police arrested Sara’s father, mother, and uncle from Jhelum and all three returned to Britain and were arrested.

    According to the British media, the hearing of Sara’s murder will be held in London High Court in September 2024.

  • 2023 terror stats: Suicide attacks highest since 2014

    In a report issued by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), it has been revealed that the country has experienced a surge in suicide attacks, reaching the highest level since 2014.

    According to the data released by PICSS, reported by Geo, 29 attacks have been reported in the year 2023, claiming 329 lives. 582 individuals were injured in these attacks. This marks the highest death toll since 2013 when 683 people lost their lives in 47 suicide bombings. 623 militant attacks in 2023, as compared to 380 such attacks in 2022. Among total attacks in 2023, 29 were suicide attacks; whereas in 2022, 15 were suicide attacks.

    Compared to the previous year, 2022, the report shows a tragic 93% increase in the number of suicide attacks, a 226% rise in resultant deaths, and a 101% surge in the number of injured individuals.

    In a comparative analysis of the regions, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bore the brunt of these attacks, reporting 23 instances that resulted in 254 fatalities and 512 injuries. Within KP, newly merged districts (NMD) experienced 13 suicide attacks, leading to 85 deaths and 206 injuries. Balochistan faced five attacks, causing 67 deaths and 52 injuries, while Sindh witnessed one suicide attack resulting in eight deaths and 18 injuries.


    There was a stark increase in the attacks against military forces, with civilians constituting the second-largest victim category. A visual representation in the form of pie charts illustrates that 48% of deaths (157) and 58% of injuries (340) were inflicted upon security personnel. The number of civilian casualties was close to these statistics with 130 deaths and 242 injured.

    Taking notes from the historical trajectory, PICSS’s militancy database indicates a notable decline in suicide attacks from 30 in 2014 to a mere three in 2019. Contrary to the earlier statement, there was no significant surge in 2020 and 2021, as both years witnessed only four attacks each.

    The year 2022 witnessed a sudden and significant surge, recording 15 attacks resulting in 101 deaths and 290 injuries. This worrisome trend persisted into 2023, reaching a new high with 29 reported suicide attacks.

  • Palestinians feel ‘no joy’ as Israel bombs Gaza on Christmas

    Palestinians feel ‘no joy’ as Israel bombs Gaza on Christmas

    Palestinians said they felt “no joy” this Christmas as Israel bombed Gaza on Monday, with no end in sight to the war that Hamas says has claimed more than 20,000 lives.

    Festivities were effectively scrapped in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, revered as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, with few worshippers or tourists on the usually packed streets.

    In the besieged Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run ministry of health said early Monday Israeli strikes had killed at least 18 people in the southern city of Khan Yunis, the centre of recent fighting.

    At a hospital in the city, Fadi Sayegh — whose family has previously received permits to travel to Bethlehem for celebrations — said he would not be celebrating Christmas this year.

    “There is no joy. No Christmas tree, no decorations, no family dinner, no celebrations,” he said while undergoing dialysis. “I pray for this war to be over soon.”

    Sister Nabila Salah from the Catholic Holy Church in Gaza — where two Christian women were killed by an Israeli sniper earlier this month according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem — struck a sombre tone.

    “All Christmas celebrations have been cancelled,” she told AFP. “How do we celebrate when we are… hearing the sound of tanks and bombardment instead of the ringing of bells?”

    The war broke out when Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel on October 7 and killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, and seized 250 hostages, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

    Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas in response and its military campaign, which has included massive aerial bombardment. The campaign has killed 20,424 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

    Pope Francis kicked off global Christmas celebrations on Sunday with a call for peace.

    “Our heart goes to Gaza, to all people in Gaza but a special attention to our Christian community in Gaza who is suffering,” the Catholic leader said.

    Christmas eve strike

    Just ahead of Christmas, the Hamas-run health ministry said at least 70 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on Sunday at the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

    Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said the “toll is likely to rise” as many families were thought to be in the area at the time of the strike.

    In a separate incident, the ministry said 10 members of one family were killed in an Israeli strike on their house in the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza.

    AFP was unable to independently verify either toll.

    Vast areas of Gaza lie in ruins and its 2.4 million people have endured dire shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine due to an Israeli siege, alleviated only by the limited arrival of aid trucks.

    Eighty percent of Gazans have been displaced, according to the UN, many fleeing south and now shielding against the winter cold in makeshift tents.

    The head of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, called for an end to the suffering.

    “A humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza is the only way forward,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “War defies logic and humanity, and prepares a future of more hatred and less peace.”

    World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also renewed calls for a ceasefire, saying: “The decimation of the Gaza health system is a tragedy.”

    ‘No choice’

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday the war was exacting a “very heavy price”, as the death toll of soldiers killed in the conflict continued to mount.

    “But we have no choice but to keep fighting,” he said, adding: “This will be a long war.”

    The army said Monday two more soldiers had been killed, taking to 17 the number of troops killed since Friday and 156 since Israel’s ground assault began on October 27.

    Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus indicated that forces were close to gaining control in northern Gaza and that now “we focus our efforts against Hamas in southern Gaza”.

    Two freed detainees and a medic said Sunday that Palestinians held by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip had suffered torture, a charged denied by the military.

    The two men were among hundreds detained by Israeli forces over alleged links with Hamas during Israel’s ground offensive.

    About 20 men released from Israeli custody “have bruises and marks of blows on their bodies”, Marwan al-Hams, hospital director in the southern city of Rafah, told AFP.

  • Rs 2.5 crore gold stolen from Lal Shehbaz Qalander shrine

    Rs 2.5 crore gold stolen from Lal Shehbaz Qalander shrine

    The Sindh Auqaf Department has nominated one of the managers of the tomb of Lal Shehbaz Qalander shrine in a First Information Report (FIR) filed for allegedly stealing gold and silver worth Rs 25.7 million from the shrine.

    Muhammad Zubair Baloch, serving in the shrine for 12 years, was suspended from his job a day earlier. Caretaker Sindh Minister for Auqaf and Religious Affairs Mohammad Umer Soomro suspended him for stealing gold worth Rs. 12.3 million from the offering box over the last month, as reported by Dawn. The case was registered at Sehwan police station, Jamshoro district.

    A private employee, Ali Raza Gopang, was also named in the FIR along with Baloch under sections 407, 409, 380, 457, 427, and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). He is yet to be arrested.

    Auqaf’s administrator for Sukkur and Larkana divisions, Irshad Ali Samo, the complainant in the FIR, told police that over 57 tolas of gold and 3,133 tolas of silver had been stolen from the shrine’s maalkhana [store]. He told the police that the shrine received 210.6 tolas of gold in 20 years from November 22, 2004, to August 17, 2023, reported the Express Tribune.

    The Auqaf department deposited 141 tolas in a locker of the National Bank of Pakistan’s (NBP) main branch in Hyderabad on July 2, 2013. While 68.15 tolas of gold and 4,836.13 of silver accumulated at the shrine’s storage during the last decade. “However, when a jeweler was called to weigh gold and silver on December 19, only 11.8 tolas of gold and 1703.4 of silver were found in the store”, the spokesperson of the department added.

    The administrator informed the police that during the departmental investigation, the suspect conceded negligence and admitted that he gave keys to the store to Gopang without authorisation.


    Devotees give gifts in the form of cash and ornaments during their visits to the Lal’s shrine and at other shrines in the province. However, embezzlement of those gifts has long remained a subject of concern.


    The spokesperson of the ministry quoted the minister saying that a similar investigation into possible theft of offerings against managers of all shrines in the province would be conducted.

  • Lahore back on top of cities with hazardous levels of smog

    Lahore back on top of cities with hazardous levels of smog

    The quality of air pollution in Lahore is back at levels deemed hazardous to human health while Karachi is out of the top ten league after a long time.

    According to the Air Quality Index, Lahore ranks first in the list of the most polluted cities in the world with an AQI of 387.

    Karachi’s air quality is also unhealthy while it stands at the eighth position on the list of most polluted cities with an AQI of 152.

    An index of 151 to 200 is unhealthy, while 201 to 300 is very unhealthy and above 301 AQI, air pollution is considered hazardous.

    To reduce smog and air pollution in Lahore, the caretaker government of Punjab experimented with artificial rain with the support of the UAE government, successfully lowering AQI levels after a light shower.

  • Shaun King suspended, Motaz asked to remove content by Instagram

    Shaun King suspended, Motaz asked to remove content by Instagram

    American writer and activist Shaun King, famous for pro-Palestine advocacy on social media, has been suspended from Instagram.

    The news of the suspension was reported by Khalid Beydoun, another important voice on social media, speaking for the distressed in Palestine. “I felt it was a violation of my principles to not tell the truth about Gaza out of fear of getting banned,” Shaun reportedly told Beydoun.

    Earlier, Motaz Azaiza, photo-journalist from Gaza with a large following, also posted that he was receiving notifications from Instagram of either deleting or editing his content with the objection that they go against the guidelines on nudity or sexual activity of Instagram. The videos showed injured children crying out in pain after being hit by Israeli strikes.

    Motaz protested, “Am I shooting Nudes or what ? A lot of naked girls keep posting on Instagram which is (normal for them) and I don’t see them removing any of their content! But showing what kids of Palestine are facing in Gaza is nudity and sexual activity? Tell me if I’m right or wrong?”

    Another Palestinian journalist Hind Khoudary also posted about her account being shadowbanned by Instagram. This implies that her posts are not visible or are losing engagement because they are against the narrative Meta wants to propagate.

  • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Oath of Khatm-e-Nabuwat made mandatory before Nikkah

    Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Oath of Khatm-e-Nabuwat made mandatory before Nikkah

    The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has made the oath of Khatm-e-Nabuwat mandatory for marriage certificates.

    According to the Department of Local Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial government has made amendments to serial numbers 13 and 25 of the Muslim Family Ordinance.

    As per the amendment, details of the dowry must be entered in the form of cash, movable and immovable property, and the oath of end of Prophethood ﷺ has also been made mandatory in the marriage certificate. Both the bride and groom will be bound to take the oath of end of Prophethood ﷺ.

    The marriage certificate must be signed by the bride, bridegroom, bride and groom’s lawyers, and witnesses, while the signature and seal of a marriage registrar are also mandatory on the marriage certificate.

    The Oath of Faith form on Khatm-e-Nabuwat for marriage already exists in Punjab.

    In a conversation with Geo News, Secretary Local Government Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Daud Khan said that the provincial cabinet had decided to amend the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, the amendments were related to the educational qualification of Nikah Khawan.

  • Writer Mohammed Hanif returns Sitara-e-Imtiaz to protest against Baloch persecution

    Writer Mohammed Hanif returns Sitara-e-Imtiaz to protest against Baloch persecution

    A Case of Exploding Mangoes and Red Birds famed writer and journalist Mohammed Hanif has returned the prestigious civilian award, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, in protest against this week’s crackdown on Baloch protestors by Islamabad police.

    In a post on X, Hanif shared the video of a Baloch girl stating her demands and wrote, “In protest, returning my Sitara e Imtiaz, given to me by a state that continues to abduct and torture Baloch citizens.”


    He went on to mention two female Baloch activists Sammi Baloch and Mehrang Baloch, writing that journalists of his generation have seen these young women grow up in protest camps. “Ashamed to witness a new generation being denied basic dignity,” Mohammed Hanif lamented.

    Hanif’s literary genius was recognized by the government of Pakistan back in 2018 when one of the highest national laurels, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, was conferred upon him.


    Along with being a journalist and novelist, Hanif is also a playwright and writes for the BBC.


    His novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes was long-listed for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, and won the Commonwealth Prize for Best Book. His second book, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, won the Wellcome Book Prize.

    Baloch protesters are on roads demanding the release of all “missing persons” and an end to “extrajudicial killings” in Balochistan under the leadership of activist Dr Mahrang Baloch and Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC).