Pakistan

Lahore, once celebrated as the City of Gardens, now chokes each winter under a grey shroud of smog — its skies thick with toxic haze that has become the city’s defining feature. Every November, as the monsoon fades, a suffocating layer of smoke and dust engulfs Lahore, India’s capital New Delhi and much of northern South Asia. The mix of crop burning, vehicle exhaust and industrial emissions drives air pollution to deadly levels, forcing authorities to shut schools, businesses and highways. This winter, as air quality plummets again, the Punjab government is betting on an unconventional ally to fight back: artificial intelligence (AI). Authorities say they are deploying one of the region’s most technologically advanced clean-air programmes, with AI systems at the centre of forecasting, enforcement and public response. Some 100 AI-powered air-quality monitoring stations have been established across Punjab, home to nearly 130 million people, according to Punjab Environment Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb. These sma...

The government on Monday revised the compensation package for martyred and injured Civil Armed Forces (CAF) personnel, according to a notification issued by the interior ministry. CAFs are defined as a federal paramilitary force working under the interior ministry, according to Section 18, sub-section 21 of Schedule II of the Rules of Business, 1973, such as the Federal Constabulary, Frontier Corps, Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts and Pakistan Coast Guards. The decision to revise compensation to be on par with the Islamabad police was made by the interior ministry in August this year and approved by the cabinet on August 25. According to today’s notification, the minimum compensation will be Rs10 million (Grade 1-9), while the maximum is now Rs20m (Grade 20 and above). “If a member of the CAFs is shaheed (martyred), permanently disabled, injured with serious injury or minor injury, as the case may be, while on bona fide government duty, an award under these rules may be granted to him or his family, as the case may b...

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A no-confidence motion against Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq succeeded on Monday, with 36 members in the Legislative Assembly voting in favour of it and two against it. Of the 29 PPP members, the speaker could not cast his vote and of the 9 PML-N members, one female member abstained. Two PTI legislators — regional president Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi and leader of the opposition Khawaja Farooq Ahmed — voted against the move. Haq, who had arrived in the hall along with four loyalists, left along with them soon after delivering his speech. Three PTI members did not attend. One member each of the Muslim Conference and the Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party (JKPP) also abstained. Apart from them, three PTI forward bloc members — Ansar Abdali, Mazhar Saeed and deputy speaker Chaudhry Riaz — also abstained. After the votes were counted, AJK Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who was chairing the session, announced PPP’s Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as the new premier. Under the AJK Constituti...

Hasina convicted of crime against humanity Ousted premier found guilty on three counts Ruling delivered in absen

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Moscow, Beijing among states worried by escalating tensions