Blaze News - Pakistan

Sindh has reported two more cases of monkeypox, or mpox, taking the total caseload recorded in the province this year to 95. The virus has claimed 11 lives so far. The latest cases involve 21-year-old Salman Ali and 23-year-old Ishrat Fatima, both of whom tested positive for the virus, according to a report by Dow University’s provincial public health laboratory. Both patients are already receiving treatment at the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital, officials said. The emergence of additional cases has underscored the importance of continued surveillance and preventive measures to contain the spread of the virus. Of the 95 cases thus far, 71 were men, accounting for 75.27 per cent, while 24 were women. People aged 30 to 39 were the most affected age group, with 26 confirmed cases, while 23 children up to the age of nine also tested positive for mpox. Read: From HIV to monkeypox April recorded the highest number of cases at 31, followed by September with 20, August with...

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Wednesday expressed concern over the alleged murder of 15-year-old Waseem Abbas in Multan and the subsequent death of the accused in an alleged police encounter, calling for an independent and transparent investigation into the case. The suspect, Tauqeer Nazir, had allegedly chased Abbas in his car after a dispute over work and run him over in a private housing society in Multan on October 19. He was arrested and handed over to police on a four-day physical remand by a judicial magistrate the following day. Later today, police said the suspect fled custody and was then killed by his accomplices when a police party tried to re-arrest him. According to the HRCP, Abbas was reportedly chased and run over by his employer. The subsequent death of the accused in an alleged police encounter has raised serious questions about the state’s approach to protecting human life and upholding legal safeguards. The commission said extrajudic...

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) Lahore Zone on Tuesday arrested Faheem Akram, a Pakistani national indicted by United States authorities over an alleged online scheme involving the sale of more than 5.1 million counterfeit US postage labels, causing losses exceeding $126 million to the country’s postal service. According to the NCCIA, Akram allegedly operated the scheme from August 2023 till last month, selling counterfeit shipping labels for around $2 each. The agency cited transactions worth approximately Rs35 billion, while clarifying that the $126 million figure represented alleged losses to the US Postal Service. A case has been registered and the investigation is under way. Read: Pakistani national indicted in US over alleged $126m postage fraud The US Department of Justice had announced on September 28 that a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida had indicted Akram, 33, a resident of Khanewal, on charges including conspiracy t...

Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon on Monday stated that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was the “last party” to support governor’s rule and the imposition of an emergency in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), further adding that the party had advocated political dialogue and engagement as the first course of action. The emergency and governor’s rule were declared on October 11 after negotiations between the government and opposition failed, culminating in a PTI long march towards Islamabad that began on October 4. “PPP was the last party that was in favour of the governor’s rule. We tried to engage them, not once but ten times, and PPP told the federal government that it wanted to resolve issues through political dialogue, but after multiple attempts, if the K-P chief minister himself had an inclination towards the Taliban and terrorists and was not willing to agree, then the government could not let the people of K-P be left on their own at th...

Rapidly improving artificial intelligence capabilities will ​bring far faster change across all fields, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark said on Saturday, with one of the company's internal models ‌forecasting that under certain conditions it could increase US economic output by almost 50% by 2030. Clark, speaking at IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, said that international cooperation was needed to erect "unusual and serious rules" for the transformative technology, and there was a shrinking window for policymakers to act. Clark said that the estimated potential US GDP of $44 trillion, which compares ​to the current level of just over $30 trillion, "sounds very outlandish, I know." But he added that AI was vastly increasing scientific discovery. He said the forecast ​assumed "the technology continuing to get better. And if GDP were to grow this much, then economic doctrine suggests that ⁠new industries and inventions would need to h...

US President Donald Trump on Sunday blamed immigration for the widespread rioting that erupted in cities across France, stating that France was "burning", further urging authorities to "take control" and close borders. The protests in France began last ‌month at high schools in Paris' working-class northern suburbs, where anger over teacher shortages and shabby facilities evolved into a broader movement focused on inequality, public spending and living standards. In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump wrote that "France is burning!", accusing immigrants of "shattering a once great country". Read: Trump blames France unrest on 'mass migration', Islam "The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country." Trump further urged French authorities to "close your borders and take control, before it is too late!" Meanwhile, US...