LONDON: An infected blood scandal in Britain was no accident but the fault of doctors and a succession of governments that led to 3,000 deaths and thousands more contracting hepatitis or HIV, a public inquiry found on Monday. Inquiry chair Brian Langstaff said more than 30,000 people received infected blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s from Britain’s state-funded National Health Service, destroying lives, dreams and families. The government hid the truth to “save face and to save expense”, he said, adding that the cover-up was “more subtle, more pervasive and more chilling in its implications” than any…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
PARIS: Around 40 individuals who were ‘paralysed’ from the neck down, have regained ‘partial control’ of their arms and hands, thanks to a relatively ‘simple to use device’, a large study said on Monday. The trial has raised hopes that the ‘non-invasive’ device may help people with spinal injuries, ‘get back’ the use of their hands. The device which was developed by Swiss medical technology firm ‘Onward’, delivers an electrical current through electrodes placed on the skin of paralysed patients, near where their spinal cord was damaged. After two months of therapy, 43 of the 60 people participating in the…
WASHINGTON: The United States and Saudi Arabia are close to a deal on a bilateral agreement after the US national security adviser made significant progress in talks with Saudis over the weekend, the White House said on Monday. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the two sides are “closer than we’ve ever been” on an agreement that is now “near final”. US and Saudi negotiators are seeking to complete work on a bilateral accord that would likely call for formal US guarantees to defend the kingdom as well as Saudi access to more advanced US weaponry, in return…
BEIRUT: A war monitoring body has said that at least six pro-Iran fighters were killed on Monday. Israel conducted strikes in Syria (near the Lebanese border), in an area where Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group, holds sway. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “Israeli strikes targeted two positions of pro-Iran groups in the Homs region” including “a Hezbollah site in the Qusayr area” (near the border), where “six Iran-backed fighters were killed”. The Observatory did not specify their nationalities. A source from Hezbollah told journalists’ that ‘at least one fighter’ from the group was killed in the Israeli strikes, within…
ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: As over 500 students came back from Kyrgyzstan via special flights which landed in Lahore and Islamabad, the government assured them that it would facilitate their return to the Central Asian state once the “alarming situation” in its capital stabilises. After a mob targeted foreign students in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Pakistani students due to fear and panic started their departure from the country. A day earlier, the government had claimed that the situation in Bishkek was under control and there was no need to panic. As 170 students arrived in Lahore, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar received them at the Allama Iqbal…
NEW DELHI: The fifth phase of Indian elections on Monday saw the seats of Rahul Gandhi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh locked in, with analysts viewing it as an uphill moment for the BJP. The fifth phase of voting in the seven-phase polls concluded in 49 seats across eight states, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Ladakh, and held Jammu and Kashmir. According to political analyst Yogendra Yadav, the buzz in the latest phase is not just because it contains a few of the most prestigious contests, but also that the BJP can suffer serious reverses in a few of the…
NEW YORK: Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen testified on Monday that he stole money from Trump’s company, an admission that could chip away at his credibility as a star witness at the former US president’s hush money trial. Questioned by Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche, Cohen acknowledged stealing from the Trump Organisation by including a reimbursement to a technology company in his bonus package and pocketing most of the money. “So you stole from the Trump Organisation, right?” Blanche asked. “Yes sir,” Cohen, 57, testified. Cohen said he paid roughly $20,000 of the $50,000 that Trump’s company owed to the…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Turkiye on Monday set their sights on enhancing annual bilateral trade to $5 billion, besides intensifying their defense collaboration as the two countries prepared for their upcoming high-level bilateral summit. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, while speaking at the Foreign Office after a meeting with visiting Turkish FM Hakan Fidan, said the two sides agreed on increasing trade to $5bn in three years. Mr Fidan, while emphasising the need for expanding trade, noted that the annual bilateral trade volume was currently just $1bn. During their meeting, the two sides reviewed the state of bilateral…
NEW DELHI: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces voter fatigue and some resistance from a resurgent opposition in India’s mammoth general election, foot soldiers of his party’s Hindu nationalist parent have stepped in to help regain momentum, insiders said. With less than two weeks left of a six-week voting schedule, voter turnout has been lower than previous elections, raising concern within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that some of its core supporters were staying away. Modi’s party, chasing a rare third term in office, has also faced stronger opposition than anticipated in a handful of states, leading election experts and Indian financial markets to…
Iranians gathered on Tuesday to mourn at the funerary procession of president Ebrahim Raisi in the northwestern city of Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan province where he died unexpectedly in a helicopter crash. The helicopter lost communication while it was on its way back to Tabriz after Raisi attended a joint inauguration of a dam with his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, on their common border. A massive search and rescue operation started Sunday afternoon when two other helicopters in Raisi’s convoy lost contact with his aircraft amid harsh weather conditions in the mountainous region. State TV early Monday broke the…
