Dawn.com (2025)

01/02/2025

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir vowed on Saturday that the armed forces would hunt down “frenemies” among the nation who were targeting the state, according to the military’s media wing.

“COAS highlighted that those who are acting as terrorist proxies of their foreign masters who have mastered the art of manifesting double standards of hunting with the hound and running with the hare are well known to us.

“No matter what these so-called ‘frenemies’ may do, you will surely be defeated by the resilience of our proud nation and its armed forces. For the defence of our motherland and its people, we will definitely retaliate and ‘hunt you down’, whenever required and wherever you may be,” the ISPR quoted the army chief as saying. It did not elaborate on who he was referring to.

Read more:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1889125/army-chief-vows-to-hunt-down-frenemies-in-nations-midst-during-balochistan-visit

01/02/2025

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday that positive results of his visit to the United States during President Donald Trump’s inauguration would be witnessed very soon.

Pakistan views its ties with the US as vital, with hopes of navigating shared interests in a region marked by evolving dynamics and competing priorities. The government, therefore, made an early effort to engage with the Trump administration by quietly dispatching Naqvi as a special envoy to meet members of the administration’s foreign policy team and Congressional leaders.

Questioned about his visit while speaking to the media in Lahore, Naqvi said: “You will see positive results very soon. Pakistan’s government and the US government have a very good relationship, I went there in the same stead.

Read more:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1889089/positive-results-of-us-visit-to-be-visible-very-soon-interior-minister-naqvi

01/02/2025

President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday approved the transfer of a Lahore High Court (LHC) judge, along with two others, to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) a day after a letter by five judges of the federal capital’s court expressed concern about such a move.

A notification by the Ministry of Law and Justice said President Zardari approved the transfers of LHC’s Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and the Balochistan High Court’s Justice Muhammad Asif to the IHC under clause (1) of Article 200 of the Constitution.

Article 200 of the Constitution says: “The president may transfer a judge of a high court from one high court to another high court, but no judge shall be so transferred except with his consent and after consultation by the president with the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) and the chief justice of both the high courts.”

Read more:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1889123/president-approves-lhc-judges-transfer-against-request-of-5-ihc-justices

01/02/2025

Sarah Siddiqui discusses the importance of effective storytelling.
aurora.dawn.com/news/1145326

01/02/2025

Two devastating wildfires in Los Angeles were declared fully contained by firefighters on Friday after burning for more than three weeks, killing about 30 people and displacing thousands more.

The Palisades and Eaton fires in Southern California’s Los Angeles County were the most destructive in the history of the second-largest US city, burning more than 150 square kilometres and over 10,000 homes, causing damage estimated to cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

Cal Fire, the state’s firefighting agency, updated the figures on its website on Friday to show 100 per cent containment of both fires, meaning their perimeters were completely under control. Evacuation orders were lifted earlier, with the fires not posing a serious threat for days.

Both blazes started on January 7 and their exact cause remains under investigation.

Read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1889095/los-angeles-fires-fully-contained-after-burning-for-3-weeks-state-agency

01/02/2025

Eighteen soldiers were martyred, and 23 terrorists were killed in various sanitisation operations in Balochistan in the last 24 hours, the military’s media affairs wing said in a press release on Saturday.

Eleven militants were killed in an operation in Harnai district on Friday, while twelve others died in the initial clash overnight in Kalat district, according to ISPR.

A statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on the night between January 31 and February 1, terrorists attempted to establish road blocks in general area of Mangocher, Kalat district of Balochistan.

Read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1889088/18-soldiers-martyred-12-terrorists-killed-in-kalat-clearance-operations-ispr

01/02/2025

Afghanistan’s Taliban government took over management of Kabul’s famed Serena hotel on Saturday, a hotel statement said, a luxury property targeted by Taliban attacks during their insurgency.

The Kabul Serena Hotel was run for nearly 20 years by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development in the Afghan capital and was popular with business travellers and foreign guests.

“Kabul Serena Hotel shall be closing its operations effective February 1, 2025,” a statement from Serena on Friday night said.

Hotel operations are now handled by the Hotel State Owned Corporation (HSOC), the statement added.

Read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1889078/taliban-govt-run-corporation-takes-over-luxury-kabul-serena-hotel

01/02/2025

OpenAI chief Sam Altman on Friday said his high-profile artificial intelligence company is “on the wrong side of history” when it comes to being open about how its technology works.

Altman’s comments came during an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit where he fielded questions including whether he would consider publishing OpenAI research.

Altman replied he was in favour of the idea and that it is a topic of discussion inside San Francisco-based OpenAI.

“I personally think we have been on the wrong side of history here and need to figure out a different open-source strategy,” Altman said.

“Not everyone at OpenAI shares this view, and it’s also not our current highest priority.”

Chinese AI newcomer DeepSeek has made headlines for its R1 chatbot’s supposed low cost and high performance, but also its claim to be a public-spirited “open-source” project in contrast to closed alternatives from OpenAI and Google.

Read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1889074/openai-chief-sam-altman-says-it-needs-new-open-source-strategy

01/02/2025

A medical jet with six Mexican nationals on board crashed into a busy Philadelphia neighbourhood on Friday, authorities said, marking another US aviation disaster after a passenger plane and a military helicopter collided midair in Washington earlier this week.

Video footage appeared to show the twin-engine plane descending at a sharp angle towards a residential area, sparking a huge fireball upon impact and showering wreckage over homes and vehicles.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the aircraft was a Learjet 55 — an American-French business jet — that had taken off shortly before from Northeast Philadelphia Airport bound for Branson, Missouri.

The crash happened just after 6pm (4am PKT)

A young girl who had been in the United States for medical care, her mother, and members of the flight and medical crews accompanying her onboard were killed in the crash, the children’s hospital that treated her told AFP.

“The patient had received care from Shriners Children’s Philadelphia and was being transported back to her home country in Mexico on a contracted air ambulance when the crash happened,” said Mel Bower, a spokesman for Shriners Children’s.

Read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1889063/6-dead-as-medical-jet-crashes-in-philadelphia-days-after-washington-disaster

01/02/2025

Funeral prayers were held on Saturday morning for a policeman martyred in a firing incident a day earlier in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Upper Kurram tehsil.

The policeman, Syed Ashiq Hussain, embraced martyrdom after he was shot at by a sniper while posted on security duty last evening, according to Superintendent of Police (SP) Operation Muhammad Abbas.

His funeral was held with official honours at the office of the Parachinar District Police Officer, after which he was buried in his native area of Noorki in Kurram district.

Read further details: https://www.dawn.com/news/1889060/funeral-prayers-held-for-policeman-slain-in-fresh-upper-kurram-firing

01/02/2025

A delegation of the UK’s Department for Transport currently visiting Pakistan to evaluate aviation safety standards held a meeting with the PIA management on Friday.

The UK team visited PIA headquarters and inspected the national flag carrier’s flight operations, flight safety and engineering.

The successful completion of the UK DfT team’s visit will pave the way for Pakistani airlines to resume direct flights to the UK, ending a long restriction on UK routes.

A spokesman for Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the UK delegation had arrived here four days ago to review aviation safety standards.

Read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1889015/uk-team-meets-pia-officials-inspects-flight-safety

01/02/2025

The New Multan station house officer (SHO) was suspended from service and arrested for torturing an elderly man on the road during the security protocol for the national cricket team two days ago.

The incident came to light after a mobile camera footage went viral on social media, showing SHO Muhammad Shafiq manhandling an elderly motorcyclist for violating protocol.

The footage showed the policeman pulling the motorcyclist down on the road and thrashing him with kicks and fists.

The incident sparked outrage on social media, with users condemning the policeman’s conduct and demanding action by police high-ups.

Multan Regional Police Officer (RPO) Sohail Chaudhry took notice of the incident and directed the city police officer (CPO) to take strict action against the SHO.

Read more: https://work-61904202.workplace.com/chat/t/4487255824653599

01/02/2025

US President Donald Trump on Saturday will implement tariffs of 25 per cent on Canadian and Mexican imports and 10pc on Chinese goods with immediate effect, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on Friday.

“The President will be implementing tomorrow 25pc tariffs on Mexico, 25pc tariffs on Canada, and a 10pc tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans,” Leavitt told a White House Press briefing.

Reuters earlier quoted sources familiar with the tariff deliberations as saying that Trump would announce tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports on Saturday but delay collection of the duties until March 1 and offer a limited process for certain imports to be exempted.

Leavitt called the report “false,” but when asked about exemptions, she said she did not have an “update or readout for you on the exemptions.”

Read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1889003/trump-to-impose-tariffs-on-canada-mexico-china-today

01/02/2025

Faizan Usmani decries the use and results of online translation apps.
aurora.dawn.com/news/1145292

01/02/2025

Today’s editorial cartoon by Zahoor.

01/02/2025

Editorial: The past year was not a good one where deadly terrorist attacks go, for according to the military’s data, 2024 saw the highest number of civilian and military casualties in a decade.

Much of this bloodshed is the handiwork of the banned TTP and other religiously inspired militants, though separatist groups in Balochistan also launched several major attacks. Now it seems that the state has decided to push back hard, going after militants in the worst-affected parts of KP.

Read the full editorial: https://www.dawn.com/news/1888999

01/02/2025

The government on Friday increased the prices of high-speed diesel (HSD) and petrol by Rs7 and Re1 per litre, respectively, with immediate effect for the next fortnight ending Feb 15.

On the other hand, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) notified an increase in the price of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) by Rs3.68 per kg and Rs43.52 per 11.8kg cylinder (1.47pc) for the month of February.

Ogra notified the new price for 11.8kg cylinder at Rs2,996.88 for February. It was Rs2,953.36 in January. It said the LPG producer price was linked with Saudi Aramco-CP and US dollar exchange rate.

In a late-night announcement, the Ministry of Finance said Ogra had adjusted the prices for petroleum products in view of the fluctuations in the international market.

Read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1888952/hsd-petrol-prices-raised-by-rs7-re1-for-fortnight

01/02/2025

In what appeared to be a major disclosure about the investigation, US President Donald Trump said on Friday the Blackhawk helicopter that collided with a regional passenger jet in Washington, D.C. was flying too high at the time of the accident.

The US Army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US military helicopters regularly fly a route over the Potomac river near the busy Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, known as Route 4. For safety reasons, the altitude on those helicopter flights is capped at 200 feet (61 metres).

“The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200-foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1888943/trump-says-blackhawk-was-flying-too-high-black-boxes-found

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