Approximately 3,000 parents have been reported to have refused polio vaccination so far in Balochistan.
July 7 marked the conclusion of a seven-day polio prevention campaign. It has been claimed that 98 per cent of the target for the anti-polio campaign has been achieved in 16 districts.
The campaign aimed to vaccinate more than 951,000 children against polio.
A class of diabetes medications, which include the best-selling drug Ozempic, are associated with a reduced risk of certain obesity-related cancers, according to a study released Friday.
Published in the journal JAMA, the study compared patients with Type 2 diabetes who were treated with insulin versus patients who were given a class of drug known as GLP-1 agonists, like Ozempic, between 2005 and 2018.
The researchers found that the patients who received GLP-1 agonists had a significantly lower risk of developing 10 out of 13 cancers studied, including kidney, pancreatic, esophageal, ovarian, liver and colorectal cancer.
Among the cancers which saw no significant change in risk were thyroid cancer and breast cancer in postmenopausal women.
“Obesity is well known to be associated with at least 13 cancer types,” study author Rong Xu said in an email to AFP.
“Our study provides evidence that GLP-1RAs hold promise in breaking the link between obesity and cancer,” Xu said.
Among the drugs studied were semaglutide — commercially sold as Ozempic — as well as liraglutide and others. Ozempic was approved in the United States in 2017.
GLP-1 agonists have been around for about 20 years, but a new generation of these drugs, among them Ozempic, has been popularized for their more significant weight loss effects.
Xu suggested that the protective benefits demonstrated in the study may encourage doctors to prescribe GLP-1 treatments for diabetes patients instead of other medicines like insulin.
Monsoon winds are likely to enter Sindh from tonight bringing relief to the heat-afflicted southern province, reports Geo News.
The weather is likely to remain hot and humid in most places of Sindh on Saturday, while a drizzle is expected in some places in coastal areas today, according to the Meteorological Department
Monsoon winds will bring rain with thunder in Tharparkar, Umarkot and Mirpurkhas during July 7-8.
Karachi and Sajawal are likely to experience thundershowers on July 8 and 9.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has issued a royal decree to grant citizenships to scientists, medical doctors, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and distinguished talents with unique expertise and specialisation in their respective fields.
The announcement was made on Thursday, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The desert Kingdom, in the midst of modernising the vast country, wants to attract people with unique talents and expertise in their fields that can contribute to the development of various sectors throughout the Kingdom to achieve its Vision 2030 goal.
Vision 2030, which highlights Saudi Arabia’s keen interest in attracting, investing in and retaining exceptional creative minds, was launched in 2016 under the directive of King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to a report by Al Arabiya News earlier this year.
It aims at creating a “diversified, innovative and world-leading nation,” through the Kingdom’s deeply rooted cultural heritage and strategic advantages, according to the official webpage of the initiative.
The present announcement follows a similar royal decree which was previously issued in 2021 to grant Saudi citizenships to the first group of select distinguished talent in these fields.
A civil servant robot in South Korea working for the Gumi City Council apparently killed itself leaving many confused on what is being termed the country’s first “robot suicide”.
The incident occurred last Thursday, leaving the tech community puzzled and in mourning.
The ‘Robot Supervisor’, according to the eyewitness accounts, was behaving oddly and out-of-character before its fall. It was discovered shattered at the bottom of a stairwell between the first and second floors of the city council building.
It was employed since August 2023 and performed various tasks including delivering documents, promoting the city, and providing information to residents.
It worked tirelessly from 9 am to 6 pm, even using elevators—a rare feature of its kind.
The robot was developed by a California-based startup for a broader range of duties.
It was seen as a great opportunity by South Koreans but for now the Gumi City Council has decided not to replace the robot, pausing their robot adoption plans and reflecting on the future of automation in the nation.
Following heavy downpours of rain in various cities of Punjab, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Murree, and Jhelum, many areas experienced power outages.
Rawalpindi imposed a rain emergency on the garrison city.
Torrential rains in several Punjab cities caused water accumulation on highways and roads in Lahore and Gujranwala. Rainwater also entered the ward of Gujranwala’s Medical College Teaching Hospital.
Power supply was disrupted due to 100 feeder trips during heavy late-night rains, resulting in power outages in many areas.
In Rawalpindi, water levels reached five feet at Katarian in Nala Lai and four feet at Golmandi bridge, prompting the declaration of rain emergency.
The Meteorological Department recorded over 30 mm of rain in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Intermittent rain continued in various cities of Azad Kashmir, including Samahni, Mirpur, Dadyal, Jatlan, and Mangla.
The Meteorological Department forecasts intermittent rain, strong winds, and thunderstorms today in different areas of Azad Kashmir, Islamabad, Upper and Central Punjab, Northeastern Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
It warned of possible flooding in mountain streams until July 7.
The department also warned of urban flooding in Lahore, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Narowal, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, and Peshawar, and landslides in the hilly areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to heavy rains.
The matric results of all nine educational boards in Punjab will be announced on Tuesday, July 9, at 10 a.m.
All the Boards in Punjab will establish results through two channels:
Students with internet access are advised to check their results online on the respective Board’s website. Those without internet access can check their results through their mobile phones by sending their roll numbers via message to a specific “board code.”
The code of all the boards are given as follows:
Faisalabad’s code is 800240.
The code for Dera Ghazi Khan is 800295
Gujranwala: 800299.
Rawalpindi’s code number is 800296.
Lahore: 800291
Bahawalpur: 800298.
Sargodha’s code number is 800290.
Sahiwal is at 800292.
The code number for Multan is 800293
There are nine Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education, each covering a different district
More than 15 peacocks have reportedly died in neighbouring villages of Tehsil Islamkot of Tharparkar district.
Similarly, 15 more peacocks have died in Morano village, Seringho, Kehri Morani, while many others are sick.
Jang reports that residents of the area state that the wildlife department has informed the authorities via a video, yet teams have not been sent for treatment of the animals.
On the contrary, Deputy Conservator Mir Ijaz has said that peacocks are falling ill due to extreme heat, lack of food, and water; and that a team will soon be sent to ensure the treatment of the peacocks.
Keir Starmer from Britain’s Labour has pledged to change UK as the next Prime Minister after his party won big in parliamentary elections on Friday, putting an end to 14 years of Conservative rule in the country.
“The Labour Party has won this general election, and I have called Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory,” a sombre-looking Rishi Sunak said in his speech after the results came out.
Rishi called the results “sobering” as he took responsibility for the defeat.
“Change begins now,” Starmer said in a victory speech.
“We said we would end the chaos, and we will, we said we would turn the page, and we have. Today, we start the next chapter, begin the work of change, the mission of national renewal and start to rebuild our country.”
At a triumphant party rally in central London, Starmer, 61, cautioned that change would not come overnight, even as Labour snatched a great number of Tory seats around the country, including from nine Cabinet members, and former prime minister Liz Truss. Truss lost in her rural constituency by a slim margin of 630 votes.
How did the elections go?
Labour raced past the 326 seats needed to secure an overall majority in the 650-seat parliament.
An exit poll for UK broadcasters published after polls closed on Thursday put Labour on course for a return to power for the first time since 2010, with 410 seats and a 170-seat majority.
The Tories will get only 131 seats in the House of Commons—a record low—with the right-wing vote apparently spliced by Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party.
Esteemed journalist in an article for his platform Zeteo wrote, “Goodbye to the party that helped unleash shameful levels of racism and hate against both migrants and minorities, with not just Brexit but “Go Home” vans and the Rwanda plan; bigoted rhetoric about “swarms” of migrants and citizens of nowhere.”
What will happen to the government?
Sunak will tender his resignation to head of state King Charles III, with the monarch then asking Starmer, as the leader of the largest party in parliament, to form a government.
To-do list for next government
Starmer took over the party post-Brexit in 2020 and had aimed to bring it to the centre again.
Starmer is facing a daunting to-do list, with economic growth anaemic, public services overstretched and underfunded due to swinging cuts, and households squeezed financially.
When it comes to Gaza, he is on the same page as Rishi Sunak, emphasising support for Israel’s right to defend itself while maintaining the recognition of a two-state solution. However, Starmer has said he would review arms sales to Israel but has also not made a pledge to suspend any.
Additionally, Starmer has shown its determination to scrap the UK’s Controversial Rwanda Bill for asylum seekers that was introduced to deport illegal asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The government has further increased the price of electricity by five rupees 72 paise per unit, starting July 1.
Fixed charges will apply to electricity consumers. For non-protected consumers, the new rates are as follows: Up to 100 units, the rate is Rs. 23.73; for 201 to 300 units, the rate is Rs. 32.98 per unit.
Monthly fixed charges for industrial electricity consumers have risen by 184 per cent, and fixed charges for commercial electricity consumers have increased by 150 per cent.
Agricultural tubewell customers will see a 100 per cent increase in monthly fixed charges.
The federal cabinet has approved the increase in fixed electricity charges, as per sources.
Industrial customers’ monthly fixed charges have reportedly increased from Rs. 440 to Rs. 1250.
Fixed charges for commercial users have risen from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1250, while fixed charges for agricultural tubewell users have increased from Rs. 200 to Rs. 400, sources report.