Posts

Saad Edhi freed alongside flotilla activists

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday confirmed the release of humanitarian worker Saad Edhi, following Israel’s announcement that it has deported all foreign activists detained during its interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters earlier this week. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said Mr Saad — grandson of late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi — had arrived safely in Istanbul along with other activists following what he described as “concerted efforts” by the authorities. Dar also thanked the Turkish government for facilitating Saad’s return and ensuring his safe passage to Istanbul. He described Israel’s treatment of humanitarian workers as “deeply condemnable and totally unacceptable” and reiterated Pakistan’s “unequivocal support” for the Palestinian people. Israeli forces intercepted around 50 vessels carrying nearly 430 participants on Monday as part of a flotilla attempting to challenge the naval blockade on Gaza. However, the release of a video by Israeli mini...
Post a Comment
Read more

Qatar-based British-Pakistani scientist develops AI eye scan for early dementia diagnosis

WASHINGTON: Professor Rayaz Malik, a British-Pakistani scientist based in Qatar, says a simple AI-powered eye scan lasting just two to three minutes may soon help doctors detect dementia and diabetic nerve damage years before symptoms appear. Professor Malik, a leading researcher in diabetic neuropathy and neurodegenerative diseases at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, told Dawn that the technology could transform early diagnosis and treatment, particularly in countries with soaring diabetes rates such as Pakistan. Speaking to Dawn, he explained how researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine are using this technology, known as corneal confocal microscopy (CCM), to identify nerve damage years before patients begin showing symptoms. “The cornea has the richest sensory innervation in the body,” he said, explaining why the eye offers a unique window into diseases affecting the nervous system. “We evolved to protect vision, so the cornea contains a dense network of nerves that can reveal damage...
Post a Comment
Read more

Situationer: New Energy Vehicle policy plagued by contradictions

• Framework places both plug-in hybrids and combustion engines in 1pc sales tax category with e-vehicles • Stakeholders say move will distort industry, discourage sale of e-vehicles, localisation efforts THE New Energy Vehicle (NEV) policy , designed to accelerate the transition towards cleaner electric mobility and reduce oil dependence, is facing criticism over a fundamental policy contradiction: the decision to place plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in the same preferential incentive category as battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The controversy centres on the draft policy’s proposal to extend major fiscal concessions, including a proposed one per cent sales tax and lower import duties, to both fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, even though the PHEVs mostly rely on internal combustion engines. The move risks undermining the core objectives of the policy, i.e. reducing emissions and oil imports, promoting transport electrification, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Afridi, Aleema claim shots were fired at Adiala sit-in participants

ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan on Wednesday claimed that shots were fired at sit-in participants on Tuesday night, injuring several people. On Tuesday, a caravan led by CM Afridi, which was on its way to Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail to meet Imran, was stopped from entering Islamabad, prompting the participants to stage a sit-in at the intersection of Srinagar Highway and G.T. Road — loca­lly referred to as Chungi No. 26. Addressing a press conference, Afridi claimed that shots were fired on Tuesday to disperse them. He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was supplying gas to the entire country, but in return, bullets were being fired at parliamentarians and wheat supplies to the province had been blocked. During the press conference, they also showed a video in which shots were allegedly fired at different participants in the sit-in. They also asked whether the state has any example in which the sisters of former prime ministers...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pakistan can buy Russian oil

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is among the countries that could benefit from a new United States temporary licence allowing selected energy-importing nations to access Russian oil, diplomatic sources told Dawn . The US has introduced a 30-day general licence issued by the US Department of the Treasury to ease immediate supply pressures in global crude markets and provide relief to energy-vulnerable countries. Diplomatic sources said the arrangement may also apply to Pakistan, though they cautioned that Islamabad might not be able to fully take advantage of the concession due to limited technical capacity. US offers 30-day relief to energy-vulnerable countries They noted that Pakistan has not previously imported Russian crude at scale and may lack the refining infrastructure required to process such shipments. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on a social media post released on Monday that his department is issuing a temporary 30-day general licence to “provide the most vulnerable n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nigeria says joint strikes with US kill 175 IS fighters

Nigeria’s military on Tuesday said that joint airstrikes with the United States had killed 175 Islamic State (IS) fighters in the country’s northeast, including the militant group’s global second-in-command. The remote region has been gripped by an extremist insurgency since 2009, first by Boko Haram, then its offshoot and rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). According to the United Nations, more than 40,000 people have been killed and two million others displaced. US and Nigerian forces killed Abu Bilal al-Minuki , an IS leader described as the “most active terrorist” in the world, at a remote village in the northeast last weekend. The Nigerian military said on Tuesday that 175 IS militants had so far been “eliminated from the battlefield”. “The joint strikes have resulted in the destruction of ISIS checkpoints, weapons caches, logistical hubs, military equipment and financial networks used to sustain terrorist operations,” it added. As director of global opera...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fazl urges President Zardari to ‘protect’ 18th Amendment

KARACHI: Amid growing speculation over the possibility of the 28th Amendment, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman placed President Asif Ali Zardari in a difficult position on Monday, urging him to protect the 18th Amendment with the same determination he had shown in helping bring it into existence in 2010 while holding the same office. Responding to a question about his thoughts on the proposed 28th Amendment while answering journalists’ queries after addressing a Meet the Press organised by the Karachi Press Club, the JUI-F chief said that the government had not come up with any position and everything remained blurred on the subject. However, he sounded very clear about the 18th Amendment, calling it “an achievement of the political parties” after so much effort under the PPP-led coalition government in 2010, restoring the “supremacy of the Constitution” after it had suffered too many “blows” under different military rules. He accused the current government of planning new legis...
Post a Comment
Read more