Pakistan

Burhan Mirza, Kashif Iqbal and others submitted false Medicare and private health claims in 2023-24

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja on Thursday accused the state of committing a “crime” against former prime minister Imran Khan, claiming that the jailed party founder suffered severe vision loss in his right eye due to alleged medical negligence.

LOWER SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Six people, including a police constable and station house officer (SHO), were injured when an argument over shop ownership and financial dealings led to an exchange of fire between the rival groups at the Toi Khullah market in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower South Waziristan on Thursday. Wana Circle Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Asghar Ali Shah told Dawn that the incident took place at around 9am when “a disagreement between two groups over monetary transactions and shop ownership turned into a heated argument”. “The situation quickly escalated into a physical altercation and subsequently into an armed confrontation,” he said. The DSP said that upon receiving the information about the incident, SHO Qutab Khan Dottani of the Toi Khullah police station,along with a police party, reached the site of the incident. “While trying to mediate between the rival groups, the SHO and a police constable came under fire and sustained injuries,” the DSP said, adding that SHO Dottani had sustained...

Indian defence officials on Thursday cleared the purchase of $39 billion worth of defence equipment, including more French Rafale jets, days ahead of a visit to the country by France’s President Emmanuel Macron. A defence ministry source told AFP that the clearance covered the purchase of 114 Rafale fighter jets, adding to the dozens already used by the Indian Air Force (IAF). “The procurement … will enhance the capability of undertaking air dominance roles across the spectrum of conflict and significantly boost the deterrence capabilities of IAF with long-range offensive strikes,” India’s defence ministry said in a statement, without specifying the number of jets being purchased. The approval by the defence acquisition council — comprising top military officers and the defence minister — is an important first step for any military hardware purchase in the country. “The majority of MRFA (Multi Role Fighter Aircraft) to be procured will be manufactured in India,” the statement added. New Delhi has pushed hard ...

Reaffirm strong relations and strategic defence partnership

Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Thursday said it has formally sought detailed information from India regarding the Sawalkot Dam project, reaffirming that there will be no compromise on the country’s water rights.

Council President Dr Rizwan Taj says excessive fees will either be refunded or adjusted in next academic year

It took me about an hour to produce a 50-page-long children’s book. All it required was a handful of prompts to ChatGPT. The task was simple: Write a children’s story about a journalist living in the age of artificial intelligence, set at The Korea Herald, with a main character named Jane. Here’s what I got. Both the book cover image and the title were created by ChatGPT. And here are a few pages from the book: Readers can decide for themselves if the result is convincing enough to pass as something written by a human. But this experiment shows just how quickly a book can be made with AI, something South Korea’s publishing industry is trying to cope with, for better or worse. Publishing in the AI era Some say AI’s rise in publishing represents a change far greater than e-publishing, even akin to the advent of movable type. Already, the industry is seeing a surge in published titles, as AI dramatically speeds up the production process. Last year, the National Library of Korea issued 419,534 International Stand...

Minister for Energy Awais Leghari informed the National Assembly on Thursday that the government has stopped the proposed shift from net metering to net billing and that electricity bills will continue to be issued under the existing net metering system.

Tensions flared in the National Assembly as the house debated recent changes regarding net-metering, with Power Minister Sardar Awais Leghari maintaining that the issue was about “fair pricing, not being anti-solar”. The power regulator on Monday changed the terms of contracts for all existing and future net-metered solar consumers — known as prosumers — to contain rising solar energy penetration and protect an expensive and inefficient state-owned power network. The notification effectively terminated the existing net-metering regime and replaced it with net-billing for all. A day earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the Power Division to file a review appeal against it after the action drew much criticism. In response to a call to attention notice — regarding prosumer regulations — raised by PPP’s Sharmila Faruqui during today’s session, Leghari spoke in defence of the move. He began his address by presenting “some key facts”. He recalled that the issue had been under discussion for the “past 9-1...

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has been left with only 15 per cent vision in his right eye, according to a medical report submitted to the Supreme Court.

Pakistan achieved a major milestone in its national space programme on Thursday with the successful launch of its second indigenous Earth Observation Satellite, EO-2, from China’s Yangjiang Seashore Launch Centre.

Advocate Salman Safdar formally submitted to the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday a seven-page report regarding incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan’s living conditions at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, amid concern from his party over his treatment. The PTI lawyer, who was appointed amicus curaie to visit Adiala jail, told the media after submitting the report that he met the PTI founder and visited his cell. At the time, he refused to divulge details of the report to the media. A copy of the report, available with Dawn, detailed the conditions of Imran’s confinement, including the facilities provided during his incarceration. Daily routine and diet According to the report, Imran’s daily routine varies between summer and winter. “He takes breakfast at around 9:45am, followed by recitation of the Holy Qur’an from approximately 11:30am for about an hour,” the report said, adding that breakfast consisted of coffee, porridge and a few dates. “He then undertakes physical exercise using the limited equipment available t...

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Thursday provided an update on the health of former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa, who sustained injuries after a fall at his residence.

The suspect in a deadly school shooting in western Canada was an 18-year-old woman with mental health issues who killed her mother and stepbrother before attacking her former school, police said on Wednesday, but investigators did not offer a motive for one of the worst mass slaughters in Canadian history. The killer, who police identified as Jesse Van Rootselaar, died by suicide after the shooting on Tuesday in Tumbler Ridge, a remote community of 2,400 people in the Pacific province of British Columbia. Police revised the death toll down to nine, including Van Rootselaar, from the initially reported ten. On more than one occasion, Van Rootselaar had been apprehended under the provincial Mental Health Act for an assessment, said Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, commander of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia. She once attended the school but dropped out four years ago. “Police had attended that (family) residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with concerns ...

Seven bogies of the Pakistan Business Train, en route from Lahore to Karachi, derailed from the engine near Ghotki, Sindh, railway sources confirmed on Thursday.

When rooftop solar was first incentivised in Pakistan in 2015, the policy objective was clear: to enable households to generate their own electricity, reduce reliance on the grid, and become more self-sufficient in meeting their energy needs.

Pakistan dispatched another consignment of humanitarian supplies to Gaza on Thursday as part of measures to provide Palestinians with life-saving aid following Israel’s invasion of the enclave. The latest aid consignment was dispatched by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), with the support of Al-Khidmat Foundation. This is the second aid consignment sent by Islamabad within the last week. Earlier, on Monday, the 28th consignment was dispatched. Pakistan had sent the first aid consignment, including medicines and tents, for the people of Gaza on Oct 19, 2023, days after the Israeli bombardment began. The relief goods were dispatched through a chartered flight from Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore to Egypt’s Al-Arish airport for onward delivery to Gaza. Israel, which controls all access to the Gaza Strip, denies withholding supplies for its two million residents. Tel Aviv’s two-year relentless onslaught on the Gaza Strip killed more than 71,000 Palestinians, displaced most of its pop...

Peshawar - Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi on Tuesday reviewed development progress in District Khyber and inaugurated multiple projects reflecting the provincial government’s focus on modern education, improved healthcare, infrastructure development, and positive engagement of youth.

Acting on the instructions of the prime minister, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Thursday dispatched the 29th consignment of humanitarian assistance to Palestine, comprising 100 tons of essential food supplies.