BRASLIA: Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose by almost 22 per cent in one year, the highest level in 15 years, according to figures released on Thursday that cast doubt on promises by President Jair Bolsonaro’s government to reverse the trend with “forceful” action. The 13,235 square kilometres of forest lost from August 2020 to July 2021 period was the …

ISLAMABAD: Cash and valuables worth over Rs13 million were looted in six separate strikes in the capital, police said. In the first incident, 10 gunmen looted valuables worth Rs7,557,948 from a warehouse located in Model Town. A man came over to the main gate of the warehouse, called the security guard and held him up at gunpoint. Shortly, seven persons …

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minis­ter for Law and Justice Barrister Dr Farogh Naseem has said that the government has averted the Indian move to file a contempt petition before the International Court of Justice against Pakistan for non-compliance with the ICJ decision on Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. Addressing a press conference on Friday, he said the bill passed by the joint sitting of parliament …

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Mayor Sylvester Turner and the nation’s top environmental official toured a Houston neighborhood involved in a health crisis has been reporting on for years. A cancer cluster tied to the Union Pacific Railroad in the Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens has left the community feeling forgotten after city leaders have failed to take action on several …

The EU’s drug watchdog on Friday backed Merck’s anti-Covid pill for emergency use ahead of its formal authorisation and started reviewing Pfizer’s antiviral treatment as cases soar across Europe. The two pills by the US pharma giants represent a potentially groundbreaking step in the fight against coronavirus as studies show they cut the risk of hospitalisation and death in high-risk …

ISLAMABAD: As many as 319 fresh cases of Covid-19 were reported in Pakistan in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of confirmed infections to 1,281,559. According to the National Command and Operation Centre’s (NCOC) data, a total of 39,200 samples were tested during this period, out of which 319 turned out to be positive, showing a national positivity rate …

ISLAMABAD: The federal capital has registered 26 new dengue fever cases during the past 24 hours. According to the district health officer (DHO), 26 patients with dengue hemorrhagic fever were reported in rural and urban areas of the federal capital territory. The DHO said that 8 cases were reported from rural areas and 18 from urban areas of Islamabad. Nineteen …

The longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years dazzled night skies around the globe on Friday. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the eclipse that lasted 3 hours, 28 minutes and 23 seconds was the longest since February 18, 1440. During the eclipse, up to 99.1% of the moon’s disk was within Earth’s darkest shadow, it said. …

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has requested the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to end SMS charges during the voters’ verification campaign. The election commission has written a letter to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) seeking assistance for the ongoing voters’ verification campaign across the country. The commission stated in the letter that the voters and ECP staffers are …

PESHAWAR: A second successive round of one-under 71 sent Nouman Ilyas to the top of the National Amateur Ranking Golf Championship leaderboard at the end of round two the PAF Golf Course here on Friday. Nouman’s consistency saw him end the day with a five-stroke lead over overnight leader Mohammad Shoaib, who is at three-over 147 after he could only …