Blaze News - Pakistan

A ‌violent storm bringing rain, lightning, and hail scythed across India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, killing more than 100 people, rescue officials said on Thursday, as the chief minister ordered ​relief funds to be distributed within 24 hours. Storms are common in ​the northern state during the hot season from March to ⁠June before monsoon rains bring respite, but Wednesday's storm injured 59 people, damaged ​87 homes, and killed 114 livestock, authorities said. At least 104 people died in ​about a dozen districts, the worst hit being the area around the Hindu pilgrimage city of Prayagraj, the office of the state's relief commissioner, Hrishikesh Bhaskar Yashod, told Reuters. Read More: Upcountry braces for heavy rainfall "The ​entire area where we live turned black for around half an hour," said ​Ashok Rai, who lives in the coal-rich industrial town of Obra in the state's Sonbhadra ‌district. "Strong ⁠winds lifted hoarding...

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump met in Beijing on Thursday for high-stakes talks, discussing the Iran war, Ukraine and economic cooperation. Away from the long list of complex agenda topics, here are five other highlights from day one of the summit: One-sided friendship? Trump heaped praise on Xi as talks began at the cavernous Great Hall of the People, saying: "It's an honour to be your friend". "You and I have known each other for a long time ... We've had a fantastic relationship, we've gotten along when there were difficulties, we worked it out," Trump told Xi. "I would call you and you would call me." Xi has in the past partially reciprocated Trump's characterisation of their relationship, referring to a "personal friendship". But on Thursday, the Chinese leader stopped short of using that label, saying instead that their two countries "should be partners, not rivals". X...

Former UN weapons inspector and ex-US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter has praised Pakistan’s diplomatic role in ongoing regional tensions, saying Islamabad remains central to efforts aimed at securing a breakthrough between Iran and the United States. Speaking during senior anchorperson Fahd Hussain’s programme ‘Full Frame’ on Express 24/7, Ritter described Pakistan as “the only game in town” capable of helping bring the crisis toward a final resolution. “I, first of all, want to commend Pakistan for the leadership that it has played in this,” Ritter said, adding that Pakistan’s leadership deserved international recognition for its mediation efforts. “If there ever was somebody who deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, the Pakistani leadership that has played this very essential role deserves this,” he remarked. Read: Pakistan's global role sees diplomatic shift Ritter — who served as a UN...

The Ministry of National Health Services, in coordination with the World Health Organisation (WHO), on Wednesday launched the Prime Minister’s Hepatitis C Elimination Programme aimed at eliminating the disease by 2030. Under the initiative, Pakistan has set a target of reaching 1.6 million people in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) over the next six months as part of a broader nationwide elimination drive. The programme, launched at a soft-launch ceremony in Islamabad, is part of a phased national rollout that will eventually extend to more than 164m people across the country, focusing on large-scale screening, early diagnosis and free treatment to curb the spread of Hepatitis C. وزیرِاعظم کے پروگرام برائے انسداد ہیپاٹائٹس سی کے سافٹ لانچ کی تقریب میں وفاقی وزیرِ صحت سید مصطفی کمال نے خطاب کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ پاکستان میں ہیپاٹائٹس سی کے خاتمے کا عملی آغاز ہو چکا ہے۔ یہ پروگرام گزشتہ 10 سال کی کوششوں کا نتیجہ ہے اور اس پر 67 ارب روپے کی خطیر لاگت مختص کی گئی...

Major Tauseef Ahmed Bhatti and four other military personnel were martyred during an area sanitisation operation in Balochistan’s Barkhan district on Wednesday, the military’s media wing said. “On the morning of May 13, 2026, troops of Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps Balochistan commenced an area sanitisation operation at general area Nosham of Barkhan District to eliminate terrorists of Indian backed Fitna Al Hindustan,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. بلوچستان میں سیکیورٹی فورسز کی کامیاب کارروائی میں بھارتی پروردہ سات دہشت گر جہنم واصل، افسر سمیت پانچ بیٹے مادر وطن پر نثار pic.twitter.com/wT79J5xo6U — PTV News (@PTVNewsOfficial) May 13, 2026 It said the troops located and engaged a group of terrorists. “During fire exchange seven terrorists of Indian backed Fitna Al Hindustan were sent to hell,” the ISPR added, further saying that weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from them. R...

World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday "our work is not over" to contain the hantavirus after evacuations from a cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak of the illness. The fate of the MV Hondius has sparked international alarm after three passengers died in an outbreak of the rare virus, for which no vaccines or specific treatments exist, with a Frenchwoman also in a critical condition. Yet health officials have stressed that the global public health risk is low and rejected comparisons to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. "There is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak," Tedros told a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid after overseeing the evacuation in Spain's Canary Islands. .@WHO’s assessment on #hantavirus continues to be that the risk to health globally is low. My latest update ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/gnm9pbqaF3 — Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu...