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PAKISTAN has failed miserably to protect its children from polio, a preventable disease that has been eradicated almost everywhere in the world. With 68 cases reported in 2024, compared to Afghanistan’s 25, we find ourselves in the embarrassing position of being the worst performers among the only two countries where polio remains endemic. Officials from…
Creating and sharing sexually explicit “deepfakes” will become a criminal offense in Britain, the government said on Tuesday, in a bid to tackle a rise in the proliferation of such images, mainly aimed at women and girls. Deepfakes are videos, images or audio clips created with artificial intelligence to appear real, and such technology can…
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Tuesday that internet in Pakistan was “much better and cheaper” compared to other countries, and dismissed claims made in a recent report that internet outages in the country had caused losses. massive financial losses last year. In the second half of 2024, users frequently experienced slow speeds, difficulties downloading…
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Tuesday that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had agreed to extend the $2 billion payment owed by Pakistan this month. Securing external financing has previously been a key condition for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to approve the $7 billion bailout deal for Pakistan. Last year, friendly countries such…
A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the northern foothills of the Himalayas on Tuesday near one of Tibet’s most sacred cities, Chinese authorities said, killing at least 95 people and shaking buildings in neighboring Nepal, Bhutan and India. The earthquake occurred at 9:05 a.m. (8:35 a.m. PST), with the epicenter located in Tingri, a rural county…
The bears continued their stampede on Tuesday on the trading floor as shares on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) fell over 700 points in intraday trade. The benchmark KSE-100 index fell 768.80 points, or 0.66 percent, to 115,486.32 points at 11:04 a.m. from the previous close of 116,255.12. Awais Ashraf, head of research at AKD…
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday expressed concern to Beijing about “malicious cyber activity” by Chinese state-sponsored actors, days after her department reported such a breach. The incident, which the US Treasury Department revealed last week, occurred in December and resulted in access to some of its workstations and unclassified documents. In a virtual…
BIRMINGHAM: Pakistan’s Sohail Adnan (front) in action during the final of the British Junior Open Squash Championships at the University of Birmingham on Monday. Courtesy of the British Junior Open website ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s promising youngster Sohail Adnan etched his name in history on Monday when he defeated Egypt’s Moez Tamer Elmoghazy in the final of…
RAWALPINDI/LAHORE: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced plans to expand its domestic and international operations by launching new flights from January. The national flag carrier is adding flights to Kuwait, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam and Jeddah. A PIA spokesperson said the airline has introduced new international routes to Kuwait, Bahrain and Doha, in addition to expanding…
DR Manmohan Singh, who died aged 92 last week, will be remembered in opposite ways. As finance minister and prime minister, he condemned “left-wing extremism” as the biggest threat to India’s internal security. The sahukar-backed right agreed. Consequently, too many left-wing intellectuals and academics are imprisoned over unfounded claims that they posed a threat to…