Pakistan

US President Donald Trump on Monday linked autism to childhood vaccine use and the taking of popular pain medication Tylenol by women when pregnant, elevating claims not backed by scientific evidence to the forefront of US health policy. In an extraordinary news conference at the White House, the Republican president delivered medical advice to pregnant women and parents of young children, repeatedly telling them not to use or administer the painkiller and suggesting that common vaccines not be taken together or so early in a child’s life. The advice from Trump, who acknowledged he is not a doctor, goes against that of medical societies, which cite data from numerous studies showing that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, plays a safe role in the well-being of pregnant women. View this post on Instagram “I want to say it like it is, don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it,” Trump said. “Other things that we recommend, or certainly I do anyway, is … don’t let them pump your baby up with the largest pil...

Airports in Copenhagen and Oslo reopened on Tuesday, police said, hours after unidentified drones in their airspace caused flight diversions and other travel disruption. In the Danish capital Copenhagen, police said several large drones seen over the airport for several hours late on Monday eventually flew away on their own. “The drones have disappeared and the airport is open again,” Deputy Police Inspector Jakob Hansen told reporters. “We didn’t take the drones down,” he added. Hansen said police were cooperating with the Danish military and intelligence service to find out where the drones had come from. He said police were also working with colleagues in Oslo after drone sightings in the Norwegian capital also caused the airport to close for several hours. “We had two different drone sightings,” Oslo airport spokeswoman Monica Fasting told AFP. “We reopened the airport around 3:15 am (6:15 am PKT),” she said. Flights were diverted to nearby destinations during the closures, and officials at both airports ...

QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court (BHC) on Monday granted bail to tribal elder Sardar Sherbaz Khan Satakzai, who was arrested in July this year after the murder of a man and woman in the name of ‘honour’ in the Degari mining area of Quetta district. A single-judge bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kasi, after hearing arguments from both sides, granted bail to Sardar Sherbaz Satakzai against surety bonds of Rs500,000. He was released following the court’s approval of the bail application. Earlier, police had arrested Sardar Satakzai on the allegation that, as a tribal chief, he had endorsed through a jirga the killing of the woman and the man. Acting on the jirga’s order, the woman’s brother opened fire on his 40-year-old sister, Bano Bibi, in the presence of a large number of people from the area. At the same time, the man, Ehsanullah, was also killed at the same place. The incident came to light after a video of the firing went viral on social media more than a month after the killings had taken place...

The District and Sessions Court Islamabad on Tuesday upheld the arrest warrants issued for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in the liquor and arms recovery case.

ISLAMABAD - The Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) have agreed to fast-track the replacement of decades-old gas pipelines in Islamabad’s G-6 sector and Blue Area, aiming to complete the work before winter to ensure uninterrupted supply for residents.

ISLAMABAD - Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Pakistan, Alisher Tukhtaev, on Monday highlighted the centuries-old cultural, spiritual, and historical ties between Uzbekistan and Pakistan, describing the two nations as ‘one family bound by history and faith’.

The Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) on Tuesday announced that it will conduct intra-party elections on September 27 in Quetta.

The Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee will convene in Islamabad on Tuesday to sight the crescent of Rabi-us-Sani 1447 Hijri.

Peshawar - A meeting of the Health Department held on Monday here at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court’s registrar office on Monday raised administrative objections to the petitions separately filed by five sitting judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) before the apex court. Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Saman Raffat Imtiaz had appeared in person before the Supreme Court last Friday to institute constitutional petitions challenging the exercise of administrative powers by the IHC chief justice. According to the objections, the petitioners invoked the apex court’s original jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution for the enforcement of fundamental rights, but the grievances raised were of an individual nature and thus not maintainable in view of the 1998 Zulfiqar Mehdi case. In that judgement, the SC had held that Article 184(3) could not be pressed into service for redress of personal grievances. Incidentally, the same case law was cited by the SC registrar while returning Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar’s pet...

• PA President Abbas calls on all states to follow suit • Dar attends, but doesn’t address high-level moot • PM due to meet Trump alongside Muslim leaders • Palestine flag unfurled at London mission NEW YORK: France and Monaco extended formal recognition to the State of Palestine at a high-level conference on Monday. “We must do everything within our power to preserve the very possibility of a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security,” French President Emmanuel Macron said before announcing the diplomatic move, drawing lengthy applause from the audience. Macron outlined a framework for a “renewed Palestinian Authority” under which France would open an embassy subject to factors such as reforms, a ceasefire and the release of all remaining prisoners held in Gaza. Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg and San Marino were also expected to recognise a Palestinian state ahead of this week’s UN General Assembly, after Australia, Britain, Canada, Portugal and Malta did so over the we...

HYDERABAD: The water level in the Indus rises as a medium flood reaches Kotri.—PPI • Locals in three southern districts complain their houses still under water due to govt failure to plug breaches • Irrigation minister says 70 and 90pc area of Alipur and Jalalpur Pirwala, respectively, devastated LAHORE: The residents in different localities of Multan, Lodhran, and Bahawalpur districts remain homeless as the government has failed to plug the breaches at the Noraja Bhutta embankment along the Sutlej River despite the passage of 12 days. Communities in Noraja Bhutta, Bahadurpur, Basti Lang, Kanu, and Dipal in Jalalpur Pirwala; Tarut Basharat, Daily Rajanpur, and Belaywala in Lodhran; Dunyapur, Jhangra, and Muradpur Soiwala in Bahawalpur were forced to live on the banks of the embankment, as their homes remained inundated. Basti Lang resident Muhammad Bakhsh said the water was rising again in his union council, adding it would continue to rise if the Noraja Bhutta embankment was not plugged completely. “We are a...

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, claimed on Monday that her brother had barred the party leadership from contacting “the establishment”, stressing that they should reach out to her brother directly if they are genuinely interested in talks. She made these remarks while talking to media persons outside Adiala Jail after the hearing of the Toshakhana-2 case. “Imran has directed party leaders and workers not to contact the establishment, and if the establishment wants to talk, it should directly talk to him,” she said. Commenting on the Toshakhana-2 case, Ms Khan said that last week, the main witness had been discredited, yet the judge did not close the matter. “Moreover, Brig Ahmed and Col Rehan [Imran Khan’s former military secretaries] also confirmed that the documentation on gifts was complete. So logically, the case is concluded, but the judge is still recording statements of investigation officers. We strongly believe it will be closed in the next two to three hearings,” s...

• Justice Aminuddin Khan issues detailed reasoning, says Oct 23 order by five judges more akin to ‘legislation than interpretation’ • Civilians’ trials in military courts ‘long understood as valid and operative’, says Justice Mazhar ISLAMABAD: Justice Aminuddin Khan has said that though the procedural framework under the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) 1952 includes due process protections, the absence of an independent right of appeal to a civilian court has rendered its application to civilians constitutionally incomplete. He made these remarks in a 68-page judgement to justify the May 7 short order on a set of 38 intra-court appeals, which challenged the Oct 23, 2023, order on military trials of the civilians. Justice Khan explained that this deficiency required legislative intervention, urging parliament to do the needful in 45 days. According to Justice Khan, the Constitutional Bench had referred the matter to parliament for the enactment of appropriate amendments, with the expectation that such institutional de...

PESHAWAR - At least 14 Khwaraj terrorists were killed and 10 civilians died when a powerful blast ripped through an IED-manufacturing factory setup by Khwaraj in Akakhel area of Khyber tribal district, police said on Monday.

ISLAMABAD - Incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan on Monday directed the top leadership of his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), to sever all ties with the powerful establishment, saying that such engagements had proven counterproductive since their ouster from power over three years ago.

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan Monday returned the constitutional peti-tions filed by the five judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), raising objections that the applications were based on personal grievances and did not meet the requirements of Article 184(3) of the Constitution.

KARACHI - The floodwater level in Indus flows across Sindh is receding easing fears of a super flood as monsoon rains end and upstream levels drop, the Provincial Rain and Flood Emergency Monitoring Cell on Monday.

RAWALPINDI - Federal Minister for Railways, Muhammad Hanif Abbasi said that the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement (SMDA), finalized with Saudi Arabia is a result of the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s efforts, and is good news for the entire nation.

ISLAMABAD - A pilot project has been planned to provide instant, targeted cash assistance to families living in disaster-affected areas through the integration of the National Catastrophe (NatCat) Model with the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).