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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has launched a major humanitarian relief operation for the flood-affected people of Sri Lanka at the prime minister&#39;s special directives.&nbsp;The National Disaster Management Authority, working closely with the Pakistan Armed Forces, has completed arrangements for an immediate aid mission. The effort follows the devastating floods that have caused widespread destruction across Sri Lanka.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 394px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1994845947176861880&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fdashboard%2F&sessionId=e523e4423abc97e2499e28c4f66e0e17a7c2d13a&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px">&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div>The first relief consignment will leave for Colombo on Nov. 30 aboard a Pakistan Air Force C-130 aircraft. It contains 100 tons of essential supplies and will be accompanied by a 45-member Urban Search and Rescue team from the Pakistan Army.&nbsp;Chairman NDMA Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik will supervise the dispatch of the mission. A departure ceremony will be held at Nur Khan Airbase, attended by officials from the Prime Minister&rsquo;s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NDMA, and representatives of the diplomatic community.&nbsp;The relief package includes rescue boats, dewatering pumps, life jackets, tents, blankets, quilts, bubble mats, mosquito nets, infant formula, dry rations, and essential medicines. A mobile field hospital is also being sent to support emergency medical needs in the affected areas.&nbsp;Pakistan has reaffirmed its solidarity with Sri Lanka and said it will continue to extend humanitarian support in the days ahead.

Foreign Affairs

The authority says with the help of Pakistan Armed Forces, it has completed arrangements for an immediate aid mission.

Pakistan prepares 100-ton aid shipment for Sri Lanka flood victims

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday dismissed criticism from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights over the country&rsquo;s newly passed 27th constitutional amendment, calling the concerns &ldquo;ungrounded&rdquo; and &ldquo;misplaced.&rdquo; In a statement, the Foreign Office said the amendment was approved by a two-third majority in parliament and reflected the workings of a democratic system. It said constitutional changes and all legislation were the responsibility of Pakistan&rsquo;s elected representatives. The ministry said democratic norms underpin civil and political rights in the country, adding that the amendment followed procedures set out in the Constitution. It reiterated Pakistan&rsquo;s commitment to human dignity, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. However, the Foreign Office said it was &ldquo;regrettable&rdquo; that Pakistan&rsquo;s perspective and on-ground context were not reflected in the UN rights body&rsquo;s statement. It called on the High Commissioner to respect parliament&rsquo;s sovereign decisions and avoid comments that, in its view, show political bias. BackgroundThe rebuttal comes days after UN human rights chief Volker T&uuml;rk on Friday voiced concern that Pakistan&rsquo;s latest constitutional changes could erode judicial independence and weaken accountability. He said the amendment, adopted on November 13, was passed without broad consultation, mirroring the process behind last year&rsquo;s 26th Amendment. T&uuml;rk warned that the creation of a new Federal Constitutional Court, which takes over constitutional cases from the Supreme Court, could centralise power within the executive. He also pointed to changes in the appointment and promotion of judges, saying the new system may leave the judiciary vulnerable to political influence. President Asif Ali Zardari signed the amendment earlier this month after it cleared both houses of parliament amid opposition protests, making it part of the Constitution.

Politics

 FO says the amendment was approved by a two-third majority in parliament and reflected the workings of a democratic system.

Pakistan rejects UN right chief’s concerns over new constitutional amendment

ISLAMABAD: An Afghan national living in the United States under the Biden-era &ldquo;Operation Allies Welcome&rdquo; program has been arrested in Fort Worth, Texas, after posting a video online appearing to assemble an explosive device, according to a senior US homeland security official, it emerged on Saturday.&nbsp;Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin of the Department of Homeland Security said on X that the suspect, identified as Mohammad Dawood Alokozay, uploaded a TikTok video showing himself putting together what he implied was an explosive. She said the footage suggested he intended to target the Fort Worth area.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 897px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1994815818635288752&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Fdashboard%2F&sessionId=e523e4423abc97e2499e28c4f66e0e17a7c2d13a&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</iframe></div></div> Alokozay was taken into custody on Tuesday by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI&rsquo;s Joint Terrorism Task Force. He has been charged with making terroristic threats.&nbsp;The arrest was made a day before another Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, carried out a shooting in Washington. Lakanwal opened fire on members of the US National Guard during a routine patrol near a residential neighborhood close to the Capitol. Two soldiers were critically wounded before he was arrested.&nbsp;Authorities in Washington have described the attack as a deliberate act of terror. Lakanwal had been in the United States for more than a year.&nbsp;The two incidents, reported within 24 hours of each other, have intensified political focus on President Donald Trump&rsquo;s new immigration measures. The president has launched a &ldquo;reverse migration&rdquo; initiative aimed at removing individuals who, in his words, &ldquo;do not belong here or do not add benefit&rdquo;.&nbsp;He has ordered a detailed reassessment of Afghans who entered the country under Operation Allies Welcome, directing agencies to conduct fresh security reviews on a case-by-case basis.&nbsp;The White House has also instructed officials to reexamine all refugee, parole, and humanitarian programs established during the previous administration. Additional directives are expected as scrutiny of recent arrivals expands.

Americas

Department of Homeland Security says the arrested individual uploaded a TikTok video showing himself putting together what he implied was an explosive.

Second Afghan national arrested in US on terrorism charges

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan risks losing 40% of its farmland due to the country&#39;s worst drought in decades, a new monitoring report warned. According to the latest Afghanistan Seasonal Monitor from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, the country is experiencing below-average rainfall and above-average temperatures that have triggered soil moisture deficits across the nation, The crisis marks the sixth consecutive year of poor weather conditions. Farmers are abandoning fields as irrigated crops struggle to survive and rain-fed wheat production continues to fall. Northern and central Afghanistan face precipitation deficits of up to 100 millimeters through December 2025, according to the monitor. Water shortages are exacerbating the crisis in these regions, which are seeing widespread crop failures, particularly in wheat farming, with soil moisture at critically low levels. In the northeast and central parts of the country, where rain-fed crops are vital, many farmers are unable to plant or maintain crops. Even irrigated areas are struggling with declining groundwater levels. A survey released in November by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that traditional irrigation systems, such as &quot;qanats&quot;, are failing, forcing farmers to dig deeper wells. Climate change has made droughts more frequent and severe, with above-average temperatures intensifying the situation. Snow water volumes, essential for irrigation, are at their lowest levels in years, the monitor said. Many farmers are seeing their income collapse as 40% of farmland remains unused. Even in irrigated areas, people face difficulties due to water scarcity and climate change. More than 75% of rural households depend on agriculture, and many are struggling with food insecurity, according to the report. The report warned that unless conditions improve, food shortages could worsen, causing higher food prices and economic instability. It predicted that if the situation persists, farmland abandonment and declining crop yields will continue, worsening the crisis for the country&#39;s farmers. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network was established by the US Agency for International Development in 1985 and provides early warning and analysis of acute food insecurity worldwide.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s worst drought in decades has led to widespread crop failures, with severe water shortages exacerbating food insecurity and economic instability, a new report warns.

Afghanistan at risk of losing 40% of farmland in worst drought in decades

ISLAMABAD: Oscar Piastri grabbed pole position for the penultimate race of the Formula One season when he edged team-mate and title rival Lando Norris as time expired in Saturday&#39;s qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix. Piastri had cut Norris&#39;s lead in the championship to 22 points by winning the sprint race earlier in the day. Red Bull&#39;s Max Verstappen, the only other driver who could win the title, qualified third. The defending champion is 25 points behind Norris. George Russell was fourth in a Mercedes. Norris took an early grip on the final qualifying session, which was then interrupted after Carlos Sainz came out of the pits with plastic wrapping around one of the tyres on his Williams and it peeled off on a corner. At the re-start, the drivers had enough time for a flying lap, but Norris abandoned after starting badly. &quot;I just had a bit of understeer and was going to go off so I had to abort,&quot; said Norris. &quot;Which was a shame, but it&#39;s the way that it is.&quot; Piastri made the most of his opening. &quot;That was mega,&quot; the Australian shouted into his radio. The fastest qualifier has won all three previous Qatar Grand Prix, although in 2024, Max Verstappen incurred a penalty in Q3, was demoted to second on the grid but won anyway. Norris said he believed he had a chance. &quot;You never know. The first couple of laps are always opportunities for everyone but after there I think it&#39;s probably going to be pretty straightforward for everyone too,&quot; he said. Piastri, who needs to finish ahead of Norris to take the title race to the wire, said he was looking forward to it. &quot;It will be a tough race. Hard work but incredibly fun,&quot; he said. Earlier, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton continued to struggle, posting the 18th fastest time in his Ferrari in the 20-car first qualifying session and failing to advance. It was his fifth straight early exit in qualifying.

Racing

Oscar Piastri claimed pole for the Qatar Grand Prix, edging Lando Norris. Max Verstappen qualified third, while Lewis Hamilton failed to advance, finishing 18th.

Title-chasing Piastri takes pole for Qatar Grand Prix

ISLAMABAD: Egypt is training hundreds of Palestinian police officers with an eye towards integrating them into a post-war security force in Gaza, a Palestinian official told AFP. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty announced the plan to train 5,000 officers for Gaza during talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in August.&nbsp;A first group of more than 500 officers were trained in Cairo in March and since September the two-month courses have resumed to welcome hundreds more people, the Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity. He said all members of the force will be from the Gaza Strip and paid by the Palestinian Authority, which is based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. &quot;I&#39;m very happy with the training. We want a permanent end to war and aggression, and we&#39;re eager to serve our country and fellow citizens,&quot; said a 26-year-old Palestinian police officer. He told AFP he hoped the security force would be &quot;independent, loyal only to Palestine and not subject to external alliances or objectives&quot;. &quot;We received outstanding operational training, with modern equipment for border surveillance,&quot; said a Palestinian lieutenant who also requested anonymity for security reasons, as did everyone interviewed by AFP. Israel&#39;s war on Gaza has killed at least 70,100 people, according to figures from the territory&#39;s health ministry that the UN considers reliable. &#39;Protecting the dream&#39; The training also highlighted the role of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and stressed the importance of &quot;protecting the dream of creating&quot; a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state. A senior security official from the Palestinian Authority confirmed that its president Mahmud Abbas had instructed Interior Minister Ziad Hab al-Reeh to coordinate with Egypt on the training. During talks sponsored by Egypt late last year, the Palestinian movements &mdash; including the two main ones, Hamas and Abbas&#39;s Fatah &mdash; agreed to a force of around 10,000 police officers. Egypt would train half of them while the other 5,000 would come from the police force in Gaza, which has been under Hamas control since 2007. Under the agreement, the security force would be supervised by a committee of technocrats approved by the Palestinian movements. A senior Hamas official confirmed to AFP that the movement supported &quot;the details regarding security and management of the Gaza Strip&quot; agreed during the talks. The subject was also addressed in US President Donald Trump&#39;s peace plan, which led to last month&#39;s fragile Gaza ceasefire, and was later endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution. Europe plays a part The plan notably authorises the creation of an international force that would be responsible for securing border areas and demilitarizing Gaza. The European Union also wants to train up to 3,000 Palestinian police officers in the Gaza Strip under a scheme similar to one it already runs in the West Bank, an EU official told AFP. The EU has financed a police training mission in the West Bank since 2006, with a budget of around $15 million. But many details remain up in the air. A Hamas official questioned to AFP the possibility of an agreement with Israel on the precise details of a police force in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&#39;s government opposes any role for Hamas or the Palestinian Authority in Gaza after the war ends. AFP journalists have regularly observed that Hamas maintains armed men in Gaza to ensure traffic flows and to mediate disputes between residents, effectively providing a form of law enforcement. Hamas has said it no longer wants to govern Gaza but added that it does not intend to disappear and remains a central part of Palestinian political life. On the thorny issue of disarmament, Hamas has said it is not opposed to handing over part of its arsenal, but only as part of a Palestinian political process.

Middle East

Egypt is training Palestinian police officers for a post-war Gaza security force, supported by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, with EU involvement in training plans.

Egypt trains hundreds of Palestinians for future Gaza police force

ISLAMABAD: Lionel Messi and Inter Miami reached the MLS Cup final for the first time on Saturday after a 5-1 thrashing of New York City FC in the Eastern Conference playoffs. A Tadeo Allende hat-trick and goals from Mateo Silvetti and Telasco Segovia ensured Miami advanced to Major League Soccer&#39;s championship game next Saturday. Miami will host the winner of the Western Conference final, which is being played between San Diego FC and Vancouver Whitecaps later on Saturday. &nbsp;

Football

A Tadeo Allende hat-trick and goals from Mateo Silvetti and Telasco Segovia ensured Miami advanced to Major League Soccer's championship game next Saturday.

Inter Miami, Messi beat New York 5-1 to reach first MLS Cup

ISLAMABAD: The gang that abducted a group of young women in Nigeria&#39;s northeast state of Borno a week ago released the remaining 12 late Saturday, a local official told AFP. Their release comes as the country has experienced a surge in abductions of young people over the past two weeks. &quot;All the 12 were released,&quot; Abubakar Mazhinyi, president of the local Askira-Uba council, told AFP, adding that they had been taken to hospital. &quot;They [militants] spoke to the parents,&quot; he said. &quot;It was the parents that went to the bush.&quot; Last Saturday, 13 Muslim women and girls, aged between 16 and 23 were kidnapped near their farms in land near a nature reserve that has become a hideout for the militants. The gang freed one of them after she told them she was nursing a baby. No ransom was paid, with the militants releasing the women because the army was in pursuit, said Mazhinyi. Borno state is at the heart of Nigeria&#39;s conflict with the militants, which started 16 years ago with Boko Haram. It was the scene of the 2014 kidnapping of nearly 300 girls in Chibok. While the militant threat has diminished, both Boko Haram and rival breakaway Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) are still dangerous. The conflict there has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people and forced more than two million people to flee their homes, according to UN figures. The violence is not confined to the northeast of the country. Last week armed gangs seized more than 300 children from a Catholic school in the central-western Niger delta state. Although some managed to escape, more than 265 children and teachers are still being held. These abductions have been claimed by bandits rather than militants. Nigeria has a history of mass kidnappings, mostly carried out by criminal gangs looking for ransom payments and targeting vulnerable populations in poorly policed rural areas.

Africa

Their release comes as the country has experienced a surge in abductions of young people over the past two weeks.

Abductors free 12 young girls kidnapped in Nigeria

ISLAMABAD: British playwright Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar for the screenplay of the 1998 film &quot;Shakespeare In Love&quot;, has died at the age of 88, United Agents announced on Saturday. Stoppard, who first made his name with &quot;Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead&quot; &mdash; an absurdist tragicomedy about two minor characters from Shakespeare&#39;s &quot;Hamlet&quot; <code id="isPasted">&mdash;&nbsp;</code>developed a distinctive style combining serious ideas with comedy. &quot;We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved client and friend, Tom Stoppard, has died peacefully at home in Dorset, surrounded by his family,&quot; the talent agency said. &quot;He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language.&quot; King Charles III and rock royalty Mick Jagger led the tributes on social media. &quot;Tom Stoppard was my favorite playwright,&quot; the Rolling Stones frontman posted on X. &quot;He leaves us with a majestic body of intellectual and amusing work. I will always miss him.&quot; In a statement released by Buckingham Palace, Charles said he and the queen were &quot;deeply saddened&quot; at news of the death of &quot;one of our greatest writers&quot;. He added: &quot;A dear friend who wore his genius lightly, he could, and did, turn his pen to any subject, challenging, moving and inspiring his audiences, borne from his own personal history.&quot; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; A string of awards In London, the Olivier Awards announced that West End theaters would dim their lights for two minutes at 7:00 pm on Tuesday in his memory. As well as his Oscar, Stoppard won three Oliviers and five Tonys, among the&nbsp;top awards in the theater world. Britain&#39;s National Theatre, which worked closely with Stoppard, staging many of his plays, paid tribute to &quot;his sharp intellect, inventive narrative structures, and a blend of highbrow humor with profound philosophical inquiries&quot;. London&#39;s Royal Court theater said his work &quot;probed the deepest human mysteries of truth, time, mortality and frailty while dazzling with wit, laughter and the buoyancy of the human spirit&quot;. His publisher, Faber Books, paid tribute to &quot;one of the most brilliant and feted playwrights of the last 60 years and one of the great intellects of our time&quot;. For Stoppard, Shakespeare proved to be a rich seam for him to mine. &quot;Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead&quot;, the play that first brought him success in theaters on both sides of the Atlantic, won a string of theatre awards. Then when he adapted it for cinema in 1990, in a version starring Tim Roth, Gary Oldman and Richard Dreyfuss, it picked up the Golden Lion -- the top prize -- at the Venice Film Festival. To non-theater-goers, Stoppard is best remembered for cinema work that included the &quot;Indiana Jones&quot; and &quot;Star Wars&quot; franchises and an Oscar in 1999 for &quot;Shakespeare in Love&quot;. Born in Czechoslovakia in 1937, he fled his home during the Nazi occupation and found refuge in Britain. After leaving school, Stoppard became a journalist before launching his career as a playwright.&nbsp; Over a six-decade career, he wrote for the theater, TV and radio, as well as film, winning multiple awards. In 1997 he was knighted for his services to literature.&nbsp; Stoppard was married three times and had four sons, one of whom, Ed Stoppard, is an actor.

Entertainment

Renowned British playwright Tom Stoppard, famous for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Shakespeare in Love, died at 88, leaving behind a legacy of intellectual wit and award-winning work.

Oscar-winning UK playwright Tom Stoppard dies aged 88

ISLAMABAD: A race with no finish line, the Margalla Backyard Ultra 5th Edition, began today, Saturday, in Islamabad&rsquo;s F-9 Park. The last person standing will win the race.&nbsp;Organizers say the race has a unique format because runners are required to run till they cannot anymore. Each loop is 6.7 kilometers long, and runners must complete it within one hour.&nbsp;After every hour, they return to the starting point and restart. It is considered one of the ultimate tests of stamina, human grit, and endurance, organizers say.&nbsp;Men, women and children from all over Pakistan take part in the race.&nbsp;This year, 165 participants, including foreigners have joined the race.&nbsp;One of the participants, Sana Mujahid, told Pakistan TV Digital, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m recovering from an injury&hellip;the biggest challenge for me was the pain that started kicking in after a while. Honestly, these challenges are what make the journey worthwhile.&rdquo;&nbsp;First-time participant Sarah Rehman said that for her, this race was all about endurance. &ldquo;You repeat the same loop again and again, you need to stay mentally very strong.&rdquo;

Shorts

The Margalla Backyard Ultra launched in Islamabad, where 165 runners, including foreigners, tackle repeated 6.7-kilometer loops, testing stamina and mental strength until only one remains.

Pakistan prepares 100-ton aid shipment for Sri Lanka flood victims

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Latest News

Pakistan rejects UN right chief’s concerns over new constitutional amendment

Pakistan prepares 100-ton aid shipment for Sri Lanka flood victims

Second Afghan national arrested in US on terrorism charges

Afghanistan at risk of losing 40% of farmland in worst drought in decades

Title-chasing Piastri takes pole for Qatar Grand Prix