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  • ‘Receiving threatening calls, car is also being followed,’ says actress Sana

    ‘Receiving threatening calls, car is also being followed,’ says actress Sana

    Famous actress Sana Nawaz has revealed that she has been receiving threats since several weeks, her car was chased at least twice, and her ex-husband may also be involved.

    In a short video message released to the media, Sana Nawaz spoke about the threats and harassment she is faxing, reiterating her determination to take legal action.

    “I have been associated with showbiz for many years, and many people know that strange things have been happening in my life for some time,” she revealed, going on to elaborate: “I have been receiving strange, threatening phone calls for some time now, leaving me worried and unsure of how to resolve the matter.”

    According to the actress, she and her children are being threatened, and pressured, and their car was chased twice, causing her great concern. She said, “I do not understand who is responsible for these threats and why I am being followed.”

    She also mentioned that before the current threats and blackmailing, she had been pressured by her ex-husband and ex-father-in-law.
    “I feel that my ex-husband and ex-father-in-law may be behind these threats,” she added.

    The actress reiterated her resolve to take action, stating that she is recording the video so that her message reaches everyone. According to Sana Nawaz, “There have been problems with many actresses before. Every time, actresses are targeted and oppressed.”

    She added, “Some actresses have a big name on the screen, but they also face incidents like harassment, and their fate is also troubled.”

    She married Fakhar Imam Jafri in 2008, and they have two children together.

    After the divorce, although she spoke about her ex-husband many times, she never made serious allegations against him, only vaguely accusing him of violence and cheating.

  • Over 26 million children are out of school in Pakistan: Study

    Over 26 million children are out of school in Pakistan: Study

    More than 26.2 million children are out of school in the country, says a report submitted in the National Assembly by the Education department.

    The Ministry of Education report stated that two crore, sixty-two lac, six thousand and five hundred and twenty children are out of schools across the country.

    Details of the report state that one crore, seven lac, seventy-four thousand, eight hundred and ninety boys and girls from five to nine years are out of school, including forty nine lac, seventy-two thousand, nine hundred and forty-nine boys and fifty-eight lac, one thousand, nine hundred and forty-one girls.

    The report also delineates that forty-nine lac, thirty-five thousand, four hundred and eighty-four boys and girls between the age of 10 to 12 years are deprived of middle education, in which twenty-one lac, six thousand, six hundred and seventy-two boys and twenty-eight lac, twenty-eight thousand eight hundred and twelve girls are deprived of middle education.

    Additionally, Pak Alliance for Maths and Science (PAMS) has also published a research based report on the huge number of out-of-school children in Pakistan. The report is titled The Missing Third of Pakistan.

    Pakistan is home to 71 million children aged five to 16. The report’s analysis, based on data from the 2023 population and housing census, estimates that an estimated 36 per cent, or 25.3 million, of these children are out of school.

    Among the out-of-school children, 53 per cent are girls, and 47pc are boys, it stresses.

    The report highlights a breakdown of out-of-school children in different districts of the country, out of which 45 tehsils contribute to 26pc of Pakistan’s out-of-school children crisis: 30 are in Punjab, 12 in Sindh, two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one in Balochistan.

  • ‘Stree 2’ breaks box office record set by ‘Pathaan’

    ‘Stree 2’ breaks box office record set by ‘Pathaan’

    Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s film Pathaan whose box office collection record broken by Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao Stree 2.

    A day after breaking the record of Hindi version of ‘Baahubali 2’, Amar Kaushik’s horror-comedy has now become second highest-grossing Hindi film in India with a total gross collection higher than that of forthcoming Shah Rukh Khan release Pathan.

    According to Indian media reports, Stree 2 grossed INR 527 crore at the box office within one week of its release.

    After earning INR 10 crore on Sunday, September 8th, the film has added a total of INR 527 crores so far and is now India’s second-highest-grossing Hindi release.     

     The sequel to the 2018 film Stree2 is called Stree and it follows what happens after a great evil returns from her grave leading an entire village of men into war.

  • Afghan Cricket Board upset over poor facilities at Indian stadium

    Afghan Cricket Board upset over poor facilities at Indian stadium

    The only Test match between Afghanistan and New Zealand in Noida, India, has been delayed amid poor facilities, with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) criticising the venue.

    The only Test match between Afghanistan and New Zealand was supposed to start yesterday, but the first day was wasted due to wet outfield and even though it did not rain all day in Noida, the toss could not take place on the first day.

    The toss is also delayed on the second day of the Test match.

    The drainage system in the Noida Stadium is poor, and there are no proper and modern facilities to cover the outfield. Standing water in the stadium could not be dried throughout the day.

    The Afghan Board officials said, “There is a lot of confusion, we will not come to this Indian venue again. The players are also unhappy with the facilities here.”

    The Test match is a part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Test Championship.

  • Fact Check: Was Mufti Qavi appointed as ambassador of number plate scheme?

    Fact Check: Was Mufti Qavi appointed as ambassador of number plate scheme?

    Punjab’s Information Minister Azma Bukhari has denied rumours suggesting that Mufti Qavi has been appointed ambassador of the vanity number plate scheme, which was initially reported by different media outlets.

    In her post on the social media website, X Azma Bukhari denied the news of the appointment.

    “No such appointment has taken place,” Azma stated. “If any person in the department has done such an act without permission, action will be taken against him,” she added while further announcing that Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz has taken notice, implying that strict action will be taken against the concerned person.

    Notably, Geo News reported that the Punjab Excise Department had announced to start a vanity number plates scheme from the next week.

    Director Excise Muhammad Asif had asserted that citizens will be able to make their number plates with the name of their own choice. Three categories were introduced of which Mufti Qavi was appointed as the ambassador of the vanity number plates scheme.

    This was a part of coordinated strategy that was formulated to catch fake number plates owners.The data of those having vanity number plates will be made available with the department.

  • Crackdown on PTI leadership for violating new law

    Crackdown on PTI leadership for violating new law

    A crackdown has been launched against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) top leadership for allegedly violating the new Public Order law during the September 8 rally at Sangjani.

    The capital police registered multiple cases against 25 leaders, resulting in the arrest of prominent PTI figures, including Sher Afzal Marwat, Advocate Shoaib Shaheen, Chief Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Sahibzada Hamid Raza, and Chairman PTI Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, from outside the parliament.

    Law enforcement agencies have also conducted raids to arrest Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, Omar Ayub Khan.

    PTI’s bigwigs Hammad Azhar, Kanwal Shauzab, Naeem Haider Panjotha, Amir Mughal, Khalid Khursheed and Zartaj Gul Wazir are also nominated on the raid list.

    The development came after Chief Minister (CM) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) passed sexist and controversial remarks at the Islamabad rally.

    However, Chairman PTI barrister Gohar Ali Khan offered a “conditional apology”.

    Speaking to Geo News, barrister Khan said that he had not heard Gandapur’s speech but contacted him immediately, upon which CM KP apologised for his recent remarks.

    Earlier, the Federal Capital Administration allotted a three-hour time slot from 4 PM to 7 PM for the rally at Sangjani, which was violated by PTI leadership, resulting in a crackdown.

  • Jordan heads to polls with focus on Gaza

    Jordan heads to polls with focus on Gaza

    The vote is the first since a reform was passed in 2022 that increased the number of seats in the house, reserving a higher number for women and lowering the minimum age for candidates.

    Despite the reform, which was a bid to modernise the kingdom’s parliament, voters and candidates have both told AFP the genocide in Gaza is the main issue in Tuesday’s election.

    Islamist candidates seeking to capitalise on anger over Gaza were, however, unlikely to score major gains, said analysts who believe the conflict may push abstention rates higher.

    Jordan became, in 1994, the second Arab state after Egypt to sign a peace treaty with Israel.

    But around half of its population is of Palestinian origin, and there have been regular protests calling for the cancellation of the peace treaty since the genocide started in Gaza after October 7.

    Just two days ahead of the vote, a Jordanian man killed three Israeli guards at the border crossing between Jordan and the occupied West Bank — the first such attack since the 1990s.

    Voters also worry that no matter the election result, there can be no improvement to the economy until Israel and Hamas reach a ceasefire.

    Jordan has seen a decline in tourism since the war began — a sector it relies on for about 14 percent of its gross domestic product.

    Compounding the country’s economic woes, public debt has neared $50 billion, and unemployment hit 21 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

    Doubts over vote impact

    Polling will open at 7:00 a.m. (0400 GMT) local time on Tuesday, and voting will continue until 7:00 p.m. The final results will be announced within 48 hours.

    Candidates include tribal leaders, leftists, centrists and Islamists from the country’s largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islamic Action Front (IAF).

    In a busy market in central Amman, where campaign posters were on display, views on the vote in the lead-up to polling day were mixed.

    “Elections are important and vital. They are our opportunity to make our voices heard and choose who represents us in parliament, even though deep down we doubt there will be significant change,” said 65-year-old retiree Issa Ahmed.

    Mohammed Jaber, a shop owner in Amman, meanwhile told AFP: “People are busy with many things, the Gaza genocide and the bad economic situation. They do not know what the parties will be able to achieve.”

    According to the election commission, more than 5.1 million people are registered to vote in the country of 11.5 million.

    ‘All eyes’ on Gaza

    “What is happening in Gaza, from daily killing, destruction, and tragedies broadcast daily on television, makes us feel pain, helplessness, humiliation and degradation, and makes us forget the elections and everything that is happening around us,” said Omar Mohammed, a 43-year-old civil servant.

    “I feel bitterness. I am not sure yet if I will vote in these elections,” he added.

    Candidates have also focused on the conflict, with Islamists seeking to capitalise on solidarity with Gazans.

    “The Gaza genocide and the Palestinian cause occupy a major place in the Jordanian elections, as all eyes and minds are on Gaza and Palestine and the massacres taking place there against the Palestinian people,” IAF candidate Saleh Armouti told AFP.

    “The elections… should not be delayed and they serve the Palestinian cause and the region, but I also fear that there will be some abstention from voting due to these events,” he added.

    Oraib Rantawi, an analyst and the head of the Amman-based Al Quds Center for Political Studies, agreed the war may drive abstention rates higher but he did not think the Islamists’ focus on Gaza would translate into votes.

    “The improvement in these forces’ status and parliamentary representation will be modest,” he told AFP.

  • Google faces lawsuit over alleged monopoly in web ad technology

    Google faces lawsuit over alleged monopoly in web ad technology

    The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Google for establishing an illegal monopoly over web ad technology, following a previous ruling that found Google had an illegal monopoly in the search engine market in the United States.

    Yesterday, during the hearing in the federal judge’s court in Alexandria, Virginia, USA, Google’s lawyer, along with the lawyers of the American states and the Department of Justice, presented their arguments.

    Government regulators accuse Google of illegally monopolizing web advertising technology and creating software that matches advertisers and publishers.

    Because of Google’s dominance in the transfer of funds for buying and selling ads on such software, the company makes 36 cents on every dollar it makes. The court also accused Google of controlling the advertising exchange market that connects advertisers and buyers.

    The US Department of Justice lawyer argued that even if it had been a monopoly, it would have been fine, but here, a row of monopolies has been set up.

    Google’s lawyer said, “The government’s case is based on the Internet of the past when desktop computers ruled, and Internet users carefully typed a website address into a URL field. Today, the advertiser’s tendency is more towards social media companies like TikTok or streaming TV services.”

    Earlier, the Washington, DC court faced a major defeat against Google in the case of an illegal monopoly on the search engine.

    In its ruling, the court accused Google of paying companies like Apple hundreds of billions of dollars annually to maintain its monopoly on search engines so that when consumers buy iPhones or other gadgets from these companies, their default search engine should be Google.

  • Australia plans age limit to ban children from social media

    Australia plans age limit to ban children from social media

    Australia will ban children from using social media with a minimum age limit as high as 16, the prime minister said Tuesday, vowing to get kids off their devices and “onto the footy fields”.

    Federal legislation to keep children off social media will be introduced this year, Anthony Albanese said, describing the impact of the sites on young people as a “scourge”.

    Albanese said that the minimum age for children to log into sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok has not been decided but is expected to be between 14 and 16 years.

    The prime minister said his own preference would be to block users aged below 16.

    Age verification trials are being held over the coming months, the centre-left leader said, though analysts said they doubted it was technically possible to enforce an online age limit.

    “I want to see kids off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming pools and the tennis courts,” Albanese said.

    “We want them to have real experiences with real people because we know that social media is causing social harm,” he told national broadcaster ABC.

    “This is a scourge. We know that there is mental health consequences for what many of the young people have had to deal with,” he said.

    Australia’s conservative opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said he would support an age limit.

    “Every day of delay leaves young kids vulnerable to the harms of social media and the time for relying on tech companies to enforce age limits,” he said.

    ‘Easy to circumvent’

    But it is not clear that the technology exists to reliably enforce such bans, said the University of Melbourne’s associate professor in computing and information technology, Toby Murray.

    “We already know that present age verification methods are unreliable, too easy to circumvent, or risk user privacy,” he said.

    Analysts warned that an age limit may not in any case help troubled children.

    It “threatens to create serious harm by excluding young people from meaningful, healthy participation in the digital world,” said Daniel Angus, who leads the digital media research centre at Queensland University of Technology.

    “There is logic in establishing boundaries that limit young people’s access,” said Samantha Schulz, senior sociologist of education at the University of Adelaide.

    “However, young people are not the problem and regulating youth misses the more urgent task of regulating irresponsible social media platforms. Social media is an unavoidable part of young people’s lives.”

    The prime minister said parents expected a response to online bullying and harmful material present on social media.

    “These social media companies think they’re above everyone,” he told a radio interviewer.

    “Well, they have a social responsibility and at the moment, they’re not exercising it. And we’re determined to make sure that they do,” he said.

    Australia has been at the forefront of global efforts to regulate social media platforms, with its online safety watchdog bumping heads notably with Elon Musk’s X over the content it carries.

  • Students clash over banner display at Punjab University

    Students clash over banner display at Punjab University

    Two student organisations clashed on Monday at Punjab University’s new campus over the welcome banner for the new batch of students.

    Geo News reported a quarrel erupted after a student organisation pasted posters over the existing banner welcoming the newcomers.

    The Superintendent Police (SP) of Iqbal town stated that a faction of thirty to forty students from both sides started throwing rocks at each other. Meanwhile, the Punjab police intervened and dispersed the students.

    The Punjab police have requested the Punjab University’s Chief Security Officers (CSO) to provide the names of the students involved in the clash so that legal action can be taken.

    The Punjab University is one of the academic institutes where student unions are still active despite being banned in 1984 during the era of former Dictator General Zia ul Haq.