Tag: Top News
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Bloomberg ‘confuses’ arrested Abraaj CEO with President Dr Arif Alvi
United States (US)-based financial news outlet, Bloomberg, has confused former Abraaj chief executive officer (CEO) Arif Naqvi with President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi, Twitterati suggested on Saturday.
It was reported by Bloomberg that Naqvi, founder of Abraaj Group, was denied bail by a London judge Friday after prosecutors said he may flee to Pakistan rather than face US fraud charges.
However, while reporting the development in Naqvi’s case, Bloomberg used an image of President Alvi in what Twitterati termed as a “big blunder”.
Some believed the image was justified as the story claimed Naqvi had in his possession Alvi’s contact details.
But the popular opinion remained that Bloomberg had confused the two Arifs.
Arif Naqvi was arrested from the United Kingdom (UK) over “alleged fraud”, earlier this month.
He is the founder of defunct buyout fund, Abraaj Group — a private equity fund that used to take money from investors and buy other companies with it to improve their operations and cut costs.
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Pakistan’s Aleem Dar to officiate CWC’19 matches: ICC
Pakistan’s Aleem Dar will be a part of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) World Cup 2019 team of officials, as announced by the cricket governing body on Friday.
According to the ICC, 16 umpires and six match referees are part of the official panel appointed to officiate 48 matches of the tournament to be held between May 30 and July 14.
It would be the fifth World Cup in which Dar will participate as an umpire.
Among other umpires are Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Joel Wilson, Michael Gough, Ruchira Palliyaguruge and Paul Wilson.
“The umpires will officiate the matches in the first phase of league matches and names of those for semi-finals and final would be announced subsequently,” ICC said in a statement.
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Critics say ‘Avengers: Endgame’ is the ‘perfect finale’
The highly anticipated final installment of Marvel Studios superhero story, Avengers: Endgame, has received positive reviews from critics all around.
As of Tuesday afternoon, all but one of 56 Endgame reviews collected by the Rotten Tomatoes website were rated as positive.
CNN said the film delivered a worthy finale.
“The film-makers have sought to reward movie-goers with a spectacle that’s epic in every way,” they wrote.
USA Today said that the film is a hugely satisfying tale that begins with a brutal, emotional gut punch and takes you on quite the trip with the original Avengers crew.
The New York Times said the movie provided the “sense of an ending.”
“We’ve lived with these characters and the actors playing them for more than a decade,” NYT wrote. “For the most part, it’s nice to see them again, and a little sad to say goodbye.”
Endgame concludes a story that has unfolded over 21 previous films since 2007. It picks up where last year’s Avengers: Infinity War left fans hanging when several beloved heroes appeared to turn to dust.
Box office experts say Endgame may break the opening weekend record for ticket sales in the United States and Canada, which now stands at $257.7 million for Infinity War. It is also the highest-grossing franchise of all time.
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LSA issues statement amidst controversy
The Lux Style Awards have been embroiled in controversy from the minute the nominations were announced. In the beginning, most people had issues over the fact that a lot of deserving people were not included in the nominations. For example, Hamza Ali Abbasi for Parwaaz Hai Junoon and Mohsin Abbas Haider for Meri Guriya.
Fast forward a few weeks the LSAs further landed in hot waters for nominating an alleged harasser.
Model Eman Suleman was the first to withdraw her name from the nominations. Eman, who was nominated for the Best Emerging Talent in the Fashion category, in a short video posted to Instagram, said that though she felt honoured to be nominated, she did “not wish to be part of an accolade that is shared with an alleged harasser.”
Following Eman Suleman, Generation (Achievement in Fashion Design – Pret) and Saima Bargefrede (Best Hair and Makeup Artist) rejected their nominations.
An official statement read, “The two entities have decided to follow Eman Suleman’s footsteps and not attend this year’s ceremony,” adding, “The two brands stand with women who face and fight toxic misogyny, sexism, and sexual harassment in multiple ways in pursuance of their dreams and indeed in their daily lives.”
A few hours later, Meesha Shafi thanked Eman, Generation and Saima for standing up for her and requested for her name and work be removed from the list of nominees. Her song Mein was nominated for the Best Song.
The Sketches, Fatima Nasir and Rubab Ali followed the same path and withdrew their nominations.
The Sufi folk rock band which was nominated in four categories (Best Song, Best Playback Singer, Best Original Soundtrack and Singer Of The Year) said that their reason was based on their values and principles which they will not bend for any award.
Meanwhile, Fatima Nasir nominated for Best Hair and Makeup, also rejected her nomination saying that she stands in solidarity with those who have withdrawn from the awards and that “we need to keep raising our voice against sexual harassment until the industry, and the world, is a safe place for women to work.”
Model Rubbab Ali, nominated for the Best Female Model of the Year, said that she’s sick of casual harassment against women which is why she is supporting those who are raising their voice.
Last but not the least, director Jami threw out the three LSA Awards he’s won on the street outside his house and said that “We stand by our women.”
Following this wave of rejections, Lux issued an official statement saying that “the decisions of the Film Jury were based on an assessment of the merits of the cinematic work,” adding “We do not consider any other extraneous issues related to the personal characters or actions of people associated with that work.”
The statement further said, “The Film Jury of the Lux Style Awards appreciates the sensitivity of the subject and recognises the intensity of public sentiment. Nevertheless, it is also important to respect that the case is being decided by Pakistan’s judicial system. We have complete faith in the law of the land and believe that justice will prevail.”
While most people have been calling out the LSAs for their neutral stance, some members of the fraternity came forward and defended the awards.
Ahmed Ali Butt, who has been nominated for the Best Actor for his role in Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2, said that an award is a token of appreciation from your fellow peers.
“To degrade an award and treat it like a piece of garbage is truly sad and uncivilized. This means you have no regard for the art and your fellow peers who gave you the title,” he further said, adding that there are better ways to protest.
Model Iman Aly said that the protest was a childish step.
“Fame and respect should be earned with hard work in time. Not by childish walkouts and social media posts playing judge, jury and executioner,” she wrote on her Instagram.
Shamoon Abbasi also took a dig at Jami for throwing out his award saying, “You don’t disrespect your awards for public attention for a matter that has been resolved.”
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VIDEO: ‘Didn’t enter politics like Bilawal Bhutto Sahiba’
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Wednesday said that he had not entered politics like “Bilawal Bhutto Sahiba”, drawing flak from hundreds of social media users, who termed the statement “disgustingly sexist”.
Addressing a public gathering in the Wanna town of South Waziristan, the premier said that whoever rises to power after a long struggle is empowered by Allah. “And such a person fears no one.”
“I didn’t enter politics like Bilawal Bhutto Sahiba, who inherited his mother’s party. I have reached here after a lot of hard work,” he said.
WATCH VIDEO:
PM Imran’s statement took over the internet by storm and here’s what people have to say about it.
Meanwhile, some preferred to take it as another “slip of tongue”, which the PM made headlines for during his visit to Iran, twice.
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Indian leader wants people to vote for Modi if they ‘want to destroy Muslims’
A leader of the hardline Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has brewed a fresh controversy after asking people to vote for Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi “if they want to destroy Muslims”, Asian News International (ANI) reported.
EXCLUSIVE: Senior Indian journalist Rajdeep Sardesai explains what’s happening in Indian polls
“In the past five years, the PM has made attempts to break the morale of the Muslims. Vote for him [Modi] if you want to destroy their breed,” BJP’s Ranjeet Bahadur Srivastava said while addressing an election rally in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Vowing that after the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, the party will “force thousands of Muslims to embrace Hinduism”, Ranjeet also warned people of consequences if they do not vote for Modi’s party.
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Twitter trolls Israeli PM’s son for saying ‘Palestine doesn’t exist because there is no P in Arabic’
Yair Netanyahu, the son of Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu, has attracted controversy for a hilarious theory to promote the claim that Palestine does not exist, Middle East Eye reported.
“There is no such thing as Palestine because the letter ‘P’ does not appear in the Arabic alphabet,” the 27-year-old tweeted.
It wasn’t later that his theory attracted ridicule over the internet, as Twitterati noted that the Arabic word for Palestine was “falasteen“.
Some also noted that there was no letter in the Hebrew alphabet that had a “J” sound.
The younger Netanyahu deleted his tweet soon after the backlash.
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VIDEO: PML-N MPA accidentally chants ‘Go Nawaz Go’ instead of ‘Go Imran Go’
After Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s Germany-Japan statement, a Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) lawmaker, in yet another incident of slip of tongue, has chanted “Go Nawaz Go”.
In a video making rounds over the internet, PML-N MPA Uzma Bukhari can be seen protesting against the government outside Punjab Assembly.
Raising slogans, she accidentally chants “Go Nawaz Go” instead of “Go Imran Go”. When she realises her mistake, Uzma stops quickly.
According to reports, the leader of opposition in Punjab Assembly, Hamza Shehbaz, was also present during the protest. He, however, did not react to the blunder.
WATCH VIDEO:
Popularised during the 126-day sit-in of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), “Go Nawaz Go” is a political slogan against former premier Nawaz Sharif.
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Five stars who joined politics
Ukrainian actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky, with no political experience, has secured a resounding victory in the country’s presidential polls.
Volodymyr Zelensky He, however, isn’t the first of his kind. Here are five stars-turned-politicians who you must be familiar with.
Imran Khan
Former cricket champion Imran Khan, idolised by millions of Pakistanis for having led the national cricket team to its only World Cup victory in 1992, became prime minister in 2018 after a long political struggle.
Donald Trump
In January 2017 US real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump, whose surprise election shocked the world, entered the White House without any political, diplomatic or military experience. The 45th president of the United States hosted the TV show The Apprentice between 2004 and 2015. He also made several cameos in some of Hollywood’s hit films such as Sex and the City.
Urmila Matondkar
Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar surprised fans when she announced earlier this year that she has joined the Indian National Congress party and will be contesting elections from Mumbai’s North constituency. As per reports, her campaign is being received positively and she presents a tough challenge to BJP.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger, more popularly known as The Terminator, made the leap from cinema to politics in 2003. The bodybuilder and action hero was Republican governor of California, the richest and most populous US state, from 2003 to 2011.
George Weah
George Weah emerged from Liberia’s slums to become a superstar footballer in the 1990s and was elected president of the West African nation in December 2017. The only African player to have won the Ballon d’Or, he entered politics at the end of the country’s 1989-2003 civil war, winning his first political job as a senator in 2014.
