Pakistan

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Police decide to re-investigate case, seek re-arrest of all suspects

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Top court issues nationwide guidelines to strengthen investigation of narcotics cases

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Calls for stronger international cooperation in cultural preservation

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Multiple cities in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as the federal capital, reported feeling an earthquake on Saturday evening, hours after two quakes jolted Balochistan. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the earthquake struck at 6:35pm. Its epicentre was in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region, with a magnitude of 5.9 and a depth of 178 kilometres. The PMD said the tremors were felt in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Mansehra, Shangla, Swat, Chakwal, Abbottabad, Taxila, Haripur and Buner. The Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), meanwhile, reported that tremors were also felt in Lahore, Faisalabad and Attock. In its report, the PDMA said that the relevant authorities were inspecting buildings in the affected areas for damage and that the provincial control room and district emergency centres were active 24/7. Punjab Rescue 1122 spokesperson Farooq Ahmad said that they did not receive any reports of damage or injury to anyone after the earthquake. 3 quakes jolt Balochistan;...

A strong earthquake measuring 5.

Australia will double the financial penalty on platforms flouting its world-leading social media ban for under-16s to stem widespread evasion of the restrictions, the government said on Saturday. New legislation will lift the maximum fine to Aus$99 million ($68 million) for systemic breaches of the regulation and arm the eSafety online watchdog with greater powers to curb the platforms, it said. The independent regulator was “actively investigating” potential non-compliance by Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, the government said in a statement. “It’s clear big tech are not doing enough to comply with the law — there are still too many children on social media,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. “These changes reflect the seriousness with which we take any failure by social media companies to comply.” Underage users have been dodging the restrictions by using accounts registered to older people, setting up fake accounts, or by logging into private browsers. The success of the Australian r...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has issued an alert for glacial lake outburst floods (Glofs) for Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, predicting that soaring temperatures are likely to persist until the first week of July. “This significant warming will substantially accelerate snow and ice melt in the glaciated valleys of these regions,” the Met Office said in the alert issued late on Friday. It said that consequently, the water level in the river streams was likely to remain high, existing glacial lakes may rapidly expand with an increase in their water levels, and new glacial lakes were likely to form due to the high volume of melted water. Meanwhile, vulnerable downstream locations and low-lying areas adjacent to riverbeds may face a high risk of sudden inundation with chances of flash flooding in vulnerable locations, it added. The Met Office further said that the rapid expansion of glacial lakes could destabilise their natural ice or moraine dams, potentially triggering Glof incidents. ...

Many social media users in Venezuela have reported receiving alerts on Android smartphones moments before Wednesday’s quake that left over 900 confirmed dead. Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS both include the option to display government alerts for emergencies like earthquakes. But the search giant last year also detailed its system that uses the billions of Android smartphones worldwide to detect earthquakes in the first place. How it works Almost all smartphones contain an accelerometer, a movement sensor used for tasks like flipping the screen when users turn it sideways. That same sensor “can also detect the ground shaking from an earthquake,” Google wrote in a July 2025 blog post. Accelerometers can spot potential earthquakes’ fast-moving initial “P” wave, sending information about the tremor to a Google server. By rapidly cross-referencing many such reports, the system can “confirm that an earthquake is happening and estimate its location and magnitude,” Google said. “The goal is to warn as many people ...

Pakistan has recorded steady progress in educational attainment, with the proportion of people aged 10 years and above who have completed at least primary education increasing to 57 percent in 2024-25, according to official data.

A series of moderate earthquakes has rattled several parts of Balochistan over the past two days, prompting authorities and experts to closely monitor seismic activity in the region following another significant tremor on Friday.

ISLAMABAD: Aleema Khan has challenged the alleged solitary confinement of her brother, PTI founder Imran Khan, before the Islamabad High Court (IHC), describing his detention conditions as unlawful and inhumane, it emerged on Saturday. The petition, filed through Barrister Salman Safdar, names the Adiala jail superintendent, the inspector general of prisons, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general and the executive director of Pims as respondents. According to the petition, during a lawyers’ meeting held on April 8, it emerged that Imran had been kept in solitary confinement for 22 hours a day, while his wife, Bushra Bibi, was allegedly confined in isolation for 24 hours a day. The petition further contended that no member of Imran’s family or the PTI leadership had been allowed to meet him for the past six months. It also argued that no judicial order had authorised solitary confinement as part of his sentence, making the continued isolation ...

Germany and Italy endured sweltering conditions on Saturday as a heatwave linked to dozens of deaths in Western Europe spread eastwards after temperatures broke records above 40 degrees Celsius. Britain, France, Switzerland and Germany have all experienced record heat in June, and the weather system could test more records as it rolls across Germany towards Poland. Scientists said the heatwave would have been virtually impossible without man-made climate change, which has made this week’s night-time temperatures 100 times more likely than they would have been even two decades ago. On Friday, a new German record of 41.3°C was reached near the city of Saarbruecken close to the French border, a spokesperson for Germany’s National Meteorological Service said, noting the reading was still preliminary. People urged to save water The service issued extreme heat warnings for nearly all of Germany on Saturday as authorities urged people to save water. It said temperatures of 36°C were expected across the board in the ...

The UK interior ministry has announced it will create new legal routes for asylum seekers, including allowing community organisations to sponsor refugees based on a similar system in Canada. The system will come into place later this year, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said late Friday, with organisations and some “trusted” universities able to sponsor refugees and first arrivals expected in autumn 2027. A route for employers to sponsor refugees is also expected to open next year, the Home Office said in a press release. Immigration and asylum are thorny issues in the UK, where the hard-right Reform UK party has rapidly grown in popularity, riding a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment. Keir Starmer, who stepped down as Prime Minister this week but will remain in power until his successor is chosen, has tried to appear tough on immigration since coming into power two years ago. His government will next week introduce legislation in parliament tightening asylum rules, including making it easier to deport failed a...