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  • NAB launches probe into illegal recruitments, corruption in SPSC

    NAB launches probe into illegal recruitments, corruption in SPSC

    KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has initiated a probe into alleged illegal recruitments and corruption in Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC), ARY News reported.

    The investigation launched against former Chairman Noor Muhammad Jadmani and 15 other official, claims of irregularities in the commission’s hiring processes, favoritism and misuse of authority.

    NAB has summoned records from the SPSC, demanding comprehensive documentation related to appointments made by the commission. This includes records of court petitions, both pending and resolved, filed against the SPSC. Authorities have directed the current SPSC Chairman to provide the complete record within one week.

    Sources within NAB revealed that the 16 officials, including former chairmen, members, secretaries, controllers, and additional controllers, submitted incomplete recruitment records during initial inquiries.

    Expressing dissatisfaction, NAB officials have reiterated their demand for a full account of all appointments within the stipulated timeframe.

    The investigation has uncovered allegations that government officers manipulated the SPSC examination process to secure jobs for their children and other relatives. In the next phase, NAB plans to summon beneficiaries of these alleged illegal recruitments to further probe the extent of the irregularities.

    It is worth mentioning here that in 2020, NAB initiated a probe into the alleged forged recruitments via Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) in at least three provincial departments under Sindh government.

    According to the details of the case, NAB said, in some 30 vacancies across three provincial departments the names successful candidates, that were qualified via SPSC, were scrapped and replaced with bogus officers.

    The details of the case divulged by the anti-corruption watchdog alleged that the forgery took place in the SPSC exams of 2018 which saw bogus placements in three provincial departments of Sindh.


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  • Dozens reported killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza overnight – Middle East crisis live | Israel-Gaza war

    Dozens reported killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza overnight – Middle East crisis live | Israel-Gaza war

    Key events

    Opening Summary

    Israeli airstrikes and shootings have killed 82 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including 38 while attempting to get humanitarian aid, hospitals and the Health Ministry said on Thursday.

    Israel’s military did not have an immediate comment on the strikes, AP reports.

    Five people were killed while outside sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the controversial US- and Israeli-backed aid organisation, while 33 others were killed waiting for aid trucks in other locations across the Gaza Strip.

    Dozens of people were killed in airstrikes on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, including 15 people killed in strikes that hit tents in the sprawling Muwasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and a strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people.

    Agence France-Presse, citing Gaza’s civil defence agency, reported that the Israeli strike on Thursday hit a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood in western Gaza City, killing at least 12, mostly women and children. The Israeli military told AFP it “will try to look into” the report.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000, including 223 missing people who have been declared dead. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death count but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.

    The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because it operates from populated areas. The military said it targeted Hamas militants and rocket launchers in northern Gaza that launched rockets towards Israel on Wednesday.

    The deaths come as Israel and Hamas inch closer to a possible ceasefire that would end the 21-month war.

    Trump said on Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen.

    Hamas said on Wednesday that it was studying what Trump called a “final” ceasefire proposal for Gaza, but that Israel must pull out of the territory.

    Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday “there will be no Hamas” in postwar Gaza.

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  • Air Pollution Linked to Lung Cancer Mutations in Non-Smokers

    Air Pollution Linked to Lung Cancer Mutations in Non-Smokers

    Now, a study published on July 2 in Nature has uncovered compelling genomic evidence that points to air pollution—and other environmental exposures—as a potential major factor behind this growing public health concern. The study was jointly led by researchers at the University of California San Diego and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

    “We’re seeing this problematic trend that never-smokers are increasingly getting lung cancer, but we haven’t understood why,” said study co-senior author Ludmil Alexandrov, professor of bioengineering and cellular and molecular medicine at UC San Diego, and member of UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. “Our research shows that air pollution is strongly associated with the same types of DNA mutations we typically associate with smoking.”

    “This is an urgent and growing global problem that we are working to understand regarding never-smokers,” said Maria Teresa Landi, epidemiologist in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the NCI and co-senior author of the study. “Most previous lung cancer studies have not separated data of smokers from non-smokers, which has limited insights into potential causes in those patients. We have designed a study to collect data from never-smokers around the world and use genomics to trace back what exposures might be causing these cancers.”

    And while previous studies in the literature have shown an epidemiological link between air pollution and lung cancer in never-smokers, this new research goes further by showing a genomic link.

    Mutational effects of air pollution

    The team analyzed lung tumors from 871 never-smokers living in 28 regions with different levels of air pollution across Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Using whole-genome sequencing, the researchers identified distinct patterns of DNA mutations—known as mutational signatures—that act like molecular fingerprints of past exposures.

    By combining these genomic data with pollution estimates based on satellite and ground-level measurements of fine particulate matter, the researchers were able to estimate individuals’ long-term exposure to air pollution. They found that never-smokers living in more polluted environments had significantly more mutations in their lung tumors, particularly driver mutations—which directly promote cancer development—and mutational signatures linked to cancer—which serve as a record of all past mutagenic exposures. For example, these individuals had a 3.9-fold increase in a mutational signature linked to tobacco smoking and a 76% increase in another signature linked to aging.

    This doesn’t mean that pollution causes a unique “air pollution mutational signature” per se, noted study co-first author Marcos Díaz-Gay, a former postdoctoral researcher in Alexandrov’s lab who is now a junior group leader at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in Madrid, Spain. Rather, it increases the overall number of mutations, particularly in known pathways of DNA damage. “What we see is that air pollution is associated with an increase in somatic mutations, including those that fall under known mutational signatures attributed to tobacco smoking and aging,” said Díaz-Gay.

    The researchers also noted a dose-response relationship: the more pollution someone was exposed to, the more mutations were found in their lung tumors. These tumors also had shorter telomeres—the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes—which is a sign of accelerated cellular aging.

    Surprising finding from secondhand smoke exposure

    In contrast, the researchers did not find a strong genetic correlation with secondhand smoke. Lung tumors of never-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke showed only a slight increase in mutations, along with shorter telomeres, but no distinct mutational signatures or driver mutations. While exposure to secondhand smoke is a known cancer risk, its mutational effect was far less pronounced than that seen with air pollution. “If there is a mutagenic effect of secondhand smoke, it may be too weak for our current tools to detect,” said study co-first author Tongwu Zhang, an Earl Stadtman Investigator in the Biostatistics Branch of the NCI. “However, its biological effects are still evident in the significant telomere shortening.”

    The researchers acknowledged that their analysis could be further limited by the complexity of measuring secondhand smoke exposure. “It’s difficult to get that kind of information because it depends on various factors such as amount of time one was exposed; how far one was from exposure; and how often one shared a space with someone else who smoked, for example,” said Díaz-Gay.

    Risk found from herbal medicine

    In addition to air pollution, researchers identified another environmental risk: aristolochic acid, a carcinogen found in certain traditional Chinese herbal medicines. A specific mutational signature linked to aristolochic acid was found almost exclusively in lung cancer cases of never-smokers from Taiwan. Though aristolochic acid has previously been linked to bladder, gastrointestinal, kidney and liver cancers from ingestion, this is the first study to report evidence that it may contribute to lung cancer. The researchers suspect that these cases may arise from inhalation of traditional Chinese herbal medicines, but more data are needed to support their hypothesis.

    “This raises new concerns about how traditional remedies might unintentionally raise cancer risk,” said Landi. “It also presents a public health opportunity for cancer prevention—particularly in Asia.”

    New signature, new questions

    In another intriguing discovery, the team identified a new mutational signature that appears in the lung cancers of most never-smokers but is absent in smokers. Its cause remains unknown—it did not correlate with air pollution or any other known environmental exposure. “We see it in a majority of cases in this study, but we don’t yet know what’s driving it,” said Alexandrov. “This is something entirely different, and it opens up a whole new area of investigation.”

    Next steps

    Moving forward, the researchers are expanding their study to include lung cancer cases of never-smokers from Latin America, the Middle East and more regions of Africa. The researchers are also turning their attention to other potential risks. One focus is on marijuana and e-cigarette use, particularly among younger people who have never smoked tobacco. The team is investigating whether these exposures may also contribute to mutational changes in lung tissue. They also aim to study other environmental risks—such as radon and asbestos—as well as gather more detailed pollution data at local and individual levels.

    Reference: Díaz-Gay M, Zhang T, Hoang PH, et al. The mutagenic forces shaping the genomes of lung cancer in never smokers. Nature. 2025:1-12. doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09219-0

    This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source. Our press release publishing policy can be accessed here.

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  • Divine help came for Pakistan’s aid during tensions with India, says Naqvi

    Divine help came for Pakistan’s aid during tensions with India, says Naqvi

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday said that Pakistan received “divine help” during its confrontation with India and credited the country’s armed forces for strategic successes in regional conflicts, including Iran’s standoff with Israel.

    Chairing a high-level meeting in Islamabad on law and order during the holy month of Muharram, Naqvi said that religious scholars have always played a key role in maintaining peace and urged unity across sects.

    The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, Chairman of the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Maulana Abdul Khabir Azad, and other notable clerics.

    “Religious harmony must be our priority. The theme should be: do not abandon your own sect, nor interfere with anyone else’s,” Naqvi told participants.

    Recalling recent military developments, the interior minister said Pakistan experienced unseen assistance during its tensions with India.

    “During the conflict, we had no intention of escalating tensions or harming Indian civilians. When Pakistan fired missiles, there were slight miscalculations in coordinates, and we feared civilian areas might be hit. But those missiles ended up striking India’s largest oil depot,” he said.

    He also revealed that India had launched around 11 missiles at a Pakistani airbase where both aircraft and personnel were present. “We were deeply concerned about heavy losses, but thankfully, we received information that no damage occurred. Not a single Pakistani plane or person was harmed,” he added.

    The interior minister said that “These are just two examples of how divine help came to Pakistan’s aid,” adding that the military command had made it clear that time that if India initiated aggression, it would have to bear severe consequences.

    Referring to regional tensions, Naqvi said, “Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif played an important role in the ceasefire between Iran and Israel.

    Naqvi said that there was also the uniform behind Iran’s visible success and ceasefire.

    Pakistan downs Indian drone near Lahore’s Walton amid heightened tensions

     

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  • Ulema’s role is as vital as of agencies in maintaining peace: Interior minister

    Ulema’s role is as vital as of agencies in maintaining peace: Interior minister

    Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said that Prime Minister Sehbaz Sharif had played an important role in the Iran-Israel ceasefire, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

    Mohsin Naqvi said this while talking to a delegation of ulema during a meeting held in Islamabad on Thursday in connection with Muharram security.

    The interior minister said that Allah Almighty provided “unseen help” in the war against India and there is no doubt about it that the Army Chief stood like a rock in the war against India.

    The minister recalled the Army Chief had then said that India had suffered four times greater loss for attacking Pakistan.

    Mohsin Naqvi said that the Indian population was not targeted by Pakistan forces while responding to the Indian aggression.

    About Muharram security, Mohsin Naqvi said Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) does not belong to one sect only but to all. 

    Mohsin Naqvi emphasized the vital role of religious scholars in maintaining law and order during Muharram-ul-Haram. He noted that the efforts of law-enforcement agencies are as important as those of religious scholars.

    Underscoring the need for sectarian harmony, he said that invitation will also be extended to the religious scholars of all schools of thought to collectively offer Zohar prayer at Faisal Mosque on the 14th August this year.  He said this will deliver a message that we are all united.

    He said harmony is very important during Muharram-ul-Haram and ulema always played a key role in maintaining peace and security during this month.

    The role of ulema in establishing peace and security during Muharram is as important as that of security agencies, Mohsin Naqvi said.

    Interior Minister said ulema are in constant contact with the administration during Muharram and even minor disputes are resolved by the ulema. “I am a witness to the fact that ulema have resolved many issues amicably,” Mohsin Naqvi added.

    He further said “I also agree that one should not abandon one’s own religion and should not disturb the religion of others and we should spread this golden rule all over Pakistan because we are all Muslims.” 

    This year, an exemplary Independence Day will be celebrated due to the victory that Allah Almighty has given us in the war and the government will also be fully represented on this occasion, Interior Minister said.

    He said that terrorism is on the rise in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and “I wish that we get together and meet the ulema of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa so that they can play a vital role in eradicating the scourge.”

    The role of all scholars in this regard is of utmost importance, Mohsin Naqvi said and added Insha’Allah, together we will eradicate terrorism from this country and make this country a cradle of peace.

    In his remarks, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhary underlined the need for unity to ensure law and order during Muharram-ul-Haram as well as to defeat the terrorist elements.

    Chairman Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad said they are all united for the security of the country.


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  • Kering Highlights : 0-93. Lab – Supporting the next generation of creatives in Seine-Saint-Denis

    Kering Highlights is the Group’s online magazine, showcasing its commitment to culture and heritage, craft and innovation, sustainability, and women celebration. 

     

     

     

    About Kering

    Kering is a global, family-led luxury group, home to people whose passion and expertise nurture creative Houses across ready-to-wear and couture, leather goods, jewelry, eyewear and beauty: Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, McQueen, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, Dodo, Qeelin, Ginori 1735, as well as Kering Eyewear and Kering Beauté. Inspired by their creative heritage, Kering’s Houses design and craft exceptional products and experiences that reflect the Group’s commitment to excellence, sustainability and culture. This vision is expressed in our signature: Creativity is our Legacy. In 2024, Kering employed 47,000 people and generated revenue of €17.2 billion.

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  • Pakistan PM orders doubling of digital payment targets to boost cashless economy

    Pakistan PM orders doubling of digital payment targets to boost cashless economy

    Hindu pilgrimage begins at Kashmir site where April attack triggered brief war with Pakistan


    PAHALGAM, India: Hindus began a vast month-long pilgrimage in contested Indian Kashmir on Thursday, with many of the faithful starting from near the site where a deadly April attack triggered conflict with Pakistan.


    Last year, half a million devotees took part in the Amarnath pilgrimage to a sacred ice pillar located in a cave in the forested Himalayan hills above the town of Pahalgam.


    Pahalgam is the site where gunmen on April 22 killed 26 mostly Hindu tourists.


    New Delhi said the gunmen were backed by Pakistan, claims Islamabad rejected — triggering a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures that escalated into a four-day conflict.


    It was the worst standoff by the nuclear-armed nations since 1999, with more than 70 people killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides, before a May 10 ceasefire.


    But pilgrim Muneshwar Das Shashtri, who traveled from Uttar Pradesh state, told AFP “there is no fear of any kind.”


    “Our army is standing guard everywhere. No one can raise a finger toward us,” he said.


    India has ramped up security for the event, deploying 45,000 troops with high-tech surveillance tools overseeing the grueling trek to reach the high-altitude cave, dedicated to the Hindu deity of destruction Shiva.


    “We have multi-layered and in-depth security arrangements so that we can make the pilgrimage safe and smooth for the devotees,” said VK Birdi, police chief for the Muslim-majority territory.


    At Pahalgam, soldiers have turned a tented base camp into a fortress encircled by razor wire.


    Troops in newly deployed armored cars, or from gun positions behind sandbags, keep a close watch — efforts boosted by facial recognition cameras.


    “High-quality surveillance cameras have been installed at all major points along the route,” said Manoj Sinha, the Indian-appointed top administrator for Jammu and Kashmir.


    All pilgrims must be registered and travel in guarded vehicle convoys, until they start out to walk.


    Camouflaged bunkers have been erected in the forests along the route, where dozens of makeshift kitchens provide free food.


    Electronic radio cards pinpoint their location.


    Pilgrims can take several days to reach the cave, perched at 3,900 meters (12,800 feet) high, around 30 kilometers (18 miles) uphill from the last easily motorable track.


    “Whatever the attack that was carried out here, I am not afraid. I have come to get a glimpse of baba (the ice formation)” said Ujwal Yadav, 29, from India’s Uttar Pradesh state, undertaking his first pilgrimage to the shrine.


    “Such are the security arrangements here that no one can be hurt.”


    Sinha has said that “public confidence is returning,” but admits that pilgrim registration had dipped by 10 percent this year.


    Once a modest, little-known ritual, attended by only a few thousand mainly local devotees, the pilgrimage has grown since an armed insurgency erupted in 1989.


    India’s government has since heavily promoted the annual event, which runs until August 9.


    Rebels fighting against India’s control of Kashmir have said the pilgrimage is not a target, but have warned they would act if it was used to assert Hindu dominance.


    In 2017, suspected rebels attacked a pilgrim bus, killing 11 people.


    The gunmen who carried out the April 22 killings remain at large, despite the manhunt by security forces in Kashmir where India has half a million soldiers permanently deployed.


    On June 22, India’s National Investigation Agency said two men had been arrested from the Pahalgam area who they said had “provided food, shelter and logistical support” to the gunmen.


    Indian police have issued wanted notices for three of the gunmen, two of whom they said were Pakistani citizens. Pakistani has rejected the claim.

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  • Evidence of Planet 9 in IRAS and AKARI surveys

    Evidence of Planet 9 in IRAS and AKARI surveys

    Suggestions of a ninth planet in our Solar System have been rumbling on for years now.

    Some astronomers argue that the clustering and orbital tilt of a group of trans-Neptunian objects indicate gravitational shepherding by an unknown planet.

    More Solar System science

    Credit: R Warnick / Getty Images

    This hypothetical Planet 9, probably similar to Neptune, has been calculated to be on an elliptical orbit coming to around 300 Astronomical Units (1 AU is the Earth–Sun distance).

    However, despite several surveys, no such remote new planet has been spotted, and the claim remains controversial.

    Artist's impression of the hypothetical Planet 9 in our Solar System. Credit: NASA
    Artist’s impression of the hypothetical Planet 9 in our Solar System. Credit: NASA

    The problem with finding Planet 9

    This lack of observational evidence isn’t itself a damning outcome.

    The predicted orbit for Planet 9 is at least 10 times further from the Sun than Neptune, so the planet would reflect precious little light back to Earth.

    There’s also a large degree of uncertainty around the proposed planet’s orbital parameters and therefore exactly where in the sky searches should be targeted.

    Even if it is out there, Planet 9 would be easy to miss.

    Could Planet 9 be a Neptune-like world in the far reaches of our Solar System? Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
    Could Planet 9 be a Neptune-like world in the far reaches of our Solar System? Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Why can’t we see it already?

    The problem with trying to detect Planet 9 by its reflected light comes down to some simple physics.

    To spot it at visible wavelengths, the light would have had to travel all the way out from the Sun, reflect off the planet and then travel back to the Earth.

    If a roughly Neptune-sized planet were 10 times further away than Neptune, it would appear 10,000 times fainter.

    But the planet’s emitted thermal radiation only has to make a one-way journey.

    Thus, at infrared wavelengths, Planet 9 would only be roughly 100 times fainter, so it makes sense to search for Planet 9 using space-based infrared telescopes.

    The Infrared Astronomical Satellite, or IRAS, was the first space telescope to study the sky in infrared light. Artist's impression. Credit: NASA
    The Infrared Astronomical Satellite, or IRAS, was the first space telescope to study the sky in infrared light. Artist’s impression. Credit: NASA

    Looking for movement in the sky

    And this is exactly what Terry Long Phan, at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, tried for his PhD.

    Supported by a broad team of colleagues in Taiwan, Japan and Australia, Phan analysed data from two far-infrared all-sky surveys: IRAS and AKARI.

    IRAS (the Infrared Astronomical Satellite) was launched in 1983, and AKARI (which means light in Japanese) in 2006, so their observations were 23 years apart.

    At over 300 AU, any Planet 9 would have such a slow orbital speed that it would appear stationary in the datasets from either of these observatories, but it would have shifted slightly between their missions.

    Terry Long Phan discusses the search for Planet 9

    Phan used software to sift through all the infrared sources detected by these space telescopes and pick out only those that had shifted across the sky by roughly the expected amount.

    This automated process found 13 candidate pairs of sources, each of which Phan then checked manually.

    After this verification process, only one candidate pair remained.

    This infrared source, matching what would be expected of a roughly Neptune-sized planet in the far outer reaches of the Solar System, had moved 47.5 arcminutes in those 23 years.

    That’s roughly one and a half times the width of the full Moon.

    The two infrared surveys, IRAS on the left, AKARI on the right, with the position of the potential Planet 9 marked on each. Credit: Phan et al (2025)
    The two infrared surveys, IRAS on the left, AKARI on the right, with the position of the potential Planet 9 marked on each. Credit: Phan et al (2025)

    Have we found Planet 9?

    It’s very early days, but if this pair of faint pinpricks does in fact represent a single, slow-moving object in our Solar System, we may have just got our first observational evidence of Planet 9.

    However, knowing just two positions isn’t enough to pin down the exact orbit of this object.

    Phan says follow-up observations are required, potentially using the widefield, very sensitive DECam (Dark Energy Camera) on the Victor M Blanco Telescope in Chile to add another family member to our Solar System.

    Lewis Dartnell was reading A Search for Planet Nine with IRAS and AKARI Data by Terry Long Phan et al. Read it online at: arxiv.org/abs/2504.17288.

    This article appeared in the June 2025 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine

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  • Trump’s big spending bill heads to final vote in US House

    Trump’s big spending bill heads to final vote in US House

    Final vote expected on Trump’s signature bill

    James FitzGerald
    North America reporter

    US President Donald Trump’s mega-bill on tax and
    spending could soon become law, with a final vote expected in the coming hours
    in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress.

    Trump’s bill, which could define his second presidency,
    has faced an uneasy passage so far.

    Several members of his own Republican Party
    have joined opposition Democrats in criticising the bill for a variety of
    reasons – including the impact on US national debt, and healthcare.

    However, in the past hour, those Republican holdouts flipped
    – meaning that a key procedural hurdle was passed, setting up the final ballot.

    That will be welcome news for the president, who has personally
    put pressure on rebel Republicans to try to get this sprawling legislation signed
    off by Friday – when the US celebrates Independence Day.

    The ongoing proceedings represent the second gruelling overnight
    session for Congress members this week, after the bill ground through the
    upper chamber, or Senate, about 24 hours ago.

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  • DeepSeek faces yet another country-wide ban — here’s what that means for you

    DeepSeek faces yet another country-wide ban — here’s what that means for you

    Chinese AI app DeepSeek could be facing another ban, this time in Germany. Data protection official Meike Kamp has filed a formal request with both Apple and Google to remove DeepSeek from digital storefronts.

    Kamp, the Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, has accused the app of sending personal data to China, a violation of European Union law.

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