Entertainment
Govt approves army, civil armed forces deployment for Nov 23 by-polls
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Interior on Friday approved the deployment of the Pakistan Army and the civil armed forces for the by-elections scheduled for November 23.
In its order, the ministry stated that the deployment was approved at the request of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The civil armed forces will be deployed as second-tier responders, with the status of standby/quick reaction force mode only, the ministry added.
The Pakistan Army will be deployed as the “third-tier responders (in-situ Quick Reaction Force Mode)”.
The interior ministry stated that the deployment of the armed forces aimed to support the ECP in ensuring the “peaceful conduct of the by-elections to be held on November 23, 2025”.
The ministry said that the troops have been “empowered by [the] Federal Government to exercise the powers under Section 4 and 5 of [the] Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 for the duration of employment”.
ECP is set to hold by-elections for as many as six National Assembly seats and seven provincial seats of Punjab.
The development came a day after the ECP took notice of remarks made by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi during a political gathering.
The ECP, in letters to secretaries of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Interior on Thursday, stated that CM Afridi “threatened” district administration, police officers, and ECP officials ahead of the by-election in Haripur.
“Regrettably, he [KP CM] used offensive language which amounts to harassing and unduly influencing them which may prevent them [officials] from effective performance of their duties,” the letter reads.
Hours after the letters, the KP chief minister said his remarks had been “taken out of context”.
“I was not campaigning for anybody. I said yesterday that there should be no rigging,” he added.
This is a developing story and is being updated with further details.
Entertainment
X (formerly Twitter) recovers after brief global outage affects thousands
X (formerly Twitter) experienced a significant but brief outage on Tuesday morning, January 13, disrupting access for tens of thousands of users worldwide.
Initial reports began around 9:00 a.m. ET, with outage tracking website Downdetector reporting a peak of over 28,000 problem reports in the United States.
Users in the United Kingdom and Canada also reported widespread difficulties, mainly due to refreshing their home feeds, while other sections of the site remained accessible.
Service began to be restored rapidly around 9:30 a.m. ET, with reports falling sharply. The platform was restored completely by 10:00 a.m. ET.
Authorities have not yet revealed the cause. However, in recent months, X users have faced similar problems.
The outage is reported just days after X owner Elon Musk announced plans to open-source the platform’s recommendation algorithm, aiming for greater transparency.
Entertainment
‘Tell Me Lies’ surprise fans with unexpected news ahead of season three
Tell Me Lies delighted its fans with thrilling news ahead of the release of season three.
Based on the novel of the same name by Carola Lovering, the story follows the toxic relationship between Lucy Albright (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White).
They first met during Lucy’s first year at college in 2007, in the drama department, and have kept on ruining each other’s lives till their present in 2015.
With season three around the corner, the streaming platform Hulu dropped the third episode along with previously released episodes one and two.
The first two episodes were titled You F*cked It, Friend and We Can’t Help It If We Are A Problem. Meanwhile, the third is called Repent.
The new season will continue after the jaw-dropping season two finale that ended with Stephen and Lucy’s best friend, Bree (Cat Missal), hearing a voice recording of her groom, Evan (Branden Cook), confessing that he slept with Lucy (Van Patten) back in college.
Their one-night tryst was known to viewers but not to Bree, who was finding out right before she was to walk down the aisle to marry Evan.
Following the cliff hanger which left the viewers with questions, White in conversation with USA Today teased season three saying, “people are dealing with consequences” this season, “and they’re having repercussions from the last few years.”
“It’s all coming to a head,” he said, “and it’s going to be explosive.”
Van Patten also hinted at what to expect from Lucy and Stephen relationship in season 3, saying that it geos “beyond what I even thought toxic was. I couldn’t even imagine these things if I wanted to.”
Season three of Tell Me Lies is set to premiere on January 13, on Hulu and Disney+. The episodes will release weekly on Tuesdays and will conclude on February 24.
Entertainment
Duchess of Edinburgh front and centre in new Royal Family video
Duchess Sophie has quickly emerged as one of the Royal Family’s most active figures so far in 2026.
Highlighting her packed schedule, King Charles III’s office shared a new video of the Duchess of Edinburgh on the official Royal Family social media accounts on Tuesday, January 13. The footage, originally posted by England Hockey, captured moments from Sophie’s visit to the Bisham Abbey National Sport Centre the day before.
“England and Great Britain Hockey were honoured to welcome HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh to Bisham Abbey National Sport Centre yesterday,” the caption read. Sophie has served as a patron of England Hockey since 2006.
The video showed highlights from the visit, including the Duchess stepping onto the pitch and trying her hand at hockey. She was also seen touring an indoor gym facility, where she chatted with staff and gym members during the stop.
Additionally, the Royal Family’s social media also posted a photo collage of the visit with the caption, “Yesterday, The Duchess of Edinburgh visited @englandhockey to meet members of the Senior Men’s and Women’s squads.”
The outing marked Sophie’s second official engagement of the year. Just four days earlier, she visited The Lighthouse charity in Woking. During that visit, Prince Edward’s wife helped staff pack and prepare for the charity’s relocation and also toured the new site.
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