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  • Coursera to give 3,800 free courses to unemployed people

    Coursera to give 3,800 free courses to unemployed people

    Coursera — an online learning platform — will be making 3,800 courses free for people who have lost their jobs due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent global economic crisis, a private media outlet reported.

    “We are proud to announce Coursera Workforce Recovery Initiative to help governments worldwide provide unemployed workers with free access to 3,800 online courses,” a statement read.

    The objective of the initiative is to support affected workers in developing knowledge and skills to get employed again.

    These free courses are covering skills like business development, information technology (IT) and data science skills, and they are taught by the world’s leading universities, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Duke University, University of Michigan and Yale among others.

    Courses on professional certifications like Google IT support, IBM Data Science, or Date Engineering with Google Cloud are also available to train people for high-demand jobs.

    This step towards public and private sector partnerships is imperative, and various government leaders have made the initiative available to their respective states and countries.

    Earlier, Google and YouTube also launched new resource pages to help teachers and families continue to educate students under quarantine.

    Coursera works with universities and other organisations to offer online courses, specialisations and degrees in a variety of subjects, such as engineering, data science, machine learning, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences and others.

    Coursera was founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller.

    Princeton, Stanford, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania were the first ones to offer content on the platform.

    Offerings have since expanded to include specialisations — collections of courses that build skills in a specific subject — as well as degrees and a workforce development product for businesses and government organisations.

  • 21 cops on Sunday, 92 health professionals in two days test positive for coronavirus

    21 cops on Sunday, 92 health professionals in two days test positive for coronavirus

    At least 21 Punjab Police officials on Sunday and 92 health professionals within the last two days have tested positive for the new coronavirus. The sudden spike in the number of health professionals contracting the virus has increased the national tally of infected doctors, nurses, paramedics and support staff to 345.

    As per the details of the infected cops, additional inspector general (AIG) operations has said that over 60 police personnel were tested for the virus, out of which 21 tested positive. One of the cops was deployed at the Central Police Office (CPO) whereas the results of many others are awaited.

    While cops dealing with masses are at a greater risk to contract COVID-19 and incidents of them falling sick have been reported from various parts of the country, health professionals remain on the frontline in the battle against the global pandemic.

    According to a Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination official, the number of health professionals contracting the virus increased to 345 from 253 after new cases were detected among the medical community.

    The official said that doctors are the most-affected among healthcare professionals with over 165 of them now undergoing treatment across the country. As many as 131 members of paramedical and support staff, as well as 41 nurses, have also contracted the virus.

    Apart from the confirmed cases, more than 1,500 doctors, nurses, paramedics and those with whom they came into contact, are in quarantine. Many are waiting for their test results after coming into contact with health professionals who have already tested positive, the official said.

    They added that most of the cases of coronavirus among health professionals had been reported in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab, while a few cases had also been reported in Sindh and the federal capital.

  • Ayeza Khan makes a fashion statement with a face mask

    Ayeza Khan makes a fashion statement with a face mask

    Have to say, we saw this one coming. Given how important a mask is during the ongoing global pandemic, it was only a matter of time before designers started producing well, designer masks.

    And Ayeza Khan, for a Ramzan transmission appearance, decided to accessorize her look with a matching mask and said that every outfit should come with a matching mask now.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B_c1YeIAWef/
    https://www.instagram.com/p/B_c18eLgkUh/
    https://www.instagram.com/p/B_c2ISBATd6/

    What do you think of the trend?

    Following criticism on social media, Ayeza hit back saying that masks are an essential now and that designers were just trying to meet the growing demands.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B_dsijynxrG/

    Here is her complete look, minus the mask.

  • Quiz: Which Iftaari favourite are you?

    [forminator_quiz id=”45177″]

  • Lockdown, you still there?

    Lockdown, you still there?

    As per authorities, a lockdown is not only in place in Pakistan but has also been extended.

    Yet, there is no lockdown.

    We all know that when the federal and provincial governments imposed restrictions all across the country to curb the spread of coronavirus –COVID-19 –, most people followed the rules and stayed indoors. Less traffic was seen on the roads and consequently, the air quality became much better. But most importantly, the lockdown to some extent served its actual purpose in helping the authorities control coronavirus.

    Then in mid-April, the government announced that while the lockdown had been extended, some industries and shops ccould re-open. This led to ulema announcing that they too would reopen mosques and offer Taraweeh during the holy month of Ramzan. The government finally held negotiations with religious scholars and an accord was signed, as per which all mosques would have to follow 20 SOPs to remain open.

    A few days before Ramzan, senior doctors in Karachi held an urgent and heart-wrenching press conference. They said that after the lockdown was eased, a 40 per cent spike in coronavirus cases had been recorded from April 16-21. A 40 per cent increase in just five days. Imagine! The following day, senior doctors in Lahore also held a similar press conference and urged the government to consider imposing a stricter lockdown for the next two weeks.

    All this came amid the government’s realisation of the fact that the number of cases in Pakistan is likely to increase by mid-May. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) chief also warned of this in his press conference.

    In view of what the medical community was saying, the Sindh government on Thursday night decided to go back to their old SOPs of allowing just 3-5 people — mosque administration — to offer prayers at mosques. The rest of the country has allowed resumption of congregational prayers due to Ramzan. Apparently, not all mosques are following the agreed-upon SOPs. According to a survey conducted by the Pattan Development Organisation and published by Dawn, more than 80 per cent of mosques in Punjab and the federal capital did not put in place the measures agreed upon by the government and ulema regarding first Taraweeh congregations on Friday.

    The government will eventually have to reconsider this relaxation in lockdown. We understand that the economic downturn due to the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown was something the government was worried about and rightly so. The choice between saving the economy and an increase in coronavirus cases is difficult. But we will have to make a choice. Pakistan has crossed 13,000 cases. The number of deaths is also slowly increasing. We must remain vigilant.

    An aside: In his dua during Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s telethon to raise funds for coronavirus relief, Maulana Tariq Jamil came under fire for criticising media. He later apologised when different anchors conducted shows against what he had said, but what he didn’t apologise for and what was not even highlighted much either, was how he correlated women and ‘behayai’ (vulgarity) and then said this ‘azaab’ is a result of the vices that exist in our society.

    Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari rightly pointed out in a tweet that it was “absurd for anyone under any guise to even suggest the COVID-19 pandemic was a result of women wearing short sleeves or because of private schools/universities misleading the youth. This simply reflects either ignorance abt pandemics or a misogynist mindset. Absolutely unacceptable.”

    In a country where thousands of women are killed in the name of honour annually, where domestic abuse is on the rise, where crimes against women keep increasing instead of decreasing, blaming women for a pandemic is unacceptable.

  • ہنس کیوں رہی ہو؟

    مجھے یاد ہے میرے بچپن سے ہی میرے ماں باپ پریشان تھے کے اتنی لا ابالی سی لڑکی، اتنی ہنستی مسکراتی لڑکی اگر لڑکوں میں پڑھی ، تو بڑا مسئلہ ہو جائے گا۔ میری ہنسی کی آواز بچپن سے ہی کم کروانے کی کوشش کی گئی تھی ۔ لیکن میرا مسئلہ ہی یہ تھا کہ مجھے ہنسی آتی ہی بہت تھی، آخر کہاں تک کنٹرول کر پاتی ۔ میرے قہقے سکول میں کافی مشہور ہوگئے ۔ کافی بار ٹیچرز نے بھی کہہ ڈالا کہ ” لڑکیاں اس طرح نہیں ہنستی ” اس وقت تو میں نے دھیان نہیں دیا کیونکہ بچپن تھا ، زندگی مست تھی ۔ لیکن بڑی ہوتی گئی تو احساس ہوا کہ لڑکیاں اس طرح ہنسیں، یا اس طرح ، لڑکیوں کا ہنسنا کسی طور بھی ٹھیک نہیں۔ میری ہنسی کے پیشِ نظر مجھے آل گرلز کالج میں بھیجا گیا ۔ مقصد یہی تھا کہ کہیں میری شوخ و چنچل طبیعت اور ہنسی کی وجہ سے کوئی مسئلہ نہ ہو جائے۔

    پہلے تو مجھے اپنے والدین پر حیرانگی ہوئی تھی لیکن پھر احساس ہوا کہ او ہو ! میری ہنسی یا مسکراہٹ کا تو کچھ اور ہی مطلب نکل آتا ہے۔ میری طرح اور بھی خواتین اس بات سے متفق ہونگی کہ ہمارے ہنسنے پر پورا کمرہ، پورا محلۤہ بلکہ پوری کائنات الرٹ ہو جاتی ہے۔ کہ آخر یہ ہنس کیوں رہی ہے ؟ کبھی کبھی یوں ہی بیٹھے ہوئے چہرے پر مسکراہٹ آجائے تو گھر والے اور رشتہ دار پوچھ بیٹھتے ہیں  ” کیا بات ہے ” ، کس کے بارے میں سوچ رہی ہو۔ اتنا مسکرا کیوں رہی ہو؟”  بے شک آپ اس وقت دال چاول کے بارے میں ہی سوچ رہے ہوں ، وہ کچھ اور ہی سوچیں گے ۔ والدین کو بتا کر  بھی کسی دوست سے فون پر بات کرتے ہوئے ہنسی نکل جائے تو والدین فوراَ پوچھتے ہیں  ” اتنا ہنس کیوں رہی ہو؟”

    جب کالج میں قدم رکھے ،تو لڑکیاں ہی نظر آئیں آس پاس ۔ تب کالج کے کوریڈور میں میں نے قہقہ مارا تو میری بہت ہی پسندیدہ ٹیچر نے میری کلاس لی کہ یہ کوریڈور میں ایسے کیوں ہنس رہی ہو؟

    جب سہیلیوں کے ساتھ باہر جانے کی اجازت ملی تو ہنستے ہوئے کئی بار احساس ہوا کہ لوگوں کی نظریں مجھ پر ٹک جاتی ہیں۔ والدین کی سختی کی وجہ سے میری زندگی میں میک اپ کافی دیر میں آیا اس لیے اور بھی حیرت ہوتی تھی کہ میرے چہرے پہ کیا ہے جو اتنا غور ہو رہا ہے ؟ پھر وقت کے ساتھ احساس ہوا کہ او ہو ! لوگ خاص کر کے مرد حضرات کو یہ لگتا ہے کہ ہنستی ہوئی لڑکی ان کی توجہ چاہتی ہے ۔ اور زیادہ تر مرد حضرات “ہنسی تو پھنسی ”  کو اپنے دین کا حصۤہ سمجھتے ہیں ۔ لڑکی کو بے شک اپنے آپ پر ہی ہنسی آ رہی ہو ، وہ یہی سوچ لیتے ہیں کہ یہ ہنسی ہمارے لیے ہی ہے۔

    کالج کے بعد رشتوں کا مرحلہ شروع ہوا ۔ والدہ نے ایک بار کہا  “بیٹا زیادہ ہنسنا نہیں ” ۔ تو میں بڑی مشکل سے منہ بسور کے بیٹھ گئی ۔ پھر اگلی بار کہا ” بیٹا تھوڑا ہنس ہی لیا کرو” ۔ تو جب میں نے ہنس کے دکھا دیا تو سب گھورنے لگ گئے کہ یہ ہنس کیوں رہی ہے ؟  اگر کوئی لڑکی رشتہ ہونے پر خوش ہو جائے اور منگنی پر خدا نا خواستہ ہنس پڑے تو سب صدمے کی حالت میں بول پڑتے ہیں ” یہ اتنا کیوں ہنس رہی ہے؟” کوئی لڑکی شادی پر ہنس پڑے ،تو بھی یہی سوال ہوتا ہے کہ “یہ ہنس کیوں رہی ہے؟”

    ہاں جی لڑکیاں ہنستی ہیں ۔ ہم لڑکیوں کو ہنسنا اچھا لگتا ہے ۔ہم اپنے لیے ہنستی ہیں ۔ ہم کھل کے قہقے لگاتی ہیں ۔ کبھی ہم کو بھولی بھٹکی یاد پر ہنستی ہیں ، کبھی کسی کی بات پر ۔ کبھی اپنی کسی بیوقوفی پر ہنستی ہیں ، اور کبھی اپنی کسی کامیابی پر ۔ کبھی کسی تلخ حقیقت کو چھپانے کے لیے ہنستی ہیں اور کبھی آنسئوو کو۔ لیکن اگر نہیں ہنستی تو آپ کے لیے نہیں ہنستی ۔ جی آپ جو ایک ہنستی ہوئی لڑکی کو برداشت نہیں کر پاتے ۔ جی آپ، جو ایک ہنستی ہوئی لڑکی کر بارے میں طرح طرح کے خیال بنا لیتے ہیں ۔ جی آپ ، جن کے لیے لڑکی کا ہنسنا عزت بے عزتی کا مسئلہ بن جاتا ہے ۔ جی آپ یہ اطمینان کر لیں کہ لڑکی اگر ہنستی ہے، تو اپنے لیے ۔ صرف اور صرف اپنی ذات کے لیے ۔ آپ کے لیے نہیں ۔ تو اسے ہنسنے دیں ، خوش رہنے دیں ۔ کچھ نہیں کر سکتے تو اپنی نظر ہٹا لیں تاکہ آپ کو مسلئہ نہ ہو۔۔۔

  • PM Khan calls out Bollywood for spreading vulgarity

    PM Khan calls out Bollywood for spreading vulgarity

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has called out Bollywood for spreading vulgarity and adopting the ‘worst of Hollywood’.

    In a recent media meet, PM Khan discussed why he requested PTV to air the superhit Turkish series Diriliş: Ertuğrul with Urdu dubbing.

    “The show has depicted the culture of Islam,” said PM Imran. “I want our youth to know that we also have a culture which has romance and other interesting elements.”

    Read more – Urdu version of ‘Diriliş: Ertuğrul’ to air on PTV in Ramazan

    The premier then called out Bollywood for promoting vulgarity.

    “I say this with a heavy heart but thirty to forty years ago, you would have never seen such vulgarity in Bollywood. There is so much trash. Bollywood has adopted the worst of Hollywood.”

    “This is affecting our society and youth negatively. Drug culture is emerging, sex crimes are increasing because of such promotion of vulgarity. This is the reason I wanted the series to be aired so that the youth understand that there are other cultures as well.”

    “It is important to note that when vulgarity increases in a society, the family system goes down”, remarked the prime minister.

    Turkish historical fiction series Diriliş: Ertuğrul, popularly referred to as the Turkish Game of Thrones, has begun to air on PTV Home with Urdu dubbing for the local audiences. PTV obtained the exclusive rights for dubbing and screening it in Pakistan.

    Set in 13th century Anatolia, before the establishment of the Ottoman Empire Diriliş: Ertuğrul illustrates the struggle of Ertugrul Gazi, the father of Osman I – the founder of the Ottoman dynasty.

    Since its premiere on state-run Turkish TV channel TRT 1 in November 2014, the serial has been telecasted in 60 countries and has a huge fan following across the world.

    Watch the promo here:

  • Humayun Saeed’s sehri sparks a debate on Urdu grammar

    Humayun Saeed’s sehri sparks a debate on Urdu grammar

    Pakistan’s resident hero Humayun Saaed got himself into a sticky situation after he shared details about his first sehri of Ramzan.

    It all started when Humayun posted a picture of his sehri on social media.

    Following this, a local digital media outlet shared Humayun’s tweet asking ‘Dahi hota hai ya hotee hai?’

    In response to their question, Humayun wrote, “I think hoti bhi hai aur hota bhi hai…hmm jaisay (yaar mujhe Dahi khani hai…yaar mujhe dahi khana hai nahin bolte…mere khayal se tou dahi hoti hai hota nahin hai.”

    Another media outlet, Galaxy Lollywood shared Humayun’s response on the matter prompting him to say “Acha yaar maan gaya…dahi hoti hai.”

    After this whole debate, we bet that Humayun will not be sharing his sehri and aftari meals on social media in the future.

  • North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un reportedly dead after botched heart surgery

    North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un reportedly dead after botched heart surgery

    North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has died, or is on his death bed with no hope for recuperation, multiple Chinese and Japanese media outlets have reported.

    As per the details, a vice director of Hong Kong Satellite Television (HKSTV) — a Beijing-backed broadcast network in Hong Kong — claimed that Kim was dead, citing a “very solid source”. Her post on the Chinese messaging app Weibo has been shared widely on social media, according to a report in the International Business Times.

    The claim comes hours after a Japanese magazine reported that the North Korean dictator was in a “vegetative state” ever since he underwent heart surgery earlier this month.

    Other unconfirmed reports, attributed to senior party sources in Beijing, said an operation to insert a stent went wrong because the surgeon’s hands were shaking so badly.

    The weekly Shukan Gendai reported Friday that a Chinese medic sent to North Korea as part of a team to treat Kim believed a delay in a simple procedure left the leader severely ill, Reuters reported.

    A Chinese expert told the magazine that Kim, believed to be 36, clutched his chest and fell to the ground on a visit to the countryside earlier this month. A doctor accompanying Kim performed CPR and took him to a nearby hospital.

    North Korean media hasn’t mentioned Kim’s health or whereabouts, even though reports by foreign media outlets have sparked international speculation about his well-being.

    The hashtag #KimJongUndead continues to trend on Twitter without any proof of the leader’s death.

    According to Independent, if rumours of Kim’s health are true, his sister, Kim Yo-jong, will emerge as the custodian of power in North Korea.

    She is the youngest daughter of former supreme leader Kim Jong-il and an alternate member of the politburo — principal policymaking committee. Yo-jong is also the vice director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

  • We take it back; ‘Ghalti’ is ARY’s best running drama

    When ARY’s drama ‘Ghalti’ started, it seemed like a huge mistake. Typical saas bahu, beychari bahu and crazy saas. Husband is a complete disaster, giving talaaq after talaaq, which is so typical of Pakistani dramas.

    But after this week’s episode, we are happy to issue an apology and say, WOW, what happened? It’s turning out to be one of the best running dramas on ARY.

    Hina Mani delivers a stellar performance

    That being said, it’s not like it has much competition. The drama ‘Jhooti ‘ is probably Iqra Aziz’s biggest mistake and the high that Ayeza Khan got from ‘Meray Paas Tum Ho’ crashes in ‘Thora Sa Haq’.

    In this week’s episode, three massive twists made ‘Ghalti’ a fantastic watch. Zaira (Hira Mani) is married to her cousin Saad (Affan Waheed) and Saad’s mother Zaitoon (Saba Hamid) has it out for them. She tries her best to destroy their marriage and finally succeeds.

    The best part about this latest episode was Zaira. Hira Mani delivers a stellar performance, one in which you shockingly and immediately feel her pain. She acts perfectly. So perfect that you immediately are drawn to her. There is no overacting when her husband delivers the final blow and when she tells her mother. This is so realistic that you can imagine it happening in real life. And that is where the drama takes a turn.

    You can only be team Zaira then.

    At such important moments in this episode Hira Mani hits constant sixers.

    You feel her pain and she so elegantly takes on what what Zaitoon has handed her and the drama no longer becomes about divorce but actually becomes about a woman’s strength.

    Zaitoon is also not to be messed with and Saba Hamid does her total justice. She is perfect in her narcissism and her selfishness and Saba’s every expression reflects what Zaitoon is.

    Saba Hamid is full of expression and elegance, making a stellar villain

    The voice of reason is Shanzay (Mehr Bano). She is a strong, independent, working woman married to Saad’s brother. When her character was first introduced, you wondered: Ugh, here is another drama demonising the working woman. But wait. It didn’t.

    What’s going on? How is this drama getting so good?

    Shanzay tells off Zaitoon, Saad, the sisters, so well that you feel like clapping and feeling like wow, how is this possible that her husband is taking HER side? This isn’t typical at all. And it’s done so normally, matter of factly, simply. No dramatic angles, dialogues, music.

    Mehr Bano delivers a performance that rivals that of Saba Hamid

    The teaser for the next episode promises to be even better, filled with confrontation and dare we hope, a not dragged out end. We have our theories on what might happen but it isnt the time to speculate just yet. It’s almost the beginning of the week and we are already waiting for the next episode.

    So we take it back and apologise because this is one drama we wait for every Thursday and hope you guys have the time to catch up. This is the one to wait drama to look forward to during the lockdown.