Pakistan

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Policymakers, industry leaders and academics chart way forward on National AI Policy

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The depression over northeast Arabian Sea has intensified into a cyclonic storm “Shakhti” and now lay centered at around 360km south of Karachi, according to a notification issued by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Friday. “It is likely to move west-northwestwards initially and likely to further intensify into severe cyclonic storm during next 24 hours. Thereafter it is likely to move west-southwestwards and reach over central north Arabian Sea,” it added. Under its influence, wind-thunderstorm and rain of light to moderate intensity is expected in Tharparker, Umerkot, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Tando Muhammad Khan, Hyderabad, Matiari, and Jamshoro districts, as well as at isolated places in Karachi division, as per PMD’s notification. Hot and dry weather is likely to prevail elsewhere in the province. The notification stated that sea conditions are likely to remain “rough to very rough” with “squally winds of 40 to 50 gusting 55 km/hour near Sindh coast”. It also advised fishermen not to venture...

Minister of State for National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination, Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmad, along with the technical team, represented Pakistan at the high-level summit in Doha, Qatar.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Friday suspended the commercial flight operations of carrier Serene Air over failure to maintain a fleet of serviceable aircraft. According to a notification, which is available with Dawn.com, the CAA expressed “grave concern” over the carrier’s inability to comply with regulations mandating the maintenance of a “prescribed minimum fleet size”. “[Serene Air] presently has zero … serviceable aircraft available for operations, thereby rendering it incapable of sustaining the operational capacity required to conduct safe air operations in accordance with the applicable PCAA Rules and Regulations,” the notification read. “Therefore, the air operator certificate …. issued to Serene Air is hereby suspended with immediate effect … accordingly, you are directed to surrender the aforesaid certificates to the undersigned forthwith for the necessary endorsement.” Serene Air could not be reached by Dawn.com for comment.

Supreme Court’s (SC) Justice Naeem Akhter Afghan on Friday issued a detailed dissenting note on the transfer of judges to the Islamabad High Court, stating that the transfer was carried out in “unnecessary haste” and not in the public interest. In June, a five-member SC bench ruled 3-2 in favour of the February transfers and said that there was nothing unconstitutional about them. Justices Afghan and Shakeel Ahmed dissented and issued a short note stating that the transfer violated articles 2A, 4 and 25 of the Constitution and “undermined the independence of judiciary, due process and principle of equality”. In a copy of today’s dissenting note, available with Dawn.com, Justice Afghan observed that the transfer process for Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Justice Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Sindh High Court’s Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro was initiated on January 28 and completed on February 1 — just five days. Moreover, a letter of consent for the transfer of Balochistan High Court Justice Muhammad Asif was written ...

Experts warn of psychological toll; govt promises child specialists in prisons

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Suspect covered child's mouth with cloth before using blade to inflict cuts on his body

CM promises 500 vehicles for Lahore division

British police said on Friday they accidentally shot a victim who died in the attack on a synagogue in Manchester, as well as one of the survivors, as they attempted to stop an attacker who appeared to be wearing an explosive belt. In Thursday’s attack, Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, were killed after a British man of Syrian descent drove a car into pedestrians and then began stabbing people outside Manchester’s Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. The attacker, shot dead by officers at the scene, was not carrying a firearm, said Greater Manchester Police chief constable Steve Watson, though one of those killed suffered a gunshot wound. “It follows, therefore, this injury may have been sustained as a tragic and unforeseen consequence of the urgently required action taken by my officers to bring this vicious attack to an end,” Watson said in a statement. The attack comes as Israel has drawn widespread criticism over its ongoing genocid...

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Members of the PPP and media representatives briefly boycotted the National Assembly session on Friday over separate matters. The PPP, which is a coalition partner of the ruling PML-N in the Centre, has been incensed after Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s remarks amid an ongoing rift between the two parties over flood relief. Meanwhile, journalists have been protesting a raid by Islamabad police at the National Press Club (NPC) yesterday, during which media persons were assaulted. A while after the NA session began today, PPP’s Naveed Qamar said, “I want to say this on record that in the last session, we had raised some issues. We had also protested and walked out. After that, the government sent a team that engaged in dialogue with us.” He, however, maintained that nothing changed despite the talks. “There has been no difference on the ground […] We cannot be a part of this House until this matter is resolved.” “So, we are walking out today,” he announced. Later, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar began his speech by e...

The Pakistan High Commission in London announced on Friday that national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will resume flight operations to the UK this month. No exact date was given in the announcement, which was posted on X. “High Commissioner [Dr Muhammad Faisal] is grateful to the Civil Aviation Authority UK for issuing the Foreign Aircraft Operating Permit (FOP) today, the final document enabling commercial flights between the UK and Pakistan,” the post read. “PIA has already received the Third Country Operator (TCO) approval for flight operations in the United Kingdom, and in the first phase, flight operations to Manchester will be resumed, after which Birmingham and London will be included.” In July, the UK removed Pakistan from its Air Safety List, allowing Pakistani airlines to apply to operate flights in Britain. The development came after the UK Department for Transport concluded an aviation security ins­pection at Islamabad Inter­nat­ional Airport on Thursday, declaring Pakistan’s secu...

Former National Assembly speaker and senior PTI leader Asad Qaiser demanded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif apologise to the nation “for hurting public sentiments on the issue of Palestine”. Addressing the lower house on Friday, the PTI leader said “no decision would be acceptable until the will of the Palestinian people was made part of the process”. Earlier today, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that the 20-point Gaza peace plan released by US President Donald Trump was “not ours” but insisted that there was no room for politicking on the matter. Eight Muslim and Arab countries — Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt — held a meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly session, where the US president discussed his plan for ending the Israeli onslaught in Gaza. On Sept 29, US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met and, in a press conference after the meeting, announ...