Authorities have decided to launch an immediate crackdown against illegal foreigners in the federal capital and four adjoining districts — Rawalpindi, Attock, Murree and Haripur — as part of a plan to declare them “safe zones.”
Under the plan, data of illegal residents will be compiled, their access to mobile SIMs blocked, and the issuance of stamp papers for property transactions or other financial dealings prohibited. Deputy commissioners and district police chiefs of all five districts have been directed to submit weekly progress reports.
The decision was taken during a high-level meeting of the special task force, chaired by CDA chairman and Islamabad Chief Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa at CDA headquarters.
Senior officials from the interior ministry, National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), Afghan Commissionerate, and district administrations of the five districts attended.
The meeting resolved to take strict and immediate action against foreigners residing without valid visas. A centralised database will be developed containing details such as identities, residential addresses, and other relevant information to prevent their re-settlement in the future.
Randhawa instructed officials to strengthen coordination and data-sharing with FIA, Nadra, and other agencies. He further directed strict enforcement of tenancy laws, with action against unregistered foreign tenants living in houses or hotels. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has also been told not to issue SIMs to foreigners without valid visas.
It was agreed that illegal foreigners would also be barred from property transactions through stamp papers. Randhawa stressed that the government is determined to ensure security and stability by enforcing the law against illegal migrants, with all agencies working together for a permanent solution.
Taylor Swift is keeping the surprises coming ahead of her new album The Life of a Showgirl, with the 14-time Grammy winner unveiling two new vinyl variants on her website Monday (Aug. 18).
Available for pre-order at 2 p.m. ET — hours after a mysterious countdown appeared on Swift’s site teasing the drop — the brand new The Life of a Showgirl: The Shiny Bug Edition collection features an exclusive set of goodies that can only be purchased over the next two days. The limited editions are only available while supplies last until 1:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday (Aug. 20).
Available in two colors — wintergreen onyx and violet shimmer — the marbled Shiny Bug vinyl records feature exclusive cover art depicting Swift wearing a dark, sparkly leotard with flared spikes and matching gloves. They also come with a full-size gatefold photograph of Swift, a double-sided foldout panel displaying a special poem she wrote for the set and a collection of exclusive photographs.
The news comes less than a week after the pop star announced The Life of a Showgirl — her 12th studio album — on Aug. 12, via a teaser clip for her interview on Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast. The full episode featuring Swift arrived the following day, with the musician sharing more details about the LP — including its cover art, production team and tracklist — on the show and in an Instagram post.
“[The album is] a lot more upbeat, and it’s a lot more fun pop excitement,” she said on the show. “My main goals were melodies that were so infectious, you’re almost angry at it.”
With Max Martin and Shellback serving as Swift’s only co-producers on Showgirl, the 12-track project features a collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter on the title track. At the time Swift first announced the LP last week, she also debuted four alternate versions of the album — the “Sweat and Vanilla Perfume” edition, the “It’s Frightening” edition, the “It’s Rapturous” edition and the “It’s Beautiful” edition — that each come with different artwork and photo cards, as well as a jewelry box with a different collectible charm bracelet.
As opposed to Swift’s last album, the sprawling 35-track Tortured Poets Department — which spent 17 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — the singer has also promised that Showgirl will not have any bonus tracks beyond the core 12 on the tracklist.
“There’s no other songs coming,” she emphasized on New Heights. “This is the record I’ve been wanting to make for a very long time.”
Why Israel is systematically erasing Gaza’s intellectuals
A protester holds a sign in memory of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, New York City, US, Aug. 15, 2025. (Reuters)
The killing of seven Palestinian journalists and media workers in Gaza last week has prompted verbal condemnations, yet has inspired little to no substantive action. This has become the predictable and horrifying trajectory of the international community’s response to the ongoing Israeli genocide.
By eliminating Palestinian journalists like Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qraiqeh, Israel has made a sinister statement that the genocide will spare no one. According to the monitoring website Shireen.ps, Israel has killed nearly 270 journalists since October 2023.
More Palestinian journalists are likely to die covering the genocide of their own people in Gaza, especially since Israel has manufactured a convenient and easily deployed narrative that every Gazan journalist is simply a “terrorist.” This is the same cruel logic offered by numerous Israeli officials in the past, including President Isaac Herzog, who declared that “an entire nation” in Gaza “is responsible” for not having rebelled against Hamas, effectively stating that there are no innocent people in the Strip.
This Israeli discourse, which dehumanizes an entire population based on a vicious logic, is frequently repeated by officials who fear no accountability. Even Israeli diplomats, whose job in theory is to improve their country’s image internationally, frequently engage in this brutal ritual. In comments made in January 2024, Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely callously argued that “every school, every mosque, every second house has access to tunnels,” implying that all of Gaza is a valid military target.
This cruel language would be easily dismissed as mere rhetoric except that Israel has, in fact, according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reports, destroyed more than 70 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure.
While extremist language is often used by politicians around the world, it is rare for the extremism of the language to so precisely mirror the extremism of the action itself. This makes Israeli political discourse a uniquely dangerous phenomenon.
There can be no military justification for the wholesale annihilation of an entire region. But again, Israeli politicians are not shying away from providing the discourse that explains this unprecedented destruction. Former Knesset member Moshe Feiglin chillingly said in May that “every child, every baby in Gaza is an enemy … not a single Gazan child will be left there.”
However, for the systematic destruction of a whole nation to succeed, it must include the deliberate targeting of its scientists, doctors, intellectuals, journalists, artists and poets. While children and women may be worst affected by Israel’s indiscriminate bombing raids, many of its targeted assassinations appear to be specifically aimed at disorienting Palestinian society, depriving it of societal leadership and rendering the process of rebuilding Gaza impossible.
The following figures powerfully illustrate this point. According to a report released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, based on a satellite damage assessment conducted in July, 97 percent of Gaza’s educational facilities have been affected, with 91 percent in need of major repairs or full reconstruction. Additionally, hundreds of teachers and thousands of students have been killed.
But why is Israel so intent on killing those responsible for intellectual production? The answer is twofold: one is unique to Gaza and the other is unique to the nature of Israel’s founding ideology, Zionism.
First, regarding Gaza. Since the Nakba in 1948, Palestinian society in Gaza has invested heavily in education, seeing it as a crucial tool for liberation and self-determination. Early footage shows lessons being given in tents and open spaces, a testament to this community’s tenacious pursuit of knowledge. This focus on education transformed the Strip into a regional hub for intellectual and cultural production, despite poorly funded UNRWA schools. Israel’s campaign of destruction is a deliberate attempt to erase this generational achievement, a practice known as “scholasticide,” and Gaza is the most deliberate example of this horrific act.
Second, regarding Zionism. For many years, we were led to believe that Zionism was winning the intellectual war due to the cleverness and refinement of Israeli propaganda, or hasbara. The prevailing narrative, particularly in the Arab world, was that Palestinians and Arabs were simply no match for the savvy Israeli and pro-Israel public relations machine in the West. This created a sense of intellectual inferiority, masking the true reason for the imbalance.
The Gazan intellectual community managed, in two years, to reverse most of Zionism’s gains over the past century.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud
Israel was able to “win” in the mainstream media discourse due to the intentional marginalization and demonization of Palestinian and pro-Palestine voices. The latter had no chance of fighting back simply because they were not allowed to and were instead labeled “terrorist sympathizers” and such like. Even the late world-renowned Palestinian scholar Edward Said was called a “Nazi” by the extremist, now-banned Jewish Defense League, which went so far as to set the beloved professor’s university office on fire.
Gaza, however, represented a major problem. With foreign media forbidden from operating in the Strip as per Israeli orders, the Gazan intellectual community rose to the occasion and, in the course of two years, managed to reverse most of Zionism’s gains over the past century. This forced Israel into a desperate race against time to remove as many Palestinian journalists, intellectuals, academics and even social media influencers from the scene as quickly as possible — thus, the war on the Palestinian thinker.
This Israeli scheme is, however, destined to fail, as ideas are not tied to specific individuals and resilience and resistance are a culture, not a job title. Gaza shall once more emerge, not only as the culturally thriving place it has always been, but as the cornerstone of a new liberation discourse that is set to inspire the globe regarding the power of intellect to stand firm, fight for what is right and live with purpose for a higher cause.
Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the editor of The Palestine Chronicle. His latest book, “Before the Flood,” will be published by Seven Stories Press. His website is www.ramzybaroud.net. X: @RamzyBaroud
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News’ point of view
AMMAN: Abdulhadi Al-Sayed will never forget the vivid details of what happened to him on March 30, the first day of Eid Al-Fitr, just two weeks after Israel resumed its bombing campaign across the Gaza Strip following the latest ceasefire collapse.
He had joined some friends at a cafe in Gaza City to play video games — a semblance of normality amid the grinding conflict. On his way home, the 14-year-old recalled passing a group of children playing in the street when a car pulled up.
Moments later, the first missile struck.
Seven children and everyone in the vehicle were killed instantly, while shrapnel from the blast tore through Abdulhadi’s right arm and thigh. While he lay bleeding heavily on the ground, a second shell exploded, this one shattering his jaw.
Although he survived the attack, he will carry his wounds with him for the rest of his life.
“I remember that day vividly,” Abdulhadi told Arab News from his ward at Mouwasat Hospital, a facility run by Medecins Sans Frontieres in Amman, Jordan, specializing in reconstructive surgery and comprehensive rehabilitation for the war-wounded.
“For months in Gaza, I couldn’t sleep. Every time I woke up, I lived the nightmare still unfolding around me.”
The crisis is compounded by a surge in hunger-related deaths now exceeding 240 — half of them children — according to Gaza authorities. (Reuters)
For two days after the attack, Abdulhadi said he lay on the floor of a hospital in Gaza among dozens of patients, with no bandages, painkillers, or even enough specialist staff to offer more than basic first aid.
Given the damage to his jaw, Abdulhadi said he could only be fed liquids through a syringe. But amid Gaza’s severe food shortages under an Israeli aid blockade, his meals were typically tomato paste mixed with water.
Back in the makeshift camp where he had lived since being displaced from his home in the Shejaiya district of Gaza City, he said a nurse would occasionally come to check on him as he lay recuperating in unsanitary conditions.
It was three months before Abdulhadi was evacuated to Amman as part of the Jordanian medical corridor, an ongoing humanitarian mission launched by King Abdullah II in February to treat 2,000 critically ill and wounded Palestinian children in Jordanian hospitals.
He is one of 437 Palestinians, including 134 children, evacuated from Gaza to Jordan since the initiative began in March in coordination with the World Health Organization. The most recent group, 15 children and 47 companions, arrived on Aug. 6.
Since arriving in Amman on July 1, Abdulhadi has been receiving medical, rehabilitative, and psychological care.
Palestinians rush a wounded child in Al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip after the area was targeted by an Israeli strike, on June 17, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (AFP/File)
After complex maxillofacial surgery to reconstruct his jaw with platinum implants, followed by plastic surgery to repair facial trauma, he can now eat, speak, and even smile again.
He will soon undergo further surgery to remove shrapnel from his hand, followed by reconstructive surgery on his right leg and a course of physiotherapy.
Although he now sleeps through the night on a clean bed, eats regularly, plays chess, and practices a little English daily, he carries the affliction of many war-wounded — survivor’s guilt.
Accompanied by his father and grandmother, Abdulhadi longs to be reunited with his mother, who chose to remain in Gaza, refusing to leave her three older boys, despite persistent hunger and her own untreated injuries.
“I like being here, but not without my family,” said Abdulhadi, who maintains daily contact with his family. They have since found shelter close to Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.
Abdulhadi’s father, Sobhi Al-Sayed, told Arab News he is likewise torn between gratitude for safety and guilt for leaving his other children.
“I feel helpless when my sons tell me they are hungry,” he said. “The other day, I could not recognize my wife on a video call because of how much weight she had lost.”
Shrapnel from the blast tore through Abdulhadi Al-Sayed’s right arm and thigh. (AN photo/Sherouk Zakaria)
Sobhi says his eldest son, 24-year-old Shaker, has also been injured by Israeli fire while trying to get flour for his siblings from an aid distribution center. “Injured, killed, or starved,” he said. “Those are the only three options in Gaza.”
The WHO, which coordinates medical evacuations with Gaza’s Health Ministry and host countries, warned of “catastrophic” conditions in the enclave, where fewer than half of hospitals are partially functioning, short of life-saving medicines, and overwhelmed with patients.
Nearly two years of war have devastated Gaza’s critical sanitation, water, and electricity infrastructure, leaving most of the 1.9 million internally displaced people crowded in tents and exposed to mounting garbage, poor hygiene, and unclean water.
The crisis is compounded by a surge in hunger-related deaths now exceeding 240 — half of them children — according to Gaza authorities, as aid agencies warn of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe.
Since the war began in October 2023 until July 31 this year, the WHO has evacuated more than 7,500 Palestinians, including 5,200 children, for treatment in Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Turkiye, and European countries.
However, WHO officials say more than 14,800 remain in urgent need, calling for faster medical evacuations through all possible routes, including restoring referrals to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Ghada Al-Hams, a mother of six, said she could not leave her children Amr, 11, and Malak, 10, when she was contacted to accompany her 16-year-old son, Ammar, for treatment in Jordan. (AN photo/Sherouk Zakaria)
The small number evacuated compared to the scale of need reflects the long, complex process. Cases are first referred by doctors, then approved by Gaza’s Health Ministry, which prioritizes and transfers them to the WHO for coordination with host countries and Israel.
Bureaucratic hurdles, host country requirements, and occasional Israeli rejections continue to block access to lifesaving care.
Once children complete their treatment in Jordan, they and their caregivers are returned to Gaza, making room for new patients to be evacuated for medical care.
Cyril Cappai, MSF’s head of mission in Amman, told Arab News that while evacuations to Jordan were difficult at first, they have become more organized due to the presence of on the ground MSF teams and the Jordanian field hospital.
The MSF facility in Amman currently hosts 30 Palestinian children from Gaza with critical injuries, along with their companions.
The WHO has evacuated more than 7,500 Palestinians, including 5,200 children, for treatment in Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Turkiye, and European countries. (AFP/File)
Cappai said the comprehensive long-term treatment programs, which include orthopedic and reconstructive surgery, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and mental health services, last more than four months.
“The injuries we see often require multiple surgeries and a long road to recovery,” he said. “We also deal with post-surgery bone infections, which need close monitoring and prolonged courses of antibiotics.”
Rehabilitative and psychological care, which makes up 80 percent of the treatment program, is designed to help children and adolescents rebuild their sense of self-worth by providing adaptive tools that ease their daily life and support their reintegration into society.
“The key is to help young people live with their new condition as productive members of society who can get jobs, drive, and earn money,” said Cappai. “Building mental resilience also accelerates physical progress.”
A 3D printing lab at the facility designs tailored medical devices, from upper-limb prosthetics to transparent facial orthoses for burn patients, which help skin heal through pressure therapy.
Psychotherapy sessions address pain management and help those who have suffered life-changing injuries cope with painful memories and trauma. These services extend to the children’s companions, many of whom suffer from mental trauma and chronic illnesses.
Each patient is usually allowed one companion, but exceptions are made for families with young children, allowing mothers to bring them along.
“We cannot let a mother leave her babies behind, so they come with their wounded siblings to receive treatment,” said Cappai.
Young companions are kept engaged through play therapy, music, art classes, and schooling for those out of the classroom. A new hospital space provides a safe play area, while vocational training in skincare, barbering, and silver crafting is offered in collaboration with local agencies.
Ghada Al-Hams, a mother of six, said she could not leave her children Amr, 11, and Malak, 10, when she was contacted to accompany her 16-year-old son, Ammar, for treatment in Jordan, but she was forced to leave her three other children in Gaza — a decision that still haunts her.
“I left them with no food or water,” Al-Hams told Arab News at the Mouwasat Hospital in Amman. “To be offered the best food while my kids starve is a tragedy for me.” Her son, desperate to get flour for his siblings, was injured twice while seeking aid.
The small number evacuated compared to the scale of need reflects the long, complex process. (AFP/File)
“When I heard about his injury, I requested to go back to Gaza, but my wounded son here needs a companion,” she said.
Al-Hams said Ammar was injured in July 2024 when an artillery shell landed between him and his father as they walked to their old home in Muraj, north of Rafah, having been displaced to Khan Yunis. The blast killed his father and left Ammar’s right arm dangling by a thread.
“He tried to carry his father to the nearest hospital but couldn’t,” said Al-Hams. “His father told him to leave him behind and go. His last words were, ‘Don’t look at your arm. Take care of your mother and siblings.’ And then he was gone.”
Despite their limited medical supplies, Al-Hams said medics in Gaza were able to save Ammar’s arm from amputation. But after months without proper care, his right palm was left paralyzed, with one nerve severed and two others damaged.
“Sleeping in an unsanitary tent left him in pain and unable to rest, which worsened his condition,” said Al-Hams.
MSF surgeons in Gaza operated to reconnect the severed nerve, but ongoing treatment was disrupted when Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis was bombed and MSF staff were forced to withdraw.
Ammar was referred abroad in March and evacuated on July 1 in a challenging journey along bombed-out streets, past shell-damaged ambulances, and through multiple security checks to reach the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom border crossing.
The bodies of three children killed by an Israeli strike are carried for burial in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. (AP/File)
MSF doctors at Jordan’s Mouwasat Hospital said Ammar needs at least three months of physiotherapy and occupational therapy. If unresponsive to treatment, he will require a tendon transfer.
“Ammar was speechless for three months after watching his father die,” said Al-Hams. “He was always silent and zoned out. It took him time to start interacting again.”
Meanwhile, her accompanying children are receiving schooling and psychotherapy sessions, slowly regaining their energy and confidence — though the trauma still lingers.
After two years out of school, they now have the strength to play and even compete for the highest grades in the hospital’s classes. They feel safe at last, though the sound of airplanes still makes them flinch.
“Every day in Gaza is a struggle for survival,” said Al-Hams. “My children would spend four hours in line for water, then another for flour. If we managed to get food that day, we never knew when we’d find any again.
Two years ago we learned, thanks to the FTC, that Microsoft was working on a separate “dedicated” version of Xbox Cloud Gaming. Microsoft Gaming CFO Tim Stuart then hinted, a few months later, that there could be a free version Xbox Cloud Gaming in exchange for ads. Now, Microsoft is hinting at making Xbox Cloud Gaming “more affordable” again.
Jason Ronald, Microsoft’s VP of Next Generation, has appeared on the company’s official Xbox podcast today, to discuss Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox Play Anywhere, and Microsoft’s next-gen chip partnership with AMD. At the moment Xbox Cloud Gaming is only part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, meaning you have to pay $19.99 a month to get access to xCloud.
“One of the things we see is there’s a lot of players who use Game Pass Ultimate to access the cloud, whether that’s the primary way they play, or an additional way to play on the go,” says Ronald. “I think for us, it really opens up the opportunity to make it much more affordable, and make it more accessible to players. Whether that’s going into new regions, or new ways to actually access the [Xbox] cloud.”
Microsoft’s hints of a more affordable version of Xbox Cloud Gaming come just hours before Nvidia has some “major” GeForce Now news. Nvidia’s cloud gaming service is far superior to Xbox Cloud Gaming, thanks to PC-powered performance, better bitrates, higher resolution gameplay, and lower latency. Microsoft has even integrated GeForce Now into its own Xbox game pages.
Ronald stops short of announcing a new Xbox Cloud Gaming tier, but it’s clear that’s been Microsoft’s thinking for a few years now. Microsoft started expanding Xbox Cloud Gaming beyond just the Game Pass library last year, with the ability to stream games you own as long as you’re an Ultimate subscriber.
There’s an opportunity to bring that Ultimate paywall down, especially for mobile streaming. Microsoft had planned to sell games directly in its Xbox app for Android and allow customers to immediately stream those games directly to their phones and tablets, but a legal battle has put those plans on hold.
Microsoft is currently preparing the next generation of Xbox Cloud Gaming, alongside its next-gen Xbox console work. “Together with AMD, we’re designing dedicated silicon and hardware to enable the next generation of gaming experiences,” says Ronald. “We’re investing deeply in the next generation of rendering technologies, such as neural rendering, which will bring a new level of quality to the games that you’re having.”
That next generation of Xbox hardware will likely see Xbox and Windows move even closer together, alongside the choice of different stores for Xbox owners. It’s also an opportunity for Microsoft to bring more AI-powered features to the next Xbox.
“We’re also investing in dedicated silicon to enable the next generation of AI capabilities, that will be transformative in how you actually experience your gameplay,” says Ronald. Microsoft will “start experimenting” with some of these AI-powered features on the upcoming Xbox Ally X device, because it has a dedicated NPU chip just like Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PCs.
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August is full of celestial events, and this week marks a milestone for the 4.503 billion-year-old planet known as Mercury.
Being such a small planet that lies close to the sun, Mercury can be difficult to see. That’ll change on Aug. 19, when planet-gazers on Earth can look up and see Mercury at its greatest distance from the sun, according to Time and Date.
This period where it is farthest from the sun, called the greatest elongation, happens twice every 116 days or so (or about every four months), reported Time and Date.
Elongation is essentially how far apart the sun and a planet appear when we look at them in the sky, the Pierce College Science Dome in western Washington shared on social media.
Because the planet appears farthest from the sun, the sun’s glare doesn’t impede our ability to see the planet as much, the college said.
More on greatest elongation and why it happens so often
According to Pierce College, there are multiple types of greatest elongations, including:
Greatest eastern elongation (also known as greatest elongation east): The planet is most visible in the evening just after sunset.
Greatest western elongation (also known as greatest elongation west): The planet is most visible in the morning just before sunrise.
The one space enthusiasts will see on Aug. 19 is the greatest elongation west, best visible in the morning, according to Time and Date. The next greatest elongation east will occur on Oct. 29, making Mercury most visible in the evening, Time and Date said.
According to Pierce College, Mercury reaches its greatest elongation six or seven times a year. Other planets such as Venus reach greatest elongation only twice per year, the college said. This is because Mercury orbits closer to the sun, and it doesn’t take as much time for the planet to make an entire orbit around the sun.
More news: Want to see the planet parade? Here’s when to view the last show of 2025
How can I see Mercury at its greatest elongation?
The best time to see Mercury during its greatest elongation is about 30 minutes before sunrise, according to EarthSky. It’s best to look in the direction of the sunrise as the sky gets lighter.
According to Time and Date, those wanting to see Mercury should not point their binoculars or a telescope in the direction of the sun.
“It can cause permanent eye damage,” the website warns.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.
Anya Taylor-Joy is in talks to take on the role of music legend Joni Mitchell in a new biopic from director Cameron Crowe.
The project, still in early development, will chronicle the life and career of the iconic singer-songwriter through an unconventional narrative structure.
Taylor-Joy, who recently starred in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and gained acclaim for The Queen’s Gambit, is expected to portray Mitchell in her prime during the 1960s and 1970s. This was the period when Mitchell released groundbreaking albums such as Blue and Clouds and penned timeless songs including “Both Sides Now” and “A Case of You.”
The film will also feature three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep as present-day Mitchell, offering a layered perspective on the artist’s journey from her early rise in the folk scene to her enduring cultural impact.
Director Cameron Crowe, known for Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire, has long had a passion for music-driven storytelling. His approach is expected to emphasize Mitchell’s artistry, personal struggles, and influence on generations of musicians.
Mitchell, often hailed as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, overcame industry challenges and personal health battles while leaving behind a body of work that continues to resonate globally. Her poetic lyrics and innovative compositions reshaped the landscape of modern music.
If confirmed, Taylor-Joy’s portrayal would mark another transformative role in her career, while Streep’s casting adds significant prestige. No release date or production timeline has yet been announced for the biopic.
A measles outbreak that exploded in West Texas at the start of the year is over, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services, marking the end of the largest measles outbreak the U.S. has seen in 30 years.
The outbreak was declared over Monday morning. (Photo by Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Key Facts
The department said in a statement it has been more than 42 days since a new case was reported in the impacted counties.
As of Monday, 762 cases were confirmed in the outbreak that hospitalized 99 people and resulted in the deaths of two school-aged children.
Children were most impacted by the outbreak, accounting for at least 511 cases.
Health officials considered the outbreak over following the 42-day period of no cases because the window of time is double the disease’s maximum incubation period, the longest time it can take between a person’s exposure to measles and when they get sick.
The Department of State Health Services noted the outbreak’s end “does not mean the threat of measles is over,” adding it is “likely” there will be more measles cases in Texas this year.
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Where Was The Texas Measles Outbreak Concentrated?
Mainly West Texas, with Gaines County recording 414 cases. Other counties with the high numbers of cases included Terry (60), El Paso (59) and Lubbock (52).
Where Else Have Measles Cases Been Reported This Year?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 1,356 measles cases in 40 states. States with the highest numbers of cases outside of Texas include New Mexico (100) and Kansas (90). New Mexico, where most cases were reported in a county along the Texas border, reported the only other measles death this year back in March.
Is Measles Still Spreading Outside Texas?
Measles cases are rising in New Mexico, where cases reached 100 after three new cases were reported in Santa Fe County last week.
What Are Measles Symptoms?
Measles, a highly contagious illness, is characterized by symptoms like rash, fever, fatigue, runny nose and red eyes. The symptoms do not show until 10 to 14 days after exposure and in some cases appear as late as 21 days after being exposed.
Surprising Fact
In Texas, vaccinated people made up just 44 of the recorded measles cases, while 718 of the cases were reported in unvaccinated people. Measles vaccinations, which have been available for over 50 years, can prevent and help fight measles symptoms. The vaccine is usually provided to children between 12 and 15 months and again between four to six years old, generally providing lifetime or long-term protection from the illness.
Tangent
The Texas Department of State Health Services said in a 2024-2025 report of student immunization status that 6.76% of Texas kindergarteners did not receive the measles vaccine.
Key Background
The Texas measles outbreak began a few weeks before vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became the secretary of health and human services. Kennedy initially said the Texas outbreak was “not unusual,” but eventually called it “serious” as cases increased into March. Kennedy told CBS News the “federal government’s position, my position, is that people should get the measles vaccine,” though he also encouraged the use of vitamin A to treat measles, stoking concern among health officials like Sue Kressly, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who told The Washington Post relying solely on vitamin A instead of the measles vaccine is “dangerous and ineffective,” noting too much vitamin A can “cause serious health problems, including liver damage.”
Aadi Adeal Amjad is a multi-talented Pakistani celebrity, known for comedy, hosting and acting. He got fame through ARY Zindagi’s morning show Salam Zindagi which he co-hosted with Faysal Quraishi and Faizan Sheikh for many years. Nowadays, he has been part of multiple ARY transmissions including Jeeto Pakistan and Har Lamha Purjosh. He also hosted a solo show on Set Entertainment named Show Tau Set Hai.
Aadi was also part of first Tamasha season and was one of the finalists. He recently appeared in Ahmed Ali Butt’s podcast, where he opened up about the aggressive and negative behaviour of late actress Humaira Asghar who was his colleague in Tamasha season 1. In the podcast, he revealed the reason behind Humaira Asghar’s negative and aggressive behaviour with fellow contestants.
Talking about it, Aadi Adeal Amjad said, “I think she was the one who was never accepted by the people. I used to observe her; she always used to fight for herself on the show. We always have that one kid at school who is neglected and has to make extra effort to protect himself. She was the same—always fighting with other contestants for herself. I admit that she had no acceptability or acceptance”. Here is the link to the video:
Here are a few heated moments of Humaira Asghar with other contestants in Tamasha season 1:
Social media users are praying for Humaira Asghar’s soul and many have also questioned Aadi for not taking stand for her in the show. A few were sad to hear that Humaira didn’t get care and time from her loved ones. Read the comments:
