Simran Siraj

Description: For 300 years, men sang Shah Latif&#39;s poetry about women&#39;s struggles. Now women are singing it themselves. A look at how women are reclaiming their voices through Sufi poetry.

Shorts

Women are finding their voices by singing Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai poetry, highlighting women’s struggles through centuries-old Sufi traditions.

Women reclaim 300 years of Shah Latif legacy, breaking cultural barriers

MIAMI: Lionel Messi says Argentina fans are right to dream of a second straight World Cup crown, but warns other contenders, including France and Spain, &quot;are in better shape&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;There are a lot of guys who are dealing with injuries or a lack of match fitness, but the truth is that when the group is together it has been proven that it competes and always wants to win,&quot; Messi said of Argentina in an interview with host Pollo Alvarez published on YouTube.&nbsp;However, the eight-time Ballon d&#39;Or winner, who has made Inter Miami the must-see team in Major League Soccer, said the competition will be stiff.&nbsp;&quot;As of today, France are in great shape again. They have a ton of top-level players,&quot; he said of the team that Argentina beat in the 2022 final in Qatar.&nbsp;He also tipped Spain and Brazil, called Portugal &quot;very competitive&quot; and noted that traditional European powers Germany and England are always dangerous.&nbsp;Messi, who will turn 39 in June, has yet to officially confirm his participation in the tournament, which will be held from June 11-July 19 in the United States, Mexico and Canada.&nbsp;Nevertheless, the former Barcelona star stressed that he has not set any time limits on his career as his competitive hunger remains.&nbsp;&quot;I love playing football, and I&#39;m going to do it until I can&#39;t anymore,&quot; said Messi, who earned MLS Most Valuable Player honors last season as he sparked Miami to the title and led the league in goals.&nbsp;&quot;I&#39;m competitive,&quot; he said. &quot;I like to win at everything ... I don&#39;t even let my son win at video games.&quot;

Football

Lionel Messi says Argentina can defend their World Cup title but warns France, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Germany and England are strong contenders, while he remains motivated and undecided about playing.

Messi says Argentina up against 'other favorites' in World Cup repeat bid

NEW YORK: US authorities have warned people visiting the United States for the World Cup that taking recreational drugs could expose them to deadly doses of fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid.&nbsp;&quot;We want to make sure that they are aware that the drugs that are on the streets and sold online are lethal,&quot; Frank Tarentino, an official with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), told AFP.&nbsp;&quot;Almost all the drugs that we&#39;re seizing today have fentanyl in them,&quot; he said during a visit to a DEA laboratory in New York on Thursday.&nbsp;Tarentino noted that 29 percent of pills analyzed in DEA laboratories nationwide contain a lethal dose of fentanyl, which is roughly two milligrams.&nbsp;Overdose deaths have surged in the United States since the late 2010s, peaking at 108,000 in 2022 including 73,000 linked to synthetic opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.&nbsp;The total has since declined, with 80,000 deaths in 2024 -- of which 48,000 were linked to synthetic opioids, which remain the leading cause of overdose deaths.&nbsp;The nasal spray naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, can rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, and Tarentino urged people to buy it from a pharmacy.&nbsp;&quot;Because if somebody on the city street is in an overdose state, anybody walking past who has naloxone can administer that to that overdosed person,&quot; he explained.&nbsp;Tarentino dismissed the accuracy of fentanyl test strips, saying they can give &quot;a false sense of security.&quot;&nbsp;He added that the DEA had no evidence that traffickers might be specifically targeting World Cup fans ahead of the tournament, which kicks off June 11 in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Americas

US authorities warned World Cup visitors that recreational drugs in America may contain lethal fentanyl doses. The DEA said 29 percent of tested pills contain deadly amounts, urged people to carry naloxone, and cautioned against relying on fentanyl test strips.

US authorities warn World Cup visitors of fentanyl-laced drugs

Shizza Jasmin

A Tamil cinema superstar, C. Joseph Vijay, or Thalapathy Vijay, is set to become Tamil Nadu&rsquo;s Chief Minister, once again blurring the lines between the silver screen and the secretariat. From Kangana Ranaut in the North to the legends of the South, the bridge between stardom and statehood has never been shorter.

How identity politics keeps putting Indian stars in power

WASHINGTON:&nbsp;US President Donald Trump announced a three-day ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia starting Saturday, saying he hoped it could lead to long term deal to end Moscow&#39;s war.&nbsp;Russia had previously announced a two-day unilateral ceasefire to mark its May 9 World War II Victory Day on Saturday. Ukraine previously stated that it too had offered a truce but that this had been ignored by Moscow.&nbsp;The truce would also include a mutual swap of 1,000 prisoners each, said Trump, who has struggled to end the four-year conflict he once pledged to solve within a day of taking office last year.&nbsp;&quot;I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,&quot; Trump said on his Truth Social network.&nbsp;&quot;This request was made directly by me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,&quot; said the US president.&nbsp;&quot;Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War.&quot;&nbsp;Fighting continuesRussia and Ukraine traded attacks on Friday before Trump&#39;s announcement.&nbsp;Ukraine had previously never said it would abide by Moscow&#39;s call to briefly halt strikes, lambasting Putin for only wanting to pause fighting so he could stage Saturday&#39;s annual military parade on Red Square.&nbsp;Kyiv said Moscow had ignored a Ukrainian proposal to halt fighting earlier this week -- a counter-offer for a short-term ceasefire. Zelensky had cast it as a test of whether the Kremlin was serious about providing a brief respite in the four-year war.&nbsp;Russia has threatened a massive strike on the heart of Kyiv if Ukraine disrupted the Victory Day parade, repeatedly urging foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital ahead of time.&nbsp;On the streets of Kyiv before Trump&#39;s announcement, some brushed off the Russian threats.&nbsp;&quot;Nothing new will happen,&quot; Vasyl Kobzar, a 40-year-old bank employee, told AFP. &quot;I&#39;m worried, but it&#39;s become routine, unfortunately.&quot;&nbsp;Ukrainian officials told AFP there had been no orders for additional security measures to be taken so far. &quot;We&#39;re just giving (the Russians) the finger,&quot; said one lawmaker, speaking anonymously.&nbsp;Ukraine&#39;s air force said Russia had fired 67 drones overnight -- the lowest number in almost a month.&nbsp;&quot;Despite the declared ceasefire, the enemy has not reduced the intensity of assault operations,&quot; Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine was responding in kind.&nbsp;Russia said it had downed more than 400 Ukrainian drones -- 100 of them targeting Moscow -- since midnight, and that its troops were &quot;responding symmetrically&quot;.&nbsp;A Ukrainian drone killed a 41-year-old man and his 15-year-old daughter in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine&rsquo;s Kherson region, said the Moscow-backed administration.&nbsp;Zelensky hailed a Ukrainian strike on an oil depot in the Yaroslavl region, around 200 kilometres (about 125 miles) northeast of Moscow.&nbsp;Some 13 airports in southern Russia were closed Friday after a Ukrainian drone hit an air navigation centre in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Moscow&#39;s transport ministry said. It later said that flights had been partially restored.&nbsp;Putin convened a security council meeting over the strike, calling it an &quot;act of a terrorist nature&quot; that could endanger civil aviation.&nbsp;No tanksUkraine had dismissed Russia&#39;s temporary truce as a propaganda measure to protect the victory parade on May 9 -- one of the most important patriotic events for Putin.&nbsp;Hours before Russia&#39;s ceasefire began, Zelensky warned Moscow&#39;s allies against attending the parade.&nbsp;Hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides and tens of thousands of civilians, most of them in Ukraine, have been killed since Putin ordered the invasion in February 2022.&nbsp;Putin has made memory of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany a central narrative of his 25-year rule, staging massive parades in central Moscow on May 9 and invoking it to justify his invasion of Ukraine.&nbsp;But military hardware will be absent from the parade for the first time in almost two decades and only a handful of foreign guests will attend.&nbsp;Talks on ending what has spiralled into Europe&#39;s worst conflict since World War II have shown little progress and have been sidelined by the Iran conflict.

Europe

US President Donald Trump announces that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to observe a three-day truce starting Saturday and a mutual swap of 1,000 prisoners each.

Trump announces three-day Ukraine-Russia ceasefire

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&rsquo;s security forces killed five terrorists in two intelligence-based operations in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military said on Friday, as the country continues its counterterrorism campaign under the &ldquo;Azm-e-Istehkam&rdquo; strategy. In a statement, the military&rsquo;s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, said the operations were carried out on the night of May 7&ndash;8 in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts following intelligence reports about the presence of terrorists. &ldquo;On reported presence of khwarij, an intelligence-based operation was conducted by security forces in Tank district,&rdquo; the statement said. The military said security forces engaged the location in Tank after an exchange of fire, killing four terrorists. In a separate operation in Dera Ismail Khan, one more terrorist was killed. &ldquo;Another intelligence-based operation was conducted&hellip; In the ensuing fire exchange, one kharji was effectively neutralised,&rdquo; ISPR said. The military said weapons and ammunition were recovered from the dead terrorists, who were involved in multiple terrorist activities in the area. The latest operations come amid Pakistan&rsquo;s intensified security campaign under Azm-e-Istehkam, the national counterterrorism framework approved under the National Action Plan in 2014. Pakistan uses the term &ldquo;Fitna al-Khawarij&rdquo; in official communication for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), drawing on a historical reference to an extremist faction known for violent rebellion and attacks against Muslims. The operations also come as Pakistan maintains pressure on terrorist networks both inside the country and along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, following weeks of cross-border security operations under Operation Ghazab lil Haq. Recent security assessments, including data from the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, have shown a second consecutive monthly decline in terrorist violence, which officials say reflects sustained military pressure on terrorist networks. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the security forces for the successful operations and reiterated support for the ongoing campaign. &ldquo;Under the vision of Azm-e-Istehkam, the security forces are achieving major successes in the fight against terrorism,&rdquo; Sharif said in a statement issued by the Prime Minister&rsquo;s Office. &ldquo;In this war against terrorism, the entire nation stands with the Armed Forces of Pakistan,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;The whole nation is united against terrorism and will not rest until all forms of terrorism are completely eradicated from the country,&rdquo; the prime minister said. The military said sanitization operations remain underway in both districts to eliminate any remaining terrorist presence.

Security

Pakistan security forces kill five terrorists in separate intelligence-based operations in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts, as Islamabad continues its nationwide Azm-e-Istehkam counterterrorism campaign amid declining militant violence.

Pakistan kills five terrorists in twin operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Military

GENEVA: Countries prepared Friday to repatriate passengers stranded aboard the MV Hondius after a deadly hantavirus outbreak killed three people and sickened several others during the trans-Atlantic cruise. The Dutch-flagged vessel, carrying around 150 people, is expected to arrive off Tenerife in Spain&rsquo;s Canary Islands on Sunday. Special flights will then take passengers to their home countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) said the outbreak posed a minimal risk to the general public despite confirmation of the Andes virus strain, the only hantavirus known to spread from person to person. Three passengers &mdash; a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman &mdash; have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents. &ldquo;This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who&#39;s really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low,&rdquo; WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters. &ldquo;The virus is not that contagious that it easily jumps from person to person,&rdquo; he added. The WHO said Friday there were five confirmed and three suspected cases of the virus, with an update due later. There are no suspected cases remaining on the ship. A KLM flight attendant who came into contact with an infected passenger and later showed mild symptoms tested negative for hantavirus, the WHO said. The infected passenger &mdash; the wife of the first person to die in the outbreak &mdash; had briefly boarded a Johannesburg-to-Netherlands flight on April 25 before being removed prior to takeoff. She died the following day in a Johannesburg hospital. Spanish authorities said a woman seated two rows behind the infected passenger on that flight was also being tested for hantavirus after developing symptoms in eastern Spain. She is in isolation in hospital. The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde. Three suspected cases, including two crew members who later tested positive, were evacuated from Cape Verde to the Netherlands. German authorities said Friday the third person tested negative but would remain under observation. Two Dutch healthcare workers &mdash; an expert from the European Centres for Disease Control and a WHO representative &mdash; are now aboard the ship conducting a risk assessment. Spanish authorities said the ship will anchor off Tenerife and will not be allowed to dock. Passengers will be transferred to shore on a smaller vessel before being taken by bus to the airport. The evacuation must take place between Sunday and Monday due to likely adverse weather conditions afterward, the Canarian regional government said. Dockworkers in Tenerife protested Friday against the ship&rsquo;s arrival. British health authorities also said Friday there was a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, one of the world&rsquo;s most isolated settlements with around 220 people.

A bank vole (Myodes glareolus), also known as the forest vole, is a small rodent that can transmit hantavirus, which is dangerous to humans. (AFP)

Countries are preparing to repatriate passengers from the MV Hondius after a deadly hantavirus outbreak killed three people and infected several others during the cruise across the Atlantic Ocean.

Passengers to be repatriated after deadly hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship

WASHINGTON: The United States said Friday it was organizing an evacuation flight for Americans on a hantavirus-struck cruise ship that has sailed to the Canary Islands. &quot;The Department of State is arranging a repatriation flight to support the safe return of American passengers on this ship,&quot; a State Department spokesperson said. The State Department said it was coordinating with the Spanish government as well as other US federal agencies. &quot;We are in direct communication with Americans on board and are prepared to provide consular assistance as soon as the ship arrives in Tenerife, Spain,&quot; the spokesperson said on customary condition of anonymity. It was not immediately clear how many Americans were on the ship. The World Health Organization said earlier that the United States was among 12 countries which had nationals who disembarked the ship at Saint Helena.

US arranges evacuation flight for Americans aboard hantavirus-hit cruise ship headed to Canary Islands

US plans evacuation flight for Americans on hantavirus ship

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon on Friday released a first batch of secret files documenting reported sightings of unidentified flying objects &ndash; some dating back to the 1940s &ndash; fanning speculation over whether extraterrestrial life exists. Reports of flying saucers and discs, and a sighting of an orb that resembled the &quot;Eye of Sauron&quot; are among the incidents in the files, which are from the FBI, State Department and NASA in addition to the Pentagon. Interest in UFOs has been renewed in recent years as the US government investigated numerous reports of seemingly supernatural aircraft, amid worries that adversaries could be testing highly advanced technologies. &quot;These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation &ndash; and it&#39;s time the American people see it for themselves,&quot; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement. More than 160 files were released Friday on the website of the Defense Department, which officially refers to UFOs as &quot;Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena,&quot; or UAPs. One file &ndash; from December 1947 &ndash; contains a series of reports on &quot;flying discs.&quot; &quot;Continued and recent reports from qualified observers concerning this phenomenon still makes this matter one of concern to Headquarters, Air Material Command,&quot; a document in the file said. An Air Force intelligence report &ndash; marked &quot;top secret&quot; &ndash; from November of the following year features information on reported sightings of &quot;unidentified aircraft&quot; and &quot;flying saucers.&quot; &quot;For some time, we have been concerned by the recurring reports on flying saucers,&quot; a document in that file said. Another file summarizes statements from seven federal government employees who separately reported &quot;several unidentified anomalous phenomena&quot; in the United States in 2023. &#39;Most compelling&#39; &quot;The reporters&#39; credibility, and the potentially anomalous nature of the events themselves &ndash; combine to make this report among the most compelling within AARO&#39;s current holdings,&quot; a description of the file said, referring to the Pentagon&#39;s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. In one of the incidents, three teams of federal law enforcement special agents independently described &quot;seeing orange &#39;orbs&#39; in the sky emit/launch smaller red &#39;orbs.&#39;&quot; In another, two federal special agents witnessed &quot;a glowing orange orb... perched close to a rock pinnacle.&quot; That account included an artist rendering of a red-orange circle with a streak of yellow in its lower third. The object was described as looking &quot;similar to the Eye (of) Sauron from Lord of the Rings, except without&nbsp;the pupil.&quot; President Donald Trump directed US federal agencies in February to begin identifying and releasing government files related to UFOs and aliens, saying the move was &quot;based on the tremendous interest shown.&quot; The Republican president also claimed the same day he issued the release order that one of his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama, had revealed &quot;classified&quot; information in viral podcast remarks about the existence of extraterrestrial life. &quot;They&#39;re real, but I haven&#39;t seen them and they&#39;re not being kept in... Area 51,&quot; Obama told host Brian Tyler Cohen, referring to the top-secret US military facility in Nevada at the heart of many UFO conspiracy theories. Trump told reporters at the time that Obama &quot;gave classified information, he is not supposed to be doing that,&quot; while saying of his own beliefs: &quot;I don&#39;t know if they are real or not.&quot; No evidence has been produced of intelligent life beyond Earth. In March 2024, the Pentagon released a report saying it had no proof that UAP were alien technology, with many suspicious sightings turning out to be merely weather balloons, spy planes, satellites and other normal activity.

The Pentagon releases previously classified UFO-related records Friday in Washington, renewing public interest in reported sightings of unexplained aerial objects. (AFP)

The Pentagon releases more than 160 files on unidentified anomalous phenomena, including reports dating back to the 1940s, while officials say there is no evidence of extraterrestrial life.

Pentagon releases long-sealed UFO files, renewing public speculation

KYIV: A large forest fire burned through the Chernobyl exclusion zone on Friday following a drone crash near the disaster-tainted nuclear plant the previous day, Ukrainian authorities said. Radiation levels at the site were within &quot;normal limits&quot;, authorities reported, adding that firefighters were working to contain the blaze. Images showed columns of white smoke billowing from the area, parts of which are closed off to the public due to high levels of radioactivity. The site surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear plant has been largely deserted since the plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown in 1986. It has since been converted into a nature reserve. &quot;As of 3:00 pm [1200 GMT] the estimated area of the fire, which broke out after two drones crashed within the Chernobyl nature reserve, is about 1,180 hectares,&quot; the reserve&#39;s director Denis Nesterov said in a post on Facebook. He did not say the origin of the drones. The governor of the neighboring Chernigiv region gave a higher estimate, suggesting the fire had spread across an area spanning 40 square kilometers. &quot;The aggressor is preventing the fire from being extinguished. Their drones are constantly hovering over the area,&quot; Chernigiv governor Vyacheslav Chaus added. Kyiv has repeatedly accused Moscow of recklessly attacking its nuclear sites, including the Chernobyl complex. A Russian drone last year punctured a hole in one of the radiation shells covering the reactor unit that exploded on April 26, 1986. Rescuers were working to prevent the further spread of the fire, Ukraine&#39;s state emergency service said. &quot;Due to strong gusts of wind, the fire is rapidly spreading across the territory, covering new sections of the forest,&quot; it said. &quot;The situation is complicated by dry weather, strong winds and mine danger in certain areas of the territory, which significantly limits the possibility of extinguishing work.&quot; The exclusion zone suffered wildfires in 2020, which lasted several weeks and caused a spike in background radiation. Ukraine only last month marked 40 years since the disaster.

This handout photograph, taken and released by the Ukrainian Chernobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve on May 8, 2026, shows smoke billowing over buildings in the town of Chernobyl from a forest fire in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. (AFP)

Fire burns through Ukraine’s Chernobyl exclusion zone after a drone crash, officials say, with radiation levels normal as firefighters battle the blaze in the restricted area.

Women reclaim 300 years of Shah Latif legacy, breaking cultural barriers

Latest News

Messi says Argentina up against 'other favorites' in World Cup repeat bid

Women reclaim 300 years of Shah Latif legacy, breaking cultural barriers

US authorities warn World Cup visitors of fentanyl-laced drugs

How identity politics keeps putting Indian stars in power

Trump announces three-day Ukraine-Russia ceasefire