Bekaar Films and Hotpod to launch BEKAAR BURGERS

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The top Youtube influencer partnered with the largest cloud kitchen company to launch Pakistan’s first Influencer fast food brand

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) Hotpod, the fastest growing tech based managed kitchen company and Bekaar Films, one of the top influencers on social media announced to launch Bekaar Burgers – a fast food brand. The brand will be available for consumers in KARACHI ONLY from Thursday 18th March 2021.

The menu includes 4 main items named after each member of Bekaar Films:

Double Cheesy JAZZY

Mac and MUBEEN

Chicken Tikka MargaRIDA

Crispy Chicken SAMIwich

Speaking at the singing, Ghazenfer Jaffery – JAZZY, representing Bekaar Films said, “we were fascinated by the possibility of expanding our reach with a food brand. We always wanted to have our food brand and when Hotpod approached us it was a natural fit for both the companies. We hope that our fanbase will love what we have to offer. My team and I are super excited about this project and look forward to a successful addition of fast food for consumers.”

Mohamamd Umer, Head of Brands Hotpod, said, “ Bekaar is the ideal team for us to launch Pakistan’s first influencer food brand. In these times social media influencers have the biggest impact on consumers and we wanted to select a brand that masses can connect with. With Bekaar Burgers, the fanbase will be excited with the taste, packaging and campaign around the brand which is being done for the first time in Pakistan.”

“In line with the vision of expanding the food concepts across Pakistan, Hotpod is determined to work with a very select group of social media influencers, sports celebrities, show business icons and others to launch their food brands in Pakistan.  Bekaar Films partnership is our first influencer food brand project and we have a few others coming soon.” he added.

Kabaddi Federation’s efforts to introduce the sport at a much bigger level says Rana Sarwar

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Lahore (NUT DESK) The International Kabaddi Federation’s efforts to introduce the sport at a much bigger level finally paid dividends as it will be making debut in the 4th World Nomad Games, this year. 

“Kabaddi has been included in the World Nomad Games. It is big news for the kabaddi fans and enthusiasts across the world,” Secretary Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) Rana Muhammad Sarwar told APP on Monday. The games, an international extravaganza dedicated to ethnic sports were earlier scheduled to be held in the Turkish city of Bursa in autumn, last year with the cooperation of the World Ethnosport Confederation (WEC) but were moved to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The venue of the Games has also been shifted to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan due to a clash with the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games, which are scheduled to take place in September 2021 in Konya, Turkey. According to Sarwar, the organizers were expected to give the final date to hold games in the next few days. Being held since 2014 after every two years, the event includes traditional sports such as archery, mounted archery, horse racing, archery, falconry, and various types of wrestling. The previous three editions also took place in Kyrgyzstan. Within the short span of time the popularity of the games have increased manifold, which is evident from the fact that the last edition of the games in 2018 hosted athletes from 66 countries. Sarwar said that Pakistan would field a strong outfit in the event. “We are sure to make a mark in the games as currently, we are the best world side, who are the winner of circle-style Kabaddi World Cup,” he added.

Cristiano Ronaldo hit back quick-fire hat-trick

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MILAN: Cristiano Ronaldo hit back at his critics with a quick-fire hat-trick as Juventus brushed aside Cagliari 3-1 on Sunday, five days after their Champions League elimination, while Inter Milan moved nine points clear at the Serie A summit.

Portuguese star Ronaldo bore the brunt of the criticism for Juve’s latest European flop after failing to score in either leg of the last-16 defeat by Porto, while also being partly at fault for what proved to be the goal which knocked them out.

But the 36-year-old scored a header in the 10th minute at the Sardegna Arena, added a second from the penalty spot 15 minutes later, and completed a ‘perfect’ treble on 31 minutes with a fine left-footed strike.

Defending champions Juventus are 10 points behind leaders Inter Milan, who beat Torino 2-1 earlier Sunday, but with a game in hand. Andrea Pirlo’s side pulled just one point behind second-placed AC Milan, whose title hopes took a big hit following a 1-0 home defeat to Napoli.

“Our approach was spot on and it was important to get off on the right foot after beingknocked out the other night,” said Pirlo. “Ronaldo was angry like the rest of the team. He reacted like a true champion.”

He could also have been sent off after a quarter of an hour, receiving only a yellow card for dangerous play as his boot struck Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno in the face while attempting to meet a Federico Chiesa cross.

Ronaldo is the leading scorer in Serie A with 23 goals this season, ahead of Inter’s Romelu Lukaku, who has 19. His career tally is now 770 goals, overtaking Brazil legend Pele’s 767 scored in official matches which he matched earlier this month.

Before kick-off, Juventus chief football officer Fabio Paratici dismissed talk about Ronaldo’s future with the club. “It makes me laugh. I would never have imagined discussing the value of Cristiano Ronaldo,” said Paratici.

“It’s a privilege to have him with us, he’s part of our future.” Lautaro Martinez scored a brilliant 85th-minute winner in a tight game against 18th-placed Torino to keep Inter on track for a first league title since 2010.

Antonio Conte’s Inter once again needed their strike duo of Lukaku and Martinez to find a way to win in Turin. Christian Eriksen came off the bench on 56 minutes and had an immediate impact, playing a part in the move which resulted in Torino defender Armando Izzo fouling Martinez in the penalty area.

Face the third wave of coronavirus bravely, said Dr Yasmin Rashid

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FAISALABAD (NUT Desk) Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid has said that the third wave of coronavirus is spreading rapidly due to carelessness and non-implementation of SOPs by the citizens.

She said this while talking to media after a syndicate meeting at the Faisalabad Medical University here on Monday. Commissioner Saqib Manan, Medical University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Zafar Ali Chaudhry, Health CEO Dr Bilal Ahmed, DHO Dr Ataul Moenum and others were also present.

The Punjab minister said that we would have to face the third wave of coronavirus bravely as like first and second. She said that Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sargodha, Lahore, and Rawalpindi were on the hit list of coronavirus and the virus could be spread in others parts of the country also if proper precautionary measures were not taken. She said that the people over 60 years of age across the province were being vaccinated. She informed that total 114 centres were fully functional and more than 22,000 senior persons had been vaccinated so far. However, she added, media representatives should sensitise citizens to remain vigilant so that corona could be defeated again by joint efforts.

The provincial health minister said that the people over the age of 55 years could be affected by corona and they should adopt preventive measures. She said that 22 new laboratories had been set up while the number of tests had been increased. She told that the media had a vital role to counter the third wave of corona.

Dr Yasmin Rashid that 44 million more vaccines were arriving and the vaccination process would not be allowed to come to a standstill. Replying to a question, the provincial minister said that this was not the time for a procession, if the opposition had reservations, let it sit and talk, let the opposition come and sit with us and make election reforms. She said that she regretted the inappropriate comment of an opposition leader on corona lockdown. She said that there was no harm in corona vaccine and it was a safest vaccine. She said that a large consignment of vaccines was arriving in Pakistan in two days. Dr Yasmin said that administrative officers and police would also be vaccinated soon.

Later, the provincial minister also visited the Samanabad Sports Complex Vaccination Centre and observed the process to vaccinate senior citizens. She also talked to the elders and said that this vaccine was safe. She lauded the arrangements made at the centre.

 

Corona Crisis Latest News, Statistics

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Paris: Following are the latest developments in coronavirus crisis:

italy locked down again

Restrictions are reimposed on three-quarters of Italy until April 6 to suppress an outbreak fuelled by the virus variant first detected in Britain. Schools, restaurants, shops and museums are shut, including in Rome and Milan, with residents told to stay home except for work, health or other essential reasons.

virus key in dutch polls

Three days of voting begins in the Netherlands — under tight virus restrictions, including an overnight curfew — in a popularity test of the government´s pandemic policies.

defending astrazeneca

The director of the Oxford Vaccine Group says there is no link between the jab it developed with AstraZeneca and blood clotting, after several countries suspend its use. – German doctors sound alarm –

Intensive care doctors in Germany warn the country will need to make an “immediate return” to partial lockdown if the country is to avoid stumbling into a dangerous third wave of the pandemic.

sputnik v deals

The developers of the Sputnik V vaccine say they have reached production agreements in key European countries as the EU´s medical agency deliberates official approval for the Russian jab.

empty shores

Tourism in the European Union plunged by half in 2020 amid virus restrictions, the bloc´s statistics agency says, with seaside hotspots Greece, Cyprus and Malta the worst hit, seeing a 70 percent drop compared to the previous year.

hopes for uk economy

Britain´s economic activity will return to its pre-pandemic level at the end of this year following the country´s vaccine rollout, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey forecasts, in what would be an earlier-than-expected recovery.

low-key torch relay

Spectators will be barred from the start of the Tokyo Olympics torch relay, organisers say, announcing a pared-back launch as the countdown to the postponed Games begins in earnest.

2.6 million dead

At least 2,654,089 million people have died of coronavirus around the world since the outbreak began in December 2019, according to a media tally from official sources. The US is the worst-affected country with 534,889 deaths followed by Brazil (278,229), Mexico (194,710), India (158,725) and Britain (125,516).

 

2021 Oscar nominations: ‘Mank’ leads, Chloé Zhao makes history

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The Netflix film earned 10 nods on Monday, and for the first time, two women were recognized for directing: Emerald Fennell and Zhao, the first woman of color in the category.

David Fincher’s meditation on old Hollywood “Mank,” led the Oscar nominations on Monday with 10 total nods, including for best picture, director, actor and supporting actress. Voters recognized a diverse set of films, with six nominations each going to “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “Sound of Metal,” “Nomadland,” “Minari,” “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “The Father.”

All of those films were nominated for best picture, along with “Promising Young Woman.”

For the first time, the Academy nominated two women for best director, recognizing Chloé Zhao for her work on “Nomadland” and Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman.” That category also featured nods to Fincher, “Minari” director Lee Isaac Chung and, in a surprise, Thomas Vinterberg for his work on the International Film nominee “Another Round.”

The Academy also chose to showcase a diverse group of actors, awarding nominations in the lead actor category to Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) and Steven Yeun (“Minari”). Gary Oldman (“Mank”) and Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”) rounded out the category.

For best actress, the Academy recognized Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Andra Day (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”), and Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”). Also nominated was Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”) and Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”).

This has been a year in which streaming took firm hold in Hollywood, thanks to the theater shutdowns caused by the coronavirus. Contenders like “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Mank,” “One Night in Miami” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” were released by the likes of Netflix and Amazon. Even releases from traditional studios, like Searchlight’s “Nomadland” and “Judas and the Black Messiah,” from Warner Bros., were probably watched by more people on streaming services rather than in the limited number of theaters that could show them.

Netflix once again leads the pack with 35 nominations; last year, it received 24, but walked away with just two wins. This year, the streaming service has three films in the running for best picture: the home-grown “Mank,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which it acquired from Paramount Pictures. Amazon Studios has “One Night in Miami” in the mix in several categories, along with “Sound of Metal,” and received some love for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” in the adapted screenplay and supporting actress (Maria Bakalova) categories.

 

The Oscars ceremony, which was pushed back two months because of the pandemic, will be held on April 25.

 

 

Microsoft could reap over $150m in new US cyber spending

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WASHINGTON: Microsoft stands to receive nearly a quarter of Covid relief funds destined for U.S. cybersecurity defenders, sources told media, angering some lawmakers who don’t want to increase funding for a company whose software was recently at the heart of two big hacks.

Congress allocated the funds at issue in the COVID relief bill signed on Thursday after two enormous cyberattacks leveraged weaknesses in Microsoft products to reach into computer networks at federal and local agencies and tens of thousands of companies. One breach attributed to Russia in December grabbed emails from the Justice Department, Commerce Department and Treasury Department.

The hacks pose a significant national security threat, frustrating lawmakers who say Microsoft’s faulty software is making it more profitable.

“If the only solution to a major breach in which hackers exploited a design flaw long ignored by Microsoft is to give Microsoft more money, the government needs to reevaluate its dependence on Microsoft,” said Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a leading Democrat on the intelligence committee.

“The government should not be rewarding a company that sold it insecure software with even bigger government contracts.”

Microsoft previously said it prioritizes fixing attacks that it sees in wide use.

A draft spending plan by the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency allocates more than $150 million of their new $650 million funding for a “secure cloud platform,” according to documents seen by media and people familiar with the matter.

More precisely, the money has been budgeted for Microsoft, according to four people briefed on the choice, largely to help other federal agencies upgrade their existing Microsoft deals to improve security of their cloud systems.

Australian women stand up against sexual violence, inequality

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CANBERRA: Women protested across Australia on Monday against sexual violence and gender inequality, with tens of thousands hitting the streets as outrage grew over rape allegations that have convulsed the conservative government. The #March4Justice rallies were held in more than 40 Australian cities and towns, with a major demonstration in Canberra following allegations of sexual assault in the nation´s parliament. Dressed in mostly black, the crowd gathered outside Parliament House holding aloft placards with slogans including “You´re Not Listening”, “How Many Victims Do You Know?” and “I Believe Her”. Protester Kathryn Jamieson, who travelled from Melbourne to take part, said she was “fuming with rage”. “I wanted to be at the heart of the matter, I´ve completely had enough,” she told media. “We need immediate change — I´m sick of women not being believed.” Former government staffer Brittany Higgins alleged publicly last month that she had been raped by a colleague in a minister´s office in 2019. And earlier this month, Attorney-General Christian Porter vigorously denied swirling accusations he had raped a 16-year-old girl in 1988 when they were both students. On Monday, Porter launched defamation proceedings against public broadcaster ABC, which first published the allegations against an unnamed senior minister, with lawyers saying the attorney-general was “easily identifiable” in the article and has since been subjected to “trial by media”. Local media also reported that women in the opposition Labor party had recently set up a Facebook page that details alleged sexual harassment by male colleagues and politicians.

Smog, sandstorm turns Beijing yellow

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BEIJING: Beijing was cloaked in thick yellow smog on Monday with pollution levels surging off the charts as the worst sandstorm in a decade descended on China´s capital from the Gobi desert. City residents used goggles, masks and hairnets to protect themselves from the choking dust and sand, with landmarks including the Forbidden City partly obscured behind an apocalyptic-looking haze. The city government ordered schools to cancel outside sport and events and advised the public to stay inside where possible, as hundreds of flights were cancelled. Chinese weather agencies blamed the poor air quality on a sandstorm sweeping across northern China from northern Mongolia, where authorities there said it had left several dead, before being carried south by winds and reducing visibility in Beijing to less than 500 metres. Under heavy skies, which draped buildings in an eerie glow, Beijing residents fretted over the health risks of a storm which compounded days of hazardous PM 2.5 pollution in the capital. “I feel every breath will give me lung problems,” Beijing resident Zhang Yunya told media It was the worst sandstorm in a decade to hit a capital, which had pegged its hopes of rebuilding a natural barrier to such phenomena on intensive tree replanting in stripped forest areas, also known as the “green great wall”. Beijing said last year it expected fewer and weaker sandstorms to hit northern China due to its reforestation efforts. A 2019 study published in the journal Nature Sustainability found some two million square miles of vegetation had been added to the surface of the earth since 2000, a quarter of which was contributed by China. But the impact of those greenbelts is disputed against the prevailing desertification of the country´s northwest.

Another Sarkozy trial to probe lavish spending

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PARIS: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy goes on trial Wednesday over claims of illicit financing for his failed 2012 re-election bid, just weeks after a landmark conviction for corruption. On March 1, the 66-year-old became France´s first post-war president to be sentenced to prison when he was given a three-year term, two years of which were suspended, for corruption and influence peddling. That case was one of several hanging over him since he left office. Sarkozy has denied any wrongdoing, saying he is the victim of a vindictive judicial system with which he tangled while in power between 2007 and 2012. In the trial opening Wednesday, which he is not expected to attend, the divisive rightwinger is accused of overspending on his failed 2012 re-election bid to the tune of 20 million euros ($24 million). The money was spent on lavish US-style rallies in the final days of the race, as Sarkozy scrambled to fend off an unexpectedly strong challenge from his Socialist rival Francois Hollande. Prosecutors say accountants had warned him that the campaign was set to blow the 22.5 million euro ($26.7 million) cap on spending between the first and second rounds of voting, but Sarkozy insisted on holding more events. Investigators say his total spending on the second round came to nearly 43 million euros.