Pakistan

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Govt suspends suspends permanent teacher recruitment, shifts to daily-wage hires

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Dentists advise brushing twice daily, flossing, and scheduling check-ups every six months

Stresses need for mental health awareness and facilities

Pacer Haris Rauf and opener Sahibzada Farhan were on Friday reprimanded by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for gestures made during the Asia Cup Super Four match against arch-rivals India, ESPNCricinfo reported. According to the publication, the pacer was fined 30 per cent of his match fee by match referee Richie Richardson. At the same time, “It is understood that Pakistan batter Sahibzada Farhan was not fined and let off with a warning by Richardson. “Rauf was seen responding to heckling from Indian fans by signalling 6-0 with his hands and making gestures depicting the downing of aircraft, in apparent reference to the military conflict between India and Pakistan in May this year,” the report read. “Farhan had celebrated his fifty by mimicking a gunshot.” Earlier, India captain Suryakumar Yadav was found guilty by the ICC of breaching the code of conduct for his comments that alluded to the brief military skirmish between India and Pakistan this year, after their group stage match in the Asia Cup on...

Big smiles, a red carpet and a thumbs up: the first formal bilateral interaction between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and US President Donald Trump during the early hours of Friday morning was plastered all over the airwaves. The meeting, which was also attended by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir, was described by the Prime Minister’s Office as being held in a pleasant atmosphere. However, the meeting itself was closed to the press — a break from President Trump’s usual modus operendi — as he is quite fond of Oval Office photo-ops and there was no press conference either; just a statement issued from Pakistan where the US president was described as a “man of peace” and stressing the need to enhance cooperation in security and intelligence. With Pak-US ties ‘gradually warming’ in President Trump’s second term, the meeting was closely watched by geopolitical hawks and analysts. Here’s what some had to say about it: ‘Quite surprising’ Author and journalist Zahid Hussain termed the meeting “v...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday declaring that his plan to sell Chinese-owned TikTok’s US operations to US and global investors will address the national security requirements in a 2024 law. The new US company will be valued at around $14 billion, Vice President JD Vance said, putting a price tag on the popular short video app far below some analyst estimates. Trump on Thursday delayed until January 20 enforcement of the law that bans the app unless its Chinese owners sell it amid efforts to extract TikTok’s US assets from the global platform, line up American and other investors, and win approval from the Chinese government. The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets, but numerous details need to be fleshed out, including how the US entity would use TikTok’s most important asset, its recommendation algorithm. “There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that w...

Indian police on Friday detained prominent activist Sonam Wangchuk over violent protests in the Himalayan territory of Ladakh that left at least five people dead, a lawyer said. Demonstrations demanding greater political autonomy for the sparsely populated, high-altitude region bordering China and Pakistan turned deadly on Wednesday when security forces opened fire. New Delhi blamed the unrest on “provocative speeches” by Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike demanding either full federal statehood for Ladakh or constitutional protections for its tribal communities, land and fragile environment. Mustafa Haji, a lawyer for the Apex Body Leh — which is spearheading the protests — told AFP that Wangchuk was “picked up” by the police from his village of Uley Tokpo on Friday. “Charges against him are not known yet,” Haji said. An engineer by training, Wangchuk, 59, is best known for pioneering water conservation projects in the Himalayas. He received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2018 for his enviro...

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif clarified that the recent attack in Qatar was not the reason behind the Pakistan-Saudi defence agreement, though it may have accelerated the negotiation process.

Negotiations are underway to finalize the schedule for Pakistan’s first pilot freight train to Russia, which would carry 16 containers of rice in its inaugural shipment.

The Cabinet Committee on Regulatory Reforms (CCoRR), chaired by Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, Federal Minister for Investment, convened a meeting on Friday to review the third quarterly Regulatory Reform Package, prepared and submitted by the Board of Investment (BOI).

Five people were injured on Friday in an accidental firing incident at the private residence of Balochistan Governor Sheikh Jaafar Khan Mandokhel in Zhob.

The Supreme Court on Friday reserved its verdict in a case concerning a domestic dispute between a father, his son, and his daughter.

A man in Karachi’s Malir area has died of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), raising the city’s death toll from the virus to five this year, the Sindh health department said in a statement on Friday. According to the World Health Organisation, the CCHF, commonly known as Congo Virus, causes severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks with a case fatality rate of 10-40 per cent. There is no vaccine available for the disease. Experts say the CCHF virus is primarily transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during and immediately after slaughter. As per the statement, a lab report confirmed that a 28-year-old butcher from Karachi’s Landhi area had contracted the disease. He developed symptoms on September 24, was admitted to the hospital the same day, and died within hours of admission. His symptoms included a high-grade fever, cough, shortness of breath, and bleeding from the mouth and rectum, following which a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was...

Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar has said that the issues of lawyers are being resolved on a priority basis.

Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), visited Punjab University in Lahore, where he was warmly welcomed by students and the university administration.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday announced plans for a new nationwide digital ID in a bid to curb illegal migration, but the move faces strong opposition in country that has long-resisted such moves. The new digital ID will be held on people’s phones and there will be no requirement for individuals to carry or be asked to produce it, said the government. However, it will be “mandatory as a means of proving your right to work,” a statement said. “This will stop those with no right to be here from being able to find work, curbing their prospect of earning money, one of the key ‘pull factors’ for people who come to the UK illegally,” it added. The government said the drive will also make it simpler to apply for services like driving licences, childcare and welfare, while streamlining access to tax records. The announcement comes as Labour, the party in government, prepares to hold its annual conference, with Starmer under intense pressure, particularly over immigration. “Digital ID is an enormous opportu...

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari on Friday said Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had forcefully presented Punjab’s stance before the nation a day earlier.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has expressed satisfaction over the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) surpassing the historic 160,000-point mark, terming it a reflection of the business community’s confidence in the government’s economic policies.