Blaze News - Pakistan

Lambeth Palace, the London residence and office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, has withdrawn the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation 2026, days after presenting it to Pakistan Ulema Council Chairman Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, citing previous comments over Osama bin Laden. Ashrafi was presented with the award on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 at a ceremony held at Lambeth Palace in London in recognition of his services to interfaith reconciliation and cooperation. Read: Tahir Ashrafi receives Hubert Walter Award for reconciliation, interfaith cooperation in London The comment that led to the withdrawal dated back to 2007, when Ashrafi said he would confer the title “Saifullah”, meaning “Sword of God”, on then-Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden — the orchestrator of the Sept 11 attacks — in protest against Britain awarding a knighthood to writer Salman Rushdie, whose book he described as blasphemous. In a vi...

Paris prosecutors have opened a criminal probe into suspected sexual harassment involving smart glasses, while French data protection authorities have received complaints from businesses, as countries around the world grapple with the devices' social impact. There are several smart glasses available, but US ​tech giant Meta's glasses made in collaboration with Essilor Luxottica are the market leader, with a roughly 76% share globally. Meta's AI-enabled glasses, which ‌have a small embedded camera allowing the wearer to record discreetly, have been a global hit, selling 7 million units last year. Essilor's latest sales figures point to "exponential growth" in 2026. But their success has led to growing international scrutiny from prosecutors, regulators, rights groups and companies over issues including sexual harassment, corporate wrongdoing and illicit surveillance. Some UK cinemas ​have banned smart glasses, and a German consumer advocacy group h...

A lightning advance by Yemen's Houthi group has brought the vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait under its control, making the once ragged highland militia a regional player with global clout. This is how the group evolved into a formidable fighting force with Iranian support that can disrupt vital shipping and strike critical oil and gas facilities in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. Who are Houthis? Starting out in the late 1990s as a Zaydi Shia Muslim revival movement in ​north Yemen under the Houthi family, the group waged six wars against the government, building a strong local militia. When Yemen's central state disintegrated during the 2011 Arab Spring, the Houthis took advantage, ‌gaining more ground and developing a relationship with Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. In 2014, they seized the capital Sanaa, ousting the government and halting a Gulf-backed political transition. That prompted a Saudi-led military intervention to support the government, leading to ...

A major scandal involving the alleged "plunder, illegal extraction, and cross-border smuggling" of placer gold along the Indus and Kabul rivers has engulfed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), raising questions over the regulation and protection of the province’s mineral resources. According to a first information report (FIR), hundreds of heavy excavators were being used for unauthorised extraction of gold along stretches of the Indus and Kabul rivers, particularly in Nowshera, Swabi and Kohat districts. The FIR alleged that more than 1,500 heavy excavators were operating along the riverbanks, with each machine allegedly generating between Rs500,000 and Rs700,000 a week through the illegal activity. Based on these figures, the FIR put the estimated proceeds from the operations at around Rs750 million per week. It further alleged that the gold extracted through these operations was untaxed and was subsequently channelled through international smuggling networks into ...

More than 20 banned skin-bleaching products containing mercury are available for purchase on third-party marketplaces run by Amazon, Temu and TikTok Shop in several countries, despite decades of efforts by health advocates and regulators to prevent their sale, a Reuters review of publicly available information found. Regulators, companies and multinational entities have for ​years tried to coordinate efforts to take these products off shelves and websites. More than 150 nations are parties to the 2013 Minamata Convention that banned the manufacture, import or sale of mercury-containing products, which, according to the World ‌Health Organisation, can damage the kidneys, brain and nervous system. Skin brightening cosmetic products. Photo/Reuters But some sellers on e-commerce sites have become more sophisticated in their efforts to hide these products' origins and ingredients. Some products removed from websites are being re-listed under misleading names or by differen...

West Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Irfan Baloch on Tuesday constituted an eight-member investigation team as part of the investigation into the grisly killing of a woman and her three children in Surjani Town. A young woman and her two children were found dead inside their house in Sector 7-D of Surjani Town on Monday, while the third child succumbed to injuries at a hospital. Police said the initial investigation suggested all four victims were attacked with a sharp-edged weapon and an iron rod. An order issued from the office of DIG Baloch stated that West Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tariq Mastoi would lead the investigation team, which would comprise the West superintendent of police (SP) Investigation, deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and the station house officer (SHO) of Surjani. Police suspected that the victims might have been rendered unconscious with a sedative before being subjected to fatal blows, as post-mortem examinations revealed mu...