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ISLAMABAD: More than 18 years after her assassination, Benazir Bhutto&#39;s influence continues to resonate well beyond Pakistan&#39;s borders. In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV placed Pakistan&#39;s former prime minister alongside some of history&#39;s most revered champions of human dignity and social progress, offering a rare international acknowledgment of her democratic legacy and the sacrifices she made in public life.&nbsp; As the only Muslim figure cited in the passage, Bhutto&#39;s inclusion underscores the enduring global relevance of her advocacy for democracy, pluralism, and resistance to political extremism. Bhutto appears by name in Magnifica Humanitas, the papal document released in May, where Pope Leo XIV highlights individuals whose lives and contributions, according to the Vatican&#39;s official text, &ldquo;contributed to making history more humane.&rdquo; In Paragraph 124 of the 245-paragraph encyclical, she is mentioned alongside globally recognized figures, including Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Marie Curie, individuals whose achievements transcended national borders and left a lasting mark on humanity. The recognition is particularly notable because Bhutto is the sole representative of the Muslim world in that section of the document.&nbsp; Every other figure cited is associated with the Christian tradition or Western intellectual history.&nbsp; Among the 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, no other leader or public figure is mentioned. The encyclical itself is addressed not only to the world&#39;s 1.3 billion Catholics but, as Pope Leo writes, to &ldquo;all people of goodwill,&rdquo; giving the document significance well beyond the Catholic Church. Pakistan&#39;s first female prime ministerBhutto&#39;s place in the text reflects a legacy that continues to command international attention decades after she first entered office. In 1988, she became Pakistan&#39;s first female prime minister and the first woman elected to lead a Muslim-majority nation, breaking political barriers across the Islamic world and emerging as one of the most prominent democratic leaders of her generation. She served as prime minister twice, from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996.&nbsp; After years in exile, she returned to Pakistan in 2007 to contest elections and revive the democratic process, but was assassinated in Rawalpindi on December 27 that year while campaigning for a third term. Significantly, the Vatican does not invoke Bhutto&#39;s religious identity. Instead, the encyclical recognizes her public service and commitment to democratic principles.&nbsp; According to The Pillar&#39;s reader&#39;s guide to the document, she is included among figures who &ldquo;changed history by their defense of human dignity.&rdquo; The company she keeps in the text underscores the weight of that recognition.&nbsp; The list includes canonized Catholic saints, Nobel Prize winners, pioneering educators, environmental advocates and civil rights leaders whose contributions reshaped societies across continents.&nbsp; Bhutto is the only Muslim and the only political leader from Asia named in that section. Within that broader moral appeal, Bhutto&#39;s inclusion serves as a powerful reminder of the values the Pope seeks to elevate: courage in public service, commitment to democratic ideals and the defense of human dignity in the face of violence and extremism. For Pakistan, the acknowledgment amounts to a rare tribute from one of the world&#39;s most influential religious institutions.&nbsp; Bhutto&#39;s legacy places her among a select group of historical figures whose lives continue to be seen as examples of humanity&#39;s capacity to advance justice, freedom and human progress. AI and implications for humanityThe encyclical, subtitled &quot;On the Safeguarding of the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,&quot; was signed on May 15 and formally presented by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican&#39;s Synod Hall.&nbsp; It represents the Catholic Church&#39;s first comprehensive doctrinal statement on artificial intelligence and its implications for humanity. Its central argument is that technological progress must remain anchored in ethical responsibility.&nbsp; The document calls for artificial intelligence to be regulated, made transparent and prevented from exercising autonomous lethal decision-making, insisting that human dignity must remain at the center of emerging technologies.

Culture

In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV named Benazir Bhutto among global figures who 'contributed to making history more humane,' making Pakistan's former prime minister the only Muslim leader recognized in the landmark Vatican document.

Benazir Bhutto's legacy earns rare recognition in papal encyclical

LONDON: Novels by women writers about a family exiled from Iran, a suburban French witch, and an Albanian sworn virgin have made the shortlist for the International Booker Prize, organizers announced Tuesday. The prestigious award, to be handed out at a ceremony at London&#39;s Tate Modern gallery on May 19, recognizes works of fiction from around the world that have been translated into English. The &pound;50,000 ($62,000) prize is split equally between the author and the translator. This is the tenth year that the prize has been awarded in its current form. Organizers say the award gives the authors a significant boost in profile and sales. Four winners have gone on to become Nobel laureates. The books on this year&#39;s list feature &quot;unforgettable characters&quot; and &quot;reverberate with history&quot;, said the chair of the judges, British novelist Natasha Brown. The shortlist includes several established authors. &quot;The Director&quot;, set in the Nazi-controlled film industry, is by bestselling German-Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann, who is known for darkly funny historical novels and is the only male author on the list. Another prominent figure is French novelist and playwright Marie NDiaye, winner of the country&#39;s top Goncourt prize, whose books have been widely translated. Her novel &quot;The Witch&quot; is about a woman living in the suburbs in the 1990s who passes magical powers on to her daughters. Brazilian Ana Paula Maia is author of seven novels and has been selected for &quot;On Earth As It Is Beneath&quot;, a horrifying tale of a brutal prison colony in a remote wilderness. The shortlist also features two debut novels. &quot;The Nights Are Quiet In Tehran&quot;, a saga by German writer Shida Bazyar, is about a family fleeing Iran and then returning decades later. The other is &quot;She Who Remains&quot; by award-winning Bulgarian poet and writer Rene Karabash, about a woman who opts to become a &quot;sworn virgin&quot; &ndash; a vanishing Albanian tradition under which a woman renounces marriage and lives as a man.

Women authors dominate the International Booker Prize shortlist with novels about an exiled Iranian family, a French suburban witch and an Albanian sworn virgin. (The Brooker Prizes)

Entertainment

The International Booker Prize shortlist features novels by women authors, including stories of an exiled Iranian family, a French witch, and an Albanian sworn virgin, all translated into English for international readers.

Exile, witchcraft, virginity: Women authors dominate International Booker shortlist

ISLAMABAD: The&nbsp;Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Tuesday said that the <span style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;" id="isPasted">Doomsday Clock was now&nbsp;85 seconds to midnight, stating that the world was <span style="color: rgb(33, 37, 41); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;" id="isPasted"><a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/climate-and-disasterdriven-displacement-are-reshaping-global-migration" style="color:#0073e6;">perilously</a><span style="color: rgb(33, 37, 41); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;" id="isPasted"> close to global disaster and that any delay in reversing course increased the probability of catastrophe.&nbsp; The announcement streamed on the Bulletin&#39;s YouTube channel.&nbsp; The symbolic timepiece stood at 89 seconds to midnight, the most precarious moment in its 78-year history. The Science and Security Board moved it one second forward in 2025. What the clock represents The Doomsday Clock serves as a metaphor for humanity&#39;s proximity to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/misinformation-bigger-threat-than-nuclear-war-climate-change-pakistan-information-minister" target="_blank" style="font-size: 18px;" rel="noopener noreferrer">self-destruction</a>. Midnight represents total annihilation. The closer the time to midnight, the greater the assessed threat from man-made dangers. The clock tracks three primary threats: nuclear weapons, climate change, and disruptive technologies including artificial intelligence. Who decides? The Bulletin&#39;s Science and Security Board sets the time annually. The board comprises globally recognized experts in nuclear risk, climate science, and emerging technologies. They consult with the Board of Sponsors, which includes eight Nobel laureates. Manhattan Project scientists, including Albert Einstein and J Robert Oppenheimer, created the Bulletin in 1947. They built the atomic bomb but feared its implications. 2026 speakers <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-links-greenland-threats-to-nobel-peace-prize-snub-bloomberg" target="_blank" style="font-size: 18px;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nobel Peace Prize</a>&nbsp;laureate Maria Ressa will address the announcement. Ressa cofounded Rappler and teaches at Columbia University&#39;s School of International and Public Affairs. Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin, will speak alongside Science and Security Board chair Daniel Holz, a University of Chicago physics professor. Other speakers include Steve Fetter of the University of Maryland, climate scientist Inez Fung from UC Berkeley, biodefense expert Asha M. George from the Atlantic Council, and Jon B. Wolfsthal of the Federation of American Scientists. Threat assessment factors The 2026 setting considers multiple crisis areas. Nuclear risks include escalating rhetoric, expanded weapons investments, and ongoing conflicts like the Ukraine war. <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/experts-say-oceans-soaked-up-record-heat-levels-in-2025" target="_blank" style="font-size: 18px;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Climate</a>&nbsp;threats stem from continued governmental failures to prevent catastrophic warming at the required scale. Artificial intelligence poses growing dangers through battlefield deployment and social media manipulation. Biological threats from infectious diseases and weapons remain concerns. The Bulletin identified the 2026 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference as a critical moment for global arms control. Clock history The clock debuted on the Bulletin&#39;s June 1947 magazine cover. The board has reset it 26 times. It reached 100 seconds to midnight in 2020, dropped to 90 seconds in 2023, then to 89 seconds in 2025. The physical clock resides in the University of Chicago&#39;s Keller Center lobby, home to the Harris School of Public Policy. The Bulletin aims to motivate action, not spread fear. The clock functions as an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/thousands-of-glaciers-to-melt-each-year-by-midcentury-study" target="_blank" style="font-size: 18px;" rel="noopener noreferrer">early warning</a>&nbsp;system, urging citizens and leaders to address existential threats before time runs out.

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Scientists unveil the 2026 Doomsday Clock as global threats intensify, weighing nuclear risks, climate failure and artificial intelligence to gauge how close humanity stands to self-destruction worldwide this year, today.

Articles tagged with "Nobel laureates"

Benazir Bhutto's legacy earns rare recognition in papal encyclical

Exile, witchcraft, virginity: Women authors dominate International Booker shortlist

Doomsday Clock: World stands '85 seconds from annihilation'