Pakistan News

BAHAWALPUR: The principal of a private school in Lodhran was arrested on Friday on charge of raping a 7th grade student in a classroom nine months back. Lodhran Saddar Police arrested the suspect, who was also the owner of the school, on complaint of the father of the 12-year-old girl who quitted going to school after the incident but did not tell her parents about the incident. According to district police spokesperson Khan Bahadur, the victim’s father complained that his daughter was studying at the school at Basti Lalilwala. Nine months ago, the suspect allegedly detained his daughter on the pretext of cleanliness. When his daughter was cleaning, the suspect bolted the room from inside and allegedly raped her. After the incident, the suspect warned the child against disclosing it and issued her threats. The complainant added that after the incident, his daughter looked frightened and harassed but she did not tell anybody anything. However, she refused to go to school or even l...

Schools in India’s south were shut and hundreds of people moved inland to storm shelters ahead of a powerful cyclone storm set to hit the region on Saturday. Cyclonic storm Fengal is forecast to make landfall in Tamil Nadu state with sustained winds of 70-80 kilometres per hour in the afternoon, India’s weather bureau said. The forecast urged fishing crews to stay off the water and predicted surging waves of one metre that posed a flood risk to low-lying coastal areas. Schools and colleges in numerous districts across Tamil Nadu were shut and at least 471 people had been moved to relief camps, the Economic Times newspaper reported. Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific — are a regular and deadly menace in the northern Indian Ocean. Fengal skirted the coast of Sri Lanka earlier this week, killing at least 12 people including six children. Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the worl...

Atif Manzoor, 45, the owner of a blue pottery business in Multan, had every reason to feel cheerful last week when the sun finally came out. For a good three weeks, the city of Sufi shrines had been shrouded in an envelope of thick smog. For over three weeks, he said, business had been terrible, with “several orders cancelled” and advance payments refunded. He also had to bear the transport costs he had already paid after the government imposed restrictions on heavy traffic and closed the motorways due to poor visibility. Thick smog had blanketed cities across Punjab province, home to 127 million people, since the last week of October. Multan, with a population of 2.2 million, recorded an air quality index (AQI) above 2,000 , surpassing Lahore, the provincial capital, where the AQI exceeded 1,000 . While Lahore’s AQI has improved, it still fluctuates between 250 (very unhealthy) and 350 (hazardous) on the Swiss company’s scale , keeping it among the top cities in the world with the...

European and Iranian diplomats meet on Friday to discuss whether they can engage in serious talks in the coming weeks to defuse tensions in the region, including over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme, before Donald Trump’s return to the White House. The meetings in the Swiss city of Geneva, where world powers and Iran achieved a first breakthrough in nuclear talks more than a decade ago before reaching a deal in 2015, are the first since the US election, and aim to see whether any momentum can be built ahead of January 20, when Trump is inaugurated . Iran’s deputy foreign minister and senior nuclear negotiator Majid Takhteravanchi meets with top diplomats from Britain, Germany and France, known as the E3, on Friday, having met the EU’s chief coordinator on Thursday evening. The level of distrust between both sides was highlighted when the E3 countries on November 21 pushed ahead with a resolution against Iran that tasked the UN atomic watchdog with preparing a “comprehensive” re...

The world’s top court will next week start unprecedented hearings aimed at finding a “legal blueprint” for how countries should protect the environment from damaging greenhouse gases — and what the consequences are if they do not. From Monday, lawyers and representatives from more than 100 countries and organisations will make submissions before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague — the highest number ever. Activists hope the legal opinion from the ICJ judges will have far-reaching consequences in the fight against climate change. But others fear the UN-backed request for a non-binding advisory opinion will have limited impact — and it could take the UN’s top court months, or even years, to deliver. The hearings at the Peace Palace come days after a bitterly negotiated climate deal at the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, which said developed countries must provide at least $300 billion a year by 2035 for climate finance. Poorer countries have slammed the pledge f...

A new report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has revealed that two-thirds of digital content creators do not check their facts before sharing content. The report, titled ‘Behind the Screens’ and released on Tuesday, is the first global analysis of digital content creators’ motivations and practices, as well as the challenges they face, according to a Unesco press release . It involved 500 influencers in 45 countries, with the expertise of a dedicated research team at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, United States. According to the report, in terms of sharing content with their audience, 62 per cent of the surveyed digital content creators “admitted to not verifying the accuracy of information before sharing it with their audiences”. Screengrab from Unesco’s ‘Behind the Screens’ survey released on Nov 26, 2024. About one-third of them (33.5pc) reported that they would share content without checking if they trusted the sour...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and World Bank Country Director Najy Benhassine met in Islamabad on Thursday to discuss joint initiatives to tackle smog and advance sustainable development in the capital. Caused by toxic pollutants, smog has engulfed several cities in Punjab over the past month , with Lahore and Multan being the worst hit. The AQI reading in Multan has already crossed 2,000 twice, setting a new record for air pollution. The Punjab government has declared an emergency in Lahore and Multan, while the effects have also been felt in the federal capital, where the air quality became “ very unhealthy ” two weeks ago. During their meeting, Naqvi and Benhassine decided to form a joint team of the World Bank and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to work together on an anti-smog plan, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported. Minister Naqvi emphasised the urgency of addressing the alarming AQI figures, which reached 271 this year in the federal capital. “Befor...

Oil producers in Canada and Mexico will likely be forced to reduce prices and divert supply to Asia if US President-elect Donald Trump imposes 25 per cent import tariffs on crude imports from the two countries, traders and analysts said. Two sources familiar with Trump’s plan told Reuters that oil would not be exempted from po tential tariff hikes on imports from Canada and Mexico, despite the US oil industry’s warnings that the policy could hurt consumers, industry and national security. Canada and Mexico are the top two petroleum exporters to the United States, contributing 52pc and 11pc of its gross imports, respectively, data from the US Energy Information Administration showed . The United States accounts for 61pc of waterborne flows from Canada, and 56pc from Mexico, ship tracking data from Kpler showed. Canadian waterborne crude exports have jumped 65pc to about 530,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, the data showed, after the opening of the expanded Trans-Mountain pipeli...

Sri Lankan rescue teams said on Thursday they had recovered four drowned children killed in a flash flood, with four other people missing, after torrential rains from a powerful but slow-moving storm now heading towards India. More than 250,000 people in Sri Lanka have been forced to flee after their homes were flooded. Indian weather officials said there was a “possibility” that the deep depression over the southwest Bay of Bengal could develop into a cyclonic storm. Cyclones — the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific — are a regular and deadly menace in the region. Having skirted the coast of Sri Lanka, it was now moving north towards India’s southern Tamil Nadu state. The India Meteorological Department said it was expected to hit India’s southern Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coastline on Saturday morning as a “deep depression” with winds “gusting up to 70 kph”. Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre said some 276,000 people wer...

Bangladeshi police have arrested six people in connection with the murder of a lawyer during clashes between Hindu protesters and security forces, the government said on Wednesday. Another 21 people have been arrested “for vandalism and assaults on police” during the violence on Tuesday in the port city of Chittagong, the government statement said. Angry supporters of outspoken Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari — arrested a day earlier on charges connected to disrespecting the national flag during a rally — battled with police on Tuesday after he was denied bail. Protesters hurled rocks as security forces fired tear gas canisters, and police said a public prosecutor was killed in the chaos, naming him as Saiful Islam Alif, a Muslim. Religious relations have been turbulent in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people since a student-led August revolution forced long-time autocratic prime minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India. Brahmachari is the spokesman of a ne...

PESHAWAR/LAKKI MARWAT: Dengue virus remained on prowl in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and provincial metropolis registered the highest number of cases, said a report of health department. The report, released here on Tuesday, said that the number of people affected with dengue virus was 2,891 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Peshawar recorded 978 cases in the current year. It said that the number of active dengue cases in the province was 446. It said that Mansehra recorded 235 dengue, Abbottabad 212 and Hangu registered 97 dengue cases. The report said that high fever, aches in backbone and legs, strong headache and vomiting were initial symptoms of dengue fever. With further intensity in fever, patients may also experience bleeding from gums and nose. Authorities order implementation of control plan The dengue fever also causes dizziness and breathing problems besides affecting blood flow and heartbeat. In Lakki Marwat, a total of 196 dengue cases have been reported in in the ongoing year....

India’s Adani Group conglomerate on Wednesday said it had lost almost $55 billion in a stock market rout since US prosecutors last week accused its founder and other officials of fraud. The November 20 bombshell indictment in New York accused billionaire industrialist founder Gautam Adani and multiple subordinates of deliberately misleading international investors as part of a bribery scheme. It said they had “devised a scheme to offer, authorise, make and promise to make bribes payments to Indian government officials”. The firm, which denies the charges, said in a statement on Wednesday: “Since the intimation of the US DoJ (Department of Justice) indictment, the group has suffered a loss of near $55bn in its market capitalisation across its 11 listed companies.” Gautam Adani, 62, is suspected of having participated in the $250 million scheme in bribes to secure lucrative government contracts. Adani Group issued a stiff denial, describing the charges as “baseless”, but it tri...

LEGANES: Kylian Mbappe ended his goal drought with a close-range strike and midfielder Jude Bellingham scored a header as Real Madrid thrashed Leganes 3-0 on Sunday. With a game in hand, Real are second in the standings on 30 points, four behind Barcelona. Mbappe latched on to Vinicius Jr’s through ball and found the net after 10 minutes, but his celebration was short-lived as the goal was ruled out for offside. Mbappe was goalless in his last four games in all competitions, his last goal coming in a win over Celta Vigo last month. However, the former Paris St Germain striker netted his seventh league goal of the campaign after combining again with Vinicius to give Real the lead two minutes before the break following a Leganes defensive error that Bellingham capitalised on. “We switched the position of the strikers a bit, with Mbappe on the outside and he did well,” said coach Carlo Ancelotti after the match. Real enjoyed most of the possession in the second half, giving goalkeep...

NAPLES: Romelu Lukaku ensured Napoli maintained their one-point lead at the top of Serie A with the only goal in Sunday’s 1-0 win over his old club AS Roma. It took 54 minutes for Napoli to break the deadlock, with Lukaku sliding in to meet Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s low cross from close range and score against the team he played for last season. Napoli have 29 points after 13 matches, one point ahead of Atalanta, Inter Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio who occupy second to fifth respectively — with Juventus four points off the pace in sixth — in a crowded title race which is yet to offer up a clear favourite for the Scudetto. It was a disappointing day for Roma manager Claudio Ranieri, who began his third stint in charge at the club, with his side 12th in the table with 13 points. “When we arrive at the stadium, we can feel the way the fans push us on. We won today and we are happy,” Lukaku told Sky Sport Italia. “I just want to do well for the team. We have a process that we need to go thro...

AS Pakistan embraces the digital age, women face a troubling new reality: technology-facilitated violence. Digital platforms, intended to open opportunities in education, employment, and civic engagement, have also become instruments for gender-based abuse. This threat — from cyber harassment and stalking to deepfake pornography — is more than a personal affront; it is an assault on women’s digital freedom, mental well-being, and societal participation, demanding urgent and targeted reforms to reclaim online spaces for all. This rise in technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) against women mirrors a troubling global trend that intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic as women increasingly turned to digital platforms for work, education, and social connection. This surge in abuse has exposed critical gaps in legal protections, calling for urgent regulatory reform. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, 85 per cent of women worldwide report experiencing some form o...

Camera traps, drones and other technology for monitoring wildlife like tigers and elephants are being used to intimidate, harass and even spy on women in India, researchers said on Monday. In one particularly egregious example, a photo of an autistic women relieving herself in the forest was shared by local men on social media, prompting villagers to destroy nearby camera traps. Trishant Simlai, a researcher at the UK’s Cambridge University, spent 14 months interviewing some 270 people who live near the Corbett Tiger Reserve in northern India. For women living in villages around the reserve, the forest has long been a space for “freedom and expression” away from the men in a “heavily conservative and patriarchal society”, Simlai told AFP . The women sing, talk about taboo subjects such as sex, and sometimes drink and smoke while collecting firewood and grass from the forest. But the introduction of camera traps, drones and sound recorders as part of efforts to track and protect ti...

LAHORE: The provincial metropolis continued to top the chart of world’s most polluted cities, with an overall air quality index (AQI) of 382 on Saturday. The city witnessed its first winter rain but very light in different areas bringing no significant improvement in the air quality. The city reported a maximum of 505 AQI at 1am to 2am, while the air quality in its different areas varied. At Pakistan Engineering Services (Pvt) Ltd. 459, Syed Maratib Ali Road 449, Kickstart Co-Working Spaces 441, US Consulate 424, Askri-10 398, CERP office 376, LAS 332, WWF-Pakistan 328 and Valancia Town, it was 322 at 7pm. The AQI measures the level of fine particles (PM2.5), larger particles (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and Ozone (O3) in the air. Of 4,500 patients in Lahore, 3,690 complain of respiratory issues Earlier, in the day the city also received first winter light rain in different parts including Bund Road, Babu Sabu, Sherakot and Yateem Khana Chowk. Other areas also received scatt...

KARACHI: A suspected robber was lynched in Gulistan-i-Jauhar on Saturday afternoon, police and rescue services said. Sharea Faisal SHO Faisal Gul Khawaja told Dawn that three robbers barged into a house in Block-15, but some family members overpowered one of them at the entrance. While the other two robbers managed to flee, the family members subjected the suspect to a severe beating. The SHO said that the suspect died on the spot. The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities. Police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed said the deceased suspect suffered multiple injuries caused by hard and blunt weapons. The officer said the identity of the deceased could not be ascertained till late in the night. Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024 from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/TEB9UXF

QUETTA: The Iranian consul general in Quetta, Hassan Darwish Wand, has expressed hope that bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran will soon reach $10 billion . Mr Wand made these remarks during a meeting with business leaders of the Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) on Saturday. He said efforts were underway to boost the trade volume, which will soon cross the target of $10bn per annum. The Iranian envoy also highlighted the significant increase in trade volume between the two countries in recent years. He praised the chamber’s role in promoting trade ties with Iran and congratulated its newly elected office-bearers, urging them to continue their efforts to foster bilateral commerce. “I will continue my cooperation and resolve to address hurdles creating obstacles in trade growth,” he assured the meeting. Mr Wand announced the upcoming 12th Joint Border Meeting will be held in Quetta and expressed hope that it will lead to more constructive outcomes than previous ...

LAS VEGAS — Max Verstappen cruised to a fourth consecutive Formula 1 championship on Saturday night by finishing fifth in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.  Verstappen needed only to finish ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren to give Red Bull a fourth straight driver championship. The Dutchman started fifth but was already up to second by the 10th lap around the street circuit that includes the famed Las Vegas Strip.  Norris, who had to score at least three points more than Verstappen to extend the championship fight, finished sixth. Verstappen needed only to finish higher than Norris to win the title, which he did with two races remaining on the season.  “Max Verstappen you are a four-time world champion,” team principal Christian Horner said on the radio. “That is a phenomenal, phenomenal achievement. You can be incredibly proud of yourself as we are.” Verstappen, only the sixth driver in F1 history to win at least four titles, sounded unusually emotional on the radio.  ...

JUBA: South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir held an urgent meeting of top security brass on Friday after a shootout at the home of powerful former spy chief Akol Koor, who was sacked almost two months ago amid rumours of a coup plot. Gunfire erupted on Thursday evening in the capital Juba, sparking concerns about the stability of the world’s youngest country that is already plagued by power struggles, ethnic infighting and a deep economic malaise. The shooting around the home of Koor, who was fired by Kiir last month and placed under house arrest, caused panic among local residents before it was contained after about an hour. Following the meeting, South Sudan Peoples Defence Forces (SSPDF) spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said the incident took place after a “misunderstanding” between security forces attempting to relocate the ex-head of the National Security Services. Koang said Koor had now agreed to the relocation “with his dear wife, one bodyguard, and a cook” elsewhere in the city. He ...

ISLAMABAD: Amid tight fiscal control under the IMF programme, the federal-funded Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) has nearly come to a standstill, with its five-month spending struggling at just 6.6 per cent of the targeted 26pc of the annual budgetary allocation. This concerning spending pattern, which impacts public interest projects that influence living standards and economic growth, was revealed during a meeting on the progress of PSDP projects for 2024-25, chaired by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal. A senior government official told Dawn that the meeting was informed that only Rs92bn had been utilised for the PSDP by Nov 20, against a revised budget allocation of Rs1.1 trillion, down from Rs1.4tr, as part of the IMF agreement. The Rs92bn utilisation accounts for 6.6pc of the budget allocation or 8.4pc of the revised PSDP cap. Under the mechanism announced by the Ministry of Finance for the current fiscal year, the government should release 15pc of budgeted allocation ...

Shares in Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate rallied on Friday to pare the previous day’s frenzied sell-off sparked by US charges alleging the tycoon paid more than $250 million in bribes to secure lucrative government contracts. Wednesday’s bombshell indictment in New York accused Adani and multiple subordinates of deliberately misleading international investors as part of the bribery scheme. Adani, once the world’s second-richest man , is a close ally of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi and critics have long accused him of improperly benefitting from their relationship. Shares in Adani Enterprises, his conglomerate’s main listed unit, rose nearly four per cent in morning trade, while its listed ports and power subsidiaries posted smaller gains. A heavy sell-off of Adani stocks on Thursday triggered multiple trading halts and even after Friday’s bounce, Adani Enterprises has lost around 20pc of its market capitalisation since the indictment was released....

The death toll in yesterday’s gun attack on passenger vans in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower Kurram has risen to 42, while more than 30 people were injured, the local deputy commissioner said on Friday. Kurram Deputy Commissioner (DC) Javedullah Mehsud confirmed the casualties to Dawn.com , adding that the deceased included seven women and a nine-year-old girl. Thursday’s attack had occurred in the Mandori Charkhel area, a region with a history of sectarian tensions and land disputes. DC Mehsud said yesterday the convoy, consisting of some 200 vehicles , was on its way from Parachinar to Peshawar when it came under heavy gunfire. Separately, he had told AFP that two separate convoys of Shia passengers were targeted in two attacks. Efforts were underway to save the lives of those injured, the DC said, stating the bodies of the deceased had been moved to Parachinar. “We will try to restore the routine life as quickly as possible and then a grand jirga will be called,” DC Mehsud sai...