Pakistan News

The head of the UN’s health agency on Saturday pushed back against Washington’s stated reasons for withdrawing from the World Health Organisation (WHO), dismissing US criticism of the body as “untrue”. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the US announcement this week that it had formally withdrawn from the WHO “makes both the US and the world less safe”. And in a post on X, he added: “Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue.” He insisted: “WHO has always engaged with the US, and all Member States, with full respect for their sovereignty.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a joint statement on Thursday that Washington had formally withdrawn from the WHO. They accused the agency of numerous “failures during the Covid-19 pandemic” and of acting “repeatedly against the interests of the United States”. The WHO has not yet confirmed that the US withdra...

India and Europe hope to strike the “mother of all deals” when European Union (EU) chiefs meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi next week, as the two economic behemoths seek to forge closer ties. Facing challenges from China and the United States, India and the European Union have been negotiating a massive free trade pact — and talks, first launched about two decades ago, are nearing the finishing line. “We are on the cusp of a historic trade agreement,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this week. Von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa will attend Republic Day celebrations on Monday before an EU-India summit on Tuesday, where they hope to shake hands on the accord. Securing a pact, described by India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal as “the mother of all deals”, would be a major win for Brussels and New Delhi as both seek to open up new markets in the face of US tariffs and Chinese export controls . But officials have been eag...

Momentum is a fickle beast in the NBA. One moment it’s on your side, the next it’s doing everything to escape your grasp, and then all of a sudden, an about-face to once again accept your embrace. So it’s easy to understand how the emotions of a fanbase often dance on a knife’s edge between passion and ire. It’s hard to keep the two feelings separate when things keep changing. Even through an 82-game season that can sometimes feel sluggish, like during the slow, cold march toward the all-star break. The 2025-26 Toronto Raptors , for instance, have enjoyed both the warm comfort of momentum — winning nine-straight games in November — and the brisk chill of its absence, playing largely .500 ball (14-12 from the start of December) since being hit with a smattering of injuries. Zooming in even tighter, the Raptors opened a five-game road trip last Sunday by losing to the Los Angeles Lakers, with little to no answers against a bottom-10 defence that junked things up and held them to 93 p...

Activist and lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, were arrested on Friday in Islamabad while they were reportedly en route to the district courts. In the wake of the arrest, journalists and parliamentarians issued strong condemnations and urged justice for the two lawyers. Imaan and Hadi were scheduled to appear in a trial court today in the controversial tweets case, after failing to appear yesterday despite repeated summons. Opposition Leader Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said in a post on X that the arrest of the lawyers on their way to court “highlighted the troubling pattern of state overreach and procedural irregularities that undermine the principles of fair trial and due process enshrined in Pakistani laws and international conventions”. “Such actions by the state not only expose institutional weaknesses but risk a complete judicial breakdown, eroding public trust in the rule of law,” he said. The opposition leader added that Imaan and Ha...

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The US is due to officially exit the World Health Organisation on Thursday, in the face of warnings it will hit both US health and global health and also in violation of a US law that requires Washington to pay the UN health agency $260 million in fees that it owes. President Donald Trump gave notice that the US would quit the organisation on the first day of his presidency in 2025, via an executive order. Under US law, it has to give one-year notice and pay all outstanding fees before departure. On Thursday, a US State Department spokesperson said the WHO’s failure to contain, manage and share information had cost the US trillions of dollars and the president had exercised his authority to pause the future transfer of any US government funds, support, or resources to the WHO. “The American people have paid more than enough to this organisation and this economic hit is beyond a down payment on any financial obligations to the organisation,” the spokesperson said by email. Quick re...

TORONTO — Dylan Larkin scored at 3:07 of overtime as the Detroit Red Wings downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Wednesday night. Simon Edvinsson also scored for Detroit. John Gibson made 30 saves. Larkin added an assist for a two-point performance. Scott Laughton scored for Toronto, and Joseph Woll stopped 39 shots. The Red Wings improved to 7-1-0 over their last eight games. The Maple Leafs fell to 1-2-2 across their last five contests following an 8-0-2 run. Laughton opened the scoring at 4:46 of the first period before Edvinsson replied with 17.7 seconds remaining on the clock, moments after Woll made a huge pad save during a scramble. Larkin won it in the extra period after Detroit defenseman Moritz Seider stole the puck from Maple Leafs winger Easton Cowan. MAMMOTH 5, FLYERS 4, OT SALT LAKE CITY — Clayton Keller scored two twice to help Utah rally from a three-goal deficit and beat the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime. Keller forced overtime wh...