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Punjab CM lauds Lahore residents for abiding by SOPs during Basant festivities

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Sunday lauded the people of Lahore for abiding by the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set by the provincial government, as the three-day Basant festival approached its culmination. “Lahore is happy today, I am happy, too. The residents of Lahore played a vital role in making this Basant successful by following all the rules and regulations,” she said in a statement, posted on PML-N’s official X account. Maryam continued: “The idea of safe Basant will also be adopted in other cities.” Brightly coloured kites soared through the skies over Lahore this weekend, marking the return of a festival after a 19-year ban that had been imposed over safety concerns. Families and groups of friends gathered on rooftops, in parks and on streets for the three-day kite-flying festival. “Everyone is excited — all of Punjab, all of Pakistan. It has become hard to find kites and strings because they sold out,” Shahzaib, a kite flyer, told AFP . Punj...
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Stray dogs attack two women, policeman engaged in anti-polio drive in Karachi

KARACHI: The public health crisis triggered by unchecked increase in stray dog population once again came into the spotlight when two female polio workers and a policeman escorting the field staff were injured in separate incidents of animal attacks on Saturday. Sources said one female worker carrying out door-to-door vaccination campaign was attacked by a street dog in Zaman town, Korangi, while the other in the area of Malir Cantonment. The third incident, the sources said, was reported in the Quaidabad area where a policeman escorting the polio team was bitten by a stray dog. He was later treated at the Indus Hospital. Speaking to Dawn , a spokesperson for the Sindh Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) only confirmed the cases involving two female workers. EOC confirms two incidents involving as many female polio workers; cop bitten by stray dog receives treatment at Indus Hospital “Two incidents involving street dogs affecting polio workers were officially reported today in Kor...
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Suspected robber lynched by mob in Karachi’s Korangi

KARACHI: A suspected robber was lynched by an angry mob in Korangi area on Saturday night, according to police. Zaman Town Station House Officer (SHO) Rao Aurangzeb told Dawn that three suspects had attempted to rob citizens near Mutkay Wali Pull in Korangi No. 2. People got hold of one suspect while his two suspected accomplices managed to escape, the official said. The mob beat him up, killing him on the spot, he said. “The suspect was killed with sticks and other weapons. His identity could not be ascertained immediately, as no CNIC [card] was found in his pocket,” he said. The SHO said that the suspect’s body was moved to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for legal formalities. Last year in May, a suspected robber was lynched by an angry mob, which also set the body on fire, after he shot and wounded two brothers during a robbery in New Karachi. According to police, two suspects had attempted to loot a general store in Sector-11-G. Two shopkeepers, Mohammed Faisal a...
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After ‘good start’, Iran and US resolve to keep talking

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IRANIAN Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his accompanying delegation depart for the site of the talks in Oman.—Reuters • No public acrimony witnessed as both sides stick to their guns • Iran ‘sends message’ by testing ballistic missile before meeting • Washington follows talks with fresh sanctions targeting oil-related entities • Kremlin urges restraint; US tells its citizens to leave Iran ISLAMABAD: The indirect talks between the United States and Iran held in Muscat on Friday, did slightly better than many had expected. While there was no breakdown or public acrimony, the first meeting did not yield any breakthroughs, either. Even the tentative understanding to keep talking was left subject to approval by the respective leaderships in Tehran and Washington, after reviewing what had transpired on Friday. In remarks following the indirect talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stressed the need to overcome the “wall of mistrust” bet­ween the two sides. “It was a ...
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PTA to be signed with Jordan to boost trade

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Jordan have agreed to move toward a preferential trade agreement (PTA) and broaden bilateral cooperation across various sectors, marking a shift toward deeper economic engagement between the two countries. The two countries signed the protocol to translate long-standing historical, political and diplomatic ties into measurable economic and institutional outcomes. The protocol was signed at the sidelines of the 10th session of the Pakistan-Jordan Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC), held on Feb 4-5. The JMC was co-chaired by Pakistan’s Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan and Jordan’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Yarub Qudah. Both sides agreed significantly expand bilateral cooperation across 16 priority sectors, ranging from trade, finance and industry to climate change, maritime affairs, health, technology and education. The session marks a renewed push and a milestone to operationalise cooperation under the JMC framework established in 1975. Commer...
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PTI, TTAP say will not compromise on Imran’s health; urge nation to participate in Feb 8 protest

ISLAMABAD: The leadership of the PTI and the Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) on Thursday unanimously announced that they would not compromise on the health of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan, and urged the nation to join the nationwide shutter-down strike scheduled for February 8 (Sunday). The remarks were made during a meeting of the PTI’s joint parliamentary committee at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad. The meeting was attended by prominent leaders, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, TTAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, and PTI stalwarts Asad Qaiser and Taimoor Saleem Jhagra, among others. The meeting was closed off to the media. Addressing the participants, Qaiser said that the meeting was called because of Imran’s health. He said that representatives of 40 million people were in attendance and unanimously announced that they would not compromise on the health of the PTI founder. “Don’t push us again...
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Russia says ball in Kyiv court to end war as UAE talks open

ABU DHABI: Russia on Wednesday demanded Ukraine accept its conditions to end the four-year-war and vowed to press on with its invasion otherwise, as negotiations between the two sides opened in Abu Dhabi. The US-mediated talks are the latest round of negotiations in a flurry of diplomacy that has so far failed to strike a deal to halt the war, unleashed by Russia’s February 2022 invasion . The war has spiralled into Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, with hundreds of thousands killed, millions forced to flee their homes in Ukraine and much of eastern and southern Ukraine decimated. “Our position is well known,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday as the talks got underway. EU member states agree Ukraine may use 90bn-euro loan to buy arms from close allies “Until the Kyiv regime makes the appropriate decisions, the special military operation continues,” he said, using Russia’s term for the offensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ha...
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