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  • Hamas offers to free 10 prisoners for sake of ceasefire – World

    Hamas offers to free 10 prisoners for sake of ceasefire – World

    • Netanyahu follows Trump’s optimistic line on ceasefire hopes
    • Rubio announces sanctions against outspoken UN expert Francesca Albanese
    • Six children among 26 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza

    JERUSALEM: As Israel fell in line with US President Donald Trump and his optimism about the prospects for a ceasefire and prisoner-release deal in Gaza, Hamas called the talks difficult due to Israel’s “intransigence”, but said it was working seriously to overcome hurdles.

    The Palestinian group announced it would release 10 prisoners amid ongoing peace efforts, but clarified that the agreement still had several sticking points, including the flow of aid, withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and ‘genuine guarantees’ for a permanent ceasefire.

    The announcement came after four days of indirect talks brokered by Qatar.

    “Despite the difficulty of negotiations over these issues until now due to the intransigence of the occupation, we continue to work seriously and with a positive spirit with the mediators to overcome the hurdles and end the suffering of our people and ensure their aspirations to freedom, safety and a dignified life,” the group said.

    Hamas has vowed “Gaza will not surrender” and a Palestinian official close to the ceasefire talks indicated that Israel was still holding back a deal by refusing to allow free entry of aid in Gaza.

    One Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations in Doha said the Israeli delegation was “mostly listening rather than negotiating, which reflects Israel’s ongoing policy of obstruction and sabotaging any potential agreement”.

    Meanwhile, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu – who met with top officials in Washington – struck a more upbeat note, in line with President Trump’s hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza this week or the next.

    “I think we’re getting closer to a deal,” Netanyahu told Fox Business Network. “There’s a good chance that we’ll have it.”

    Sanctions on UN expert

    Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctioning of UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, following her criticism of Washington’s policy on Gaza.

    The action was supposedly taken over the outspoken UN rapporteur’s “efforts to prompt (International Criminal Court) action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives”, Rubio claimed..

    The Italy-born expert, who has consistently been a leading voice speaking for Palestinians, released a damning report earlier this month denouncing companies she said “profited from the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid, and now genocide” in the occupied Palestinian territories.

    Rubio also attacked her for “biased and malicious activities,” and accused her of having “spewed unabashed antisemitism (and) support for terrorism.”

    He said she escalated her contempt for the US by writing “threatening letters” to several US companies, making what Rubio called unfounded accusations and recommending the ICC pursue prosecutions of the companies and their executives.

    Gaza strikes

    Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Wednesday that 26 people were killed in Israeli strikes, at least six of them children.

    “The explosion was massive, like an earthquake,” said Zuhair Judeh, 40, who witnessed one of the strikes, which prompted frantic scenes as people scrabbled in the rubble for survivors.

    “The bodies and remains of the martyrs were scattered,” he added, calling it “a horrific massacre”.

    Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2025

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  • June was hottest on record in western Europe – World

    June was hottest on record in western Europe – World

    PARIS: Western Europe sweltered through its hottest June on record last month, as “extreme” temperatures blasted the region in punishing back-to-back heatwaves, the EU climate monitor Copernicus said on Wednesday.

    Globally, this past June was the third warmest on record, continuing a blistering heat streak in recent years as the planet warms as a result of humanity’s emissions of greenhouse gases.

    The previous hottest June was in 2024 and the second hottest was in 2023, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said. Sweltering extremes were particularly pronounced in Europe, which is warming several times faster than the global average.

    Millions of people were exposed to high heat stress across parts of the continent as daily average temperatures in western Europe climbed to levels rarely seen before — and never so early in the summer.

    Several countries recorded surface temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, with heat of up to 46C in Spain and Portugal, Copernicus said. Samantha Burgess, the EU monitor’s Strategic Lead for Climate, said the impact of the heatwaves in Europe was “exceptional”, intensified by record sea surface temperatures in the western Mediterranean — which hit an all-time daily maximum in June.

    “In a warming world, heatwaves are likely to become more frequent, more intense and impact more people across Europe,” she said. The two heatwaves — from June 17 to 22, and again from June 30 to July 2 — were linked to heat domes trapping warm air over affected regions, prolonging the stifling weather, and worsening pollution and wildfire conditions.

    Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and much of the Balkans saw some of the hottest “feels-like” temperatures, which measure the impact on the human body by taking into account factors like humidity. Maximum feels-like temperatures north of Lisbon hit 48C, around 7C above average and associated with “extreme heat stress”, said Copernicus.

    Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2025

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  • OBITUARY: Zubeida Mustafa: adieu to a trailblazer – Newspaper

    OBITUARY: Zubeida Mustafa: adieu to a trailblazer – Newspaper

    She was recognised for her professional work through various local and international awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award presented to her by the International Women’s Media Foundation in 2012.

    Zubeida Mustafa

    A PIONEER in women’s journalism in Pakistan and a dedicated voice for the marginalised, Zubeida Mustafa passed away on Wednesday evening in Karachi. She was 84.

    Known to her colleagues at Dawn as ‘Mrs Mustafa’ or ‘ZM’, she spent 33 years at the paper, retiring in 2008 after serving as assistant editor.

    During her over three-decade tenure at Dawn, Mrs Mustafa helped bring out numerous supplements and satellite publications such as the education page and Books & Authors, the first dedicated English-language magazine focusing on book reviews and literary matters brought out by a mainstream paper in the country.

    ZM was educated at St Joseph’s Convent in Karachi, and later attained a Master’s degree in International Relations from Karachi University. She also attended the London School of Economics, but could not complete her studies at that institution.

    She began her professional life at the Karachi-based Pakistan Institu­­te of International Affairs, and was later approached by Dawn‘s editor Ahmad Ali Khan to work at the paper. She considered Khan Sahib a major influence, and in an interview with Newsline termed him “a very progressive man and a champion of women’s rights“.

    But as Zohra Yusuf noted in a review of ZM’s autobiography, “in her own quiet way, [she] exercised a significant influence on the newspaper’s journey”. This included bringing the “women’s perspective” to the paper’s editorials. Zubeida Mustafa’s editorials, and later columns, focused on a wide variety of subjects, including international affairs, education and issues of the marginalised and the downtrodden.

    As Dawn’s op-ed editor Ayesha Azfar, who worked with Mrs Mustafa noted, “Her last column for op-ed appeared in March this year, after which she was finding it increasingly difficult because of her failing health. She was legally visually impaired, and it is remarkable the way she managed to do her columns, to regularly attend seminars, and keep up her interest in education — she wrote a book on that — women, and health amongst other subjects.”

    ZM edited numerous books and wrote two: her aforementioned biography My DAWN Years — Exploring Social Issues and Reforming School Education in Pakistan & the Language Dilemma. She was recognised for her professional work through various local and international awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award presented to her by the International Women’s Media Foundation in 2012.

    Pakistan Herald Publications Limited had launched an award named after her in 2013, titled the ZM Award For Journalistic Excellence to recognise her contribution “both to Dawn and to the field of journalism in Pakistan”.

    Activist and columnist Naeem Sadiq said he knew Zubeida Mustafa for 30 years. “She was a good friend. She had lunch with us about a month ago and wanted to come again. She was a great woman, it is the nation’s loss. She taught us values and professional ethics. She was a very progressive lady. She wrote on human rights, issues of the handicapped. She set standards in ethics and morality,” he observed.

    The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan mourned her loss and observed that she “championed social, cultural and language rights like few. She was a comrade-in-arms and stood by the disadvantaged and oppressed”.

    A condolence statement from the Karachi Press Club noted that she “was not just a journalist; she was an institution”.

    “Her work on social issues, education, and health was particularly impactful, demonstrating her deep empathy and dedication to improving the lives of ordinary citizens,” KPC President Fazil Jamili and Secretary Sohail Afzal Khan said, adding that she leaves a “legacy that will continue to inspire generations of journalists”.

    Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2025

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  • Grok under fire for posts praising Hitler, insulting Islam – Newspaper

    Grok under fire for posts praising Hitler, insulting Islam – Newspaper

    • Turkiye blocks chatbot’s content for ridiculing Erdogan, religious values
    • Jewish advocacy group slams anti-Semitic comments

    PARIS: Billionaire Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok came under fire on Wednesday for anti-Semitic comments, praising Adolf Hitler and insulting Islam in separate posts on the X platform.

    One series of comments, which included insults directed at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, led a court there to ban the posts in question.

    These were just the latest in a series of controversies surrounding Musk’s AI chatbot, which has already been accused of promoting racist conspiracy theories.

    The CEO of X, Linda Yaccarino, resigned unexpectedly on Wednesday, but there was no known connection to the latest blowup over the Grok chatbot.

    Screenshots on X showed several posts made by the bot in which it praised Nazi leader Hitler, who sought to exterminate Jewish people, and claimed Jews promoted “anti-white hate”. The chatbot, developed by Musk’s company xAI, was criticised by Jewish advocacy group Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for answering multiple user prompts with the questionable posts.

    In Turkiye, a court announced it was blocking access to a series of messages from Grok on X, which it said had insulted Erdogan and Islamic religious values.

    Poland is going to report xAI to the European Commission after Grok made offensive comments about Polish politicians, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

    Poland’s digitisation minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski, told RMF FM radio on Wednesday that the government will ask Brussels to investigate the chatbot’s offensive comments about its politicians.

    “I have the impression that we are entering a higher level of hate speech, which is driven by algorithms, and that turning a blind eye or ignoring this today… is a mistake that may cost humanity in the future,” he said.

    Posts removed

    Grok removed what it called the “inappropriate” social media posts on Tuesday after complaints from X users and the ADL.

    “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts,” Grok posted on X.

    “Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.”

    Musk posted on Wednesday that the incident was prompted by a user who was seeking a controversial statement from Grok “and obviously got it”. Grok was “too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed,” Musk added.

    Last Friday he posted to say they had made significant improvements to the Grok chatbot, ahead of the release of the company’s latest AI model Grok-4.

    Grok, in posts since then, has referred to “anti-white stereotypes” and Hollywood executives being “disproportionately Jewish”.

    Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2025

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  • Warrants against Parvez Elahi withdrawn – Pakistan

    Warrants against Parvez Elahi withdrawn – Pakistan

    RAWALPINDI: The Accountability Court of Rawalpindi on Wednesday withdrew the arrest warrants issued against former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi following his appearance before the court after repeated absences.

    Accountability Court Judge Sheikh Ejaz Ali cancelled the warrants and restored Mr Elahi’s bail bonds.

    The case relates to Bahria Town’s alleged illegal occupation of 684 acres in Rakh Takht Pari and 732.5 acres in the Loi Bher forests.

    Takht Pari, located six kilometres from Rawal­pi­ndi near G.T. Road, spans a total of 2,210 acres and was transferred to the forest de­­­partment on Aug 4, 1856.

    According to a Punjab government report, the land consists primarily of natural shrub forest, dominated by Phulai and Sanatha bushes.

    Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, representing Bahria Town owner Malik Riaz in the Supreme Court, defended his client by highlighting his charitable contributions, including the provision of medicines to the underprivileged and food to the needy. However, the court, while acknowledging Mr Riaz’s philanthropy, remarked that the case was akin to the saying: “Rob Peter to pay Paul.”

    Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2025

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  • Gold edges higher on softer dollar, trade war intensifies – Reuters

    1. Gold edges higher on softer dollar, trade war intensifies  Reuters
    2. Gold inches higher with focus on trade talks  Reuters
    3. Gold hovers near one-week low as firmer US dollar, yields weigh  Dunya News
    4. Gold Holds Losses  TradingView
    5. Gold rises slightly following Trump’s announcement of new tariffs  FXStreet

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  • Realising safer tuberculosis treatment with novel antibiotics

    Realising safer tuberculosis treatment with novel antibiotics

    Based on the clinical trial results, the drugs could particularly benefit tuberculosis patients requiring extended therapeutic intervention.

    tuberculosis

    New research has found two novel antibiotics that could provide safer treatment options for drug-resistant tuberculosis.

    Sutezolid and delpazolid are part of a class of medicines called oxazolidinones. When compared to linezolid, these drugs have demonstrated strong antimicrobial activity and an improved safety profile.

    Linezolid was introduced as part of the BPaLM regimen (bedaquiline, pretomanid, and moxifloxacin) in 2022. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended it as a standard six-month treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, the researchers highlighted.

    However, ”despite its effectiveness, linezolid is simply too toxic for many patients. We urgently need safer alternatives in this antibiotic class,” stated PD Dr Norbert Heinrich, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, LMU University Hospital Munich.

    Working to improve outcomes in tuberculosis – potential of the novel antibiotics

    Two Phase IIb clinical trials evaluated sutezolid and delpazolid in combination with bedaquiline, delamanid, and moxifloxacin, making them the first trials to use these specific four-drug combinations. In patients with drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis, the antibiotics were reportedly safer and more tolerable compared to linezolid.

    “These findings suggest that [sutezolid and delpazolid] may offer safer treatment options for [tuberculosis] patients, particularly those requiring longer courses of therapy”

    Specifically, sutezolid demonstrated strong antibacterial activity and was well tolerated across all tested doses. On the other hand, delpazolid improved the effectiveness of the combination therapy with bedaquiline, delamanid, and moxifloxacin. A once-daily 1200mg dose achieved the desired drug levels for maximum efficacy. This was well tolerated over a 16-week period, the team shared.

    “These findings suggest that both drugs may offer safer treatment options for [tuberculosis] patients, particularly those requiring longer courses of therapy,” explained Dr Tina Minja, National PI for the DECODE study at NIMR-Mbeya Medical Research Centre in Tanzania.

    Future tuberculosis treatment landscape

    “Seeing fewer side effects with sutezolid and delpazolid is a significant step forward—it brings us closer to [tuberculosis] therapies that are both effective and easier for patients to tolerate,” commented Dr Ivan Norena, Medical Team Lead at the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at LMU University Hospital Munich.

    Going forward, the research team plan to evaluate sutezolid and delpazolid in larger cohorts. Notably, subject to further development of these drugs as a new treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis, the antibiotics could play a key role in reducing treatment-related side effects while maintaining efficacy as next generation medicines for the disease.

    These new findings were published in two peer-reviewed articles in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

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  • PHC terms Swat tragedy a gross negligence

    PHC terms Swat tragedy a gross negligence

    PESHAWAR   –  The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Wednesday declared the Swat tragedy a result of gross negligence and ordered a comprehensive investigation into the incident. In a written judgment on a petition filed against encroachments on rivers and the Swat incident, the court stated that the tragic event that occurred on June 27 in the Swat River was due to the serious negligence of the concerned authorities. The judgment noted that 17 precious lives were lost due to the failure of officials, and no emergency measures such as helicopters were used to rescue tourists, terming it a clear sign of criminal negligence in public service. The court also pointed out that illegal construction of hotels and buildings along rivers such as the Swat, Panjkora, Dir, Indus, Kabul, and Charsadda has become common, posing a severe threat to human lives. The existence of these unauthorized structures reflects the failure and silent complicity of the relevant institutions. The court directed the investigation committee formed on the Swat tragedy to submit its preliminary findings within 7 days and a detailed report within 14 days. The Advocate General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was also instructed to clarify what steps have been taken so far to ensure public safety. This firm action by court is seen as a landmark step towards ensuring accountability and protecting lives in the future.


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  • ‘It still doesn’t compute’: David Corenswet on becoming Superman in James Gunn’s reboot

    ‘It still doesn’t compute’: David Corenswet on becoming Superman in James Gunn’s reboot

    LOS ANGELES, July 10 — Actor David Corenswet feels a connection with the classic DC comic book character Superman that he portrays in the 2025 James Gunn directed film Superman.

    The character Superman is known in the comic books for his identity problems, namely his double life as both a powerful superhero while also being an awkward reporter named Clark Kent who works at Daily Planet.

    Corenswet is the latest actor to don the blue and red suit on the big screen, and he is still processing the weight of his new identity as the superhero.

    “As far as the moments of it hitting me that I’m playing Superman, I think saying the sentence out loud is the closest I get,” he told Reuters.

    “But it still just sounds so ridiculous to me to say it out loud that, you know, it doesn’t quite compute,” he added.

    Superman, which arrives in US movie theatres tomorrow, follows Superman as he gets drawn into international politics as well as crossing swords with his billionaire nemesis Lex Luthor, played by Nicholas Hoult, monsters and other superpowered beings.

    Cast members Nicholas Hoult, Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet attend a premiere for the film ‘Superman’ at the TCL Chinese theatre in Los Angeles, California July 7, 2025. — Reuters pic

    The film has received high acclaim from early reviews on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes with an 88 per cent rating.

    “What’s best about Gunn’s movie is its laser-focused on relatable characters. This is no puzzle piece in a universe or a loud series of action set pieces,” Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post wrote.

    There was something special in Superman’s wardrobe that brought Corenswet closer to the character.

    “The cape is the feeling that sort of pulls the whole thing together,” he said.

    “When you walk in to the soundstage and you feel the cape billowing behind you, or you come to a stop in the cape, sort of twirls around you a little bit, you see your shadow on the wall and the silhouette of the cape, that’s the sort of like,” Corenswet said.

    “And I don’t know whether it’s because I always wanted to be a Jedi growing up, but man, I can’t recommend the cape enough,” he added.

    For Wendell Pierce, who plays the Daily Planet editor Perry White, the movie goes past its fantastical elements and reminds people that Superman is still relatable.

    “That’s the thing that we learned from Superman, that his true superpower is humanity,” he said, emphasising Clark Kent’s life as a working journalist.

    Superman is the first film of the new Warner Bros and DC Universe partnership, led by Gunn.

    Upcoming projects include Supergirl and R-Rated horror film Clayface.

    Anthony Corrigan, who plays Superman’s ally Metamorpho, who can transform his body into any element, said that Gunn didn’t just rely on Superman’s popularity to engage audiences.

    “If it’s the right story, you know, it’s not just resting on the IP and on the character, it actually has to have a vision and creative vision,” he said, emphasising Gunn’s dedication to only make movies out of good screenplays. — Reuters

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  • Exercise enjoyment and commitment linked to personality traits

    Exercise enjoyment and commitment linked to personality traits

    Finding motivation to exercise can be the greatest challenge in working out. This might be part of the reason why less than a quarter of people achieve the activity goals recommended by the World Health Organization.

    But what if working out could be more enjoyable? One way of achieving this could be opting for types of exercise that fit our personalities. To this end, researchers in the UK now have examined how personality affects what types of exercise we prefer, and our commitment and engagement to them. The results were published in Frontiers in Psychology.

    We found that our personality can influence how we engage with exercise, and particularly which forms of exercise we enjoy the most.”


    Dr. Flaminia Ronca, first author from University College London’s (UCL) Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health

    “Understanding personality factors in designing and recommending physical activity programs is likely to be very important in determining how successful a program is, and whether people will stick with it and become fitter,” added senior author Prof Paul Burgess from the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.

    Different sports for different people

    The researchers recruited participants that attended lab testing for baseline fitness. They then split them into two groups; the first group was provided with an eight-week home-based fitness plan made up of cycling and strength training (intervention group), the other group continued their usual lifestyle (control group). During lab testing, the first intervention week, and after the intervention, all participants completed a questionnaire on how much they’d enjoyed each training session. The personality traits examined in the study included extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness.

    “Our brains are wired in different ways, which drives our behaviors and how we interact with our environment,” Ronca explained. “So it’s not surprising that personality would also influence how we respond to different intensities of exercise.”

    For example, people scoring high on extraversion enjoyed high intensity sessions with others around, including team sports. Contrary, people scoring high on neuroticism preferred private workouts. While they are fine with high intensity, they need short breaks in between. Others, scoring high on consciousness and openness were found to engage in exercise regardless of whether they particularly enjoyed it or were driven by curiosity, respectively.

    Stress less

    What was particularly interesting was the relationship between personality, change in fitness, and stress, the researchers said. Before the intervention, the stress levels of both groups were similar. After the intervention, however, especially people who scored high in neuroticism showed a strong reduction in stress. “It’s fantastic news, as it highlights that those who benefit the most from a reduction in stress respond very well to exercise,” Ronca said.

    The researchers pointed out that the most important part about exercising is finding something we enjoy and not to be discouraged if we don’t immediately find it. “It’s ok if we don’t enjoy a particular session,” Ronca said. “We can try something else.” 

    “We hope that if people can find physical activities that they enjoy they will more readily choose to do them,” Burgess concluded. “After all, we don’t have to nag dogs to go for a walk: being so physically inactive that we start to feel miserable might be a peculiarly human thing to do. In effect, our body punishes us by making us miserable. But for some reason, many of us humans seem poor at picking up on these messages it is sending to our brain.”

    Source:

    Journal reference:

    Ronca, F., et al. (2025) Personality traits can predict which exercise intensities we enjoy most, and the magnitude of stress reduction experienced following a training program. Frontiers in Psychology. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1587472.

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