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Islamabad administration denies claims regarding closure of transport terminals

The Islamabad and Rawalpindi administrations on Friday refuted reports regarding the closure of transport terminals. In a post on the social media platform X, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfaz Nawaz Memon said, “All bus terminals in Islamabad are open as usual. All types of transport are operating as usual at all bus terminals, including Faizabad.” Further, the Islamabad Traffic Police also clarified that reports regarding closure of transport stands in the federal capital were baseless. A traffic police official said that inter-city transport in Islamabad was operating as usual and no shutdown had been ordered. He said any decision regarding closure of bus terminals or inter-city public transport would be communicated to the public in advance through official channels. The official urged citizens to rely only on verified information and avoid spreading unconfirmed reports. Meanwhile, Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Hassan Waqar Cheema also said on X, “All private, public, ...
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LHC upholds govt’s policy abolishing free electricity units for power sector employees

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has upheld the federal government’s policy to monetise free electricity units for officers of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and power distribution companies, it emerged on Friday. As per the ruling, the benefit was a non-statutory service perk and could be lawfully altered as part of administrative and financial reforms. Justice Malik Javid Iqbal Wains announced the verdict dismissing a constitutional petition challenging a notification issued by the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) on December 5, 2023. The impugned notification introduced a policy to monetise free electricity units previously provided to officers in BPS-17 and above working in Wapda and ex-Wapda entities, including distribution and generation companies. Previously, officers from BPS-18 to 22 were given a total of 75 million units of electricity collectively, costing up to Rs4-4.5 billion annually. Under the policy, officers are now required to pay electricity ...
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Hours after ceasefire, a lifeline to south Lebanon reopens

Alongside hundreds of others forced to flee south Lebanon, Amani Atrash and her family waited eagerly on Friday morning for bulldozers to reopen the Qasmiyeh bridge, which Israel bombed just hours before a ceasefire began. Her family was among the tens of thousands of people hoping to go home after being displaced by the Israel-Hezbollah war — despite warnings against returning to the south from the Iran-backed militant group, Lebanese officials and the Israeli army, which continues to occupy parts of the area. “We set off an hour before the ceasefire took effect so we could reach the bridge once it opens, allowing us to return to our town,” said Atrash, 37, who fled north at the start of the war. “The wait is very difficult because we want to get there as quickly as possible,” she told AFP as she sat in her car in a line stretching for kilometres northeast of the coastal city of Tyre. The 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into force at midnight, hours after it wa...
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Gaza’s war amputees short of prostheses under Israeli restrictions

Fourteen-year-old Fadel al-Naji used to be a keen footballer but is now largely confined to his home in Gaza City since both legs were severed in an Israeli drone attack in September. He sits sullenly on a couch with one hollow pant leg dangling and the other tucked into his waist beside his 11-year-old brother who lost an eye in the same strike. Fadel Al-Naji, 14, who lost both legs after being injured in an Israeli strike, sits at his home in Gaza City on April 10, 2026. — Reuters “He has become withdrawn and isolated,” said his mother Najwa al-Naji, showing old videos of him doing kick-ups on her phone. “It is as if he is dying slowly, and I wish that they would fit him with prosthetic limbs.” But those are in scarce supply for Gaza’s nearly 5,000 war amputees — a quarter of whom are children like al-Naji — because of Israeli restrictions on materials like plaster of Paris, seven aid and medical sources told Reuters . Israel cites security concerns as the reason for restri...
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India plans parliament expansion for women; opposition cries foul

India’s government was seeking to expand the size of parliament by two-fifths to increase the representation of women lawmakers, but opposition parties have cried foul, saying it would benefit the ruling party. “We’re set to take historic steps to empower women,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, ahead of the special sitting of parliament on Thursday, to debate constitutional amendments to both expand seats for women and the overall size of parliament to over 800. The bill proposes fast-tracking implementation of a 2023 law in the world’s largest democracy of 1.4 billion people, reserving 33 per cent of seats for women. Increasing the number of women in parliament has, in principle, broad cross-party support. “We are all united to give rightful positions to women in India,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Thursday. Women currently account for just 14pc of India’s 543 members of the Lok Sabha , the lower house of parliament. To achieve the expansion, t...
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Subcontinent might see subdued monsoon as ‘super El Niño’ expected this year: weather expert

KARACHI: The subcontinent might witness a subdued monsoon this summer as the warming El Niño wea­t­her phenomenon is expected to form later this year, according to a weather expert. “We are expecting El Niño in the coming summer and it is expected to become ‘super El Nino’ by the end of August to September,” Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMD) spokesperson Anjum Nazir Zaigham told Dawn . He noted that El Niño suppresses the summer monsoon in the subcontinent. El Niño and its cooler sister La Niña are climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean that can affect weather worldwide. El Niño and La Niña events occur every two to seven years, on average, but they do not occur on a regular schedule, according to the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ). Last month, NOAA noted there was a 50- to 60-per cent chance of El Niño developing during the July-September period and beyond. The last El Niño occurred in 2023-2024, contributing to making 2023 the s...
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North Korea boosting ability to make nuclear arms: UN watchdog

North Korea is showing a “very serious increase” in its ability to produce atomic weapons, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday on a visit to Seoul. The diplomatically isolated north is believed to operate multiple facilities for enriching uranium, a key step in making nuclear warheads, South Korea’s spy agency has said. They include one at the Yongbyon nuclear site, which Pyongyang purportedly decommissioned after talks but later reactivated in 2021. “In our periodic assessments, we have been able to confirm that there’s a rapid increase in the operations” of the Yongbyon reactor, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi told reporters in Seoul. The agency also observed a rise in operations at Yongbyon’s reprocessing unit and light-water reactor, as well as the activation of other facilities, Grossi said. “All that points to a very serious increase in the capabilities of (the) Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the area of ...
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