Blaze News - Pakistan

South Africa international midfielder Jayden Adams, who featured in all three of his side's ​group stage games at the 2026 World Cup, has died, the ‌country's sports ministry said on Saturday. No cause of death was given. Adams, 25, started the Group A fixtures against Mexico and the Czech Republic, and came off the ​bench in the 1-0 win over South Korea that earned ​the side a first-ever place in the knockout rounds, ⁠where they were beaten by Canada. The player's grandmother died a day ​before South Africa played the Czechs, and he was replaced at halftime ​during the fixture. Read More: African results justify World Cup slots He played for the Pretoria-based Mamelodi Sundowns in South Africa, helping them to the African Champions League title in the 2025/26 season. "South African football has lost ​a gifted player, a proud servant of the game and a ​young life that still had so much to offer," the South African Football Players' ‌Union, ...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday urged restraint and called for the immediate restoration of peace and stability in the region during separate telephone conversations with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani amid recent regional tensions after the outbreak of fresh hostilities between the United States and Iran. An interim ceasefire agreement signed between Washington and Tehran — under the mediation of Pakistan — was intended to provide a 60-day window for negotiations on a permanent agreement, but indirect talks in Qatar ended last week with no sign of headway and the US military unleashed a new wave of strikes against Iran on Tuesday. Iran subsequently said it had targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait and that it had shot down a US MQ-9 drone attempting to interfere in the operation. Bahrain's army ​later said it had thwarted Iranian attacks.  According to a sta...

Four terrorists were killed during a joint intelligence-based operation (IBO) carried out by the Karak and Kohat police in the Khattak Dam area along the Karak-Kohat border, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Police said on Friday. According to a statement, the operation was launched at around 5am after police received credible intelligence regarding the presence of terrorists in the area. During the operation, the terrorists opened fire on the police party, prompting an effective retaliatory response in which four terrorists belonging to the Commander Zahid group were killed. Read: 14 killed in suicide attack on PPP leader's residence It added that the group was involved in the killings of Station House Officer Banda Umar Nawaz in Karak district and Inspector Tahir Nawaz in Kohat district in 2025, as well as Deputy Superintendent of Police Asad Mehmood, Sub-Inspector Anar Gul and other police officers and personnel in 2026. The statement said police had cordoned off the area and lau...

Belgium's prime minister was a little surprised on landing back home from Wednesday's NATO summit in Turkey to find that he had a handgun and ammunition in his luggage. After NATO leaders gathered ​for Wednesday's fractious summit in Ankara, their host, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, handed each an unusual parting gift: ‌a vintage revolver, along with live ammunition indicating it was not just for show. Erdogan wanted to showcase Turkey's defence industry, which has become a key export and foreign policy tool. Images shared by the office of Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda showed what appeared to be the Gumusay .357 Magnum, a rare six-shooter ​produced by Turkish arms maker MKE in the 1990s. It was set in a wooden display box featuring Turkey's flag ​and the NATO logo as well as a placard inscribed "Gumusay, the first revolver-type handgun produced in ⁠our country" in Turkish and English. A gun gifted by Tur...

China on Thursday issued a strong warning against Japan’s growing military ambitions in space, cautioning that Tokyo’s latest defence reforms risk accelerating the weaponisation of space and fuelling a broader global arms race, Xinhua news agency reported. Senior Colonel Chen Xi, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defence, sharply criticised Japan’s recent legislative move to rename its Air Self-Defence Force as the Aerospace Self-Defence Force and establish a specialised Space Operations Wing. Responding to media queries, Xi said that Japan has “openly designated space as an operational domain” and is actively pursuing a military build-up beyond Earth’s atmosphere — a shift that Beijing views with deep concern. Read: Japan rejects 'new militarism', accuses China of rapidly arming “Over the past five years, Japan’s military spending in relevant fields has increased tenfold, while its operational...

The residence of Baloch leader Mir Shafiq Mengal in Khuzdar came under a coordinated terrorist assault by the proscribed Balochistan Liberation Army terrorist group on Wednesday. According to initial reports, the attack began with two vehicle-borne improvised explosive device blasts, believed to be suicide car bombs, used to breach the compound's perimeter. A total of 12 terrorists took part in the operation: seven militants entered the compound, while five others provided outer cordon and covering fire. Mengal and his security team repelled the assault, neutralising all seven terrorists who had entered the residence, including the two suicide bombers.  Reinforcements from the Quick Response Force arrived and eliminated the remaining five attackers positioned outside the compound. The operation has now concluded. Twelve members of Mengal’s security detail were killed in the fierce gun battle while he was reported to be safe. No further details on the casual...