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House fire kills family of 6 in Peshawar: Rescue 1122

PESHAWAR: A house fire in the Tehkal Payan area of Peshawar killed a couple and their four children on Thursday, Rescue 1122 said. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmed Faizi told Dawn that the rescue service received the report of the fire at around 2:30am. After reaching the site of the incident, it took the rescue team 45 minutes to bring the fire under control. The team recovered the bodies of six people from a room during its search operation. These included a husband, wife and their four children — three girls aged 11, nine, and three years, and a four-year-old boy. The man was a local worker of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Fazl (JUI-F), according to a statement issued by the party about the incident. According to Faizi, the fire apparently started in a storage area, where furniture and mattresses were kept and spread to other parts of the residential house. However, he said that the blaze was so intense that the family was likely unable to leave the single room t...
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US approves nearly $2bn in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia

The US State Department said on Wednesday it has approved the sale of an estimated $1.96 billion in weapons to bolster Saudi Arabia’s air defences, as the war ramps up in the Middle East. “This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major non-Nato ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf Region,” the State Department said in a release. Among the weapons the Gulf kingdom seeks are up to 20,000 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems and its warheads, which the US Navy’s website describes as “an inexpensive way to destroy targets while limiting collateral damage in close combat”. The principal contractor will be BAE Systems in Nashua, New Jersey, the department said. “The proposed sale will improve Saudi Arabia’s capability to deter current and future threats by strengthening its...
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3 arrested in connection with young doctor's killing during robbery near Karachi's Teen Talwar

Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the murder of a young doctor who was shot dead during a robbery near Teen Talwar in Karachi’s Clifton area, according to a press release issued by South Zone police on Wednesday. Dr Akash Kumar, a doctor at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), was killed on Monday after robbers intercepted his vehicle near Teen Talwar and escaped with around Rs2 million that he was carrying after withdrawing cash from a private bank. In the press release issued on Wednesday, police provided details of the events leading up to the robbery. They said that Dr Akash arrived at a bank on Monday to withdraw Rs5m, of which he kept Rs2m and Rs3m in separate white envelopes. It said that the vehicle with Dr Akash, his father and the cash envelopes was intercepted by four robbers on two motorcycles when they arrived at their location, which was a second bank. It said that one of the suspects opened the car door and fired at Dr Akash, who then die...
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Pakistan publishes its agriculture census, revealing the federation beneath our fields

The state’s desire to count is never entirely innocent. British India turned censuses, land records and irrigation maps into technologies of rule: enumeration made people and property legible, while the canal colonies linked land settlement, water allocation and revenue to a powerful bureaucracy. Pakistan inherited that administrative apparatus. Yet the same numbers that can help a state extract can also help citizens see what is changing and demand a response. The Agricultural Census 2024 deserves to be read in that critical but constructive spirit. It is Pakistan’s seventh agricultural census and the first to combine agriculture, livestock and farm machinery in one digital exercise. This 2024 census is the first to combine agriculture, livestock and farm machinery in one digital exercise Fieldwork was carried out in two phases between September 2024 and February 2025. It was sample-based rather than a literal count of every farm. (This was a different approach from work done befo...
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Ethnic targets

THE murder of five workers from Punjab in Mashkel is another grim reminder that ethnic violence remains a persistent feature of Balochistan’s fragile security landscape. The targeting of civilians on the basis of their ethnicity underscores the continued ability of terrorist groups to exploit fault lines and perpetuate insecurity in the province. Such killings must be unequivocally condemned. The attack is part of a fresh surge of terrorism, that defies ongoing counterterrorism operations , in which security forces have killed 109 terrorists since early July. It is clear that decades of operations, militant losses and official assurances have not achieved the desired results, and tactical victories against terrorist groups have yet to translate into lasting security for ordinary citizens. The targeted killing of workers from Punjab is not a new development. Over the years, workers and travellers hailing from Punjab have been singled out after identity...
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4 more terrorists killed in ongoing Operation Shaban in Balochistan: state media

Another four terrorists have been killed during the ongoing Operation Shaban in Balochistan, following which the total number of terrorists killed in the operation has reached 83, state-owned Pakistan TV reported on Tuesday, citing security sources. The ongoing sweep was launched in retaliation for a deadly attack on a police post at the Mangi Dam pumping station in Ziarat. During that assault, armed attackers kidnapped and killed 27 police officers. Troops from the army, Frontier Corps, police and the Anti-Terrorism Force are participating in the joint operation. In a post on the social media platform X, the broadcaster said, “Security sources say four more khawarij terrorists were killed in ongoing air and ground operations, taking the total number of terrorists killed in Operation Shaban to 83.” “Since July 5, a total of 121 khawarij terrorists have been eliminated in Operation Shaban and other intelligence-based operations,” it...
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Australia finds serious gaps in Big Tech response to online child sexual abuse

Big Tech companies, including Apple, Meta and Google, have “significant gaps” in tackling child sexual abuse and the growing threat of online sexual extortion, Australia’s internet regulator said on Tuesday. Online platforms are failing to use available technologies that can identify well-known coercion scripts used by sexual extortion offenders, eSafety said in a transparency report . “In several cases, we have provided these platforms with evidence of how their services are being colonised by criminals to devastating impact, with clear guidance on how to stem the abuse,” said eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant. “Even when we’ve laid this out, we haven’t seen adequate responses, despite the technology being readily available.” Google, Meta, Snap, Microsoft and Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters ’ requests for comment. Top 10 services with highest number of sexual extortion reports to eSafety. A report for sexual extortion received by eSafety c...
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