LAHORE: In a surprise move, the Jinnah Institute of Cardiology has been renamed as the Maryam Nawaz Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases.
Punjab Health Minister Khwaja Salman Rafique told a private news channel on Monday that “renaming reflects the hospital’s new identity as a separate, independent entity, no longer functioning as an expansion project of the Jinnah Hospital Lahore”.
He said the Maryam Nawaz Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases had been made autonomous and would not be under the administrative control of Jinnah Hospital.
The plan for this new institute (Jinnah Institute of Cardiology) was announced by the then chief minister Mohsin Naqvi in October 2023 in the building adjacent to Jinnah Hospital.
The Russian-installed governor of the occupied Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, Leonid Pasechnik, said that Russian troops are now in full control of the entire region.
If confirmed, that would make Luhansk the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war. Luhansk is one of four regions that Russia now claims as its own.
Russia’s state media and war bloggers also said that Russian forces have taken control of the first village in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk.
This came as Moscow-appointed officials said Ukrainian forces attacked the city of Donetsk in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, killing at least one person, damaging several buildings and setting a market on fire.
Also in Donetsk, Russian forces have occupied one of Ukraine’s most valuable lithium deposits near the village of Shevchenko, The Kyiv Independent reported, citing Roman Pohorilyi, the founder of the open-source mapping project Deep State Map.
The Ukrainian Air Force, meanwhile, said it detected 107 Russian Shahed and decoy drones in the country’s airspace overnight, a day after the country experienced the biggest aerial attack from Russian forces since 2022.
Russian strikes in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region left two civilians dead and eight wounded, including a 6-year-old child, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Outside the immediate region, Bloomberg reported an explosion on an oil tanker near Libya, in the latest unexplained blast on vessels that had previously called at Russian ports.
Politics and diplomacy
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged the United States to consider whether new sanctions on Russia would help the Ukraine peace effort after a top Republican senator said he had received US President Donald Trump’s blessing to move forward on a bill introducing punitive measures against Moscow.
US envoy Keith Kellogg responded to Peskov’s comments, describing them as “Orwellian”. “Russia cannot continue to stall for time while it bombs civilian targets in Ukraine,” Kellogg said in a post on X.
German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul, speaking during a visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of making “pure mockery” of peace talks.
“His apparent readiness to negotiate is only a facade so far,” Wadephul said, adding that Germany was trying to help Ukraine get to a point where it could “negotiate more strongly”.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Moscow was introducing “reciprocal measures” restricting access to 15 media outlets from the European Union, in retaliation for the latest round of EU sanctions on Russia.
In North Korea, images on state television showed leader Kim Jong Un draping coffins with the country’s national flag in what appeared to be the repatriation of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine, according to the Reuters news agency.
Norway said it would deploy F-35 fighter jets to Poland to protect Polish airspace and a key logistical hub for aid to Ukraine, a day after Warsaw scrambled aircraft in response to Russian air attacks on western Ukraine, near the border.
Economy
The International Monetary Fund said it would provide $500m to Ukraine, after completing a routine review of its $15.5bn four-year support programme.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has potential to improve the diagnosis of melanoma, but the road to its widespread adoption requires overcoming various challenges, according to a new review.1
The promise of AI has been anticipated as traditional diagnostic methods, including physical examination and nodal assessments, have lacked reliability and face variability in interpretation based on who is reviewing.
Outside of patient diversity, the researchers call for variety in data types to strengthen AI models, with a compilation of patient records with genomic data and images. | Image credit: natali_mis – stock.adobe.com
“Given the growing incidence of melanoma in the world, applications based on AI can help reduce the burden on doctors, simplify the diagnostic algorithm, and provide populations with equal access to adequate treatment,” the researchers explained.
The review, published in International Journal of Intelligent Systems, explored the current landscape of AI models being used to aid in the diagnosis of melanoma. These approaches include machine learning, deep learning, and mixed-approach methods.
Newer approaches like convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have gained steam for their ability to detect features in images and videos, and in turn have been explored in health care, including for melanoma.2 In one study of more than 2600 images, the deep learning approach had an 88% accuracy rate in classifying skin lesions as malignant or nonmalignant. Another study has demonstrated a 96% accuracy rate, showing accuracy improvements compared with earlier AI methods like Support Vector Machines (SVMs).
SVMs have demonstrated the ability to detect melanoma early, with accuracy of up to and more than 87%. Data have shown that the model is able to use just 6 identifiable factors to make a diagnosis.
Some models have approached AI with a hybrid of CNN and SVM, combining CNN’s ability to automatically pinpoint important features of images without the need for manual input with SVM’s ability to classify data.
“According to the research, various AI models could perform equally well or even better than experts in dermatology in specific situations, since most of them reported accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity levels higher than 85%. Nevertheless, several difficulties make it hard to put these findings into practice,” explained the researchers, noting that methods like CNNs struggle with widespread uptake.
In addition to resourcing issues, with many health care organizations facing structural and financial challenges for implementation, the researchers highlighted inconsistencies in the performance of current AI models. Inconsistent results are driven by differences in how these models are built and the data that they are trained to assess. Current models often leave an absence of explanation of their results, highlighting an opportunity for improved models to offer a basis for their diagnosis.
Improvements in the data used for AI approaches were highlighted by the group. It’s well documented that clinical trials, including those for melanoma, are often not representative of true patient populations in the real world.3 As a result, lesion images included in studies remain limited for analysis. The researchers emphasized the need for data on a variety of patient types, including those with different skin types and with different stages of disease.
Outside of patient diversity, the researchers call for variety in data types to strengthen AI models, with a compilation of patient records with genomic data and images. Improvements in AI-based models also require health care organizations to work closely with researchers and developers of such technology to share data.
At the same time, as patient populations and cases evolve, AI models must adapt with it, balancing both flexibility and accuracy.
“AI should be applied in health care after being tested in studies that follow its performance and effects in various settings,” the authors concluded. “Improved user interfaces and immediate support for making decisions must be available for practical use by doctors. It will be vital for AI developers, doctors, and healthcare policymakers to cooperate in order to develop rules that allow safe, ethical, and effective implementation of AI technology for early diagnostics of melanoma.”
References
1. Alam F, Ullah A, Shah D, Ali S, Tahir M. Artificial intelligence in melanoma detection: A review of current technologies and future direction. Int J Intell Syst. Published online June 13, 2025. doi:10.1155/int/3164952
2. Kwiatkowska D, Kluska P, Reich A. Convolutional neural networks for the detection of malignant melanoma in dermoscopy images. Postepy Dermatol Alergol. 2021;38(3):412-420. doi:10.5114/ada.2021.107927
3. Donia M, Kimper-Karl ML, Hoyer KL, Bastholt L, Schmidt H, Svane IM. The majority of patients with metastatic melanoma are not represented in pivotal phase III immunotherapy trials. Eur J Cancer. 2017;74:89-95. doi:10.1016/j.ejca.2016.12.017
The prices of 19kg commercial LPG cylinders dropped today by 58 rupees 50 paise in Delhi. The Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) announced that the retail price of a commercial LPG gas cylinder is now 1 thousand 665 rupees in Delhi. Meanwhile, the commercial LPG price has dropped by 57 rupees in Kolkata, 58 rupees in Mumbai and 57 rupees 50 paise in Chennai. There is no change in the prices of domestic cylinders.
GAZA: Women grieve amidst the rubble of Yaffa School, which was destroyed in Israeli strikes.—AFP
• Over 60 killed, including two dozen at seafront rest area; school sheltering refugees also targeted • IDF admits ‘harming civilians’ at aid sites; claims new orders issued after ‘lessons learned’ • Israeli minister in Washington for talks, Netanyahu due to meet Trump soon for renewed peace push
GAZA / WASHINGTON: Israeli forces killed at least 60 people on Monday — in one of the deadliest days in weeks — as Israeli officials headed to Washington for a renewed diplomatic push to secure a ceasefire and the release of prisoners.
Following the resolution of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran, hopes for a halt to the fighting in Gaza have been revived, where more than 20 months of incessant bombing have created dire humanitarian conditions for the population of more than two million.
US President Donald Trump has recently urged Israel to “make the deal in Gaza”, while key mediator Qatar said Monday that “momentum” had been created by the truce with Iran last week.
But on the ground, Israel has continued to press its offensive across the Palestinian territory.
According to Gaza’s civil defence agency, 21 people were in a strike on a seafront rest area.
“The place is always crowded with people because the rest area offers drinks, family seating and internet access,” eyewitness Ahmed Al-Nayrab, 26, told AFP, recalling a “huge explosion that shook the area”.
“I saw body parts flying everywhere, and bodies cut and burned… It was a scene that made your skin crawl.” Another eyewitness, Bilal Awkal, 35, said “blood covered the ground and screams filled the air”.
“Women and children were everywhere, like a scene from a movie about the end of the world.”
Photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab was among those killed in the strike.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 27 others were killed by Israeli strikes or gunfire across Gaza, including “11 people killed near aid distribution points in the central and southern parts of the territory”.
Eyewitnesses and local authorities have reported repeated killings of Palestinians near distribution centres in recent weeks, after Israel began allowing in a trickle of aid at the end of May.
Samir Abu Jarbou, 28, told AFP by phone that he had gone with relatives to pick up food in an area of central Gaza around midnight.
“Suddenly, the (Israeli) army opened fire, and drones started shooting. We ran away and got nothing,” he said.
In the southern city of Khan Yunis, the dead and wounded were rushed to a hospital in an open-top trailer after aid seekers said they were fired on by Israeli forces in nearby Rafah.
“The targeting was deliberate, aimed at people as they were leaving,” eyewitness Aboud al-Adwi told AFP.
“There was no one among us who was wanted or posed any threat. We were all civilians, simply trying to get food for our children,” he added.
IDF admission
In a significant development, the Israeli military acknowledged on Monday that Palestinian civilians were harmed at aid distribution centres in the Gaza Strip, saying that Israeli forces had been issued new instructions following what it called “lessons learned”.
Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited deliveries to resume, the United Nations says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed while seeking handouts of aid.
“Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted in the Southern Command and instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned,” an Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement.
The statement said incidents in which Gaza civilians were harmed were under review.
It followed a Friday report in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper that Israel’s Military Advocate General had ordered an investigation into possible war crimes over allegations that Israeli forces deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians near the sites.
The spokesperson had no immediate comment on a Times of Israel report on Monday, citing the military, that artillery shelling intended to deter Palestinians from approaching certain zones near aid distribution centres had been inaccurate in at least three instances, resulting in 30-40 casualties, including several fatalities.
Ceasefire push
US President Donald Trump had said last week that he was hoping for a new ceasefire “within the next week”, and is reportedly pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the Gaza war.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told journalists on Monday that “momentum” had been created by the Iran-Israel ceasefire on June 24.
“We won’t hold our breath for this to happen today and tomorrow, but we believe that the elements are in place to push forward towards restarting the talks,” he added.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is due to hold talks at the White House this week, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House on July 7 for talks with President Donald Trump.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier that Netanyahu had “expressed interest” in what would be his third meeting with Trump since the Republican returned to power in January.
“I know that Mr Dermer is in Washington this week to meet with senior officials here at the White House,” she told reporters.
The spokeswoman said Trump’s “priority” was to “end this brutal war in Gaza”.
“It’s heartbreaking to see the images that have come out from both Israel and Gaza throughout this war, and the president wants to see it end,” Leavitt added.
Separately, Washington has announced the approval of a $510 million sale to Israel of bomb guidance kits and related support, after Israel expended significant munitions in its recent conflict with Iran.
