KATHMANDU: The death toll from devastating flash floods and mudslides in central Nepal has risen to 626, while nearly 3,000 people remain missing across border, as rescue teams continue large-scale search and relief operations for a fourth consecutive day. The disaster, which struck parts of Nepal on Wednesday, has caused widespread destruction across several districts, sweeping away homes, roads and bridges and damaging vital hydropower infrastructure. According to Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), the 626 recovered bodies were reported from eight districts. Chitwan recorded the highest number with 233 deaths, followed by Nawalparasi East with 158…
Author: Ayaz Khan
At 1:15 a.m., the real cost of Lahore’s power crisis is measured not in kilowatts, but in exhaustion. In Dubai Town, just off the busy Raiwind Road, a middle-income residential neighborhood falls into darkness as the city around it remains brightly illuminated. Despite its name—a reference to a city in UAE where electricity shortages are virtually unimaginable—residents say nighttime blackouts have become a regular part of life. Inside a tightly packed home in Dubai Twon and Sher Shah Colony, the sudden silence of a dying fan can wake sleeping children within minutes. With summer temperatures soaring, stagnant air quickly turns…
Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to intensify cooperation in trade, investment and agriculture, saying the two strategic partners should turn their longstanding relationship into a stronger and mutually beneficial economic partnership. The prime minister made the remarks during a meeting with Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Engineer Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadley in Islamabad. Shehbaz Sharif welcomed the growing engagement between the two countries, particularly progress in expanding Pakistan’s agricultural exports to Saudi Arabia. He stressed the need to further strengthen cooperation in agriculture and improve Pakistan’s agricultural productivity through modern technology,…
LAHORE MIRROR — Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir has urged young people to prioritize education, skills, entrepreneurship and fact-based analysis as they navigate an increasingly volatile world shaped by social media and propaganda. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Field Marshal Munir made the remarks during an interaction with a delegation of Harvard Business School students visiting Pakistan. The delegation included students from several countries. The discussion covered regional and global developments, Pakistan’s security outlook and the country’s efforts to promote peace, stability and prosperity in the region and beyond.…
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has rejected US President Donald Trump’s move to rename Lake Ontario, saying Canadians will continue to call the historic body of water by its traditional name. In a post on X on Thursday, Carney emphasized the centuries-old origins of the name Ontario, noting that it comes from the Wendat word “Ontari’io,” meaning “the lake is beautiful” or “the lake is big.” His comments came after Trump signed an executive order directing the US Department of the Interior to begin the process of renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America.” The move comes amid a sharp deterioration…
China has halted rescue operations at the epicentre of the catastrophic flooding along its border with Nepal after a debris-dammed lake began overflowing, raising fears of renewed flooding and further destruction downstream. The decision came as the scale of devastation from the Himalayan disaster became increasingly clear. Nepal’s death toll has risen to at least 469, while more than 1,300 people remain missing, according to Nepali authorities. Hundreds of foreign tourists and pilgrims are among those unaccounted for. The floods struck on Wednesday after a massive glacier and rock collapse triggered torrents of water, mud, ice and debris through narrow…
LAHORE MIRROR — The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has rejected the Sindh government’s demand for the resignation of Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal following the deaths of 14 newborn babies in a fire at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). MQM-P Sindh Assembly member Engineer Syed Muhammad Usman said the tragedy should not be turned into a political dispute and called for a transparent, impartial and merit-based investigation to establish who was responsible for the deaths. Usman argued that responsibility for PIMS cannot be attributed solely to the current federal health minister, pointing out that the hospital was established…
SHAMLI, Uttar Pradesh: Indian singer, actor and YouTuber Ankit Baliyan was shot dead outside a gym in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday evening, in an attack police are investigating as a possible targeted killing. Baliyan was leaving the gym in Shamli, about 100 kilometres northeast of New Delhi, at around 6:45–7 p.m. when three to four armed attackers arrived on two motorcycles and opened fire, according to police. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to a nearby health centre, where doctors pronounced him dead. The attackers fled the scene and no arrests had been…
Xizang: Rescue operations are underway after catastrophic flash floods and mudslides struck mountainous areas along the China-Nepal border, but unstable slopes, blocked roads, changing water levels and the threat of further rain are making the search for more than 1,300 missing people extremely difficult. A mudslide hit Gyirong Port in southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region on Wednesday, triggering a major emergency response at the strategically important China-Nepal trade gateway. Chen Hongqi, a senior engineer at China’s Ministry of Natural Resources, said the region’s steep terrain and rapidly changing water conditions were creating serious risks for rescuers. He warned that unstable…
TEHRAN: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed unless the United States accepts Tehran’s conditions and returns to compliance with a peace memorandum agreed between the two sides in June. IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi said Wednesday that Iran remained in control of the strategic waterway and that no vessel could pass through it without Iranian permission and management. “All enemy warships are at least 400 kilometres away from the Strait of Hormuz,” Mohebbi said, adding that Iran also maintained control over the route near Oman. He said Tehran and Muscat had reached…
